This page is based on the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
Important changes in APA 7:
The standard format for a journal article reference is:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xxxx
Rules for capitalization:
For in-text citations for articles, the standard format is:
(Author, Year)
Rules for what to include:
1 author:
Driessnack, M. (2009). Growing up at the intersection of the genomic era and the information age. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 24(3), 189-193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedn.2007.09.008
2 to 20 authors:
Richards, D., Caldwell, P. H., & Go, H. (2015). Impact of social media on the health of children and young people. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 51(12), 1152-1157. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpc.13023
21 or more authors:
List the first 19 authors, then an ellipsis, then the final author.
1 author:
(Driessnack, 2009)
2 authors:
(Marshall & Brockman, 2016)
3 or more authors:
(Richards et al., 2015)
What's a DOI?
It's the Digital Object Identifier, a unique alphanumeric code designed to make it easy to locate an article online.
Journal article citations should include a DOI if there is one. If you don't have a DOI for your article:
In APA 7, website or webpage is the category of last resort. You'll find lots of reports, images, theses, conference papers, etc. online, but their document type is what they are, not where you found them. Consult the APA manual for the appropriate reference example; only use website or webpage if no other example seems appropriate.
The standard format for a website reference is:
Author, A. A. (Date). Title of document. Site Name. http://xxx
Special rules:
For in-text citations for web sites, the standard format is the same as journal articles:
(Author, Date)
Special rules:
No publication or update date listed (include only dates of publication or last update, not dates when content was reviewed or copyright dates from footers):
Jordan, D., Tumpey, T., & Jester, B. (n.d.). The deadliest flu: The complete story of the discovery and reconstruction of the 1918 pandemic virus. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/reconstruction-1918-virus.html
No author listed (use title as first element):
The 1918 flu pandemic in Nebraska. (n.d.). History Nebraska. https://history.nebraska.gov/blog/1918-flu-pandemic-nebraska
Group author (so site name would be redundant):
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.) Influenza historic timeline. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/pandemic-timeline-1930-and-beyond.htm
Site may change regularly, so retrieval date is important:
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2020, March 20). Influenza pandemic of 1918-19. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/event/influenza-pandemic-of-1918-1919
(Jordan et al., n.d.)
(1918 Flu Pandemic, n.d.)
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], n.d.)
Note: this is the first instance of this in-text citation; because the abbreviation is defined, (CDC, n.d.) can be used in following in-text citations for this work. Doing this is optional.
(Editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020)
APA 7 no longer requires a fancy running head!
All you need is a page number in the upper right hand corner of every page, starting on the title page.
APA 7 has simplified the heading structure, too.
