APA Citation Generator

APA 7th edition references and in-text citations for websites, books and journal articles.

Style

Source

Authors

TitleType it as it appears; the generator handles capitalisation for MLA and Chicago. Website name Journal name YearLeave blank if there is no date Month Day Volume Issue Pages EditionLeave blank for a first edition Publisher DOI URLBooks and articles: only if read online without a DOI Date accessedNeeded for undated pages Page(s) you are citingOptional — added to the in-text citation

Reference list entry ·

In-text citation

Parenthetical

Narrative

APA 7th edition: the rules the generator follows

Authors: family name and initials (Grady, J. S.). List up to 20 authors with an ampersand before the last; with 21 or more, list the first 19, an ellipsis, then the final author.
In text: one or two authors are always named (Smith & Jones, 2021); three or more become “et al.” from the first citation (Grady et al., 2019).
Titles: sentence case for articles, books and web pages; title case and italics for journal names. Book and web-page titles are italic; article titles are not.
Journal articles: italic volume number, issue in brackets, en dash in page ranges, and the DOI as a full https://doi.org/ link.
No date: “n.d.”. A retrieval date is only added for pages designed to change, such as an undated web page — the generator adds one when you give an access date and no publication date.
Publisher location is no longer included in the 7th edition.

APA citation examples

These examples are produced by the generator above, so what you see here is exactly what it gives you.

Book

Yu, C. (2020). Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books.

In text: (Yu, 2020) or Yu (2020)

Journal article

Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

In text: (Grady et al., 2019) or Grady et al. (2019)

Web page

UCAS. (n.d.). How to write your personal statement: 2026 entry onwards. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://www.ucas.com/applying/applying-to-university/writing-your-personal-statement/how-to-write-your-personal-statement-for-2026-entry-onwards

In text: (UCAS, n.d.) or UCAS (n.d.)

Setting out your references

Start the list on a new page headed References.
Sort it alphabetically by the first word of each entry (the generator's saved list does this for you).
Use a hanging indent: the first line of each entry at the margin, later lines indented by 0.5 inch (1.27 cm).
Use the same font, size and line spacing as the rest of your essay.

Not sure your title capitalisation is right? Our title case converter has APA, MLA and Chicago modes.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

When do I use et al. in APA 7?

In the text, for three or more authors, from the very first citation: (Grady et al., 2019). In the reference list, write out up to 20 authors.

Does APA 7 need a retrieval date?

Only for sources that are designed to change and are not archived, such as an undated web page that is updated over time. Most web pages and all DOI sources need no retrieval date.

Is the citation generator free and private?

Yes. It runs entirely in your browser, needs no account, and nothing you type is uploaded. Your saved list is stored in this browser only.

Will the formatting paste into Word or Google Docs?

Yes. Copy keeps italics when you paste into Word, Google Docs or Pages. Set a hanging indent of 0.5 inch (1.27 cm) on your reference list yourself.