APA is the style of psychology, education, nursing, business, communications, and much of the broader social sciences. If your work cites human-subject research, behavioural studies, or quantitative findings from journals in those fields, APA is probably the style you are working in. This guide is an orientation: what the 7th edition enforces, how its citation system actually fits together, and where to look when you need a rule the editor cannot answer.
Two caveats up front. First, the canonical reference is the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition, published by the American Psychological Association in 2019. APA also keeps a free public site at apastyle.apa.org with articles, tutorials, and worked examples. This blog post is an orientation written to help you understand the system. It is not a rulebook, and it cannot replace the Manual when you need the canonical answer to a specific question. Second, RightMyWork currently supports the 7th edition only. Earlier editions of APA are no longer the current standard, and we have not implemented support for them.
Where APA came from and who it serves
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organisation of psychologists in the United States. It published the first edition of its Publication Manual in 1952 to standardise how psychology journals presented research. Over seventy years and seven editions later, what started as an in-house manual for one society’s journals has become the dominant style for empirical writing in dozens of fields that adjoin psychology.
APA 7 was released in 2019. It distinguishes between the professional paper format (used by researchers submitting to journals) and the student paper format (used in coursework), and the two have small but real differences. The most visible early-edition habit it eliminates is the running head requirement on student papers, which APA 6 carried over from journal practice.
If your field is one of the following, APA 7 is almost certainly the style you are expected to use: psychology, education, nursing, public health, communications, business administration, criminology, social work, and family studies. Some sociology programmes use APA; others use ASA. Some economics journals follow APA-adjacent conventions but with their own twists. When in doubt, look at the author guidelines of the specific journal you are submitting to. They are the final word.
The mechanics: spelling, punctuation, and usage
APA does not invent its own English. It inherits American spelling, American punctuation, and American usage conventions, and layers a small set of editorial decisions on top. The result is a recognisable APA voice that is plainer than journalism and tighter than most academic prose.
Spelling
American spelling is the default. Words ending in “or” rather than “our,” in “ize” rather than “ise,” and in “er” rather than “re.” Where multiple American spellings exist for a single word, APA writers tend to follow Merriam-Webster as the tiebreaker. If your draft was written in UK English and you are converting it to APA, expect spelling changes across the document.
Punctuation
APA uses American punctuation, which has two practical consequences worth knowing. First, commas and periods sit inside closing quotation marks regardless of whether they belong to the quoted material. Second, APA explicitly requires the serial comma, the comma before “and” or “or” in a list of three or more items. The serial comma is non-negotiable in APA, even if your previous writing habits avoided it.
Em dashes appear sparingly in APA. They are used where appropriate but not as a substitute for clearer punctuation. En dashes have specific uses, especially in number ranges and compound modifiers between parallel elements. Hyphens cover prefixes and compound modifiers in their usual roles. The detailed rules for each are in the Manual.
Numbers
APA generally writes whole numbers below 10 as words (“one,” “two,” “three”) and uses figures from 10 onward. Several exceptions apply: numbers that start a sentence are written as words regardless of size, numbers used with units of measurement appear as figures, and numbers in tables or statistical contexts are almost always figures. The exceptions are detailed, and they matter in quantitative writing. The Manual covers them in a dedicated chapter.
Capitalisation
APA distinguishes between two capitalisation styles and uses each one in specific places. Title case capitalises the first letter of each major word and is used for the titles of your paper, its sections, and any work you mention by name in the running text. Sentence case capitalises only the first letter of the title and any proper nouns, and is used for article titles, book titles, and chapter titles inside the reference list. Two styles, two consistent jobs. Getting them right makes your references look correct at a glance.
Voice and inclusive language
APA 7 expanded the section on bias-free language and the conventions it asks writers to follow. The general spirit is to be specific where specificity is needed, to centre human subjects rather than label them, and to default to the singular “they” when an indefinite pronoun is called for. The Manual covers race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, and socioeconomic status with explicit guidance. If your work involves any of those domains, the Manual’s chapter on bias-free language is worth reading in full at least once.
The citation system, at a glance
APA uses an author-date system. Every source you cite in your paper appears in two places: a brief citation in the body of the text, and a full entry in the reference list at the end. The two are linked: every in-text citation must match a reference list entry, and every reference list entry must be cited somewhere in the text. Orphan entries on either side are an error.
In-text citations carry the author surname and the publication year. That is all. The full title, journal, publisher, and page details live in the reference list, which keeps the running text uncluttered. Reference list entries are alphabetical by first author surname, formatted with a hanging indent so the first line of each entry sits flush left and continuation lines indent.
Footnotes do exist in APA, but not for citation. They carry content notes (asides that would interrupt the main flow) and copyright attribution for tables or figures reused with permission. The author-date system handles all the citation work.
In-text citations
Every in-text citation comes in one of two flavours, and the distinction matters for the rhythm of your prose.
Parenthetical citations
A parenthetical citation tucks the author and year into parentheses at the end of the sentence or clause you are supporting. The author and year are separated by a comma. Punctuation closing the sentence goes after the closing parenthesis.
Example, using a fictional source: Anxiety in graduate students rose sharply after the pandemic year (Okonkwo & Patel, 2022).
If you cite a direct quotation, the page number is added inside the parentheses with the abbreviation “p.” for a single page or “pp.” for a range: (Okonkwo & Patel, 2022, p. 47).
Narrative citations
A narrative citation weaves the author name into the sentence itself, with the year in parentheses immediately afterward. This is the form to use when the author is the subject of your sentence rather than incidental to it.
