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APA Citation Generator
APA 7th edition references and in-text citations, built from the source record rather than from a guess.
Paste a DOI, ISBN, or title
Enter the details yourself
Use this for a web page, a lecture, or anything the databases do not hold. A browser cannot read another site's page details, so a URL has to be filled in by hand.
Your reference list
What APA 7 changed
The seventh edition dropped the publisher location, so a book ends at the publisher name. It lists up to twenty authors before abbreviating, where the sixth edition stopped at seven. It writes "https://doi.org/10.xxxx" as a plain link rather than prefixing "doi:". And it treats the ampersand as belonging to the reference list only — in running prose you write "and".
If a marker's handout still shows the older forms, follow the handout. Departments update at their own pace.
Sentence case, and why it needs checking
APA puts article and book titles in sentence case: only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns take a capital. Journal names are the exception and keep title case.
This is the one rule no generator can fully automate. Software cannot tell that "Victorian" is a proper adjective or that "Fox" is part of a character's name. The tool preserves acronyms and names introduced by a title such as Dr. or Mr., then lowercases the rest — so read the title once before you paste it.
Parenthetical and narrative citations
APA 7 distinguishes two in-text forms. The parenthetical puts everything in brackets: (Wineburg & McGrew, 2019). The narrative puts the author into your sentence: Wineburg and McGrew (2019) argue that... Note the ampersand in the first and the word "and" in the second.
Three or more authors take "et al." from the first citation onwards. Two authors are always both named.
Where the reference list sits
The reference list starts on a new page titled References, centered and bold. Entries are alphabetical by the first author's surname, double-spaced, with a hanging indent of half an inch. Every source cited in the text appears there, and nothing that is not cited does.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the APA 7 format for a journal article?
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the article in sentence case. Journal Name in Title Case, Volume(Issue), page range. https://doi.org/xxxxx — with the journal name and volume number in italics.
How many authors before et al. in APA 7?
In the reference list, up to twenty are named in full; from twenty-one you give the first nineteen, an ellipsis, then the last. In the text, three or more become "et al." straight away.
Does APA 7 still need the publisher's city?
No. The seventh edition removed the publisher location, so a book reference ends with the publisher's name.
How do I cite a source with no author in APA?
Move the title into the author position and follow it with the date. In the text, use a shortened title in place of the surname.
Do I capitalize the title in APA?
Only the first word, the first word after a colon or dash, and proper nouns. Journal names are the exception and keep title case.
What is a hanging indent?
The first line of each reference sits at the margin and every following line is indented half an inch, so surnames line up down the page.
Is the APA citation generator free to use?
Yes, with no account. It runs in your browser and takes its data from Crossref and Open Library.