What is APA format?
The APA 7th edition citation and style format from the American Psychological Association is what is used in education, nursing, business, and most of the social science classes in America. This provides information on how to organize your paper, cite all of the references, and create a reference list at the back so the reader can access the same sources as you did. .
As a student, the first time that APA style citation will come up is in an intro psychology or research methods class, which you then continue to use throughout your academic career.
What this guide covers
These rules apply to four components: overall page layout, title page, in-text citations, and reference page at the end of the paper. This APA citation format guide 2026 goes step by step through all parts with examples and will help you create your entire essay or single citation without reading 400 pages of the manual.
Why formatting matters
With proper formatting, the reader can go through your paper and instantly be able to recognize when your thoughts and ideas stop and other people’s research starts, thereby protecting yourself from accidental plagiarism, which is always a result of incorrect referencing. Once you develop a habit of citing while writing, formatting will no longer become a burden for you.
The 4 core elements of every APA reference
Almost all sources in APA citation style, be it books, websites, or even TikTok videos, comprise the same four elements. Master these elements just once and all other forms of citation listed on this page will become crystal clear to you.
Author, A. A. (Date). Title of work. Source.
Each one of the citation styles presented below (book, article, webpage, video, etc.) utilizes the identical format, save for some minor variations in punctuation and italics. The moment a citation becomes complicated (absence of an author, absence of a publication year, having several authors, etc.), there is an added instruction below on this page.
When you learn how these four elements are constructed, it will become very easy for you to cite any rare source that is not included in this guide. Identify the person responsible for the creation of the source, the year the source was made available, what it is known by, and where it is available from. Answering these four questions should provide you with all the information necessary for creating an APA citation for almost any source you can think of, from museum exhibits to private company reports.
APA Format Guidelines for a Paper
Before you even start writing your paper, you will need your document to be formatted according to the APA rules, not just in your reference section. The vast majority of word processing applications allow you to save the formatting settings into a template, which will then be automatically used in all future documents.
Font and spacing
Times New Roman, 12pt, throughout the entire paper. Double-space every page, including the reference list. APA 7 also permits Calibri 11pt or Arial 11pt if your instructor allows it.
Margins and indentation
1-inch margins on all four sides. Indent the first line of every paragraph by 0.5 inches. The reference list uses the opposite pattern: a hanging indent.
Page numbers
A page number appears in the top right corner of every page, starting with the title page. Student papers do not need a running head; professional papers do.
Headings
Use APA's five heading levels to organize the body: Level 1 is centered and bold, Level 2 is left-aligned and bold, and so on down to Level 5.
- Undergraduate essays: Usually need only Level 1 and Level 2 headings.
- Level 1: Use for main sections like “Method,” “Results,” and “Discussion.”
- Level 2: Use for subheadings when one section has multiple ideas.
- Level 3: Do not use Level 3 directly after Level 1.
- APA structure: Follow headings in order—Level 1, then Level 2, then Level 3.
- Main rule: Choose heading levels based on logical structure, not appearance.
How to format a paper in APA style, step by step
If you begin your paper from scratch, doing all these steps one after another helps avoid doing the same work twice because of reformatting your paper twice. Jumping ahead of yourself by writing your whole essay before doing the necessary formatting can result in incorrect citations as it is very hard to remember what source you took each statement from.
1. Set up your template first
Before writing anything, be sure to apply the font, margins, spacing, and page numbers from the above section, because the number of pages that you will have when you write matches the one to be submitted.
2. Build the title page
Use the student or professional format from the next section depending on what your assignment sheet asks for.
3. Add an abstract, if required
Only include this page when your instructor specifically asks for one. Skipping an unnecessary abstract keeps your paper's structure cleaner.
4. Write your introduction
State your topic, give the reader enough background to follow your argument, and close the paragraph with a clear thesis statement.
5. Draft the body with citations as you go
Add every in-text citation the moment you use a source, rather than leaving a note to "cite this later." That single habit prevents most missing-reference errors.
6. Build the reference list last
Start a new page, alphabetize every source you actually cited in the body, and apply the hanging indent covered further down this guide.
7. Check formatting against this guide
Confirm margins, spacing, heading levels, and the title page format all match before you move to proofreading.
8. Proofread and finalize
Read the paper once for grammar and once more specifically for citation accuracy, since these two passes catch different kinds of errors.
APA title page format (7th edition)
There are two different styles of APA title pages in APA 7, and the confusion between the two forms may be one of the biggest mistakes made by students. It is important because the professional style of title page is designed for a paper that is intended for journal publication; in this case, a running head helps follow up a manuscript through the process of reviewing, while the student's version of a title page is written for an instructor familiar with the course.
Student title page
Title, your name, the department and institution, the course number and name, your instructor's name, and the due date. No running head is required.
Professional title page
Title, author names, institutional affiliation, an author note, and a running head in all capital letters aligned to the left of the header.
Department, Institution Name
Course Number and Name
Instructor Name
Due Date
A student title page laid out to APA 7th edition specifications.
