APA 7th edition referencing, made simple
Psychology uses APA style for references. How to cite journal articles, books and websites, with examples.
The most common referencing style in psychology and the social sciences is APA (American Psychological Association) style, now in its 7th edition. It has two parts: citations within the text and a reference list at the end.
In-text citations
| Number of authors | Example |
|---|---|
| One | (Rahman, 2023) |
| Two | (Rahman & Karim, 2023) |
| Three or more | (Rahman et al., 2023) |
For a direct quotation, add the page number: (Rahman, 2023, p. 45).
Reference list
Journal article
Author’s last name, initials. Year in brackets. Article title in plain text. Journal name and volume in italics, issue in brackets, then pages and the DOI link.
Book
Book title in italics, with capitals only for the first word and proper nouns. In the 7th edition, the publisher’s city is not needed.
Web page
(These examples only illustrate the rules; the authors and titles are fictional.)
Common mistakes
- The list is not in alphabetical order by author’s last name.
- A source is cited in the text but missing from the list (or the other way round).
- A DOI exists but was not included.
- No hanging indent from the second line.
Free software such as Zotero or Mendeley creates references in APA format automatically. Still, check them yourself at the end.