Runs in your browser; auto-fill uses our server. Citations are formatted in your browser. Only if you use Auto-fill is the DOI, ISBN or web address you enter sent to our server, which looks it up with Crossref or Open Library, or reads that page's title, author and date. Nothing is stored.
Free APA 7th Edition Citation Generator
The Tools Kit’s free APA Citation Generator formats reference-list entries in APA 7th edition style for the three sources student papers cite most: web pages, books, and journal articles. Enter the author names, title, year, and source details, or auto-fill them from a DOI, ISBN, or web address, and the APA reference builds itself as you type. Author names are reordered to last name and initials, the ampersand goes before the final author, “n.d.” fills in when there is no date, and the italics APA requires are applied. The matching in-text citation, such as (Smith, 2024, p. 24), appears under the reference.
APA (American Psychological Association) style is the default in psychology, education, nursing, and most social science courses. If your instructor asks for a different format, the same fields work in the MLA citation generator and the Chicago citation generator, or you can switch between 11 styles in the multi-style Citation Generator.
How to Use the APA Citation Generator
- 1
Auto-fill or choose a source type
Paste a DOI, ISBN, or web address into the auto-fill box and click Fill in, or pick Website / Web Page, Book, or Journal Article and fill in the form yourself.
- 2
Enter the authors
Type each author as First Middle Last, separated by commas, semicolons, "and", or "&". The tool converts them to APA order: last name, then initials. After auto-fill, check the names.
- 3
Fill in the title and source details
Add the title, the year, and the remaining details: site name and URL for a web page, publisher for a book, or journal name, volume, issue, and pages for an article.
- 4
Copy the APA reference
The APA 7 reference appears as soon as a title is entered and updates as you type. Click Copy Citation to paste it with its italics into Word or Google Docs, or Add to list to build your reference list.
Only a title is required to see a preview. The other fields are optional, and most empty fields are simply left out of the reference; for a journal article, fill in the journal name so the entry does not end with a stray period. Auto-fill uses the details the source publishes, which are not always complete or correct, so check every field, especially author names and capitalization.
APA Reference Format and Examples
Every APA 7 reference follows the same author, date, title, source order. These are the exact patterns the generator produces for each source type. On the page, the web page title, the book title, and the journal name and volume are shown in italics:
- Website: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of page. Site Name. URL
Smith, J. (2024). How sleep affects memory. Sleep Foundation. https://example.com/sleep - Book: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book. Publisher.
Smith, J., & Doe, J. (2021). Thinking about thinking. Penguin Press. - Journal article: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, volume(issue), pages.
Smith, J. A., Doe, J., & Lopez, M. (2023). Sleep and recall in adults. Journal of Sleep Research, 12(3), 45-52.
APA 7 dropped two elements that older editions and other styles still use: the publisher location for books and, for most web pages, the date you accessed the page. The form keeps a Publisher City and a Date Accessed field because the other citation styles on this site need them, but neither appears in the APA output.
APA Author Rules: Initials, Ampersands, and Many Authors
APA writes each author as last name, comma, then initials: Jane Ann Smith becomes Smith, J. A. Type names in their natural order (First Middle Last) and separate authors with commas, semicolons, “and”, or “&”. Avoid typing “Smith, Jane”, because the comma is read as a break between two different authors.
- One author: Smith, J. (2024).
- Two authors: Smith, J., & Doe, J. (2021).
- 3 to 20 authors: all listed, with & before the last one.
- 21 or more authors: the first 19, an ellipsis (...), then the final author.
Group authors such as an agency or company are kept whole: a name like World Health Organization or U.S. Census Bureau is written in full instead of being turned into initials, and you can wrap any other group name in curly braces, for example {NASA}, to make sure. With no author at all, leave the field blank and the title moves to the front, before the date.
Finishing Touches APA Requires
The copied reference keeps its italics, but the title is used exactly as you type it or as auto-fill finds it. Before submitting, check three things that APA graders look for:
- Sentence case titles. Capitalize only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns in article, book, and web page titles. If you copied a title in Title Case, the case converter can switch it to sentence case before you paste it into the form. Journal names keep their normal capitalization.
- DOIs. If a journal article has a DOI, add it to the end of the entry as https://doi.org/... The DOI can fill the form through auto-fill, but the journal entry has no DOI or URL field, so the generator does not print it.
- Spacing. Double-space the reference list in your paper. Copy all from the saved list already keeps each entry’s italics and hanging indent.
Pair each reference with an in-text citation in the body of your paper. The generator shows it under the reference: (Smith, 2024), (Smith & Doe, 2021) for two authors, or (Smith et al., 2023) for three or more. Type a page number in the Page box to get (Smith, 2024, p. 24).