APA 6th vs 7th edition, at a glance
The most striking feature of the difference between APA 6 and APA 7 is that there was only one way to format the title page in APA 6 whereas there are two different formats available in APA 7 – the student format and the professional format, and the running head is not compulsory for students anymore. APA 7 permits listing 20 authors before the term et al is used.
Do you need an abstract?
An abstract is a brief summary of your paper’s objectives, methods used, findings, and conclusions, which appears on a separate page just after the title page. The majority of undergraduate papers don’t need an abstract unless requested by your professor. It is almost essential in research papers, theses, and dissertations. In case of doubt, look at your assignment instructions before making your decision because a page may either be added or deleted.
The abstract should be written when you finish writing your essay, rather than before. It’s much easier to summarize something that is written than to predict the findings and conclusion while you are working on the body. The abstract should consist of one paragraph without indentation and should not contain any citations unless your field requires it.
In-text citations: parenthetical vs narrative citations
Every time you use other people’s ideas, information, and wording, in APA referencing style, you need to include the in-text citation at the very place of use. There are two ways of including the citation, and the choice of one of these depends on your writing style.
Anatomy of an APA in-text citation
Every parenthetical citation follows this same author, year, page pattern.
Working memory capacity is strongly linked to reading comprehension (Daneman & Carpenter, 1980).
Daneman & Carpenter (1980) found that working memory capacity is highly associated with reading comprehension.
Narrative citation is employed when the researcher conducting the research needs to be stressed. Parenthetical citation should be used when it is the finding itself that is more important than its researcher, or when there are several sources cited to support one idea. When the paper makes use only of one of the two above-mentioned forms of citations, it becomes very repetitive.
How many authors does the source have?
(Smith & Jones, 2020) | Smith and Jones (2020) argue that...
(Brooks et al., 2009) | Brooks et al. (2009) suggested...
("Deduction Methods," 1996)
(Internal Revenue Service [IRS], 2002) then later (IRS, 2002)
(Brooks, 1972a) | (Brooks, 1972b)
Brooks suggested that ... (as cited in Smith, 2002, p. 459)
(Brooks, 1995; Gandhi, 2004)
Add a page number for direct quotations, written as p. for one page or pp. for a range: (Smith, 2019, p. 35). Paraphrased ideas do not require a page number, though APA now encourages one when it helps the reader locate the material in a longer source.
Short quotes vs. block quotes
How you format a direct quotation depends entirely on its length, and this is one of the rules students forget most often because it only comes up occasionally.
Climate change has been shown to have "a profound and measurable impact on biodiversity" (Smith, 2019, p. 35).
Block quotes must be used sparingly in an undergraduate assignment. Typically, your teachers would prefer you to demonstrate your own understanding of the topic and not present someone else's thoughts, so use a block quote only when the exact wording of the author plays an important part in your discussion and paraphrase everything else.
All these points fall into one principle: all in-text citations must have a corresponding reference list citation and vice versa. Having an in-text citation without the corresponding reference list citation is the most frequent mistake that your teacher will make when marking your assignment and can be easily checked by simply going through your reference list and looking for each author in your paper.
Formatting the reference list
This is the last page in your essay, and all the sources cited in the text should have an appropriate citation here as well. The APA format does not use the phrases “bibliography” and “works cited,” and it is just referred to as References, written on the top of the page.
APA reference list layout
Alphabetical order, double spacing, and a half-inch hanging indent on every entry.
Alphabetical order
Sources are sorted by the first author's last name, A to Z.
Hanging indent
The first line of each entry sits at the margin; every line after it is indented 0.5 inches.
Same author, multiple works
List them chronologically, earliest publication year first.
When you are to alphabetize, things will get complicated should your source be an organization or a source without an author or sources where there are two authors sharing the same last name. For alphabetizing, letters should be considered rather than words, and "Mc" and "Mac" should not be put together. In cases where two authors share the same last name, the first initials of these authors will be used in alphabetizing them. Titles will be typed fully in appropriate style with italics being used for books and journals only.
Sentence case vs. title case
APA 7 uses two different capitalization styles depending on where a title appears, and mixing them up is another frequent point loss.
Sentence case
Used for article and chapter titles in the reference list. Capitalize only the first word, the first word after a colon, and any proper nouns. Example: "Remote work and employee wellbeing."
Title case
Used for journal names, book series titles, and headings within your paper. Capitalize most major words. Example: "Journal of Organizational Behavior."
Italics follow a related pattern: italicize the title of a standalone work such as a book, journal name, or film, but leave the title of a smaller piece that sits inside a larger whole, such as a journal article, a book chapter, or a single episode, in plain text.
Common reference list mistakes to avoid
Apart from the hanging indent, forgetting to arrange references in the same sequence that they were mentioned in the essay and not in alphabetical order, italicizing the wrong part of the title, and not listing the publisher/DOI are some of the common mistakes made by students. Checking your reference page against the following source types will help identify these mistakes.
