APA Citations 7th Edition

Author(s) 

Authors of works are individuals or groups who participated in its creation. Individuals and groups may appear together in a reference as authors of a work.

Individual names used in a reference generally appear in the formats "LastName, A. A." or "A. A. LastName" depending on location in the reference. For example, "Obama, B. H." or "B. H. Obama."

Group authors can be businesses, government agencies, associations, non-profit organizations, task forces, hospitals, and study groups. In a reference full group names are spelled out. For example, "Delaware County Community College" rather than "DCCC." 

Authors in specialized roles such as editors, directors, and so on are identified as such. For example, a director as author would appear as "Anderson, W. W. (Director)."

Titles 

These titles appear in "sentence case." This means that as with a sentence, most words are lowercase. Words capitalized are:

• first word of a title or subtitle
• first word after a colon or dash
• proper nouns

For whole books, titles are also italicized.

DOIs and URLs

• DOI:
  • stands for "digital object identifier" 
    • this is a regulated, assigned web address which is an actionable, persistent link to information about a source which is intellectual property
    • in library databases frequently only the unique part of the web address is provided, for example, "10.1111/cars.12168" 
  • in references a complete working DOI should be provided
    • begin with "https://doi.org" and end with the unique part given; for example, "10.1111/cars.12168" would become "https://doi.org/10.1111/cars.12168"
  • do not add a period at the end
• URL:
  • stands for "universal resource locator," and normally appears in the editable box near the top of your browser screen
  • include the "https://" or "http://" the URL of the website begins with
  • do not add a period at the end
  • a retrieval date is needed with a URL only for sources which are designed to change and for which prior versions are not archived 
• online books (ebooks):
  • not from a library database, a DOI or URL is required
  • from a library database, a DOI should be included if readily available, but otherwise in most cases no information identifying the database should be included
• print books:
  • a DOI should be included if readily available

Format

Author last name, Initial(s). (Publication YYYY).Title of book: Subtitle of book. Publisher. DOI, OR if no DOI and it is an ebook not from a library database, URL of the website where ebook resides

Examples

Library Database ebook; One Author; No DOI:

Williams, A. L. (2019). Mental disability and rehabilitation sourcebook. Omnigraphics.

Print Book; Three Authors; No DOI:

Sherraden, M. S., Birkenmaier, J., & Collins, J. M. (2018). Financial capability and asset building in vulnerable households: Theory and practice. Oxford University Press.  

ebook; From Website With URL:

Hollister, H. A. (1918). The woman citizen, a problem in education. D. Appleton and Company. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044087388096

Print Book; Multiple Editors; No DOI:

Linder, K. E., & Hayes, C. M. (Eds.). (2018). High-impact practices in online education: Research and best practices. Stylus Publishing. 

Audio Book:

Cialdini, R. B. (2016). Influence: The psychology of persuasion (G. Newbern, Narr.)[Audiobook]. HarperCollins.

Format

Chapter author last name, Initial(s) OR Group author name. (Publication YYYY). Title of chapter or entry. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.),  Title of book: Subtitle of book (edition of book, page numbers). Publisher. DOI, OR if no DOI and it is an ebook not from a library database, URL of the website where ebook resides

Examples

Chapter From Library Database ebook; Multiple Editors; Page Numbers; No DOI:

Deffenbaugh, J. (2017). Getting my message across. In D. Ashton, J. Ripman, & P. Williams (Eds.), How to be a nurse or midwife leader (pp. 89-110). WILEY Blackwell.

Chapter From Print Book; Multiple Authors; Multiple Editors; Edition Other Than First; Page Numbers; No DOI:

Kashab, M. A., & Cash, B. D. (2018). Antibiotic prophylaxis in endoscopy. In M. B. Wallace, P. Fockens, & J.J. Sung (Eds.), Gastroenterological endoscopy (3rd ed., pp. 48-51). Thieme. 

Dictionary Entry; Retrieved Date With URL:

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Catatonia. In APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved February 19, 2020, from https://dictionary.apa.org/catatonia