How to Cite Sources in APA Format: A Full Guide

APA (American Psychological Association) format is the citation style most commonly required in social sciences, education, and psychology. It uses an author-date citation system: in-text citations include the author's last name and year of publication, and a full reference list at the end provides the complete source details. APA is now in its 7th edition (2020), which introduced several important changes from the 6th edition.

For in-text citations, the basic format is (Author, Year) for a paraphrase or (Author, Year, p. X) for a direct quote. For two authors: (Smith & Jones, 2022). For three or more authors: (Smith et al., 2022). When citing the same work twice in a paragraph, the year can be omitted from subsequent citations if no ambiguity results.

For the reference list, the basic format for a journal article is: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume(issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xxxxx. For a book: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher. Titles of articles use sentence case (only first word capitalized); titles of journals and books use title case.

paraphraserhumantext's citation generator handles APA format automatically for books, journal articles, websites, videos, and more. Input the source details and the tool produces a correctly formatted reference. Always double-check generated citations against the official APA manual, as details like DOI format and publisher information require accurate input to produce accurate output.