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Free APA Citation Generator

Generate citations in APA format quickly and automatically, with MyBib!

🤔 What is an APA Citation Generator?

An APA citation generator is a software tool that will automatically format academic citations in the American Psychological Association (APA) style.

It will usually request vital details about a source -- like the authors, title, and publish date -- and will output these details with the correct punctuation and layout required by the official APA style guide.

Formatted citations created by a generator can be copied into the bibliography of an academic paper as a way to give credit to the sources referenced in the main body of the paper.

👩‍🎓 Who uses an APA Citation Generator?

College-level and post-graduate students are most likely to use an APA citation generator, because APA style is the most favored style at these learning levels. Before college, in middle and high school, MLA style is more likely to be used. In other parts of the world styles such as Harvard (UK and Australia) and DIN 1505 (Europe) are used more often.

🙌 Why should I use a Citation Generator?

Like almost every other citation style, APA style can be cryptic and hard to understand when formatting citations. Citations can take an unreasonable amount of time to format manually, and it is easy to accidentally include errors. By using a citation generator to do this work you will:

• Save a considerable amount of time
• Ensure that your citations are consistent and formatted correctly
• Be rewarded with a higher grade

In academia, bibliographies are graded on their accuracy against the official APA rulebook, so it is important for students to ensure their citations are formatted correctly. Special attention should also be given to ensure the entire document (including main body) is structured according to the APA guidelines. Our complete APA format guide has everything you need know to make sure you get it right (including examples and diagrams).

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's APA Citation Generator?

Our APA generator was built with a focus on simplicity and speed. To generate a formatted reference list or bibliography just follow these steps:

• Start by searching for the source you want to cite in the search box at the top of the page.
• MyBib will automatically locate all the required information. If any is missing you can add it yourself.
• Your citation will be generated correctly with the information provided and added to your bibliography.
• Repeat for each citation, then download the formatted list and append it to the end of your paper.

MyBib supports the following for APA style:

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

Scribbr APA Reference Generator

Accurate APA citations, verified by experts, trusted by millions.

Save hours of repetitive work.

Stop wasting hours figuring out the correct citation format. With Scribbr, you can search for your source by title, URL, ISBN, or DOI and generate accurate APA references in seconds. No experience needed.

Rely on accurate citations, verified by experts.

You don’t want points taken off for incorrect citations. That’s why our APA reference experts have invested countless hours perfecting our algorithms. As a result, we’re proud to be recommended by teachers worldwide.

Enjoy a clean look for minimal distraction.

Staying focused is already challenging enough. You don’t need video pop-ups and flickering banner ads slowing you down. At Scribbr, we keep distractions to a minimum while also keeping the tool free for everyone.

Features you'll love

Search for your source by title, URL, DOI, ISBN, and more to retrieve the relevant information automatically.

APA 6th & 7th edition

Whether you’re still using APA 6 or you’ve already switched to APA 7 , we’ve got you covered!

Export to Bib(La)TeX

Easily export in BibTeX format and continue working in your favourite LaTeX editor.

Export to Word

Reference list finished? Export to Word with perfect indentation and spacing set up for you.

Sorting, grouping, and filtering

Organise the reference list the way you want: from A to Z, new to old, or grouped by source type.

Save multiple lists

Stay organised by creating a separate reference list for each of your assignments.

Choose between Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, and more options to match your style.

Industry-standard technology

Scribbr is built using the same citation software (CSL) as Mendeley and Zotero, but with an added layer for improved accuracy.

Annotations

Create perfectly formatted annotated bibliographies with just a few clicks.

Explanatory tips help you get the details right to ensure accurate citations.

Citation guides

Getting to grips with citation is simple with the help of our highly rated APA reference  guides and videos .

Secure backup

Your work is saved automatically after every change and stored securely in your Scribbr account.

• Introduction
• Parenthetical vs. narrative
• Multiple authors

Missing information

• Sources to include

Tools and resources

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APA referencing guidelines

APA Style is widely used by students, researchers, and professionals in the social and behavioral sciences. The Scribbr APA Reference Generator automatically generates accurate references and in-text citations for free.

This referencing guide outlines the most important referencing guidelines from the 7th edition APA Publication Manual (2020). Scribbr also offers free guides for the older APA 6th edition , Vancouver Style , and Harvard Style .

APA in-text citations

In-text citations are brief references in the running text that direct readers to the full reference entry at the end of the paper. You include them every time you quote or paraphrase someone else’s ideas or words.

An APA in-text citation consists of the author’s last name and the year of publication (also known as the author-date system). If you’re citing a specific part of a source, you should also include a locator such as a page number or timestamp. For example: (Smith, 2020, p. 170) .

Parenthetical vs. narrative citation

The in-text citation can take two forms: parenthetical and narrative. Both types are generated automatically when citing a source with Scribbr’s APA Citation Generator.

• Parenthetical citation: According to new research … (Smith, 2020) .
• Narrative citation: Smith (2020) notes that …

Multiple authors and corporate authors

The in-text citation changes slightly when a source has multiple authors or an organization as an author. Pay attention to punctuation and the use of the ampersand (&) symbol.

When the author, publication date or locator is unknown, take the steps outlined below.

APA Referencing Generator

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APA references

APA references generally include information about the author , publication date , title , and source . Depending on the type of source, you may have to include extra information that helps your reader locate the source.

Generate APA references for free

It is not uncommon for certain information to be unknown or missing, especially with sources found online. In these cases, the reference is slightly adjusted.

Formatting the APA reference page

On the first line of the page, write the word “References” (in bold and centered). On the second line, start listing your references in alphabetical order .

Apply these formatting guidelines to the APA reference page:

• Double spacing (within and between references)
• Hanging indent of ½ inch
• Legible font (e.g. Times New Roman 12 or Arial 11)
• Page number in the top right header

Which sources to include

On the reference page, you only include sources that you have cited in the text (with an in-text citation ). You should not include references to personal communications that your reader can’t access (e.g. emails, phone conversations or private online material).

In addition to the APA Reference Generator, Scribbr provides many more tools and resources that help millions of students and academics every month.

• Citation Checker : Upload your paper and have artificial intelligence check your citations for errors and inconsistencies.
• Free plagiarism checker : Detect, understand, and resolve plagiarism by comparing your paper with billions of sources.
• Proofreading services : Have a professional editor (or team of editors) improve your writing so you can submit your paper with pride and confidence.
• Guides and videos : Explore hundreds of articles, bite-sized videos, time-saving templates, and handy checklists that guide you through the process of research, writing, and citation.

APA Citation Generator

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• Select style:
• Archive material
• Chapter of an edited book
• Conference proceedings
• Dictionary entry
• Dissertation
• DVD, video, or film
• E-book or PDF
• Edited book
• Encyclopedia article
• Government publication
• Music or recording
• Online image or video
• Presentation
• Press release
• Religious text

What is the Cite This For Me APA Citation Generator?

If you are working on an APA style project or paper, you know that formatting APA citations can be a complicated task that requires a lot of patience. Fortunately, referencing has never been so easy. Introducing your new best friend: the Cite This For Me APA citation generator. Using this automated citation machine to create accurate citations helps you to work smarter, leaving more time to focus on your studies and research.

The Cite This For Me citation generator fully-formats all of your APA citations in just a few clicks. So if you’re unsure how to accurately follow the APA citation format, or you need to cite all of your sources quickly, using the Cite This For Me accurate and intuitive generator will help you avoid losing valuable points on your work. Using this generator can help you create proper citations which prevents you from plagiarizing and allows you more time to focus on the content of your paper. All you have to do is enter the information from your sources as prompted by the generator, and it will create both a reference page citation you can copy and paste directly onto your reference page and an in-text citation for use within your paper.

This guide provides you with everything we believe you need to know to cite APA and get the grade that reflects all your hard work. Read ahead for tips on how to structure and present your work according to the APA formatting guidelines, how to avoid charges of plagiarism, and how to cite sources both in-text and in your reference list and bibliography.

Popular APA Citation Examples

• Dictionary entry 
• Edited book 
• Image or video online
• PDF or E-book
• Presentation or lecture
• Video, film, or DVD

Why Do I Need To Cite?

