APA Style, 7th Edition – Quick Guide

The American Psychological Association (APA) Style is a set of guidelines for the social and behavioral
sciences that helps authors present their ideas in a clear and organized manner. Using a uniform and
consistent style allows readers to focus on the content and quickly scan works for key points and
sources.
Remember to follow the instructions of your professor even if it differs from the information you find in
this guide.
Important changes in the 7th edition that differ from the 6th edition are highlighted below in yellow.

General Format Guidelines

Structure
Student papers require the following sections:
 title page,
 text or body of the paper, and
 references page.

Note: Student papers no longer require a running head or an abstract.

Style
Apply the following styles to your paper.
 Double-space your paper including the title page and reference page.
 Use 1-inch margins
 Use left-alignment for the text; do not justify the alignment on the right side of the page.
 The following font-size combinations are acceptable:
o 10-point Lucinda
o 11-point Arial,
o 11-point Calibri,
o 11-point Georgia, and
o 12-point Times New Roman.
 Add page numbers in the top right corner (including the title page which will be page 1).
 All section headings are bold. (Note: The introduction does not have a section heading.)

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Title Page
Title pages contain the following elements:
 title of the paper (in bold),
 name of the author(s),
 department and school name,
 course number and name,
 instructor name,
 assignment due date, and
 a page number.
See the following example.

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 In-Text Citations
Every time you summarize, paraphrase, or quote one of your sources, you will use an in-text citation.
This tells your reader from which of your references you are drawing this information. The in-text
citation provides the last name of the author(s) and the year the source was published.

Parenthetical Citation
The parenthetical citation is the most common form of in-text citation.
Example:
Students produce better oral history projects when they have a personal interest in the topic (Ebner,
1976).

Narrative Citation
You can also mention the author’s name in the text of your sentence if it is important for your reader to
know whose ideas you are using, or if you are comparing or contrasting ideas from different sources.
Example:
Ebner (1976) argues that students produce better oral history projects when they have a personal
interest in the topic.

Number of Authors
In-text citations will change depending on the number of authors your information sources have. The
following table explains these changes.

Number of Authors Parenthetical Citation Narrative Citation

One Author (Berger, 2016). Berger (2016)…

Two Authors (Moore & Lloyd, 2008). Moore and Lloyd (2008)…

Three or More Authors (Troyan et al., 2017). Troyan et al. (2017)…

Only list the name of the first author if there are three or more and then add the abbreviation “et al.”
Also note that the use of an ampersand (“&”) in the parenthetical citation only.

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 Reference Page Citations
The citations on your reference page provide all of the information needed to find and identify your
sources. Each source will only be listed once on the reference page.
The reference page is formatted as follows:
 begin the reference page on a new page,
 References (the title of this page) is centered and in bold,
 the sources are listed alphabetically by the last name of the first author,
 double-space the references,
 each source is formatted with a hanging indentation, and
 in the title and subtitle, only capitalize proper names and the first letter of the first word.
See the following example.

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The following examples explain how bibliographic citations are different depending on the number of
authors, type of source, and other factors.

Number of Authors
The rules are different for listing authors compared to in-text citations. All author names are listed in
citations on the reference page unless there are more than 20 authors.

One Author:
Last name, A. A. (year).

Two Authors:
Last name, A. A., & Last name, B. B. (year).

Three to Twenty Authors:

Last name, A. A., Last name, B. B., & Last name, C. C. (year).

More than Twenty Authors:

List the first 19 author names then add an ellipsis (…) followed by the name of the very last author.
Last name, A. A., Last name, B. B., & Last name, C. C., Last name, D. D., Last name, E. E., & Last name, F.
F., Last name, G. G., Last name, H. H., & Last name, I. I., Last name, J. J., Last name, K. K., & Last name, L.
L., Last name, M. M., Last name, N. N., & Last name, O. O., Last name, P. P., Last name, Q. Q., & Last
name, R. R., Last name, S. S. …Last name, Z. Z. (year).

Books
Format:
Last name, A. A. (year). Title of work: Subtitle follows same capitalization rules. Publisher.

Example:
Moore, A. & Lloyd, D. (2008). V for vendetta. Vertigo.

