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APA Citation Generator

Create accurate APA 7th edition references and in-text citations from a URL, DOI, or ISBN. Free, fast, and editable — built for students and researchers who need APA done right.

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How to cite in APA

APA is the author–date style used across psychology, education, nursing, and the social sciences. Each source appears two ways: a brief in-text citation with the author's surname and the year, and a full entry in an alphabetized reference list at the end of your paper. The generator above builds the reference list entry for you; you add the short in-text citation where you cite the source.

For a parenthetical in-text citation, place the author and year in parentheses — for example, (Chen, 2021). For a narrative citation, name the author in your sentence and put the year in parentheses after it: Chen (2021) found…. For three or more authors, use the first author's surname followed by et al. from the very first citation.

APA reference entries use sentence case for article and book titles, title case for journal names, italics for journal and book titles, a hanging indent, and double spacing throughout. APA 7 dropped "Retrieved from" before most URLs and lists up to 20 authors before an ellipsis. The generator applies these rules automatically — review the result and edit any field the tool could not detect.

This page covers the essentials. For worked examples of every common source type, read the full APA citation guide. Related references that help with specific sources:

Need a different style or a general tool? Use the main citation generator for APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, IEEE, and AMA.

APA citation generator FAQs

Is this APA citation generator free?

Yes. The APA citation generator is completely free, with no account required and no limit on how many references you can create. Paste a URL, DOI, or ISBN, choose APA, and copy the formatted citation into your paper.

Which edition of APA does the generator use?

It formats references in APA 7th edition — the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition (2020). That means no "Retrieved from" before most URLs, italicized volume numbers, and up to 20 authors before an ellipsis in the reference list.

How many authors before I use "et al." in APA 7?

In APA 7 in-text citations, use "et al." from the very first citation for any source with three or more authors. In the reference list, list up to 20 authors, then use an ellipsis before the final author's name.

Do I need page numbers in APA in-text citations?

Only for direct quotations. Paraphrases need just the author and year, though a page or paragraph number is encouraged when it helps the reader. For sources without pages, such as websites, use paragraph numbers, section headings, or timestamps.

Can I edit a citation after the generator creates it?

Yes. Every generated reference is fully editable, so you can correct an author name, add a missing date, or adjust a title before copying it. You can also save references and revisit them on the My References page.