APA 7th edition — published by the American Psychological Association in 2019 — is the most widely used citation style in psychology, education, nursing, business, and many social sciences. After the 6th edition was criticised for inconsistency, APA 7 simplified its rules and added clear guidance for student papers.
This guide covers every format you are likely to need. For a broader comparison of citation styles, see our APA vs MLA vs Chicago complete guide. For help working citations into a paper, see the literature review guide.
APA Basics
APA uses an author–date citation system. Every in-text citation gives the author's surname and year of publication. All cited sources appear in a reference list at the end of the document, sorted alphabetically by surname.
Title, author name, institutional affiliation, course name and number, instructor name, due date.
Title, author name, affiliation, author note, running head.
Use 12-point Times New Roman or 11-point Calibri/Arial. Double-space everything. Use 1-inch margins. Indent every paragraph 0.5 inches.
In-Text Citations
Paraphrase — one author
Research suggests that daily journalling improves working memory (Smyth, 2021).
Or: Smyth (2021) found that daily journalling improves working memory.
Direct quote
"Journalling creates a cognitive offloading effect that frees up mental capacity" (Smyth, 2021, p. 47).
Two authors
(Smyth & Jones, 2021) — use ampersand inside parentheses, "and" in running text.
Three or more authors
(Smyth et al., 2021) — use "et al." from the very first citation.
No author
Use a shortened title in italics if it is a book, or in quotation marks if it is an article: ("Neural Pathways," 2022).
Reference List Format
The reference list starts on a new page with the centred heading References (not bold, not underlined). Entries use a hanging indent — the first line is flush left; subsequent lines indent 0.5 inches. Sort alphabetically by the first author's surname.
Books and Journal Articles
Book (one author)
Smyth, J. M. (2021). The cognitive journal: Writing for mental clarity. Academic Press.
Book (two authors)
Smyth, J. M., & Jones, A. R. (2022). Memory and language in academic writing (2nd ed.). University Press.
Edited book chapter
Williams, C. (2023). Metacognition in higher education. In B. Clarke & D. Park (Eds.), Handbook of learning science (pp. 114–138). Sage.
Journal article (with DOI)
Garcia, L., & Park, S. (2024). Sleep deprivation and academic performance in first-year students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 116(3), 441–458. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000987
Journal article (no DOI, database)
Brown, T. (2023). Note-taking strategies and retention. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 37(2), 201–214.
Websites and Online Sources
Webpage (organisation as author)
American Psychological Association. (2023, March 15). Understanding your learning style. https://www.apa.org/topics/learning
News article (online)
Lee, H. (2024, January 8). Universities rethink examination formats after pandemic. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/…
YouTube video
Khan Academy. (2023, September 12). How to write a research paper [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example
The key difference from the 6th edition is that APA 7 no longer requires a retrieval date for most webpages (only include it if the content is likely to change, like a wiki).
What changed from APA 6 to APA 7?
- Three or more authors: use "et al." from the first citation (was "et al." only from the seventh author).
- Publisher location is no longer required for books.
- Up to 20 authors are listed in the reference list before using "et al." (was 6).
- New guidance for student papers vs. professional manuscripts.
- Singular "they" accepted as a generic third-person pronoun.
For complete guidance on how APA compares to MLA and Chicago — and how to choose the right style for your assignment — see our APA vs MLA vs Chicago citation comparison guide. If you are building the reference list as part of a larger manuscript, our guides on research paper structure and literature review writing will show you how citations fit into the bigger picture.