APA 7 changed a lot from APA 6. Here are the citations you actually need, articles, books, websites, YouTube, AI tools, with real examples and the formatting most students get wrong.
The basic APA 7 in-text citation
Format: (Author, Year). Example: (Smith, 2024). For direct quotes, add a page number: (Smith, 2024, p. 12). Three or more authors? Use the first author + et al. from the first citation onwards: (Smith et al., 2024).
Journal article (the most common)
Format: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxx
Example: Smith, J. (2024). College stress in the post-pandemic era. Journal of College Health, 72(3), 245-260. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2023.2200000
Book
Format: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work. Publisher.
Example: Carey, B. (2021). How we learn. Random House.
Website
Format: Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Site Name. URL
Example: CDC. (2024, January 15). College mental health statistics. Centers for Disease Control. https://www.cdc.gov/...
YouTube video
Format: Uploader. (Year, Month Day). Title of video [Video]. YouTube. URL
AI tools (new in APA 7th, 7th printing)
Format: OpenAI. (Year). ChatGPT (Version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com
In-text: (OpenAI, 2024). Note: APA recommends disclosing AI use in your methods section, not just citing it.
Reference list formatting (where everyone messes up)
Double-spaced. Hanging indent (0.5 inch). Alphabetical by first author's last name. Title in italics. DOI as a clickable URL (https://doi.org/...). Never include the date you accessed the source, APA 7 dropped that requirement.
Key takeaways
- In-text = (Author, Year)
- Three+ authors = et al. from first citation
- DOI as URL, not the word 'DOI:'
- Disclose AI tool use in methods, not just citations
- Hanging indent + double-spaced reference list