APA Format Citation Generator — Free APA 7 Format Guide

Paste a DOI, ISBN, URL or title

Need a reference in APA format? Our free APA format generator builds APA 7th edition citations for any source in seconds. Paste a URL, ISBN, or DOI, or type the details, and copy a properly formatted reference.

APA format follows a strict structure. Getting the order, italics, capitalization, and punctuation right takes most of the time it costs to write a paper. The APA format generator below applies every APA 7 rule automatically so you can stop second-guessing the comma placement.

APA format for a website

An APA format citation for a website includes the author, date, page title, site name, and URL. Italicize the page title (or the site name if there is no page title). Use sentence case for the page title — only capitalize the first word and proper nouns.

  • Author, A. A.
  • (Year, Month Day).
  • Page title in italics.
  • Site name.
  • URL

APA format for a book

An APA format citation for a book lists the author, year, title in italics, and publisher. Include the edition in parentheses after the title (not italicized) if it is not the first edition. Do NOT include the publisher location — APA 7 dropped that rule.

  • Author, A. A.
  • (Year).
  • Title of work in italics
  • (Edition).
  • Publisher.

APA format for a journal article

An APA format citation for a journal article lists the author, year, article title (not italicized), journal name and volume in italics, issue in parentheses, pages, and DOI. If there is no DOI, give the URL where the article is available.

  • Author, A. A., & Author, B. B.
  • (Year).
  • Article title.
  • Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pages.
  • https://doi.org/xxxx

APA format general rules

Across all source types, APA 7 format uses sentence case for titles, italics for standalone works (books, journals, websites) and for volume numbers, and a hanging indent on the reference list. The DOI, when present, is the last element and is formatted as a URL (https://doi.org/...).

Where APA format is most often lost

APA 7 formatting marks are rarely lost on the entries themselves. They are lost on the details around them, and each of these takes seconds to correct once you know to look.

  • Title case in a reference — APA uses sentence case for article and book titles, capitalising only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns
  • Italicising the article title instead of the journal name and volume number
  • Faking a hanging indent with tabs or spaces, which collapses when the document is reflowed
  • Adding blank lines between reference entries on top of double spacing
  • Keeping the publisher's location, which APA 7 dropped from book references

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between APA format and APA 7?

APA format is the overall style. APA 7 refers to the 7th edition (2019), which is the current version of that style.

Does the APA format generator include the publisher location?

No. APA 7 dropped the publisher location. Only the publisher name appears in a book reference.

Which font and spacing does APA format require?

APA 7 accepts several fonts, including 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Calibri, and 11-point Arial. The whole paper is double-spaced, including the reference list, with one-inch margins.

Do student papers need a running head?

No. In APA 7 the running head is required only for professional manuscripts submitted for publication. Student papers need a page number in the header and nothing else.

Is the APA format generator free?

Yes. Every APA 7 reference and in-text citation is free, with no sign-up required.