APA Citation Rules & Examples – Complete Guide
Learn APA 7th edition citation rules with examples. Covers in-text citations, reference list formatting, author rules, DOI formatting, and capitalization—with sample entries for every source type.
APA citation rules cover two areas: in-text citations (which appear within your paper) and reference list entries (which appear at the end). APA 7th edition (2020) has clear, consistent rules for both—once you understand the core principles, formatting becomes much more intuitive.
Core APA In-Text Citation Rules
APA in-text citations follow author-date format: (Author, Year) for paraphrasing or summarizing, and (Author, Year, p. X) for direct quotes. Key rules: (1) Two authors: list both—(Smith & Jones, 2023); (2) Three or more: use "et al."—(Smith et al., 2023); (3) No author: use abbreviated title in quotes—("Title Fragment," 2023); (4) No date: use n.d.—(Smith, n.d.); (5) Corporate/group authors: spell out fully first time with abbreviation—(American Psychological Association [APA], 2020)—then use abbreviation alone.
APA Reference List Rules
Every APA reference entry follows the same pattern: Author. (Year). Title. Source. For authors: list last name first, followed by initials only (not full first names). For titles: use sentence case (capitalize only first word, proper nouns, and first word after a colon). For journals: italicize journal name and volume number, not article title. For books: italicize title, include edition if not first, list publisher without location. For digital sources: always include DOI when available; use URL only when no DOI exists.
APA Capitalization Rules for Titles
APA has different capitalization rules depending on what you're formatting. Article and book titles in the reference list: sentence case only (first word + proper nouns). Journal names: title case (capitalize every major word). In-text when writing about titles: use the title as listed; shorten long titles by using the first few words in quotes. Titles in abstracts or headings: follow the same sentence case rule. This differs from MLA, which uses title case for all titles—a common source of errors when switching between styles.
APA Rules for Page Numbers and Pagination
When to include page numbers in APA: (1) In-text for direct quotes: (Smith, 2023, p. 45) for single page or (Smith, 2023, pp. 45–47) for page range; (2) Reference list for journal articles: list the full page range—45–67; (3) Reference list for book chapters: include the page range of the chapter in parentheses after editor info—(pp. 23–41); (4) For online sources without page numbers, use paragraph numbers instead: (Smith, 2023, para. 3) or a section heading: (Smith, 2023, Discussion section).
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