Essentially, citing is the crediting of sources used in academic work. When another source contributes to your work you must acknowledge the original author with an accurate reference, unless it is common knowledge (e.g., Barack Obama is the first American of mixed race to be elected president). Failing to cite all of your sources or citing them incorrectly constitutes plagiarism , which is considered a serious academic offense. It is important to remember that information doesn’t just belong to anyone who happens to stumble upon it. If you are caught plagiarizing it is more than likely that you will lose points on your assignment, or even face expulsion from your university.

Aside from avoiding plagiarism, attributing your research is crucial in ensuring that your work is firmly anchored in academic tradition. Correctly citing your sources validates the statements and conclusions you make in your work by providing supporting evidence. For many students, citing can be a frustrating process, but it’s an excellent way to enhance the quality of your work and inject it with authority.

Imagine if all the stress of referencing simply vanished. Well, the Cite This For Me APA citation generator is here to help you – now you can create in-text citations and reference lists in the APA format without the usual frustrations of referencing. Creating an APA citation has never been easier.

Note that using a citation generator is not cheating or plagiarizing, unless the requirements for your paper specify that you do all citations manually, which is very uncommon. Consider citation generators as a tool similar to spell check – it doesn’t write the paper for you, but it helps prevent you from making errors in your citations. Also, unless you have the citation handbook memorized, using a generator is usually a much faster method for creating references.

What is the APA Citation Style?

The APA citation style (6th Edition) is a parenthetical author-date style, so you need to put the author’s last name and the publishing date into parentheses wherever another source is used in the narrative.

The APA format consists of in-text citations and a reference list, along with guidelines for formatting the paper itself. Both the in-text citations and the reference list can be created in using the Cite This For Me APA reference generator.

Although primarily used by social and behavioural sciences, the APA style citation is used amongst other scientific publications for its editorial efficiency. The Cite This For Me APA citation generator uses the (6th) edition of the APA format. Whether you are using the APA format generator for university assignments or are preparing research projects for publishing, Cite This For Me is there for you 24/7.

Aside from the APA format there is a plethora of different citation styles out there – the use of which depends on your discipline, university requirements, your professor’s preference or the publication you are submitting the work to. It is important to make sure that you are using the correct style – so if you’re unsure, consult your department and follow their guidelines exactly.

If no format is specified, be careful to use the same format throughout your paper and reference list. Do not mix citation styles, as this could lead to confusion in your references and a reduction of points.

Cite This For Me is not only an APA citation website; it can help you generate citations in multiple formats. The citation generator above will generate your references in APA format as standard. You can also sign up to Cite This For Me to select from over 7,000+ styles, including individual college variations. So, whether your professor prefers that you use the MLA format , or your discipline requires you to adopt the Chicago style citation , your referencing will be supported. Cite This For Me also provides citation generators and handy guides for styles such as ASA , AMA , IEEE or Harvard .

How do I Create and Format My Citations?

When you want to create an APA reference for a source within a paper; whether it is using a direct quote, repurposing an image, or simply referring to an idea or theory, you should:

• Insert an in-text citation APA (the author’s surname and the date of publication within parentheses) straight after a direct quote
• Insert an in-text citation at the end of the sentence when the author’s name is not included in the narrative of the sentence
• If you have already mentioned the author’s name in the sentence, you only need to insert the date immediately after their surname in parentheses
• Include page numbers within the parentheses (after the date), if referring to a particular page or section of the source
• When citing a source with three to five authors, include all surnames for the first in-text citation, then use the first author’s surname followed by ‘et al.’ for subsequent citations
• When citing six or more authors – use the first author’s surname followed by ‘et al.’ for all citations
• If you are mentioning both the year and author in the text, don’t include an additional citation in parentheses – unless you are referring to a particular section of the source, in which case you should cite the page number
• Provide an alphabetical list (ordered by author’s surname) of all sources used, titled ‘References’, on a separate page at the end of the narrative
• Inclusive page numbers for the electronic version of a print source (e.g., a PDF)
• Provide your appendices on a separate page after the reference list

When in doubt, it’s always better to create a citation instead of risking plagiarizing. If the thought or idea didn’t come from your head and isn’t considered common knowledge, cite a credible source. Use the Cite This For Me APA citation maker to help you create citations with ease; this will allow you to add citations to your project, edit on the spot, and export separate in-text citations as well as fully-formatted reference lists.

APA Citation Examples (7th Edition)

You will use an in-text citation to credit a source within the context of your paper. You can use an in-text citation after a direct quote or at the end of a sentence containing thoughts and ideas from a source, even if the sentence is not in quotations. To create an APA in-text citation, you will need some information from your sources, such as the author’s name, the year of publication, and the page number, if applicable.

The example below directly follow rules from Chapter 10 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th edition.

In-text citation examples:

• Page specified, author mentioned in text:

Lutz & Huitt (2010, p. 4) argue that “the statistical significance of …”

• Page specified, author not mentioned in text:

The results were consistent throughout the study (Fernández-Manzanal, Rodríguez-Barreiro, & Carrasquer, 2007).

• Six authors:

The study found that … (Sania et al., 2011)

The data presented …. (“How sleep enhances memory retention”, 2015).

Reference examples:

• Book, one author, multiple editions:

Hawking, S. W. (1998). A brief history of time: From the big bang to black holes (10th ed.). New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group.

• Ebook, online only:

Tyler, G. (n.d.). Evolution in the systems age . http://www.onlineoriginals.com/showitem.asp?itemID=142&action=setvar&vartype=history&varname=bookmark&v1=1&v2=46&v3=2

• Journal article, three authors, with a DOI:

Fernández-Manzanal, R., Rodríguez-Barreiro, L., & Carrasquer, J. (2007). Evaluation of environmental attitudes: Analysis and results of a scale applied to university students. Science Education , 91(6), 988–1009. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.20218

• How to cite a website in APA:

Veterans Affairs Canada. (2019, February 14). Indigenous people in the Second World War . https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/historical-sheets/aborigin

• Online newspaper article:

Smith, D. (2019, October 22). The banner, the rings, the season opener: Champion Raptors return on a night like no other. The Toronto Star . https://www.thestar.com/sports/raptors/2019/10/22/the-banner-the-rings-the-season-opener-champion-raptors-return-on-a-night-like-no-other.html

• Article from an online news website (HuffPost, MSNBC, Vox, etc.):

Wade, L. (2013, March 6). ‘Sunstone’ crystal from British shipwreck may be vikings’ legendary navigation aid . HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sunstone-british-shipwreck-viking-navigation_n_2818858

• Video, online:

CrashCourse. (2015, April 30). Mars: Crash course astronomy #15 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-88YWx71gE

How Do I Format My Reference List?

Drawing on a range of relevant sources in your work proves that you have read widely around your chosen topic, so it’s a surefire way to impress your reader. Your reference page may need to include citations for a variety of reference types, including books, websites, academic journals, videos, sheet music, song lyrics, paintings, and more.

To ensure your reader’s ease of comprehension you must adhere to the style’s formatting guidelines. On an APA reference page, or an APA works cited page, a list of all the sources that have directly contributed to your work should be placed on a new page at the end of the narrative and titled ‘References’ (center align the title). The references should all have a hanging indentation – the second and subsequent lines of each reference should start ½ inch from the margin.

You may also be required to provide a full bibliography. The difference between a bibliography and a reference page is that a reference page only cites the sources which are used directly in the paper, or those that are cited with in-text citations. For an APA bibliography, you will need to create a comprehensive list of all the source material you used to complete the assignment, even if it was not cited in the text. It should include any book, journal, article, etc., that you may have consulted throughout your research and writing process in order to get a deeper understanding of the subject at hand.

APA Format Example:

Fernández-Manzanal, R., Rodríguez-Barreiro, L., & Carrasquer, J. (2007). Evaluation of environmental attitudes: Analysis and results of a scale applied to university students. Science Education , 91(6), 988–1009. doi:10.1002/sce.20218

A note on journals and website citations: If you are wondering how to cite a website in APA, you will need the URL of the website. If you use an online journal as a source, then you should first look for a DOI, or digital object identifier, and use that instead of a URL. A DOI is a more precise way to locate an article than a URL because the DOI will follow the article even if the URL changes. A DOI is typically located at the top of the page of an online journal article.

