Core APA formatting rules

APA reference lists use a hanging indent, double spacing in manuscripts, and alphabetical order by the first author's surname. Article and webpage titles appear in sentence case (only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns capitalized). Journal names and book titles use title case and italics. Include up to 20 authors in the reference list before substituting an ellipsis and the final author. Always prefer a DOI formatted as a https://doi.org/ URL when one is available.

Step-by-step: citing common sources in APA

1. Books:Enter each author's surname and initials, publication year, italicized book title in sentence case, and publisher name. Add a DOI if the book has one. Edition numbers appear in parentheses after the title (for example, (2nd ed.)).
2. Journal articles: Capture authors, year, article title (sentence case), italic journal title, volume (italic), issue (in parentheses, not italic), page range, and DOI. Do not include database names such as EBSCO for most standard journal articles.
3. Websites: Use an individual author when credited; otherwise use the organization. Include as specific a date as possible. If there is no date, write (n.d.). Italicize standalone webpage titles when they stand alone; otherwise leave them plain and italicize the site name as appropriate to the source type.
4. Digital media: For YouTube or streaming video, credit the uploader as author, include the upload date, italicize the video title, add [Video] in square brackets, name the platform, and finish with the URL.

APA FAQs

In-text citations vs. reference list entries

Parenthetical citations place both author and year in parentheses at the end of a sentence: (Nguyen, 2023). Narrative citations integrate the author into the sentence: Nguyen (2023) argued that…. For direct quotes, add a page or paragraph number: (Nguyen, 2023, p. 14). The reference list entry at the end of the paper supplies full retrieval information. CiteLite generates the full reference plus parenthetical and narrative forms so you can paste both into your draft.

DOI formatting

Present DOIs as clickable URLs: https://doi.org/10.1037/example. Do not label them with the outdated “doi:” prefix. If a journal article has no DOI and was read online, APA 7 often allows omitting the URL for widely available periodicals; follow your instructor if they require a homepage URL.

Author conventions

Invert all author names in the reference list (Surname, A. B.). Use an ampersand before the final author. In text, for three or more authors, cite the first author followed by et al. from the first citation. Group authors (American Psychological Association) are spelled out in the first in-text citation and may be abbreviated thereafter if the abbreviation is familiar and introduced properly.

Using the CiteLite APA generator

Select APA 7 in the tool above, choose a source type, and fill in the fields that appear. Quick URL Auto-Fill can pull public metadata for many pages, but you should still verify authors, dates, and titles. Add completed sources to your session bibliography, switch preview styles only after you understand APA-specific requirements, and export to plain text or BibTeX when you are ready. Automated formatting accelerates drafting; final accuracy is still your responsibility under APA and your institution's academic integrity rules.