Click Add to list for each source to build a References list that stays in this browser, sorted alphabetically. The same list shows on the MLA and Chicago pages in their own format. Copy all pastes it with italics, or download it as a .txt or BibTeX (.bib) file.
Common uses
- Building an APA reference list for a psychology, education, or nursing paper
- Formatting a mixed list of web pages, textbooks, and journal articles for one assignment
- Checking author order, initials, and the ampersand rule without memorizing APA punctuation
- Citing sources in a literature review, thesis chapter, or lab report
- Switching a reference into APA when a source was first cited in IEEE using the IEEE citation generator
Once your references are in order, the word counter helps keep the paper within its limit, and the grammar checker catches errors before you submit. More writing helpers are collected under Writing & Citation Tools.
APA citation terms explained
| Term | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Reference list | The alphabetized list at the end of an APA paper with one full entry per source; this tool generates those entries and can keep them in a saved list |
| In-text citation | The short author-date pointer in the body of the paper, such as (Smith, 2024), that leads to the full reference |
| n.d. | "No date": used in place of the year when a source shows no publication date |
| Sentence case | Capitalizing only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns, as APA requires for article, book, and web page titles |
| Volume and issue | The journal numbering that APA writes as 12(3): volume 12, issue 3 |
| DOI | Digital Object Identifier, a permanent link for a journal article written as https://doi.org/...; APA 7 places it at the end of the entry |
Frequently Asked Questions
An APA 7 web page reference follows Author, A. A. (Year). Title of page. Site Name. URL. Paste the web address into the auto-fill box, or choose Website / Web Page and enter the author, title, site name, URL, and year. The generator returns, for example: Smith, J. (2024). How sleep affects memory. Sleep Foundation. https://example.com/sleep
An APA 7 book reference is Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book. Publisher, with the book title in italics. You can auto-fill it from the ISBN. APA 7 no longer includes the publisher location, so although the form has a Publisher City field (used by other citation styles), the APA output leaves the city out.
An APA 7 journal reference is Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, volume(issue), pages. Enter those fields and the generator writes, for example: Smith, J. A., Doe, J., & Lopez, M. (2023). Sleep and recall in adults. Journal of Sleep Research, 12(3), 45-52. You can auto-fill from the DOI, but the journal form has no DOI or URL field, so add https://doi.org/... to the end of the copied entry yourself.
Type each name in natural order, First Middle Last, and separate authors with commas, semicolons, "and", or "&". Do not type names as "Last, First", because the comma is read as a separator between two authors. A middle name adds a second initial, so Jane Ann Smith becomes Smith, J. A.
APA 7 lists up to 20 authors in the reference, with an ampersand (&) before the last one. For 21 or more, it lists the first 19, an ellipsis, then the final author. The generator applies both rules automatically.
Leave the Year Published field blank and the reference uses "n.d." (no date) in the date position, which is what APA style specifies.
Leave the author field blank and the generator moves the title into the author position, before the date, as APA 7 requires: Title of page. (2024). Site Name. URL. The in-text citation then uses the title too, such as (Title of page, 2024), in italics for a web page or book.
Yes. It italicizes the book title, the journal name and volume number, and the web page title. Copy Citation copies rich text, so the italics stay when you paste into Word or Google Docs. Titles are used as typed, so apply sentence case yourself.
Usually not. APA 7 only uses a retrieval date for pages that are designed to change over time. The form has a Date Accessed field because other styles use it, and auto-fill sets it to today, but the APA output does not include it.
Yes. The in-text citation appears under the reference, with a Page box and its own Copy button. It gives (Smith, 2024) for one author, (Smith & Doe, 2021) for two, and (Smith et al., 2023) for three or more. Enter a page and it adds it: (Smith, 2024, p. 24).
Yes. Click Add to list after each reference. The list is titled References, sorted alphabetically, and kept only in this browser. You can copy it all with italics and hanging indents, download it as .txt or BibTeX, remove single entries, or clear it.
Yes. It is free with no signup. References you type are formatted in your browser and are not sent to a server. If you use auto-fill, the DOI, ISBN, or web address goes to our server, which asks Crossref or Open Library or reads the page; nothing is stored.
Reviewed by Raja Jahangir · Last reviewed: October 7, 2026
How do you cite a source in APA format?
An APA 7 reference follows: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work. Publisher. For a journal article, add the journal name in italics, the volume, issue, page range, and DOI. In-text citations use author and year - (Morrison, 1987) - rather than page numbers alone.