The DOI or URL (never both) should be the last part of your citation for the website or online journal article on the reference page. To create an in text citation for a website, follow the same structure required for books, putting the author’s last name first followed by a comma and the year of publication, followed by a comma and the page numbers if applicable.

Sound like a lot of work? Although the style guidelines are strict in regard to how references should be formatted, the Cite This For Me APA citation machine helps take the weight off your shoulders by accurately compiling your reference list and bibliography in a matter of a few clicks.

APA Style Paper Formatting Guidelines (7th Edition)

Along with specifications for in-text and reference page citations, APA style also has guidelines to follow when formatting the rest of your paper. When following these guidelines, you must pay attention to presentation details such as font type, line spacing, margins and page headers to ensure your work is easily legible.

The information provided here is an overview of only the most important formatting elements; a more thorough description of paper elements and formatting can be found in Chapter 2 of the APA 7 Publication Manual , beginning on page 29.

• 1 inch margins on all sides
• Use Times New Roman, 12 pt. size
• Double-space the entirety of the paper
• The page number is included at the top of the page, aligned to the right
• Title of the paper in all capitals, 50 characters or less, in the header on each page of the body (the ‘running head’), aligned to the left. A running head is only required for professional papers and not student papers
• For students, the paper should typically include three major sections – Title Page, Main Body and References.
• An APA cover page, also known as an APA title page, should include the following elements: the running head, page number, paper title, author name, and the institutional affiliation.
• If infographics (tables, charts) were used in the narrative you should also add Appendices as a separate section at the end of the paper.
• An APA sample paper may have an APA format title page that also includes an author’s note, but this is usually optional and not considered a requirement.

APA Title Page

Not all instructors will require a title page, also sometimes called an APA cover page. If they do, include these four parts:

• Title of your paper
• Running head (see above section)
• Author’s/Your name
• Institutional affiliation

The title of your paper should:

• Be centered on the page and use title case (a combination of lower and uppercase letters).
• Not be italicized, bolded, or underlined
• Use a 12-point font
• Be a maximum of 2 lines and not more than 12 words long
• Not include abbreviations

Underneath the title, place the author’s name. If you wrote the paper, put your full name here. There’s no need to include titles or degrees (e.g., Ms., PhD, etc.).

Under the author’s name, place the institutional affiliation. For most students, this would be the name of the school, college or university you are attending.

The title, author’s name, and institutional affiliation should all be double spaced.

Here’s an example of an APA format title page:

A Brief History of the APA Format

APA stands for American Psychological Association , the scientific organisation that assembles the publishing manual of the APA format. The style was developed in 1929 by a group of scientists to standardize scientific writing. It was created in the hopes that it would provide a coherent and professional manner of citing sources for students and researchers in the fields of social and behavioural sciences.

The first publication manual of the APA format was published in pursuit of a neat and efficient research formatting style, mainly for editorial purposes. Although some contemporary scientists argued that having such strict regulations restricted personal writing styles, the format has since become one of the most popular referencing styles. Today it is adopted in term papers, research reports, literature reviews, theoretical articles, case studies etc.

Differences Between the 6th Edition and 7th Edition

In the fall of 2019, the American Psychological Association published the 7th edition of its Publication Manual . The 7th edition of the APA paper format includes updated citation rules for more efficiency, new example citations and papers, and revised writing guidelines.

When in doubt about how to cite APA or which edition to use, ask your instructor or a librarian for help. Most of this guide follows the 6th edition, but if you’re looking for guidance on the 7th edition for your paper, these are some notable changes:

• When making an APA book citation do not include the publisher’s location. This also applies to book chapter references
• DOIs are formatted as URLs (i.e., https://doi.org/xxx)
• Don’t include the label “DOI” before the DOI url
• Include the issue number if one exists
• When making a full APA website citation, do not include the words “Retrieved from” before the URL
• When citing an ebook, don’t indicate the format, platform, or device (e.g., Kindle)
• Figures are formatted more like notes with a number and title at the top, and a note under the figure/table instead of a caption
• Don’t include running heads on student papers, except when your instructor asks for it by your instructor
• Annotated bibliographies
• Citing social media posts, podcasts, and other modern sources
• There’s only a single space after sentences

APA Writing Guidelines and Suggestions

The American Psychological Association also provides some helpful guidelines regarding overall best practices when writing academic and scientific papers. One important thing to be on the lookout for is bias in your writing. For instance, using the word “man” to represent humans as a species is neither scientific nor without potential bias.

Here are some good rules of thumb to help you avoid bias in your paper:

• Always be specific in your writing and avoid generalizations.
• Do not label people or test subjects unnecessarily.
• When writing about participants in your experiment or study, be sure to acknowledge them as such appropriately. Use the term “participants” instead of “subjects.”
• Use active voice instead of passive voice in your writing. For example, “the participants completed the task” vs. “the task was completed by the participants.”
• Always be cautious when discussing topics such as sexual orientation, racial and ethnic identity, disabilities, etc.
• Never change quotations to better serve your own ends or to better fit with your conclusions.

View Spanish APA Citation Guide

How Do I Create Accurate Citations With the Cite This For Me APA Generator?

APA citing giving you a headache? Let the Cite This For Me APA format generator remove some stress caused by citations by helping you turn your sources into a fully-formatted citation. The citation generator will create your reference in two parts; an in-text APA format citation and a full reference that is ready to be copied straight into your work.

To unlock the full potential of the APA citation maker simply login to the Cite This For Me multi-platform tool. Use the web platform to add and edit citations, export full projects and individual entries, utilize the add-ons and save all of your citations in the cloud. Or make use of the Cite This For Me extension for Chrome – the browser extension for Google Chrome that allows you to instantly create and edit a citation for any online source, without leaving the web page you’re viewing.

Cite This For Me helps give students the confidence to be ethical researchers and writers by encouraging them to research and cite diverse sources. There are so many sources you can cite using the APA citation generator; whether it be a PDF report, podcast, a musical score or many more .

Manage all your citations in one place

Create projects, add notes, cite directly from the browser.

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APA Citation Generator

Instantly generate correctly formatted apa citations with this tool designed by expert linguists..

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Over the years our users have rated us 5 stars for accuracy, quality and professionalism. Users from all over the world in academia trust our APA citation generator tool to create well-formatted APA citations for their academic writings.

What is an APA Format / Citation?

APA is an abbreviation of "American Psychological Association" and the APA format of citations is one of a few well-established formats of referencing and citing third party content in academic papers. First, there is the full citation, which usually goes into the appended references section of your paper. Second, there is the in-text citation, which you include in the body of your paper whenever referencing the source material.

How do I use this APA Citation Generator?

Using our citation generator couldn't be easier. We specifically designed it for ease of use and speed. Simply start by selecting the type of source you are looking to cite. Then proceed to fill in all the required fields denoted by a star * sign. Feel free to also fill in optional fields. Once you have filled in all required fields, the full and in-text citations will be automatically generated below the generator form. You can copy them by pressing the copy button and paste them into your own paper.

Why use this APA Citation Generator?

This citation generator removes the hassle of having to craft your own citations correctly. It's easy to make a mistake when trying to craft many citations, so a generator will ensure that you don't have wrongly formatted APA citations.

Who should use an APA Citation Generator?

College-level and post-grad students are most likely to use this APA citation generator, since APA style is the most favored style at these educational levels. Before college students typically use the MLA style instead.

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Blog Posts & Feature Updates

You can read our latest blog posts here:

The Basics of APA Citations

APA (American Psychological Association) is a widely used citation style for academic writing, particularly in the social sciences. Understanding how to use APA citations correctly is important for ensuring the credibility and reliability of your work, as well as avoiding plagiarism. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the basics of APA citations, including in-text citations and reference list entries.

Print Article Citations added

Today we added a brand new feature to our APA citation generator: Print article citations.

Whether we are talking about newspaper articles, magazine articles, or any other form of print article, you can now cite them in the correct APA format with our citation generator. No more worries about the correct format or citation mistakes.

Thesis and Dissertation Papers added

Today we are excited to announce that we have added a new source format to your APA citation generator: Thesis and Dissertation Papers.

With this new addition you can now cite theses and dissertations in the correct APA format without having to worry about formatting mistakes.

Wikipedia Citations added

Today we added a new feature to our APA citation generator: Wikipedia page citations.

With this new addition you can now cite any wikipedia page in the correct APA format without having to worry about incorrect formatting.

