Your APA 7 Citation
APA 7th Edition — Key Rules
Essential formatting rules you need to know.
Authors
Up to 20 authors listed in the reference. For 21+, list the first 19, then ellipsis (…), then the last author. In-text: 3+ authors → et al. from the first citation.
DOI Format
Format as a URL: https://doi.org/xxxxx — no "DOI:" label or "Retrieved from" prefix. If no DOI, use the journal's homepage URL.
URLs
No "Retrieved from" prefix before URLs. Include the full URL. If the URL is likely to change, add "Retrieved [Month Day, Year], from [URL]".
Books
No publisher location required. Title in italics with sentence case. Edition in parentheses after title: (2nd ed.).
Titles & Capitalization
Use sentence case for article and book titles (only capitalize the first word and proper nouns). Italicize book titles and journal names.
Running Head
Running head is omitted in student papers. Only required for manuscripts being submitted for publication.
APA 6 vs APA 7 — What Changed
Key differences between the 6th and 7th editions (released October 2019).
| Element | APA 6th Edition | APA 7th Edition |
|---|---|---|
| Author limit in references | OLD Up to 7 authors, then et al. |
NEW Up to 20 authors, then ellipsis + last author |
| Publisher location (books) | OLD City, State: Publisher |
NEW Publisher only (no location) |
| DOI format | OLD doi:10.xxxx/xxx |
NEW https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxx |
| URLs | OLD "Retrieved from https://..." |
NEW Just the URL, no "Retrieved from" |
| In-text et al. | OLD 3+ authors → et al. from 1st citation |
NEW 3+ authors → et al. from 1st citation (same, but now 2 authors never use et al.) |
| Running head | OLD Required for all papers |
NEW Only for manuscripts submitted for publication |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common APA citation questions answered.
When there is no author, move the title to the author position. For a website:
Title of page. (Year, Month Day). Site Name. URL. In-text, use the title (shortened if long) in place of the author's name. If no date is available, use (n.d.) in place of the year.
For one author:
(Smith, 2023). For two authors: (Smith & Jones, 2023). For three or more authors: (Smith et al., 2023) — use et al. from the very first citation. Do not spell out all authors for 3+ in APA 7.
A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a permanent link to a journal article or academic document. It usually looks like
10.1000/xyz123. You can find it on the article's abstract page, in the PDF header, or by searching on doi.org. In APA 7, format it as https://doi.org/10.1000/xyz123.
APA (American Psychological Association) is used primarily in social sciences, psychology, education, and nursing. MLA (Modern Language Association) is used in humanities and literature. Key differences: APA puts the year after the author name
(Author, Year); MLA puts page numbers (Author Page). APA uses a "References" list; MLA uses "Works Cited."
No. APA 7 removed the "Retrieved from" prefix for most URLs. Just include the full URL at the end of the citation. The only exception is content that changes over time (like wikis) — in that case, add "Retrieved [Month Day, Year], from [URL]" so the reader knows when you accessed it.