APA 7th Edition Citation Generator — Free APA 7 Reference Maker

Paste a DOI, ISBN, URL or title

Need an APA 7th edition citation? Our free generator builds references that follow the current Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition, 2019). Paste a URL, ISBN, or DOI — or enter details manually — and get an APA 7 reference you can copy into your paper.

The APA 7th edition simplified several rules from APA 6. Knowing these changes is the difference between a citation that matches your instructor's expectations and one that quietly loses you marks. Below is a focused guide to the APA 7th edition and how the generator applies it.

What is the APA 7th edition?

The APA 7th edition, published in October 2019, is the current standard for APA style. It is the citation format used in psychology, education, nursing, sociology, and most social sciences. If your course or journal doesn't specify an edition, assume APA 7th edition is required.

APA 7 keeps the author–date system: in-text citations show the author and year, and the reference list is alphabetized by author. The big shift in APA 7 is that the manual is more permissive about sources — you can cite a tweet, a YouTube video, or a dataset using the same core elements, applied to the container.

What changed in APA 7th edition?

The 7th edition made several practical changes versus APA 6. Here are the most important ones to know:

  • Publisher location is no longer included in book references. Use only the publisher name.
  • Up to 20 authors are listed before using an ellipsis; APA 6 stopped at 7.
  • The DOI is formatted as a URL (https://doi.org/...) rather than the old "DOI:" prefix.
  • The running head is no longer required for student papers.
  • Use singular "they" as a pronoun; APA 7 explicitly endorses it.
  • For sources with up to 2 authors, list both; for 3+ authors, use the first author plus "et al." in every in-text citation (APA 6 used it only from the second citation onward).

How to cite in APA 7th edition

The basic APA 7 reference pattern is: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work. Publisher (or Source, Volume, Pages, DOI for journals). The in-text citation uses the author and year, like (Smith, 2023).

Our APA 7th edition generator always uses the current 7th edition rules, so you never have to remember where the commas, italics, and DOIs go.

APA 7 reference list mechanics

Getting each entry right is only half of APA 7 — the list itself has rules that are checked just as closely, and all of them apply regardless of source type.

  • Alphabetize by the first author's surname; a work with no author is alphabetized by its title
  • Apply a half-inch hanging indent to every entry, using your word processor's indent setting
  • Double-space the entire list, with no extra blank lines between entries
  • Title the page References, centred and bold, on its own new page
  • Include every source you cited and nothing you did not — APA lists cited works only

Frequently asked questions

Is APA 7th edition the current APA format?

Yes. APA 7th edition, published in 2019, is the current standard. Most courses and journals have moved to APA 7.

What if my instructor wants APA 6?

Use the format your instructor specifies. Our generator currently outputs APA 7; if you need APA 6, double-check the publisher location and author-formatting rules against the 6th edition manual.

How many authors do I list in APA 7?

Up to 20 authors are listed in full in the reference. With 21 or more, list the first 19, insert an ellipsis, then give the final author's name.

Does APA 7 still use "Retrieved from" before a URL?

No. APA 7 dropped it — give the bare URL instead. Retrieval dates are only needed for pages whose content is designed to change and that are not archived.

Is the APA 7 generator free?

Yes. APA 7 references, in-text citations, BibTeX, and RIS export are free with no account required.