Feature Overview & Coming Updates

Since our new APA citation generator has gone online, thousands of students from around the world (but especially the US) have used it to generate correctly formatted APA citations for their academic papers.

We thought this would be a good time to briefly run through the features we currently offer, and the upcoming features we will release in the coming days and weeks.

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We just launched this new APA citation generator and we couldn’t be more excited about it!

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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / APA Format / APA Citation Examples

APA Citation Examples

This guide will show you how to structure APA citations according to the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition) and will show you example citations for different source types. For information on other APA topics—such as formatting your paper, creating a title page, etc.—check out the EasyBib APA format guide.  It even has an example paper.

Table of Contents

• The Basics of APA Citations
• References vs. Citations

Formatting Author Information

• Formatting Titles and Dates

Citation Examples

• Citing Books
• Citing Journals and Articles
• Citing Various Digital Sources
• Citing Various Media Sources
• Citing Additional Sources
• APA Citation Template

Troubleshooting

The basics of apa.

We’re going to start from the beginning for all of you newbies out there, or for those of you looking for a refresher.

APA is an abbreviation which stands for American Psychological Association. This is a massive organization, responsible for creating and sharing psychology-related publications, research, and databases.

Basically, they keep psychologists and other similar roles in the loop with what’s happening in the world of psychology. With close to 120,000 members, this is THE leading world organization related to psychology.They are not officially associated with this guide, but the information here talks about their citing format and rules in depth.

Why were APA citations created and why did my teacher ask me to use this style?

Are you scratching your head, wondering what is APA style is and how this all relates to your research project? To make a long story short, the American Psychological Association did something really cool. Back in 1952, they created a way for ALL psychology researchers to structure their citations. This standard method did three things:

• Psychology researchers were all able to display the sources they used in a systematic way.
• Readers were able to easily understand the information shown in citations.
• There was enough information displayed in the citations for readers to go out and find the exact sources on their own.

APA citations were such a hit, they were so good, that other science disciplines soon adopted the citation format as well. In fact, other disciplines outside of the science world use APA style today, too. So, whether you’re creating a psychology-related research project or not, there’s a good chance you were asked to create your citations in APA style.

Currently in its 7th edition, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is one of the most frequently used style guides for academic writing today!

With the 7th edition just coming onto the scene in 2020, the American Psychological Association does not expect to see widespread usage of the 7th edition until later in 2020. This is why you should always double-check with your teacher on whether they want you to use the 6th edition or the 7th edition for your projects.

Click here for more basics on this style.

Another widely used style is MLA format . Believe it or not, there are thousands of other styles, so perhaps your teacher or professor requested a completely different one. If you’re in that boat, head to EasyBib.com to check out more styles . While you’re at it, poke around and check out our APA reference generator. It may be just what you’re looking for.

References vs. Citations – What’s the difference?

References and citations are two terms that are thrown around a lot and quite often mean the same thing. A reference, or citation, shows the reader that a piece of information originated elsewhere. But, along came APA and decided to throw a curveball at us. In APA, the two terms have two different meanings.

A citation is found in the actual writing of an APA research paper.

In-text citation example:

“Lecture-rooms are numerous and large, but the number of young people who genuinely thirst after truth and justice is small” (Einstein, 2007, p. 5).

A reference is found on the reference page, which is the last page of a research paper. 

Reference Page Example:

Einstein, A. (2007). The world as I see it. Google Books. https://books.google.com/books?id=aNKOo94tO6cC&source=gbs_navlinks_s (Original work published 1934)

The information included in an APA citation is just a snapshot of the information found in the full reference. For more information on when it’s appropriate to include a citation in your paper, head to section 8.1-8.10 of the Publication manual.

Now, what makes things even trickier is that most teachers and professors use the term “APA citations” when they’re actually talking about the full references. How many times have you heard your teacher say, “Make sure you have your citations on the last page!”

Eek! So, to stay on the same page as your teacher, this guide shows you how to make references for an APA reference page, but we’re calling the page “APA Citations.” Someone’s gotta give in, right? Looks like it’s us.

If you’re looking for a quick read on the citations found in the body of the paper, check out our APA Parenthetical Citation page. It’s just one of the many free APA citation guides available on EasyBib.com. Need an APA citation generator? You can find one at EasyBib.com as well!

If you’re looking for help with the writing or grammar in your paper, check out our research , pronoun , and determiner pages. We have tons of other free grammar pages too!

A rundown on references

Before we get into the nitty-gritty details on how to structure references for your APA paper, let’s get one more quick piece of information off the table.

References are added to research papers and projects only when a source is included in the writing itself.

We don’t add references to a reference page if we want to simply suggest other, similar titles. No! We create references when an actual piece of information from another source is added into the project.

Does your paper include a piece of data from a report? Great! You copied a line of text from a case study and put it in your project (with quotation marks around it)? Perfect! You included a bar graph you found in a brochure? Fantastic! Make sure you create an APA citation in the text of your paper and include the reference on the final page.

The only exception to the above rule is if you’re creating an “annotated bibliography.” For more on that, check out our APA annotated bibliography page.

In case you were wondering, the same goes for MLA in-text & parenthetical citations on the MLA works cited page.

Ready to get started? The next section of the guide is going to explain, step-by-step, how to structure every nook and cranny of your references.

But, if you’re dreaming of an APA citation maker to help make the pain go away from building your references from scratch, you’re in luck. EasyBib.com has an APA citation maker! In just a few clicks, our technology structures and styles each and every APA citation for you. If you don’t know much about it, head to the EasyBib homepage to learn more.

While you’re at it, try out our APA cover page maker, found on the main page as well!

Fundamentals of an APA citation

This entire section goes into detail on each component of a reference. If you’re looking to learn how to style the names of the authors, the title, publishing information, and other aspects related to the reference, this section is for you!

If you want to skip the small talk and see an APA style paper example, go to the “Citation Resources” menu on this page and select “APA Format Guide.” It includes a title page example, an APA paper example, and an APA reference page example.It’s all there for you and the best part about it is it’s free! Do yourself a favor and take a peek at it now!

Author information

The very first piece of information in most references is the author’s name(s). We say “most,” because some sources may not have an author (such as websites, the Bible…). If your source doesn’t have an author, do not include any information about an author in your reference.

Citing a Source with 1 Author

Apa structure:.

Last name of the Author, First initial. Middle initial.

APA Example:

To see some examples, scroll down to the bottom half of this page.

Citing a Source with 2 Authors

Does your source have two authors? Do not put the names in alphabetical order. They should be written in the order they’re displayed on the source.

Last name of the 1st listed Author, First Initial. Middle Initial., & Last name of the 2nd listed Author, First initial. Middle initial.

Doe, J. B. & Chen, W. I.

For an example of a reference with two authors according to the 7th edition of the Publication manual , scroll down to the “Journal Articles found in Print” section, or check out section 9.7-9.12 in the Publication manual.

Citing a Source with 3 to 20 Authors

Does your source have three to twenty authors? The American Psychological Association has made some updates on how to list multiple authors in your citations. If you have between three to twenty authors, list all the authors names (Last Name, Initials). Put them in the same order they’re listed in the source. Commas separate names, and put an ampersand right before the last name.

Bos, G., Hajek, S., Kogman-Appel, K., & Mensching, G. (2019). A Glossary of Latin and Italo-Romance Medico-Botanical Terms in Hebrew Characters on an Illustrated Manuscript Page (Ms. Oxford, Bodleian Opp. 688, fol. 177b). Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism 19 (2), 169-199. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/747571

Citing a Source with 21+ Authors

If your source has over twenty authors, list the last name and initials of the first 19 authors, placing a comma between each name. After the name of the 19th author, use an ellipsis in place of the remaining authors’ names. Then, list the final author’s name in front of it.

Here’s a formatting example for 21+ names using the U.S. presidents (this is NOT a reference example):

Washington, G., Adams, J., Jefferson, T., Madison, J., Monroe, J., Adams, J. Q., Jackson, A., Van Buren, M., Harrison, W. H., Tyler, J., Polk, J., Taylor, Z., Fillmore, M., Pierce, F., Buchanan, J., Lincoln, A., Johnson, A., Grant, U. S., Hayes, R. B., … Trump, D. J.

