Skip to Main Content

APA Citation Guide: References, Templates, and Examples for APA 7E

A guide for the American Psychological Association (APA) citation style.

APA Manual

For more detailed information and examples, please see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Call number: BF76.7 .P83 2020. A sample student paper can be found on pages 61-67; a sample professional paper for publication can be found on pages 50-60.

Printable PDF
APA Citation Guide

Tips Before Turning It In

Before submitting your paper to the instructor, be sure to review these tips and make corrections to your reference list.

 

  • If your instructor’s preferred style differs from this suggested style, always follow your instructor’s directions.
  • All references are double-spaced.
  • Do not indent the first line in each citation, but indent all the following lines, which is called a hanging indent. (Ctrl+T in MS Word/Cmd+T Word for Macs.)
  • Use initials for first and middle names, even if the entire name is provided.
  • In the article and book title, capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle, and any proper nouns.
  • In the article title, do not underline or use quotation marks.
  • Italicize the book/journal/magazine/newspaper name and the volume number, but not Web site.
  • Journal, magazines, and newspaper titles are in title case and in italics. Web site names are only title case.
  • Include month and year for monthly magazines; include date for weekly magazines, daily newspapers, or Web pages (if available).
  • p. [page] and pp. [pages] are included only in newspaper articles, book chapters, and journals that do not use volume numbers.
  • Months are spelled out rather than abbreviated.
  • Do not end the citation with a period if it ends in a URL or DOI.
  • Space once after commas, colons, semicolons, punctuation marks at the ends of sentences, periods that separate parts of a reference citation, and after the periods of the initials in personal names.
  • Do not manually break DOIs or URLs. If your word processor does it automatically, that's fine. If it moves it to a new line, that's fine.
  • Journal/magazine/newspaper title is title case, neither article title nor book title is in title case.
  • All URLs or DOIs should be functional. It may use the default blue underline in word processors or it may be plain text.
  • When citing a Web page, the page should be in italics, while the site it not.

Templates and Example Citations

Below are several templates in order of APA's preference. Use the most relevant one for you and plug in the citation information. Examples follow the templates. All citations should be double-spaced with a hanging indent (Ctrl+T).

 

Templates of Journal Article Citations (in order of preference)

Author(s). (year). Article title. Name of Journal, volume(issue), page-page. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxx

Author(s). (year). Article title. Name of Journal, volume(issue), page-page.

Author(s). (year). Article title. Name of Journal, volume(issue), page-page. Name of Site. http://URL_copied_specifically_from article

 

All citations should be double spaced and with a hanging indent (Ctrl+T).

Examples of Journal Articles Citations (in order of preference)
Citation Type Example
One Author, Journal Article with DOI
Sorrell, E. (1999). Information competency programs in the CSU

 

         system. Journal of Higher Education, 32(2), 33-52. 

 

         https://doi.org/1080.146JHE.32abcxyz
Two Authors, Monthly Magazine Article, article URL

Wobick, K., & Hernandez, J. (2020, July). Business sources for

          education majors. Education Graduate Students Magazine,

          127, 12-19. http://coe.csusb.edu/edgradmag/article
No Author, Newspaper Article

Self-esteem linked to regular exercise. (2000, January 2). Coyote

          Express.  http://www.coyoteexpress.edu/self-esteemexercise.html
Web Page, Undated

Bartle, L. (n.d.). Explanation of awards. Database of Award-Winning

          Children's Literature.   http://www.dawcl.com/awards/html

 

Templates of Books, Essays, and ERIC Documents

Author(s). (year). Book title (edition if given). Publisher.
Author(s). (year). Book title (edition if given). Publisher. https:xxxxx
Author(s). (year). Essay title. In Editor (Ed.), Book title (pp. #-#). Publisher.

 

All citations should be double spaced and with a hanging indent. (Ctrl+T)

Examples of Books, Essays, and ERIC Documents Citations 
Citation Type Example
E-book with edition

Tschabrun, S. (1995). African history resources on the continent

          (2nd ed.). Divine Press.
Book with edition, no author

New York Public Library American history desk reference (4th ed.).

          (2010). Macmillan.
Corporate author same as publisher

American Psychological Association. (2019). Publication manual

          of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).
Essay in edited book, signed forewords, prefaces, introductions, afterwords, and two editors

Vassilakos-Long, J. (1990). Effective use of government documents.

          In C. A. Caballero & B. Barrett (Eds.), Collected essays on

          library resources (pp. 35-48). Library Press International.
ERIC document (ED), three authors

Bourquin, D., Bartle, L., & Quarton, B. (1978). A resource for graduate

          students, instructors, and librarians (ED875222). American

          Association for Counseling and Development. ERIC.

          https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED87522.pdf

 

Open Access Journal Articles Without Pagination

If the open-access journal does not have continuous pagination, but uses article numbers instead, format it as show below.

 

McIntosh, K., Girvan, E. J., Horner, R. H., & Smolkowski, K. (2014). Education not incarceration: A conceptual

         model for reducing racial and ethnic disproportionality in school discipline. Journal of Applied Research

         on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk, 5(2), Article 4. ERIC.

         http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1188503.pdf