APA (7th edition)
Author–date referencing used across psychology, education, nursing, and the social sciences.
Typically used inPsychology, education, nursing and health, business, and the social sciences.
Key rules
The rules that actually get marked.
These are the distinctive rules for APA (7th edition). Edge cases vary by edition and institution, so confirm anything unusual against your department's guide.
- In-text citations carry the author's surname and year: (Smith, 2020); add a page number for direct quotes: (Smith, 2020, p. 14).
- The reference list is titled 'References', alphabetised by author surname, and uses a hanging indent.
- Only the first word of a title and subtitle, and proper nouns, are capitalised in reference-list entries.
- Up to 20 authors are listed in a reference; for 21 or more, list the first 19, an ellipsis, then the final author.
- Include a DOI as a full https link where one exists; the retrieval-date wording of earlier editions is dropped.
Questions
APA, clarified.
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