Citing an Author that is an organization or company

If your source is written by an organization or company:

Some sources are written and released by companies, not necessarily individual people. For example, most brochures at museums only display the institution’s name. Advertisements also only show the company’s name. If the source you’re attempting to cite only shows a group or organization’s name, place it in the reference in the place you’d normally include an individual person’s name.

Write out the name of the group in full; do not use abbreviations. For example, it may seem okay to use USDA, but APA writing style prefers you write out United States Department of Agriculture.

If you’re looking for information on how to style your own name in APA headings, find the example paper on EasyBib.com.

Formatting Titles & Dates

Formatting the date of publication.

The date the source was published is the next item shown in a reference. It’s directly after the author’s name.

For the majority of sources, include only the year in parentheses.

If you’re citing an article in a magazine, include the year and the month.

Peterzell, J. (1990, April). Better late than never. Time, 135 (17), 20–21.

Check out the examples towards the bottom of the page, or head to sections 9.13-9.17 of the Publication manual to see how dates are displayed.

Title rules and capitalization

Titles are the next piece of information shown in a reference. Titles are often tricky for people to style. Students often wonder, “Should I type out the title as it’s shown on the source?” “Should the title be written in italics or underlined?” Here are the answers to (hopefully) all of your title-related questions:

Which letters are capitalized?

Most titles are written with a capital letter in these places:

• At the beginning of the title
• At the beginning of a proper noun
• At the beginning of the subtitle

It may be tempting to write the title as you see it shown on the source, or with capital letters at the beginning of every important word, but that’s not how APA referencing does it.

Here are a few examples of proper lettering:

• A star is born
• Spider-Man: Into the spiderverse
• Harry Potter and the deathly hallows

The only source types that are written with a capital letter at the beginning of every important word are periodicals. Some examples include the titles of newspapers, journals, and magazines.

• The New York Times
• School Library Journal,

How should I style the title?

• Anything that stands alone is written in italics. When we say “stands alone,” we mean it isn’t part of a larger collection. Most books are a single source, so they’re written in italics. Other examples include movies, brochures, dissertations, and music albums.
• Sources that are part of a collection are written without italics. Website pages, journal articles, chapters in books, and individual songs (from an album) are written without italics.
• Remember, the styling information above is for the APA reference page only! Citations in the text of the paper are styled differently. If you need to see a full APA sample paper, check out the other resources on EasyBib.com!

Check out some of the examples below to see how the titles are typed out and styled. You can also head to section 9.18-9.22 of the Publication Manual for more details

If it’s not the actual title, but an APA title page for your paper that you need help with, check out the Title Page APA creator on the homepage of EasyBib.com! Or, check out the main guide for this style, which includes an APA cover page template.

Additional information about a source

It can be difficult to understand a source type just by looking at an APA style citation. Sometimes it isn’t clear if you’re looking at a citation for a presentation, a blog post, lecture notes, or a completely different source type.

To clear up any confusion for your reader, you can include additional information directly after the title. This additional information about the source type is written in brackets with the first word having a capital letter.

Wilson, T. V. & Frey, H. (2019, May 13). Godzilla: The start of his story [Audio podcast]. iHeart Radio. https://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/godzilla-the-start-of-his-story.htm

Thanks to the information in the brackets, the reader can easily see that the source is an audio podcast.

Check out the various examples towards the bottom of this page.

Publication information

Publication information includes the name of the publisher. In most cases, the publication information is only included for print sources. Check out the book reference below to see the publication information in action.

Citing Books in APA

You’ll find plenty of source types below. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, try out our APA reference generator on EasyBib.com! Or, here’s a great informative site we like. If you’d like to see a full APA sample paper, take a glance at the main citation guide for this style on EasyBib.com.

Citing books in print in APA

Author’s Last name, F. M. (Year published). Title of the book . Publisher.

Gaiman, N. (1996). Neverwhere . HarperCollins.

Looking for more examples? Check out our APA book citation page.

Citing a chapter in a print book in APA

A reference page APA citation for a chapter in a print book is styled the same way as the entire book. It is not necessary to showcase or display the individual chapter. However, in the text of the paper, the chapter is shown like this: (Author’s Last name, Year, Chapter #).

Citing a chapter in an edited book in print in APA

An edited book is one that was compiled by an author. Each individual chapter, or section, is written by someone else. Since you’re probably citing the specific chapter, rather than the whole entire book, place the name of the chapter’s author in the first position.

Chapter Author’s Last Name, F. M. (Year published). Chapter title. In F. M. Editor’s Last Name (Ed.), Title of book (Xrd ed., pp. x-x). Publisher.

Alexander, G. R. (2015). Multicultural education in nursing. In D. M. Billings, & J. A. Halstead (Eds.), Teaching in nursing: A guide for faculty (5th ed., pp. 263-281). Google Books. https://books.google.com/books?id=YxzmCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=edited+book&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwja47-0kL_iAhUV7XMBHXzQBxAQ6AEIODAD#v=onepage&q&f=false

Citing an e-book in APA

To cite an eBook, cite it the same way as you would a print book.

Author’s Last name, F. M. (Year published). Title of book . Publisher. URL

Alcott, L. M. (1905). Under the lilacs. Little, Brown, and Company. https://archive.org/stream/underlilacs00alco2?ref=ol#page/n9/mode/2up

If you’re using the EasyBib APA citation generator to cite your e-books, click on the “book” source type.

Gaiman, N. (2009). Coraline . HarperCollins. https://amzn.to/3cQqXAL

If you’re using EasyBib.com’s APA citation generator to cite your e-books, click on the “book” source type.

Wondering what to do if you’re using a book that was reprinted? Check out the example of Einstein’s book, found towards the top of this guide.

Citing The Bible in APA

Since the bible is considered a “classical work,” and widely known, it is not necessary to create a full reference. Only include a citation in the text of the paper.

Two items need to be included:

• The title and version of the source, such as the New Living Bible
• The names, verses, chapters, or any numbers associated with the section you’re referring to.

“Then the king asked her, “What do you want, Esther? What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it’s half the kingdom” (Esther 5:5 New Living Translation).

Citing Journals and Articles in APA

Citing journal articles found in print in apa.

Author’s Last name, F. M. (Year published). Title of journal article. Title of Journal, Volume (Issue), page range.

Reeve, A. H., Fjeldsa, J., & Borregaard, M. K. (2018). Ecologically flexible endemics dominate Indo-Pacific bird communities. Journal of Biogeography, 45 (8), 1980-1982.

Your APA style paper is easy to piece together with the tools and services on EasyBib.com. Try out our APA citation machine, which structures your references in just a few clicks. If you’re looking for the perfect APA cover page, give our APA title page maker a whirl.

Citing journal articles found online in APA

Author’s Last name, F. M. (Year published). Title of journal article. Title of Journal, Volume (Issue), page range. //dx.doi.org/10xxxxxxx

Reeve, A. H., Fjeldsa, J., & Borregaard, M. K. (2018). Ecologically flexible endemics dominate Indo-Pacific bird communities. Journal of Biogeography, 45 (8), 1980-1982. //dx.doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13384

For more on journals, take a peek at our APA journal page. Or, make your citations in just a few clicks with our APA citation generator.

Citing newspaper articles in print in APA

Author’s Last name, F. M. (Year, Month Day of Publication). Article’s title. Title of Newspaper, pp. xx-xx.

Boutilier, A. (2019, May 29). Facebook won’t pull fake content for election: Official says it’s not company’s role to draw line as MPs blast Zuckerberg for not testifying. Toronto Star, p. 1.

Citing newspaper articles found on the Internet in APA

Author’s Last name, F. M. (Year, Month Day of Publication). Article’s title. Title of Newspaper . URL

Boutilier, A. (2019, May 28). Facebook refuses to remove false content during Canadian election. The Star . https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2019/05/28/facebook-wont-remove-doctored-content-during-canadian-election.html

Kale, S. (2020, March 9). How to keep your hands clean – without getting dry skin. The Guardian . https://www.theguardian.com/society/shortcuts/2020/mar/09/how-to-keep-your- hands-clean-without-getting-dry-skin

Citing magazines read in print in APA

Author’s Last name, F. M. (Year, Month or Season). Title of article. Title of Magazine, Volume (Issue), page range.