Citation guidelines for various types of sources in APA
After mastering the simple formula of four elements outlined in this guide, it becomes easy to make small adjustments in the area of punctuation and include the required retrieval details when citing any of the formats listed below. The format for each is available from an example and one only needs to fill in the details like author, publication date, title, and source.
APA citation for books
Of all the sources that students use, books are used the most often by undergraduates. In APA format, there are minor differences in citing a print book, an e-book, and the same book accessed via a school library database.
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work: Capital letter for the subtitle. Publisher.Ferriss, T. (2007). The 4-hour workweek: Escape the 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich. Crown Publishing.
Doerr, J. (2018). Measure what matters [Kindle edition]. Portfolio.
Whitfield, P. (2019). Coastal ecosystems and change. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/coastal-ecosystems
Citing a journal article with a DOI in APA format
Journal articles are the backbone of most research papers, and this is the one format where APA strongly prefers a specific piece of retrieval information over a plain web link.
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pages.Okafor, N. (2021). Remote work and employee wellbeing. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(2), 112-129.
Okafor, N. (2021). Remote work and employee wellbeing. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(2), 112-129. https://doi.org/10.1037/job.2021.0234
DOI is a unique code assigned to the article for identification purposes. It never changes when compared to a website address that might change or go defunct after your study period. Therefore, always look for a DOI prior to using a URL, and use https://doi.org/ as opposed to doi:
Newspapers and magazines are similar to journals in that they use the author-date citation style, but there is one difference since these sources are not published annually, meaning you have to include the entire date in your citation.
Citing a movie and a YouTube video in APA format
The audiovisual references will identify the person primarily responsible for the material, such as a director in the case of a movie and the channel or account owner in the case of video materials, and not an author.
Producer, P. (Producer), & Director, D. (Director). (Year). Title [Film]. Studio.Scott, R. (Director). (1979). Alien [Film]. Twentieth Century Fox.
Johnson, A. [AJ Learns]. (2019, June 15). Understanding neural networks [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example
For any other non-print media or non-multimedia source that does not fall clearly within the categories above, whether that be a lecture audio, infographic, or downloadable software, provide any four of the following elements if you can find them: author, date (use “n.d.” if there is no date provided), title, and format [in brackets], along with the location from which it can be accessed.
Citing a website in APA format
Websites are the hardest sources to cite because there can never be enough information: there may be no author, no date, or neither. Check the following list of steps in order and use whatever information is present on your webpage.
Change that students usually do not notice is that the seventh edition of APA format has discontinued the use of "Retrieved from" in website citations. Students must remember that they need to provide the URL right after mentioning the website's name. The retrieval date will be provided only when the information on the web page needs to be updated regularly.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Sleep and health. Retrieved September 1, 2026, from https://www.cdc.gov/sleep
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Citing a song in APA format
Citing a dissertation, government report, or legal case
For any format not covered above, such as a lecture slide or a piece of artwork, the same 4-element pattern still applies: who made it, when, what it is called, and where to find it. If a paper mixes several unusual source types, our research paper writing team can format the full reference list for you alongside the writing itself.
Citing AI tools, social media, and other modern sources
The 7th edition added guidance for source types that barely existed when the 6th edition was written. These come up constantly in current coursework, so they deserve their own space here. Because platforms update their features often, treat the examples below as a pattern to follow rather than a fixed template, and always double check the current guidance on the APA Style website if a platform has changed its format since this guide was last reviewed.
OpenAI. (2026). ChatGPT (Feb 2026 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com
Neil deGrasse Tyson [@neiltyson]. (2024, March 3). Science literacy is a civic skill [Tweet]. X. https://x.com/neiltyson/status/example
If you have quoted text generated by an AI tool directly, you should approach the citation process in the same way as you would when citing an individual's personal communication. That is, cite the source parenthetically as (OpenAI, 2026) but omit it from your bibliography if your professor hasn't told you that you need to include it there as well, since an AI-generated source cannot be recovered as a published source can.
These formats change faster than print sources, so when your topic sits in a country outside the US, such as an APA 7th edition format for UK university students assignment or APA citation guidelines for Australian academic writing, the core rules above still apply. Only your institution's specific cover page or word count requirements tend to differ, so always confirm those details against your own course handbook alongside APA format help for college students USA guide.
United States
APA 7 is the default across psychology, education, nursing, and most social science departments. Check whether your professor wants the student or professional title page format.
United Kingdom
UK universities that teach psychology or social sciences frequently adopt APA 7 directly, though some departments layer their own house style on top of it, so confirm word count and cover sheet rules locally.
Canada and Australia
Both countries use APA widely in psychology, nursing, and business programs, generally following the same 7th edition rules covered throughout this guide without regional modification.
APA format questions students ask most
Do I need a running head for my student paper in APA 7th edition format?
Can I use free automated citation generators for my APA reference list?
How do I cite a website with no author or publication date?
Do undergraduate students need an abstract in APA 7th edition?
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Keep this guide handy
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