APA 7 citation: guide with examples

Fact-checked by Benjamin Lohrer, editor at corrected.eu · Last updated: 9 September 2026

Citing in APA 7 correctly: explained simply

You are sitting in front of your bachelor's thesis, you have written a good thought, and then you realise that you actually had a source that already says exactly that. This is what citation rules are for. Alongside footnote systems, the American APA system has become the most widely used way of citing, above all in psychology, business, education and many of the social sciences. In this guide we show you how to cite cleanly in APA 7, with examples, a step-by-step logic and the most common stumbling blocks. The finished APA reference at the push of a button is available from the citation generator.

What is APA and when do I need it?

APA stands for "American Psychological Association". The association published its first style guidelines in 1929, and the current edition is the 7th edition from 2020. APA is not a law but a convention, though one that most international journals follow. If your university or examiner asks for "APA style" or "APA 7", this is the standard they mean: a short reference directly in the text and a complete reference list at the end.

Which style to use is usually stated in your department's guidelines or module handbook. Before you start writing it is worth a quick look: nothing is more annoying than having to reformat all your sources two weeks before the deadline because your department wanted Harvard or Chicago after all. If the requirement is APA, the 7th edition has applied since 2020. Older guides to the 6th edition (see below) differ on several points.

APA 7 at a glance: patterns for each source type

The table shows, for the ten most common source types, what goes in the text and what goes in the reference list. Each row is explained in the matching section below.

The title of the whole work is always in italics: the book title for a book, the name of the journal for an article. APA 7 no longer requires the place of publication.

Direct quotation in APA style

A direct quotation takes a statement word for word from a source. It stands in double quotation marks, followed by author, year and page number in brackets. Important: even a single changed letter means it is no longer a direct quotation but a paraphrase. You then need no quotation marks, but you still need the citation.

For direct quotations of 40 words or more, APA 7 uses a block quotation: no quotation marks, an indented paragraph, and the citation after the final full stop. This quickly becomes heavy in running text. If you often need such long direct quotations, a paraphrase is usually the cleaner solution.

Paraphrase in APA style

A paraphrase reproduces the meaning in your own words. APA 7 basically requires only author and year, and a page number is "encouraged" but not mandatory. Many universities require it anyway, so if in doubt, include it, and nothing can go wrong.

A good paraphrase changes not only individual words but the sentence structure. Rewriting "Schmidt says: learning takes place when …" as "Learning takes place when … (Schmidt, 2022)" is not paraphrasing: it is a hidden direct quotation and is usually picked up by plagiarism software. See also how to avoid plagiarism.

Citing a book

For a book (monograph) you need the author, year, title in italics, edition (if not the first) and publisher. APA 7 no longer includes the place of publication, which is one of the most important changes from APA 6.

Book chapter and edited volume

If you cite only a single contribution from an edited book, the order is: chapter author, year, chapter title, editors, book title in italics, page range, publisher.

Citing a journal article

For a journal article, the reference also contains the journal name (in italics), volume and issue number and, if available, the DOI. APA 7 requires the DOI as a URL without the "doi:" prefix.

For two authors, APA joins them with "&" (in the reference list and inside the brackets in the text). For three or more authors, since APA 7 the text needs only the first author plus "et al." (previously this applied only from six authors).

Citing a web source

Web sources are the most common stumbling block. APA 7 distinguishes between web pages without a fixed author (for example news articles, authority pages) and pieces with an identifiable author. What matters is that online sources also need a date. If the page shows none, you write "n.d." (no date), but in a scholarly thesis this should be the exception.

Citing a web source correctly does not make it last for ever, because pages change. APA 7 therefore recommends giving a retrieval date only if the content can visibly change (for example a Wikipedia article). For a stable PDF report or a press release with a fixed date, no retrieval date is needed.