Freedman, A. (2019, June). How to choose a gaming laptop: You can play your game and take it with you. TechLife Australia, 90, 78-81.

Citing magazine articles read over the internet in APA

Author’s Last Name, F. M. (Year, Month). Title of magazine article. Title of Magazine, Volume (Issue), page range. URL

Savage, P. (2019, May). Double dragon: Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a return to form for the singular crime series. PC Gamer , 319, 80. https://www-pressreader-com.i.ezproxy.nypl.org/usa/pc-gamer-us/20190521

Citing a Source on the Internet in APA

Citing digital sources in this style is much easier than other styles. If you’re wondering why, it’s because a lot of information isn’t included in the reference.

For most digital sources, only five items are usually needed:

• The name of the author
• The date the source was published
• The title of the source
• The medium (blog post, audio file, pdf, etc.)
• The website address

Here’s some more information related to web content:

• Only include the medium if it’s unique or if it will help the reader understand the source type.
• Include the website address at the end of the citation.
• Do not place a period at the end of the website address.

Have a digital source? Need to cite APA? Check out some of the examples below.

Citing a blog in APA

Author’s Last name, F. M. (Year, Month Day of posting). Title of post. Blog or Website name. URL

Chockrek, E. (2019, May 29). 7 summer activities that help boost your college applications.  EasyBib. https://www.easybib.com/guides/7-summer-activities-that-help-boost-your-college-applications/

See another example on our APA citation website page.

Citing social media in APA

Here’s the APA template for most social media platforms:

Last name, F. M. [Username]. (Year, Month Day of posting). Content of the post up to the first 20 words [Describe any attachment] [Tweet OR Facebook page OR Instagram photo OR Instagram post] . Site Name. URL

Lem, E. [@lemesther]. (2019, October 2). Spotted @Chegg promo celebration. Ladies who…”leopard.” Cheers to all the upcoming promos. #marketing #UEx. [Image attached [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/lemesther/status/1179549293289627650

If the name of the individual is unknown or unlisted on the profile (such as Lady Gaga), place the username first, without brackets

Ladygaga. (2019, May 20). I’m so proud of @momgerm for being asked to serve as Goodwill Ambassador for @WHO. The goal of @btwfoundation is [Image attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/ladygaga/status/1130578727539052544

If there are emojis, try to recreate them or describe them in brackets.

Hawaii Volcanoes NPS [@Volcanoes_NPS]. (2020, February 26). Half the park is after dark! [flashlight emoji] In addition to dark night skies, evening in the park provides a great chance. [Image attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/Volcanoes_NPS/status/1232776372801589248

For more about citing social media, head to section 10.15 of the Publication manual. 

Citing online encyclopedias & dictionaries – Group author

If you conducted or watched a personal interview and the transcript or audio is not available for the reader, then there really isn’t any point to create a full reference. These types of sources are not recoverable and the reader would be unable to find the interview on their own. Instead, only create a citation in the text of the paper. Use the first initial, middle initial, and last name of the person being interviewed, along with “personal communication,” and the date of the interview.

Institution or organization name. (n.d.). Entry title. In Title of Website or reference . Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Doleful. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved March 1, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doleful

Citing online encyclopedias & dictionaries – Known author

If there is a known author, cite the source this way:

Last name, F. M. (Date published). Entry title. In F. M. Last name (ed.), In Title of Website or reference . Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL

Mann, M. E. & Selin, H. (n.d.). Global warming. In Encyclopaedia Britannica . Retrieved March 1, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/science/global-warming

Citing Wikipedia

Cite a Wikipedia page just like a normal webpage, but use an archived version. Go to the “View history” tab at the top of a Wikipedia page to find these archived versions, their publishing date, and their URL.

Article title. (Year, Month Day). In Wikipedia . URL

Kinetic energy (2019, December 27). In Wikipedia . https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kinetic_energy&oldid=932724138

If you want to learn how to cite websites in MLA , click on the link.

An APA generator is available to you on EasyBib.com Take the stress out of building the references for your APA style paper and try it out!

While you’re at it, it may be helpful to take a glance at our APA paper template. It can be found on the EasyBib Writing Center page. You can use the APA paper example to help structure your own APA title page and paper.

Citing Media Sources in APA

Citing a song or music listened to online in apa.

Modern songs (e.g., that song you heard on the radio this morning) should list the name of the recording artist’s name. Classical music lists the song’s composer (e.g., think Mozart, Beethoven, etc.).

Note: include a URL in the reference if that location is the only means of retrieval (like if they only post their music to SoundCloud or on their own specific website). If the song is available across multiple platforms, no URL is needed.

APA Structure for a modern song:

Artist’s Last Name, F. M. (Year published). Song’s title [Song].  On Title of album . Publisher(s).

Grande, A. (2019). 7 rings [Song]. On thank u, next . Republic Records.

APA Structure for a classical song:

Artist’s Last Name, F. M. (Year published). Song’s title [Song recorded by Artist’s Name]. On Title of album . Publisher.

Bach, J. S. (1997). Toccata and Fugue in D minor [Song recorded by William McVicker]. On Great organ classics. Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited.

Sheet music in APA

To cite APA sheet music, cite it exactly the same as a book. If it’s found online, cite it as a website.

Citing streamed videos in APA

Use this format if you’re citing a video found online (such as an APA citation for a YouTube video ).

Person who posted the video’s Last Name, F. M. [Username]. (Year, Month Day of posting or publishing). Video’s title [Video]. URL

Vliegenthart, S. [booksandquills]. (2018, December 3). Books from uni we didn’t hate [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G52GCgpEZg

If the name of the individual isn’t available, start with the username, and remove the brackets.

APA Examples:

Chegg. (2018, November 15). One common grammar error to avoid [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bfx50f853g

Maroon 5. (2018, May 30). Girls like you ft. Cardi B [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/aJOTlE1K90k

If you’re in need of an APA citation machine to do the work for you, check out the homepage on EasyBib.com! We even have a free Title Page APA creator on the main page as well!

Citing a film or movie in APA

Director’s Last Name. F. M. (Director). (Year published). Film’s title [Film]. Publisher(s) or URL

Gerwig, G. (Director). (2017). Lady bird [Video]. IAC Films; Scott Rudin Productions.

Citing Additional Sources in APA

Citing a published thesis or dissertation from a database in apa.

Author’s Last Name, F. M. (Year created). Thesis or Dissertation’s title [Master’s thesis OR Doctoral dissertation, Name of Institution]. Name of database or archive.

Schluckebier, M. E. (2013). Dreams worth pursuing: How college students develop and articulate their purpose in life [Doctoral dissertation, University of Iowa]. ERIC.

If you’re looking for an APA citation builder to do the work for you, check out EasyBib.com’s APA generator!

Citing a conference paper in APA

Author’s Last name, F. M. (Year, Month Days of Conference). Title of conference paper [Type of presentation]. Conference Name, Location. URL or DOI.

Fowle, M. (2018, September). The entrepreneurial dream: Happiness, depression, and freedom [Conference presentation]. European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreunership, Aviero, Portugal.

Citing an interview in APA

W. I. Ikemoto (personal communication, June 2, 2019)

If the interview is recoverable, include the full reference on the final page of the project. If the interview was found in a magazine, use the magazine structure. If the interview was read on a blog, use the blog structure. Look for the APA headings above that match your specific source type.

Don’t forget, our APA citation machine structures pretty much everything for you. Find it on EasyBib.com’s homepage and give our APA citation generator a try.

Didn’t find what you needed? Still a bit confused? Learn more here . You can also take the guesswork out of making your references with our handy APA citation generator, found at the top of this page.

Putting it All Together

You’ve structured your sources correctly, right? You have the periods, italics, and commas where they belong? Capital letters where they’re supposed to be? Great! You’re almost through! The last step is organizing your citations properly on the page. For easy to follow, in-depth instructions on structuring the last page in your project, check out our APA reference page . If you’d like to see a sample APA paper, check out the main guide for this style on EasyBib.com!

Before you hit submit, make sure you run your paper through our plagiarism checker . It checks for instances of accidental plagiarism and scans for spelling and grammatical errors. Even if you think you have every verb , adverb , or interjection where it belongs, you may be surprised with what our innovative technology suggests.

Visit our EasyBib Twitter feed to discover more citing tips, fun grammar facts, and the latest product updates.

