Which APA edition does this use?

APA 7th edition, published October 2019 by the American Psychological Association (commonly referenced as APA 7 / 2020). It replaces APA 6 in most modern courses.

How are multiple authors handled?

Separate them with semicolons. The tool joins them per APA 7 §9: one author "Last, F."; two authors with "&"; three to twenty authors as a comma-separated list with "&" before the last; more than twenty with an ellipsis before the final author.

Do I need an access date for websites?

APA 7 only requires an access date when the content is likely to change without a clear update date (e.g., a wiki page). The tool omits it by default; add it manually if your source needs it.

How are DOIs formatted?

As a clickable URL using https://doi.org/ followed by the bare DOI. The tool strips any existing URL prefix to avoid duplicates.

Will italics appear in the output?

The output is plain text so it copies cleanly into any document. Apply italics to book/journal titles after pasting; the formatting marks where they belong.

APA Citation Tool

Generate APA 7th edition citations for books, journals, websites, and newspaper articles.

Written by Golam Rabbani, Founder & Lead Engineer

This interactive tool requires JavaScript. Read the formula and worked example below; you can compute the result by hand.

How to use this apa citation tool

Pick the source type — Book, Journal article, Website, or Newspaper article.
Enter the author(s) using semicolons to separate multiple authors.
Fill in the year, title, and the source-specific fields shown.
Press Generate APA citation.
Use Copy to add the citation to your reference list.

About this apa citation tool

The APA citation tool formats one source to APA Publication Manual 7th edition (2020) rules. Author names are rendered "Last, F. M." with an ampersand before the final author (or an ellipsis before the last author for lists longer than 20), the year sits in parentheses, the title uses sentence case, and journal/book titles are intended to be italicised when you paste into a word processor.

For books the format is Author, A. A. (Year). Title (Edition ed.). Publisher. For journal articles it is Author, A. A. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxx — DOIs are normalised to the bare identifier and prefixed with the canonical https://doi.org/ resolver. Websites use Author, A. A. (Year). Page title. Site Name. URL with the access date intentionally omitted (APA 7 only adds access dates for content likely to change).

For example, with author "Jane Q. Smith", year 2024, title "Reading habits in early childhood", journal "Journal of Child Development", volume 12, issue 3, pages 120-145, and DOI 10.1000/xyz123, the tool produces: Smith, J. Q. (2024). Reading habits in early childhood. Journal of Child Development, 12(3), 120-145. https://doi.org/10.1000/xyz123.

FAQ

Which APA edition does this use?: APA 7th edition, published October 2019 by the American Psychological Association (commonly referenced as APA 7 / 2020). It replaces APA 6 in most modern courses.
How are multiple authors handled?: Separate them with semicolons. The tool joins them per APA 7 §9: one author "Last, F."; two authors with "&"; three to twenty authors as a comma-separated list with "&" before the last; more than twenty with an ellipsis before the final author.
Do I need an access date for websites?: APA 7 only requires an access date when the content is likely to change without a clear update date (e.g., a wiki page). The tool omits it by default; add it manually if your source needs it.
How are DOIs formatted?: As a clickable URL using https://doi.org/ followed by the bare DOI. The tool strips any existing URL prefix to avoid duplicates.
Will italics appear in the output?: The output is plain text so it copies cleanly into any document. Apply italics to book/journal titles after pasting; the formatting marks where they belong.