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APA citation generator

Format references in APA 7th edition — the author–date style required across psychology, education, nursing, business and most social sciences. Enter the details once or paste BibTeX/RIS, and copy the finished reference.

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Who uses APA style

APA (American Psychological Association) style is the most widely required citation style in academic publishing. The current 7th edition (2020) is standard in psychology, education, the social and behavioral sciences, nursing and business — and many journals outside those fields use APA-like author–date variants.

APA 7th edition at a glance

Reference-list example

Chen, M., & Okafor, J. (2023). Sleep deprivation and working memory. Cognitive Science, 47(2), 112–139. https://doi.org/10.1234/example

In-text citation

Working memory declines under acute sleep loss (Chen & Okafor, 2023) — or: Chen and Okafor (2023) found…

The rules that trip people up

  • Authors as surname + initials (Chen, M.), joined with an ampersand before the last author in the reference list — but "and" in the narrative text.
  • Up to 20 authors are listed in full; for 21+ list the first 19, an ellipsis, then the final author.
  • Article titles in sentence case (only the first word, proper nouns, and the word after a colon capitalized); journal names in Title Case and italics.
  • Volume in italics, issue in parentheses (not italicized), then page range: 47(2), 112–139.
  • Include the DOI as a https://doi.org/ link whenever one exists; no "Retrieved from" for stable sources.
  • In-text: (Author, Year) — add page numbers only for direct quotes: (Chen & Okafor, 2023, p. 120). Three or more authors are "et al." from the first citation.

Frequently asked questions

What changed from APA 6 to APA 7?
The changes students hit most: up to 20 authors listed in full (was 7), no "Retrieved from" before DOIs/URLs, DOIs formatted as https://doi.org/ links, publisher location no longer required for books, and "et al." now applies from the first in-text citation for three or more authors.
How do I cite a website in APA 7?
Author or organization, date (use n.d. if none), page title in italics, site name, and the URL. Example: World Health Organization. (2024). Physical activity fact sheet. WHO. https://... — choose "Web page" as the source type in the generator.
Does the generator handle "et al." rules automatically?
Yes — reference-list truncation for 21+ authors and the ampersand rules are applied automatically. In-text citation shapes are shown alongside so you can copy the right form for narrative or parenthetical use.

Other citation styles

MLAChicagoHarvardIEEEVancouverAll styles

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In Kahubi, your library carries the metadata: the agent cites papers as it writes in APA style, and the bibliography always matches the in-text citations — in LaTeX or rich text.

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