Citing ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI sources

Since 2023, APA has had an official recommendation for handling chatbots. The idea: the text generated by an AI tool is the output of an algorithm, and other people cannot retrieve it. APA 7 still wants it cited as soon as you rely on an AI answer for content, with the developer as author.

Be careful: an AI source does not replace a scholarly source. ChatGPT repeatedly invents studies that do not exist, so every supposed reference must be verified against the original literature. If you want to be on the safe side, have your work checked with an AI detector before it goes to the university.

YouTube, podcasts and other video sources

For a YouTube video, the author is the channel name (or the person who uploaded it), followed by the date, title in italics, platform name and URL.

Podcasts are treated in a similar way: host as author, date, episode title, episode number in brackets, name of the podcast, platform and URL.

Social media posts (X, LinkedIn, Instagram)

APA 7 accepts social media as a citable source as long as the information is public. The reference list gives the real name (if known) and the username in square brackets. Posts are marked "[Post]" or "[Tweet]".

The reference list in APA 7

The reference list comes at the end of the thesis, sorted alphabetically by surname. For several works by one author, sort chronologically (oldest first). A hanging indent is standard: the first line flush left and all further lines indented by 1.27 cm. In Word you find this under "Paragraph, Special, Hanging".

Three things are often forgotten: (1) for several works by the same author in the same year, entries are marked "a", "b", "c" (Schmidt, 2022a). (2) DOIs are written without "doi:" but with the full URL prefix ("https://doi.org/..."). (3) Places of publication have been dropped since APA 7: anyone who still writes "Berlin: Beltz" is citing in APA 6 style. More on the structure is in our guide to the bibliography.

Word, Citavi and Zotero: which tool for APA 7?

Three common tools take the mechanical formatting off your hands. Word has a built-in source manager (References tab) that is enough for an essay, and APA 7 has been included since Office 2021, while older versions often offer only APA 6. Citavi is licensed free of charge at many German universities and supports APA 7 natively, and its big plus is knowledge organisation with quotations and tags. Zotero is open source, runs on every platform and has the most accurate APA 7 style.

Whichever tool you use, do not rely blindly on its output. Tools make mistakes above all with German edited volumes, publisher names with special characters and non-English journals. A spot check for each source type is a must. Professional proofreading and editing or bachelor's thesis proofreading almost always includes a plausibility check of the citations.

APA 6 vs. APA 7: the most important changes

If you still find old guides, take care. The five most relevant changes since 2020 are:

• Places of publication are dropped from the reference list.
• For three or more authors, the text needs only the first author plus "et al." (previously: from six authors).
• The DOI is given as a full URL, no longer with a "doi:" prefix.
• There is a dedicated recommendation on pronouns and inclusive language.
• Web pages and social media posts have a clearly defined entry type.

Common mistakes when citing in APA

In editing practice we see four classics. If you know them, you can avoid them.

• Quotations without a page number, although the department requires them: APA 7 allows it, but many universities do not.
• "Forgetting" a citation after rewording. That is plagiarism, not an oversight, and is often detected.
• Inconsistent mixing: one work with a DOI, the next without, although both have one.
• "&" outside the brackets in the text ("Becker & Klein show …"). Outside brackets you write "and".

You can also find more typical pitfalls in our guide to the citation styles. A systematic check of your sources combines well with proofreading and editing: the editor looks not only at language but also at formal consistency in the reference list.

Checking APA 7 in three steps

Start with the citation in the text: author or organisation, year and, for direct quotations, a page reference must match the source used. Then look for the same name and the same year in the reference list. Finally check the source type, because journal articles, web pages, books and datasets have different mandatory details. A DOI is given as a working DOI URL, and an ordinary URL only if the APA source type provides for it.

APA is a fully developed author-date style. If your university requires a different style or a local variation, that requirement applies. The comparison of citation styles sorts parenthetical citations, footnotes and numeric systems from one another. Once the APA rules are applied, a citation check can show suspicious matches with possible original sources.