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APA citation generator
Format references and in-text citations in APA Style, 7th edition: authors with initials, the date in parentheses, sentence-case titles and DOIs as links, ready for your reference list.
Citation style
Your citation
The reference appears here as you type.
Titles follow the style’s capitals. Check that names in a title still start with a capital letter.
In-text citation
- Parenthetical
- Narrative
Your bibliography
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In your own order. Sort A–Z puts it back in the style’s order.
Fill in the form and press Add to bibliography to start your list.
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How APA 7 references work
An APA reference answers four questions in order: who wrote it, when, what it’s called and where to find it. Authors are written with their family name and initials, joined with an ampersand; the date goes in parentheses straight after.
Titles of articles, chapters, books and web pages are in sentence case: only the first word, the first word after a colon and names get capitals. Whatever stands on its own (a book, a report, a web page, a video) is italic; an article or chapter isn’t, but the journal or book it’s in is.
In your text, cite the author’s family name and the year: (Smith, 2020) in parentheses, or Smith (2020) as part of the sentence. Add a page number when you quote: (Smith, 2020, p. 45).
Examples
- Book
-
Smith, Z. (2016). Swing time. Penguin Press.
In the text: (Smith, 2016) Smith (2016)
- Journal article
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Keng, S.-H., Lin, C.-H., & Orazem, P. F. (2017). Expanding college access in Taiwan, 1978–2014: Effects on graduate quality and income inequality. Journal of Human Capital, 11(1), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1086/690235
In the text: (Keng et al., 2017) Keng et al. (2017)
- Web page
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Yale University. (n.d.). About Yale: Yale facts. https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts
In the text: (Yale University, n.d.) Yale University (n.d.)
How to make an APA citation
- Pick the kind of source and fill in what you can see on it: authors, the date, the title and where it was published.
- For a journal article, paste the DOI: APA prefers it to a URL and writes it as a link.
- Copy the reference into your reference list and use the in-text citation, parenthetical (Author, 2020) or narrative Author (2020), wherever you use the source.
Questions
Is this the 7th edition of APA?
Yes. Compared with the 6th edition, APA 7 leaves out the publisher’s city, lists up to 20 authors in a reference, writes DOIs as https://doi.org/ links and drops “Retrieved from” before most URLs. In the text, a work with three or more authors is cited with the first name and et al. from the first time.
When does APA use et al.?
Only in the text, for three or more authors: (Nguyen et al., 2019). The reference list names everyone up to 20 authors. With 21 or more it gives the first 19, an ellipsis and the last author, which this generator does for you.
Do I need a retrieval date?
Rarely. APA asks for the date you saw a page only when its content is designed to change and isn’t archived, such as a dictionary entry that’s updated or a page of live statistics. Tick “This page changes over time” for those, and the reference ends with “Retrieved March 12, 2024, from” and the URL.
What about two works by the same author in the same year?
APA tells them apart with letters: 2021a, 2021b, given in the order of their titles. Add both sources to the bibliography and the letters appear in the references and in the in-text citations by themselves.
Can I make APA references in Spanish or Portuguese?
Yes. Choose the language of the citation and words such as “and”, “n.d.”, “In” and the month names follow it. Spanish follows APA’s official Spanish edition, with “s. f.” for no date and dates such as 2020, 3 de febrero.