APA 7 Citation Guide: In-Text Citations and Reference Examples

APA (American Psychological Association) style is the most widely used citation system in the social sciences and education. The current version is the 7th edition. Below are the rules you will need most often, with examples. If your institution’s guidelines differ, follow them.

In-text citations

APA uses an author–date system.

• Parenthetical: Social media use may affect self-perception (Smith, 2021).
• Narrative: Smith (2021) noted that social media use may affect self-perception.

By number of authors

• Two authors: (Smith & Lee, 2021); in narrative form, Smith and Lee (2021)
• Three or more authors: first author plus "et al." from the first citation: (Smith et al., 2021)
• Group author: (World Health Organization [WHO], 2023), then (WHO, 2023)
• Several sources: alphabetical, separated by semicolons: (Lee, 2019; Smith, 2021)

Direct quotations

Page numbers are required for direct quotations.

• Short quotes (fewer than 40 words): in quotation marks: "…" (Smith, 2021, p. 45).
• Block quotes (40 words or more): no quotation marks, as a separate indented paragraph; the citation follows the final punctuation.

Use direct quotes sparingly. Academic writing relies mainly on paraphrasing in your own words — with a citation.

Reference list examples

The reference list is alphabetised by first author’s surname and uses a hanging indent.

Journal article: Smith, A., & Lee, B. (2021). Social media use and self-esteem among university students. Journal of Youth Studies, 24(5), 123–140. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx

Book: Smith, A. (2020). Research methods (3rd ed.). Publisher Name.

In APA 7, the publisher location is no longer included for books.

Book chapter: Lee, B. (2019). Scale adaptation. In A. Smith (Ed.), Measurement in education (pp. 45–67). Publisher Name.

Web page: Organization Name. (2023, March 5). Title of the page. Site Name. https://…

Thesis: Smith, A. (2022). Title of the thesis [Master’s thesis, University Name]. Database Name.

Key changes in APA 7

• DOIs are formatted as links: https://doi.org/…
• "Retrieved from" is used only for content that is likely to change.
• Up to 20 authors are listed in the reference list.
• Publisher location has been removed for books.

Most common mistakes

• A source cited in the text missing from the reference list (or vice versa)
• Mismatched years: 2020 in the text, 2021 in the references
• Forgetting page numbers for direct quotes
• Not distinguishing two works by the same author in the same year (2021a, 2021b)

Automatic APA 7 with Academiana

In Academiana, citations are not typed as plain text; they are linked to the source. The reference list is generated from these links automatically, so deleting a citation removes it from the list too. You can switch between 9 styles — APA 7, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, Vancouver, Harvard, ISNAD and more — with one click, and the quality check finds missing reference details and mismatches for you.