Solution #1: How to cite a photo with no creator, date, or title in APA

• Describe the photo and place brackets around it.
• Add “n.d” with parentheses around it.
• List where the reference was found without italics.
• Follow with the URL information of where you found the photo if it was found online.

Example of a photo citation with no creator, date, or title

[Photograph of two hens in a barn]. (n.d). Theoretical Prints. http://Theoretical_Prints.org/two-hypothetical-hens/

Solution #2: How to cite a dictionary entry in APA

Dictionary entry in print

• List the organization or the author’s name in last name, first name initial, and middle name initial (if there is one) with a period following.
• Use n.d if the date is not listed.
• List the name of the dictionary term. Capitalize the first letter and use a period after.
• Write “In” followed by the name of the dictionary used. The dictionary name should be italicized.
• In parentheses, write the volume abbreviated as “Vol.” followed by the volume number and page number. Add a period after it.

Examples for a printed dictionary entry citation

Hypothetical Association of Learning. (2014). Cake. In The Hypothetical Learner’s Dictionary (Vol. 2, p. 3).

Johnson, C. K. (2014). Cake. In The Hypothetical Learner’s Dictionary (Vol. 2, p. 3).

Dictionary entry from an online source

• Use “n.d” if the date is not listed.
• Write the name of the dictionary in italics and follow it with a period.
• Write “Retrieved” then the date you accessed the entry online in this format: Month Day, Year. End it with a comma.
• Write “from” and add the page URL.

Examples for an online dictionary entry citation

Hypothetical Association of Learning. (2014). Cake. In The Hypothetical Learner’s Dictionary.   Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https;//dictionary.hypothetical.org/dictionary/English/cake

Johnson, C. K. (2014). Cake. In The Hypothetical Learner’s Dictionary. Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https;//dictionary.hypothetical.org/dictionary/English/cake

Solution #3: How to ensure that an auto-generated citation in APA style is correct

• Ensure that the correct number of people are accredited by counting the names in the source and the website citation.
• Ensure that all names are spelled correctly.
• If 2-20 authors are used, ensure that an ampersand is used before the last name.
• If more than twenty authors are used, ensure that an ellipsis is used before the final author.
• Check to make sure that the date is correct and that the month or year do not need to be adjusted.
• Generally, works cited as a whole, such as books, are written in italics, while shorter works that are part of a bigger work, such as a chapter in a book or articles from a periodical (e.g., journal, magazine, newspaper, etc.), are usually in regular font.
• The title of webpages are italicized, while the title of the site they are on is in regular font.
• Social media post citations use the written post content (up to 20 words) as the title. This “title” should be italicized.
• If using a chapter, make sure that the editor is accredited.
• If using an article, make sure that the journal number is italicized and that the volume number is in parentheses.
• Make sure that your links are active and that they bring you to the correct location. You may need to rewrite the link.

Published August 2, 2019. Updated March 10, 2020. 

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau . Michele Kirschenbaum is a dedicated school library media specialist and one of the in-house EasyBib librarians. Elise Barbeau is the Citation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing.

APA Formatting Guide

APA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Multiple Authors
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Parenthetical Citations
• Reference Page
• Sample Paper
• APA 7 Updates
• View APA Guide
• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all APA Examples

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Go to www.easybib.com and follow the directions to create a citation. After you create a citation or citation list, you can choose APA as your citation style (default is MLA). APA is a premium style, so you will need a subscription or trial to EasyBib Plus in order to create citations in APA. Upgrade your account at https://www.easybib.com/upgrade .

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

General Format

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Please use the example at the bottom of this page to cite the Purdue OWL in APA.

You can also watch our APA vidcast series on the Purdue OWL YouTube Channel .

General APA Guidelines

Your essay should be typed and double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5" x 11"), with 1" margins on all sides.   Include a page header (also known as the “ running head ”) at the top of every page. For a professional paper, this includes your paper title and the page number. For a student paper, this only includes the page number. To create a page header/running head , insert page numbers flush right. Then type "TITLE OF YOUR PAPER" in the header flush left using all capital letters. The running head is a shortened version of your paper's title and cannot exceed 50 characters including spacing and punctuation.

The 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual requires that the chosen font be accessible (i.e., legible) to all readers and that it be used consistently throughout the paper. It acknowledges that many font choices are legitimate, and it advises writers to check with their publishers, instructors, or institutions for guidance in cases of uncertainty.

While the APA Manual does not specify a single font or set of  fonts for professional writing, it does recommend a few fonts that are widely available. These include sans serif fonts such as 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, and 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode as well as serif fonts such as 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, 10-point Computer Modern.

Major Paper Sections

Your essay should include four major sections: the Title Page , Abstract , Main Body , and References .

Note: APA 7 provides slightly different directions for formatting the title pages of professional papers (e.g., those intended for scholarly publication) and student papers (e.g., those turned in for credit in a high school or college course).

The title page should contain the title of the paper, the author's name , and the institutional affiliation . A professional paper should also include the author note . A student paper should also include the course number and name , instructor name , and assignment due date .

Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half of the page. The title should be centered and written in boldface. APA recommends that your title be focused and succinct and that it should not contain abbreviations or words that serve no purpose. Your title may take up one or two lines. All text on the title page, and throughout your paper, should be double-spaced.

Beneath the title, type the author's name : first name, middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use titles (Dr.) or degrees (PhD).

Beneath the author's name, type the institutional affiliation , which should indicate the location where the author(s) conducted the research.

A professional paper should include the author note beneath the institutional affiliation, in the bottom half of the title page. This should be divided up into several paragraphs, with any paragraphs that are not relevant omitted. The first paragraph should include the author’s name, the symbol for the ORCID iD, and the URL for the ORCID iD. Any authors who do not have an ORCID iD should be omitted. The second paragraph should show any change in affiliation or any deaths of the authors. The third paragraph should include any disclosures or acknowledgements, such as study registration, open practices and data sharing, disclosure of related reports and conflicts of interest, and acknowledgement of financial support and other assistance. The fourth paragraph should include contact information for the corresponding author.

A student paper should not include an author note.

Note again that page headers/page numbers (described above for professional and student papers) also appear at the top of the title page. In other words, a professional paper's title page will include the title of the paper flush left in all capitals and the page number flush right, while a student paper will only contain the page number flush right.

Student APA title page

Title page for a student paper in APA 7 style.

Professional paper APA title page

Title page for a professional paper in APA 7 style.

Begin a new page. Your abstract page should already include the page header (described above). On the first line of the abstract page, center and bold the word “Abstract” (no italics, underlining, or quotation marks).

Beginning with the next line, write a concise summary of the key points of your research. (Do not indent.) Your abstract should contain at least your research topic, research questions, participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions. You may also include possible implications of your research and future work you see connected with your findings. Your abstract should be a single paragraph, double-spaced. Your abstract should typically be no more than 250 words.

You may also want to list keywords from your paper in your abstract. To do this, indent as you would if you were starting a new paragraph, type Keywords: (italicized), and then list your keywords. Listing your keywords will help researchers find your work in databases.

Abstracts are common in scholarly journal articles and are not typically required for student papers unless advised by an instructor. If you are unsure whether or not your work requires an abstract, consult your instructor for further guidance.

APA Abstract Page

Abstract page for a student paper in APA 7 style.

Please see our Sample APA Paper resource to see an example of an APA paper. You may also visit our Additional Resources page for more examples of APA papers.

How to Cite the Purdue OWL in APA

Individual resources.

The page template for the new OWL site does not include contributors' names or the page's last edited date. However, select pages  still include this information.

In the absence of contributor/edit date information, treat the page as a source with a group author and use the abbreviation "n.d." for "no date":

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.).  Title of resource.  Purdue Online Writing Lab. http://Web address for OWL resource

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.).  General Writing FAQs. Purdue Online Writing Lab. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/general_writing_faqs.html

The generic APA citation for OWL pages, which includes author/edit date information, is this:

Contributors' names. (Last edited date).  Title of resource . Site Name. http://Web address for OWL resource

Note:  This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style  can be found here .

Generate accurate APA citations for free

• Knowledge Base
• APA Style 7th edition
• Creating APA reference entries

How to Create or Generate APA Reference Entries (7th edition)

Published on November 5, 2020 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on January 17, 2024.

