How to cite authors in APA (7th ed.)?

Create a spot-on reference in APA 7 and 6

Select a source type:

Book Website Journal article Video (online)

Archival document Blog post Book Book chapter Complete reference Conference paper Copyright certificate Court case Dictionary Dictionary entry Disc Dissertation / Thesis Encyclopedia Encyclopedia article Extended abstract of dissertation Image Journal article Law / Act Newspaper article Patent Podcast Preprint Press release Religious text Report Social media post Software Standard Video (online) Video game Website

Basic rules

According to the requirements of APA Style (7th edition), in a bibliographic reference, the information about the authors is placed before the title of the source. For identifying an author, it is required to state their last name, first name, and middle name (wherever applicable).

The order of authors in a reference should be the same as given on the source itself (on the cover, etc.).

An author’s initials are separated from their last name with a comma.

The data related to different authors are separated with a comma. For sources with 2 to 20 authors, the ampersand sign (‘&’) is put before the last author’s data.

The names of organisations, institutions, etc. that are the authors of the appropriate work are cited in full at the beginning of the reference.

If the author’s name remains unknown, the title of the source is put at the beginning of the reference. The word ‘Anonym’ should only be written in case the author is stated as ‘Anonym’ on the source itself.

How to cite in a bibliography

Source with one author

Reference template:

Last Name, Initials.

Examples of references:

Freeman, R. (2019). Adventures in cryptozoology. Mangote Media.

Doyle, A. C. (2011). A study in scarlet. Thorpe. (Original work published 1887)

Reference template:

Last Name, Initials of the 1^st author, & Last Name, Initials of the 2^nd author.

Examples of references:

Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. (2005). Blue ocean strategy. Harvard Business School Press.

Source with three to twenty authors

The ampersand sign (‘&’) should be put only before the last author’s data.

Reference template:

Last Name, Initials of the 1^st author, Last Name, Initials of the 2^nd author, Last Name, Initials of the 3^rd author, & Last Name, Initials of the 4^th author.

Examples of references:

Calcott, B., Pocheville, A., & Griffiths, P. (2020). Signals that make a difference. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 71(1), 233–258. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axx022

Hale, C., Hayward, K., Wahidin, A., & Wincup, E. (2013). Criminology (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Source with more than 20 authors

The data of the first nineteen authors should be given, followed by the ellipsis sign ‘. . .’ and the last author’s data. No ampersand sign is put.

Reference template:

Last Name, Initials of the 1^st author, Last Name, Initials of the 2^nd author, Last Name, Initials of the 3^rd author, Last Name, Initials of the 4^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 5^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 6^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 7^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 8^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 9^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 10^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 11^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 12^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 13^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 14^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 15^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 16^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 17^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 18^th author, Last Name, Initials of the 19^th author, . . . Last Name, Initials of the last author.

Examples of references:

Meehl, G. A., Goddard, L., Boer, G., Burgman, R., Branstator, G., Cassou, C., Corti, S., Danabasoglu, G., Doblas-Reyes, F., Hawkins, E., Karspeck, A., Kimoto, M., Kumar, A., Matei, D., Mignot, J., Msadek, R., Navarra, A., Pohlmann, H., Rienecker, M., . . . Yeager, S. (2014). Decadal climate prediction: An update from the trenches. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 95(2), 243–267. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00241.1

Source with a group author

Examples of references:

University of Toronto. (n.d.). Future students. https://www.utoronto.ca/future-students

Source with an unknown author

Examples of references:

Basic pancakes. (n.d.). Baking Mad. https://www.bakingmad.com/recipe/basic-pancakes

Editors, translators, and other contributors

The information on editors, translators, and other contributors is provided after the title of the work, together with the contributors’ respective roles ('Ed.' for one editor and 'Eds.' for multiple editors; 'Trans.' for either one or multiple translators). In this case, the initials are put before the last name of each contributor and not after it (i.e. are inverted):

Shakespeare, W. (2007). Complete works (J. Bate & E. Rasmussen, Eds.). Modern Library.

García Márquez, G. (2014). One hundred years of solitude (G. Rabassa, Trans.). Viking. (Original work published 1967)

Note: for an edited source with an author, the editor's name is given in the reference only if it is stated on the source's cover.

Note: put a comma before the ampersand sign for three to twenty contributors.

For a source with no authors but with an editor (which can be the case of anthologies, collections, etc.), the editor’s data is put in place of the source’s author in the reference, together with the editor’s role in round brackets:

Ross, S., & Lindgren, A. C. (Eds.). (2017). The modernist world. Routledge.