APA 7th Edition Referencing: A Practical Guide

APA (American Psychological Association) style is the most widely used referencing system in the social, behavioural, health and education sciences. The 7th edition, published in 2019, simplified several rules. Consistent, accurate referencing is not a cosmetic detail: it protects you from plagiarism concerns and shows examiners that you work carefully.

1.In-text citations

• One author: (Smith, 2020) or Smith (2020)
• Two authors: (Smith & Jones, 2020) or Smith and Jones (2020)
• Three or more authors: (Smith et al., 2020) from the first citation onward
• Group author: (World Health Organization [WHO], 2021), then (WHO, 2021)
• Multiple works: (Jones, 2018; Smith, 2020), in alphabetical order
• Direct quotation: (Smith, 2020, p. 45)

2.Reference list basics

The reference list appears at the end of the thesis, in alphabetical order by first author’s surname, with a hanging indent and double spacing. Every in-text citation must appear in the list, and every reference in the list must be cited in the text.

3.Journal article

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article in sentence case. Journal Name in Title Case and Italics, volume(issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xxxx

List up to 20 authors in APA 7. Include the DOI as a full URL whenever one exists; the “Retrieved from” label is no longer used.

4.Book and book chapter

Book: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book in italics and sentence case (2nd ed.). Publisher. The publisher’s location is no longer required in APA 7.

Chapter in an edited book: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pp. xx–xx). Publisher.

5.Thesis or dissertation

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the thesis [Master’s thesis or Doctoral dissertation, University Name]. Database or repository name. URL

6.Website and report

Author or Organisation. (Year, Month Day). Title of the page. Site Name. URL. For organisational reports, include the report number if available. Add a retrieval date only when the content is designed to change over time.

7.Tables and figures

In APA 7, tables and figures share the same format: a bold number (Table 1), an italic title on the next line, the table or figure itself, and notes below. Avoid vertical lines in tables and keep horizontal lines to a minimum.

8.Most common mistakes

• Mismatches between in-text citations and the reference list
• Inconsistent capitalisation of article titles
• Missing DOIs
• Using “et al.” in the reference list instead of listing authors
• Mixing referencing styles across chapters
• Citing secondary sources without the “as cited in” format