APA Citation Generator
Generate accurate APA 7th edition citations for websites, books, journal articles, and videos. Free and instant.
Free APA Citation Generator
Our free APA citation generator helps students, researchers, and professionals create properly formatted APA 7th edition citations in seconds. Whether you need to cite a website, book, journal article, or YouTube video, this tool generates accurate reference list entries that follow the latest APA style guidelines. Everything runs in your browser with no sign-up required, and your data is never sent to any server.
The American Psychological Association (APA) style is one of the most widely used citation formats in academic writing. APA 7th edition, published in 2019, introduced several updates including simplified formatting rules, new guidelines for inclusive language, and updated reference examples. This generator implements all current APA 7 rules so you can focus on your research instead of formatting details.
How to Cite a Website in APA Format
To cite a website in APA 7th edition format, you need the author name(s), publication date, title of the page, website name, and URL. The basic format is:
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Website Name. https://www.example.com
If no author is listed, begin the citation with the title of the page. If no date is available, use (n.d.) in place of the year. Note that the title of the webpage is italicized in APA 7. The website name is only included when it differs from the author name. For example, if the author is "World Health Organization" and the website is also "World Health Organization," you omit the site name to avoid redundancy.
How to Cite a Book in APA Format
APA book citations follow this general structure:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book (Edition ed.). Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx
The book title is italicized and written in sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized). If the book has multiple authors, list them all (up to 20), separating names with commas and using an ampersand (&) before the last author. Include the edition only if it is not the first edition. A DOI or URL should be included when available, especially for e-books or books accessed online.
How to Cite a Journal Article in APA Format
Journal articles are one of the most common sources in academic writing. The APA 7 format for a journal article is:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Pages. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Note that the article title is not italicized, but the journal name and volume number are. Include the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) whenever available, formatted as a URL (https://doi.org/). In APA 7, you should always include the issue number in parentheses after the volume, even if the journal uses continuous pagination.
How to Cite a YouTube Video in APA Format
To cite a YouTube video in APA 7th edition, use this format:
Author, A. A. [Screen Name]. (Year, Month Day). Title of video [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxxx
If the real name of the uploader is not available, use the screen name without brackets as the author. The word "Video" in square brackets follows the title to indicate the format of the source. If the uploader and channel name are the same, you do not need to include the screen name in brackets.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between APA 6th and 7th edition?
APA 7th edition (published in 2019) made several key changes from the 6th edition. These include listing up to 20 authors (instead of 6), using "https://doi.org/" format for DOIs, not including the publisher location, removing the "Retrieved from" phrase before URLs, and italicizing the title of webpages. Our generator follows the latest APA 7th edition rules.
How do I format multiple authors in APA 7?
For two authors, separate them with an ampersand: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. For three or more authors (up to 20), list all authors separated by commas with an ampersand before the last one. For 21 or more authors, list the first 19, insert an ellipsis (...), and then add the final author's name. Our tool handles all of these cases automatically.
What do I do if there is no author?
If no individual or group author is listed, begin the citation with the title of the work. For instance, a website with no author would start with the italicized page title. In your in-text citation, use the first few words of the title in quotation marks for articles or in italics for books and webpages, followed by the year.
What does "n.d." mean in an APA citation?
"n.d." stands for "no date." Use it in place of the year when a publication date is not provided on the source. For example: Smith, J. (n.d.). Title of work. Publisher. This tells the reader that the original source did not include a publication date.
Should I include a DOI or URL in my citation?
In APA 7, you should include a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) whenever one is available. Format it as a URL: https://doi.org/xxxxx. If no DOI exists but the work was accessed online, include the URL. For print books and journals accessed through a library database without a DOI, you do not need to include the database name or URL.
Is this APA citation generator free to use?
Yes, this tool is completely free with no sign-up, no limits, and no ads interrupting your workflow. It runs entirely in your browser, so your citation data is never uploaded to any server. You can generate as many citations as you need, add them to your reference list, and copy everything in one click.