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Citation Generator (APA)

EducationCitations and Bibliographies
Source type

Surname, given names for each person; separate people with a semicolon. A group author (an agency or company) goes in as its full name.

Type it in sentence case: capital on the first word, the first word after a colon and proper nouns.

APA 7 reference entry —
Parenthetical in-text citation
—
Narrative in-text citation
—
Authors counted
—

An APA 7 reference lists author surnames with initials, the year in brackets, the title in sentence case, then the source and DOI. For a five-author 2019 article this gives "Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019)…" and the in-text citation (Grady et al., 2019).

About this tool

Students writing psychology, nursing, education and social-science papers are usually marked on APA 7 formatting, and the reference list is where small slips pile up: a missing ampersand, a city that APA 7 no longer wants, a DOI written as doi: rather than a link. This generator takes the parts of one source and assembles the reference entry in the order the Publication Manual sets out, along with the parenthetical and narrative in-text forms. It handles journal articles, books with editions and webpages, converts given names to initials, turns a hyphen page range into an en dash and falls back to n.d. when there is no date. One limit: the output is plain text, so you still need to italicise the book or page title, or the journal name and volume, after pasting it into your document.

How to use it

  1. Pick the source type

    Choose Journal article, Book or Webpage; the fields below change to match what APA asks for in that kind of reference.

  2. Enter the authors

    Type each person as surname, given names and separate people with semicolons. Leave the box empty when no author is named.

  3. Fill in the title and source details

    Add the title in sentence case, then the journal, volume, issue and pages, the publisher and edition, or the website name and URL.

  4. Copy the entry and citations

    The reference entry and both in-text forms update as you type. Paste them into your paper and add the italics noted under the result.

Examples

Five-author journal article with a DOI

Source type
Journal article
Authors
Grady, Jessica S.; Her, Malina; Moreno, Geena; Perez, Catherine; Yelinek, Jillian
Year published
2019
Title
Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States
Journal name
Psychology of Popular Media Culture
Volume
8
Issue
3
Page range
207-217
DOI
10.1037/ppm0000185

Result APA 7 reference entry: Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185
Parenthetical in-text citation: (Grady et al., 2019)
Narrative in-text citation: Grady et al. (2019)
Authors counted: 5

  1. Date element: (2019).
  2. Source element: journal, volume(issue), pages with an en dash in the page range.
  3. Author element: 5 authors as surname, initials, with an ampersand before the last.
  4. Ends with the DOI as a https://doi.org/ link, with no full stop after it.

Three or more authors shorten to the first surname plus et al. in text, while the reference list names all five, with an ampersand before the last.

Second-edition book

Source type
Book
Authors
Jackson, Lynne M.
Year published
2019
Edition
2
Title
The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action
Publisher
American Psychological Association
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000

Result APA 7 reference entry: Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000
Parenthetical in-text citation: (Jackson, 2019)
Narrative in-text citation: Jackson (2019)
Authors counted: 1

  1. Date element: (2019).
  2. Edition 2 is written after the title as (2nd ed.).
  3. Source element: publisher name, with no city (APA 7 dropped the location).
  4. Author element: 1 author as surname, initials.
  5. Ends with the DOI as a https://doi.org/ link, with no full stop after it.

The edition sits in brackets straight after the title, and the publisher appears without a city, as APA 7 requires.

Undated webpage with no named author

Source type
Webpage
Title
Climate basics
Website name
Example Science Hub
URL
https://www.example.org/climate

Result APA 7 reference entry: Climate basics. (n.d.). Example Science Hub. https://www.example.org/climate
Parenthetical in-text citation: (Climate basics, n.d.)
Narrative in-text citation: Climate basics (n.d.)
Authors counted: 0

  1. Date element: (n.d.).
  2. Source element: website name, then the URL.
  3. No author: the title moves into the author position, before the date.
  4. Ends with the URL, with no full stop after it.

With no author the title moves to the front, and a missing date becomes n.d. in both the entry and the in-text citation.

How it is calculated

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date). Title. Source. https://doi.org/xx

Author
Surname and initials; up to 20 names, with an ampersand before the last
Date
Year for articles and books; year, month day for webpages; n.d. when undated
Title
Sentence-case title, with (2nd ed.) and so on after a book title
Source
Journal, volume(issue), pages; the publisher; or the website name

APA 7 builds every reference from four elements in a fixed order: author, date, title and source, each closed with a full stop, and a DOI or URL at the end with no full stop after it. Given names are reduced to initials, keeping hyphens (Jean-Paul becomes J.-P.). With 21 or more authors APA lists the first 19, an ellipsis and the final author. With no author the title takes the author position. In text, one or two surnames are shown in full and three or more shorten to the first surname with et al.

When not to use it

  • Papers set in MLA, Chicago or Harvard style need a different order and punctuation.
  • Sources such as conference talks, datasets, films or legal cases have APA templates this tool does not cover.
  • A department's own APA variant overrides these defaults where they differ.

Common mistakes

  • Typing article titles in title case, when APA wants sentence case in the reference list.
  • Adding the publisher's city to a book reference, which APA 7 dropped.
  • Writing et al. in the reference list itself, which names up to 20 authors.
  • Forgetting to italicise the journal name and volume after pasting.

Frequently asked questions

How does APA 7 cite a source with three or more authors in the text?

From the first citation onward, give only the first author's surname followed by et al. and the year, such as (Grady et al., 2019). The full list of names still appears in the reference entry, up to 20 authors.

Do I still need the publisher location for a book?

No. The seventh edition removed the city and state from book references, so the entry ends with the publisher name and, if the book has one, its DOI. Earlier sixth-edition references that include a city should be updated.

How should a DOI be written?

As a full link beginning https://doi.org/, not with a doi: label. If you paste a bare number such as 10.1037/ppm0000185, the generator adds the https://doi.org/ prefix for you, and no full stop follows it.

What happens when a webpage has no author?

The title moves into the author slot, before the date, and the in-text citation uses the title (or its first few words) with the year. If the page is written by an organisation, enter the organisation as a group author instead.

What does n.d. mean in a reference?

It stands for no date and replaces the year when the source does not show a publication date. The in-text citation then reads, for example, (Climate basics, n.d.). Use a webpage's last updated date if one is shown.

Why is the page range shown with a longer dash?

APA uses an en dash between first and last page numbers, as in 207–217. You can type an ordinary hyphen and the generator puts in the en dash in the article entry.

What is the difference between parenthetical and narrative citations?

A parenthetical citation puts both the name and year in brackets at the end of a clause: (Smith & Lee, 2021). A narrative citation works the name into the sentence and brackets only the year: Smith and Lee (2021) found… Note that the ampersand becomes and in narrative form.

Cite this tool

Using this tool in an assignment, article or report? Copy a citation, or a link for your website.

APA

Tools Directory Editorial Team. (2026, October 26). Citation Generator (APA). Tools Directory. Retrieved October 27, 2026, from https://tools.milunir.com/education/citations-and-bibliographies/citation-generator-apa/

MLA

Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Citation Generator (APA).” Tools Directory, 26 Oct. 2026, https://tools.milunir.com/education/citations-and-bibliographies/citation-generator-apa/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Citation Generator (APA).” Tools Directory. Last modified October 26, 2026. Accessed October 27, 2026. https://tools.milunir.com/education/citations-and-bibliographies/citation-generator-apa/.

Link<a href="https://tools.milunir.com/education/citations-and-bibliographies/citation-generator-apa/">Citation Generator (APA) – Tools Directory</a>