Electronic Version of Printed Books

Electronic sources should include a DOI (digital object identifier). Write the DOI as a hyperlink beginning
with “https://doi.org/” and then add the number. Omit this if the DOI does not exist – do not provide
the database URL in this situation.
Example:
Morin, C. (2018). The gothic novel in Ireland: C. 1760-1829. Manchester University Press.

https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv3zp024

Note: Do not add the phrases “Retrieved from” or “doi:” for DOIs or URLs.

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Book with Multiple Editions
Example:
Francis, P., & Oppenheimer, C. (2004). Volcanoes (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Book with Editors

Example:
Gonzalez, M., & Barekat, H. (Eds.). (2013). Arms and the people: Popular movements and military from

the Paris Commune to the Arab Spring. Pluto Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt183gzws

Chapter in an Edited Book

Example:
Gallagher, M. (2009). Aimé Césaire and francophone postcolonial thought. In C. Forsdick & D. Murphy

(Eds.), Postcolonial thought in the French speaking world. Liverpool University Press.

Journal or Magazine Articles in Print or from a Database

This example contains the rules for listing both the volume number and issue number, but not all
journals have an issue number. When this is the case, simply omit the issue number and parentheses.
Note that the volume number is italicized but the issue number is not.
Format:
Author, A. A. (year). Title of article. Title of Journal or Magazine, volume #(issue #), page numbers.

https://doi.org/000000.00000

Example:
Fleck, L. M., & Murphy, T. F. (2018). First come first serve in the intensive care unit: Always? Cambridge

Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 27(1), 52-61. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963180117000391

Note: Do not provide the database URL if the DOI does not exist.

Include the year, month, and day for magazine articles if they are provided.
Example:
Fairley, P. (2015, October 29). Energy storage: Power revolution. Nature, 526, 102-104.

https://doi.org/10.1038/526S102a
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Articles from a Newspaper or Magazine’s Website
Example:
Pollock, N. (2018, March 16). Virginia’s juvenile justice reform. The Atlantic.

https://www.theatlantic.com/projects/juvenile-justice

Printed Newspaper Articles

Example:
Benner, K. (2019, July 20). More than 3,000 inmates freed under criminal justice law. The New York

Times, A11.

Encyclopedia or Dictionary Articles with an Author

Example:
Partanen, E., & Virtala, P. (2017). Prenatal sensory development. In B. Hopkins & R. G. Barr (Eds.), The

Cambridge encyclopedia of child development (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Encyclopedia or Dictionary Articles without an Author

Example:
Federal Reserve System. (2015). In T. Riggs (Ed.), The Gale encyclopedia of U.S. economic history (2nd

ed.). Gale.

Report Authored by an Organization

Example:
Stanford History Education Group. (2016). Evaluating information: The cornerstone of civic online

learning. https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/SHEG-Evaluating-Information-Online

Web Page without a Date

Create a separate reference for each webpage you use from a website.
Example:
Office of the Governor. (n.d.). Meet the governor. http://gov.louisiana.gov/page/meet-the-governor

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Social Media
Indicate the type of social media post in brackets, such as video, Tweet, status update, etc.
YouTube Example:
Mischief. (2018, December 26). Is fantasy football just D&D for jocks [Video]. YouTube.

https://youtu.be/wo-Da8wUhoA

Twitter Example:
Center for Disease Control [@CDCgov]. (2014, October 17). #Ebola is not spread through casual contact,

air, water or any food grown or legally purchased in US [Tweet]. Twitter.

https://twitter.com/CDCgov/status/523099981734248448

Facebook Example:
Indicate if a link, image, video, or other media is shared or attached to a post in brackets.

Wheaton, W. (2019, October 23). I don't know how long this will last, but right now, you can hear whales

singing to each other on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's hydrophone [Link attached] [Status

update]! Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/itswilwheaton/posts/2330655153727680

Find rules for other types of social media posts in the “More Resources” section below.

More Resources
If you need further assistance with APA style, check out the APA Style website.

Note: As of January 2020, the Purdue OWL website only has information for the older 6th edition of APA,
and is therefore outdated.

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