APA 7 Referencing Basics: In-Text Citations and Reference Lists

APA Style, now in its 7th edition, is the most common referencing style in nursing, psychology, education and many business programmes. The rules can look intimidating, but a handful of patterns cover most of what you will write.

In-text citations: author and year

APA uses an author–date system. Every time you use someone else's idea, include the author's surname and the year of publication.

• Parenthetical: (Smith, 2021)
• Narrative: Smith (2021) argues that…
• Two authors: (Smith & Jones, 2021) or Smith and Jones (2021)
• Three or more authors: (Smith et al., 2021) — from the first citation onwards
• Group author: (World Health Organization, 2022)

Direct quotations need page numbers

When you quote word for word, add a page number, for example (Smith, 2021, p. 14). For sources without page numbers, use a paragraph number such as (Smith, 2021, para. 3). In most academic work, paraphrasing shows stronger understanding than frequent quotation.

Formatting the reference list

• Start the list on a new page titled References, centred and bold.
• Order entries alphabetically by the first author's surname.
• Use a hanging indent and double spacing.
• Include a DOI formatted as a link (https://doi.org/…) whenever one exists.

Journal article pattern

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article in sentence case. Journal Name in Title Case and Italics, volume(issue), page–range. https://doi.org/xxxx

The journal name and volume number are italicised; the article title is not. Only the first word of the title and subtitle, and proper nouns, take capital letters.

Common mistakes to check

1. Every in-text citation has a matching reference-list entry, and vice versa.
2. Years match between the citation and the reference.
3. “et al.” is used for three or more authors in text, but all authors (up to 20) are listed in the reference.
4. Websites include the site name and, where content changes over time, a retrieval date.