What is APA 7th edition?

APA 7th edition is the current version of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, updated in 2019. It is the standard citation style for psychology, education, social work, and many social science disciplines in the US and internationally. Key differences from the 6th edition include: place of publication is no longer required for books; running heads are only required for manuscripts being submitted for publication; DOIs are formatted as URLs (https://doi.org/...); and up to 20 authors can be listed in a reference list entry before using et al.

What is a DOI and do I always need it?

A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a persistent link to a digital document. In APA 7th, DOIs are formatted as URLs: https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx. Include a DOI when one is available for a journal article — it is the preferred form of locating the source. If there is no DOI, include the URL of the journal's homepage (not the specific article URL if that changes). Books published before the internet era typically do not have DOIs; include the publisher information only. Not all articles have DOIs, particularly older ones.

How do I reference a secondary source in APA?

A secondary source is a source you have not read directly but that is cited within a source you have read. In APA 7th, use the phrase 'as cited in' in the in-text citation: (Jones, 2001, as cited in Smith, 2019). In the reference list, include only the source you actually read (Smith, 2019) — not Jones (2001). Secondary citations should be used sparingly. Always try to find and read the original source; secondary citations are only appropriate when the original is genuinely inaccessible.

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APA Referencing (7th Edition): A Student Guide with Examples

Q: How do I cite a journal article in APA?

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article in sentence case. Journal Name in Title Case and Italics, Volume(Issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xxxxx. Example: Cotton, D. R. E., Cotton, P. A., & Shipway, J. R. (2024). Chatting and cheating: Ensuring academic integrity in the era of ChatGPT. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 61(2), 228–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2023.2190148. Note: article title in sentence case; journal name in title case and italics; volume in italics; issue in parentheses not italicised.

June 2, 20269 min readBy warpread.app

APA 7th edition is the current standard for psychology, education, social work, and many social science disciplines. This guide covers in-text citations and reference list formats for the source types you will encounter most frequently, with the key differences from APA 6th edition highlighted.

APA 7th edition: key conventions

In-text citation format: (Author, Year) or (Author, Year, p. X) for direct quotes.

Author format in reference list: Last name, First initial(s). For two to twenty authors: list all.

Article titles: Sentence case (capitalise only the first word, proper nouns, and the first word after a colon).

Journal names: Title case and italics.

DOI format: https://doi.org/xxxxx (not just the DOI number).

Place of publication: No longer required for books in APA 7th edition.

In-text citation formats

Paraphrase (one author): Research has consistently found... (Smith, 2019).

Paraphrase (two authors): (Smith & Jones, 2019)

Paraphrase (three or more authors): (Smith et al., 2019) — 'et al.' from the first citation for three or more authors

Direct quotation — under 40 words: Smith (2019) found that "the spacing effect is robust across subject domains" (p. 47).

Direct quotation — 40 or more words (block quote): Indent the entire quotation 0.5 inches from the left margin; no quotation marks; citation follows closing punctuation.

Multiple sources supporting the same point (list alphabetically): (Brown, 2020; Jones, 2019; Smith, 2018)

Secondary source (Jones cited in Smith): (Jones, 2001, as cited in Smith, 2019) Only Smith (2019) appears in the reference list.

Reference list formats by source type

Journal article (with DOI)

Cotton, D. R. E., Cotton, P. A., & Shipway, J. R. (2024). Chatting and cheating: Ensuring academic integrity in the era of ChatGPT. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 61(2), 228–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2023.2190148

Note: article title in sentence case; journal name and volume number in italics; issue in parentheses not italicised; DOI as URL.

Journal article (without DOI, with URL)

Kasneci, E., Seßler, K., Küchemann, S., Bannert, M., Dementieva, D., Fischer, F., Gasser, U., Groh, G., Günnemann, S., Hüllermeier, E., Krusche, S., Kutyniok, G., Michaeli, T., Nerdel, C., Pfeffer, J., Poquet, O., Sailer, M., Schmidt, A., Seidel, T., … Kasneci, G. (2023). ChatGPT for good? On opportunities and challenges of large language models for education. Learning and Individual Differences, 103, Article 102274. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608023000195

Note: 20+ authors listed with ellipsis before the last author (APA 7th change from 6th edition). Article number used instead of page range when the journal uses article numbers.

Book

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Sage.

Note: book title in italics, sentence case. Edition in parentheses. No place of publication in APA 7th. Publisher only.

Book chapter (in edited collection)

Wingate, U. (2015). Towards a definition of 'academic literacy.' In M. Nikolov (Ed.), Pedagogical considerations and opportunities for teaching and learning writing in academic contexts (pp. 3–20). Springer.

Note: chapter title in sentence case, not italicised. Book title in italics. Editor with (Ed.) notation. Pages in parentheses with pp.

Website / Webpage

NHS. (2024, March 15). How to get to sleep. National Health Service. https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/sleep-and-tiredness/how-to-get-to-sleep/

Note: Organisation as author if no personal author. Specific publication date if available. Page title in italics. No access date required in APA 7th unless content is likely to change (e.g., social media posts, wikis).

Thesis or dissertation

Brown, A. R. (2021). The effects of retrieval practice on long-term retention in secondary school students [Doctoral dissertation, University of Leeds]. EThOS. http://ethos.bl.uk/

Note: thesis title in italics. Degree type and institution in square brackets. Repository name and URL if accessed online.

Report (government or institutional)

Department for Education. (2022). GCSE and equivalent results in England, 2021 to 2022 (Statistical Release SFR58/2022). https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/...

Note: Organisation as author. Report title in italics. Report number in parentheses. URL.

Common APA 7th edition mistakes

Mistake	Problem	Fix
Title case for article titles	Should be sentence case	Capitalise only first word, proper nouns, first word after colon
DOI as plain number	Should be formatted as URL	https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxx
Place of publication included	Not required in APA 7th	Remove it
Three+ author citations with all names	Use et al. from first citation	(Smith et al., 2019)
Direct quote without page number	Required for quotes	Add (p. 47) or (para. 3)
Volume not italicised	Volume should be italicised	Italics on journal name and volume number

Use the Citation Reference Formatter to generate correctly formatted APA 7th edition references. See Academic Integrity and Plagiarism for guidance on why referencing matters and how to avoid plagiarism.

Topics

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