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APA Citation Style Guide (7th Edition): Home

APA, 7th Edition

This guide will help you set up your American Psychological Association citations.

APA Style uses the author–date citation system, in which a brief in-text citation,  within the body of the paper, directs readers to a full reference list entry, located in the alphabetical reference list at the end of the paper.

Click on the tab for the source you want to cite for examples.

General Guidelines

  • Title your citation page, References (in bold and centered).
  • Double-space within and between each entry.
  • Use formatting tools to create a hanging indent.  See Tips on formatting tab.
  • References are listed in alphabetical order by author's last name, or, if no author, by title.
  • Include a DOI (digital object identifier), if one is given.  If no DOI, include the URL. Standardize the DOI to this format:  https://doi.org/xxx
  • Make DOIs and URLs live hyperlinks for electronic documents.
  • Do not include "Retrieved from" or "Accessed from."  Only include the retrieval date if the content might change over time, for example, a Twitter profile or a map generated by Google Maps.

Help!

For help and guidance, here are some resources:

At Edmonds College

On the web

Why Cite?

Watch this short video from California State University, Dominguez Hills.