APA reference entries provide detailed information about a source. They’re listed on the reference page at the end of your paper and correspond to APA in-text citations in the body text.

You can easily generate APA references (and in-text citations) with Scribbr’s APA Citation Generator , but it’s helpful to have a general understanding of the composition of an APA reference. It enables you to review your own work and that of any tool you might be using.

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Table of contents

The four components of an apa reference, abbreviations in apa references.

Although the reference format differs depending on the type of source (e.g., a book, webpage, or video), they’re built from the same four components:

• Author : who is responsible for creating the work?
• Date : when was the work published?
• Title : what is the work called?
• Source : where can the work be retrieved?

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The author is responsible for creating the work. This can be an individual, multiple people, an organization (such as a company, government agency, or workgroup), or a combination of them. The author can be the writer of a text, but also the host of a podcast or the director of a movie.

Basic format

In an APA reference, the author’s name is inverted: start with the last name, followed by a comma and the initials, separated by a period and space.

Treat infixes, such as “Van” or “De”, as part of the last name. Don’t include personal titles such as Ph.D. or Dr., but do include suffixes.

• Smith, T . H . J .
• Van der Molen, R.
• Brown, A. T. W. , Jr.

Multiple authors

Separate the names of multiple authors with commas. Before the last author’s name, you should also insert an ampersand (&).

A reference entry may contain up to 20 authors. If there are more than 20, list the first 19 authors, followed by an ellipsis (. . .) and the last author’s name.

• Andreff, W. , & Staudohar, P. D.
• Andreff, W. , Staudohar, P. D. , & LaBrode, M.
• Miller, T. C., Brown, M. J., Wilson, G. L., Evans, B. B., Kelly, R. S., Turner, S. T., Lewis, F., Nelson, T. P., Cox, G., Harris, H. L., Martin, P., Gonzalez, W. L., Hughes, W., Carter, D., Campbell, C., Baker, A. B., Flores, T., Gray, W. E., Green, G. , . . . Lee, L. H.

Organizations or groups as author

When an organization or group is listed as the author of a source (e.g., a report or brochure ), list the name in full—don’t use abbreviations. If multiple organizations or groups are responsible for creating the work, include them all in the reference entry. Do not use a comma to separate two group authors.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (not CDC)
• Microsoft & Apple

An author’s name can also be a username (for example, a Twitter handle). If you don’t know the author’s real name, you only provide the username. If you do know the author’s real name, include the username in brackets after the author’s real name. Retain the @ symbol.

• Trump, D. J. [@RealDonaldTrump] .

Indication of roles

If contributors have a different role than “author”, a description of their role is sometimes (but not always) included in parentheses. Check the table below to learn when to provide a role description.

* Abbreviate the editor role to “Ed.” (one editor) or “Eds.” (multiple editors).

Unknown author

The author may not always be mentioned explicitly, but you can often infer it from the context. For example, an “About us” page on a website is usually written by the organization behind the website.

When you really cannot determine the author, you may omit the “author” component from the reference. The reference then begins with the source title, as in this Bible citation .

Note that legal citations (e.g. court cases , laws ) generally don’t have an author element.

The “date” component appears after the “author” component. Use the following guidelines to determine the publication date:

• For books, always take the copyright date.
• For journal articles, take the year in which the volume was published.
• For web pages, you may use the “Last updated” date if it applies to the content you’re citing. Don’t take the copyright date from the footer of a website.

The date of publication appears in parentheses and can take the following forms:

• (2020, January)
• (2020, January 15)
• (1997–1999)

In most cases, you only include the year of publication in the reference entry. Sources published more frequently (e.g., newspapers , blogs , YouTube videos ) or events taking place on specific dates (e.g., conferences , speeches ) usually include the full date.

Retrieval date

Only provide the retrieval date (i.e., the date you consulted the information) if a work is designed to change over time. Examples include:

• Online dictionary entries
• Social media profiles (not posts)
• Dashboards with statistics (like this world population counter )

The retrieval date appears after the source title and before the URL. Write the word “Retrieved” followed by the month, day, and year.

You do not need to include a retrieval date for an online newspaper article or blog post (like this one), even though the content might change a little over time. A retrieval date is also not needed if versions are archived, as is the case with Wikipedia articles .

Same author, same date

When citing multiple works from the same author, published in the same year, you need to add a lowercase letter after the year to distinguish between them. These lowercase letters are also included in the APA in-text citation .

• Cole, A. J. (2016 a ). Adoption of contactless payment solutions.
• Cole, A. J. (2016 b ). Trust differences between payment providers.

Assign the letters using the following rules:

• References with only a year precede those with more specific dates.
• References with specific dates are ordered chronologically.
• References with identical dates are ordered by their titles (disregard “A”, “An”, and “The”).

Unknown publication date

If the publication date is unknown, write “n.d.” for “no date” in place of the publication date.

In the “title” component, you write the name of the work that you’re citing. This can be the title of a journal or a book (i.e., a stand-alone work) or a specific article or chapter from that journal or book (i.e., a work that is part of a greater whole). In the latter case, you need to include two titles.

When citing a stand-alone work , its title appears in the “title” component , in italics and sentence case.

When citing a work that is part of a larger whole , the title of the work appears in the “title” component (sentence case, no styling) and the title of the larger whole appears in the “source” component (italicized).

Bracketed source descriptions

Descriptions help identify sources. You include them for pretty much every source type, except for books, journal articles, reports, websites and newspaper articles.

Place the description in square brackets after the source title but before the period. Capitalize the first letter of the description, but don’t italicize it. Try to keep the descriptions short and consistent.

Unknown title

If a work does not have a title, provide a description of it in square brackets in the place of the title.

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In the “source” component, you include information about where the work can be retrieved.

When citing a stand-alone work (e.g., a book or webpage), you include the name of the publisher, database, platform, or website (whichever is relevant to your source), and a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) or URL.

When citing a work that is part of a greater whole (e.g., an article in a journal), you include information about this greater whole, like its title, relevant edition, volume or issue information, relevant contributors (like editors), the page range and the publisher, as well as a DOI or URL of the work.

Title of the greater whole

The inclusion of titles is explained in the “title” component section . The title of the greater whole (e.g., a journal, newspaper, or edited book) is usually the first element in the “source” component and is italicized.

Edition information and volume and issue numbers

Books can have different editions, while periodicals (such as journals and magazines) usually have volume and issue numbers. This information appears after the title.

Put edition information in parentheses, but unlike the title, don’t italicize it.

Italicize the volume number and place it after the periodical title. The issue number appears after the volume number in parentheses (not italicized). Do not add a space between the volume and issue number.

Contributors

If there are relevant contributors other than the author of the work you’re citing, you need to credit them as well. The most common examples are editors of collections and translators of books in a foreign language.

Unlike the author component, the names of the contributors are not inverted. You introduce contributors with the word “In” right after the “title” component . Don’t forget to include a role description in parentheses.

Page range of the work

When citing a work that is part of a greater whole, you need to provide the page number or page range of that work. This makes retrieving it easier. Depending on the type of source, the page numbers are preceded by “p.” or “pp.” and placed in parentheses or not.

Publisher, database, platform, or website name

Depending on the type of source, you should include the name of the publisher, database, platform, or website responsible for distributing the work. When the author of a work is the same as the publisher or website name, you may omit this information.

Physical location

Some works are associated with a specific location—for example, an artwork in a museum or a conference presentation. In these cases, you include city and state/country in the reference.

Works that can be accessed online usually have a URL or DOI (digital object identifier) . A DOI is often used for scientific publications and books, while a URL is more common for other online publications.

Use the following guidelines:

• If available, always add a DOI
• A DOI is preferred over a URL (because it never changes)
• Include the protocol (http:// or https://) for both DOIs and URLs
• Do not add a period after the DOI or URL

Unknown source

If the source is unknown or not publicly available, the work that you’re citing cannot be retrieved by readers. In this case, you cannot include it as a reference entry. Instead, you should cite it as if it is personal communication .

To save space in the reference entry, some common parts of works are abbreviated. Pay attention to the differences in capitalization and punctuation.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Streefkerk, R. (2024, January 17). How to Create or Generate APA Reference Entries (7th edition). Scribbr. Retrieved April 8, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/reference-entry/

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