APA Reference Formatter (Simple)
How it works
APA (American Psychological Association) citation format is the standard in social sciences, psychology, education, and nursing. APA 7th edition (2020) introduced significant changes from the 6th edition, including new rules for author names, DOIs, and online sources. The APA Reference Formatter generates correctly formatted references for the most common source types.
**General format structure** Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of work. Publisher. DOI/URL
**Books** Author, A. (Year). *Title of book: Subtitle if applicable* (edition number, if not first ed.). Publisher.
**Journal articles (APA 7th)** Author, A., & Author, B. (Year). Title of article. *Journal Name, volume*(issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xxxxx Note: APA 7th no longer requires "Retrieved from" for most URLs; DOIs are always hyperlinked as https://doi.org/
**Websites** Author, A. (Year, Month Day). *Title of webpage*. Site Name. URL
**In-text citations** Parenthetical: (Smith, 2023) or (Smith & Jones, 2023) for two authors; (Smith et al., 2023) for 3+. Narrative: Smith (2023) found that...
**APA 7th vs. 6th key changes** - Up to 20 authors now listed (not just first 6 + "et al.") - "et al." starts from 3 authors (was 6) - Running head on title page only (not every page) - DOIs formatted as active hyperlinks - Location of publisher removed for books
Privacy: all formatting runs in the browser. No text is transmitted.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Key APA 7th edition (2020) changes: (1) Author limit: list up to 20 authors before 'et al.' (was 6 in 6th ed.). (2) Et al.: use from 3+ authors in citations (was 6+). (3) DOIs: formatted as hyperlinks https://doi.org/xxxxx (not 'doi:' or 'Retrieved from'). (4) Running head: only required on title page for student papers (not every page). (5) Publisher location: removed for books (just publisher name now). (6) Website citations: more flexible format. (7) Use of 'they' as singular pronoun: explicitly endorsed. (8) Student vs. professional paper formats: distinct guidelines.
- When no author is given, move the title to the author position. For books: italicise the title. For articles: use quotation marks and standard capitalisation. In-text citation: use the first few words of the title. Example reference: *Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary* (11th ed.). (2003). Merriam-Webster. In-text: (*Merriam-Webster's*, 2003). For websites: same — title comes first, followed by the organisation as publisher if applicable.
- A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a permanent link to a published document, assigned by publishers and maintained by CrossRef. It looks like 10.1037/0033-295X.99.5.995. In APA 7th, format as a full URL: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.99.5.995. Find DOIs: on the article's first page, in the database record, or by searching CrossRef's free metadata lookup (search.crossref.org). If a DOI exists, include it even for printed sources accessed physically — it's the canonical permanent identifier. If no DOI and the article is from a database, omit the database URL (per APA 7th, database URLs change and aren't required).
- APA 7th YouTube citation format: Author, A. [Channel name]. (Year, Month Day). *Title of video* [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/... Example: TED. (2014, March 20). *The happy secret to better work* [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLJsdqxnZb0. If the author's real name differs from the channel name: Brown, B. [Brené Brown]. (2010). If the channel name IS the author identity (organisation): American Psychological Association. (2020, January 15).