Okonkwo and Patel (2022) found that anxiety rose sharply after the pandemic year.
Narrative citations make for stronger prose when you are drawing on a specific study or arguing with a specific author. Parenthetical citations work better when you are stacking up several sources to support a general claim.
Multiple authors
For one or two authors, every citation lists all the authors every time. For three or more, APA 7 uses “et al.” from the first citation onward, as in (Okonkwo et al., 2022). This is a change from APA 6, which used the full list on first mention and the shortened form afterward. APA 7 simplified the rule.
Multiple sources in one citation
When several sources support the same point, list them in one set of parentheses, separated by semicolons, in alphabetical order by first author: (Choi, 2021; Okonkwo & Patel, 2022; Stein, 2019). The alphabetical order matters and mirrors the order entries will appear in the reference list.
Group authors
For organisational authors, write out the full name on first mention and use a recognised abbreviation in subsequent citations. The first mention can include the abbreviation in square brackets to flag the upcoming shortening: (World Health Organization [WHO], 2021) and then (WHO, 2021) from then on.
Sources without authors or dates
If a source has no author, use a shortened title in italic (for books) or in quotation marks (for shorter works) in place of the author. If a source has no date, use “n.d.” in place of the year. These cases come up most often for grey literature and online sources, and APA handles both cleanly.
Examples to internalise
Four in-text citations following APA 7 conventions. All sources are invented for illustration.
- One author, parenthetical, paraphrase: The findings are robust across cohorts (Stein, 2019).
- Two authors, narrative, direct quotation: Okonkwo and Patel (2022, p. 47) argue that the trend is now persistent.
- Three or more authors, parenthetical: The pattern repeats across studies (Choi et al., 2021).
- Multiple sources together, semicolons, alphabetical: Several reviews converge on the point (Choi, 2021; Okonkwo & Patel, 2022; Stein, 2019).
The reference list
The reference list is where the bibliographic detail lives. Every cited source gets a single entry, alphabetised by first author surname, formatted with a hanging indent. The reference list starts on a new page after the body of the paper, and the heading “References” sits centred and bold at the top.
Each entry follows a four-part skeleton: who, when, what, where. The author (or authors) comes first, the year comes next in parentheses, the title comes after, and the source details close the entry. The exact shape of each part depends on the type of source.
Journal articles
The most common case in APA writing. The author surname comes first, then initials, then the year in parentheses, then the article title in sentence case, then the journal name in italic with title case, then the volume in italic, then the issue in parentheses without italic, then the page range. A DOI closes the entry if one exists.
Original example: Okonkwo, A. C., & Patel, R. (2022). Pandemic-era stress and graduate student attrition: A longitudinal study. Journal of Higher Education Research, 47(3), 121–144. https://doi.org/10.1234/jher.2022.047
DOIs are rendered as URLs in APA 7. The older “doi:” prefix is no longer used. If a journal article has no DOI but is available online, a URL takes its place. If the source has no DOI and is not available online, no URL is needed.
Books
Book entries follow a similar skeleton: author, year, title in italic with sentence case, publisher. Note that the publisher location (the city and state that used to be required in APA 6) is no longer required in APA 7. APA 7 dropped it.
Stein, M. (2019). Quiet revisions: Editing as a craft. Bracewell Press.
Chapters in edited books
These entries name both the chapter author and the book editor, with the editor introduced by the word In and labelled (Ed.) or (Eds.) as appropriate.
Choi, J. (2021). Reading between the citations. In M. Stein (Ed.), The shape of scholarly prose(pp. 88–112). Bracewell Press.
Websites and online content
Websites carry an author (a person or an organisation), a publication or last-updated date, the title of the specific page in italic, the site name if it differs from the author, and the URL.
World Health Organization. (2021, March 14). Mental health and the pandemic year. https://example.org/who/mental-health
Things to remember about the reference list
- Alphabetical orderis by first author surname, then year, then title. Entries by the same first author with the same year are disambiguated with lowercase letters: “(2022a),” “(2022b).”
- Hanging indent on every entry. The first line sits flush left, continuation lines indent half an inch.
- Sentence case for article and book titles in the reference list. Title case for journal names.
- Italic for book titles, journal names, and volume numbers. No italic on article titles, issue numbers, or page numbers.
- An en dash in page ranges, not a hyphen. The visible difference is small but real.
- DOIs as URLs. If you have a DOI, include it. If you do not, include a URL only when the source is online and accessible.
Footnotes in APA
Footnotes in APA do not carry citations. Citations stay in the in-text author-date system. Footnotes carry two specific things.
The first is content notes: short asides that elaborate on a point in the main text without disrupting its flow. Used sparingly. APA generally prefers that you integrate explanations into the running text rather than push them into a footnote. If you find yourself reaching for footnotes often, the paper usually wants restructuring rather than additional notes.
The second is copyright attributions on tables and figures that are reused with permission from another source. This is a separate, more formal kind of footnote and it sits beneath the table or figure rather than at the bottom of the page. It carries specific bibliographic information about the original source and a permission statement.
APA 7 does not call for footnotes to be used as a citation system, and the editor will not add them in that role. If your draft uses footnotes for citations because it was started in a different style, expect those footnotes to be flagged.
What RightMyWork does with APA 7
When you pick APA 7 on the upload screen, the editor applies the conventions described above across your document. In-text citations are checked for author-date format consistency, including the “et al.” rule for three or more authors. Reference list entries are reviewed for sentence-case article titles, italic on book and journal titles, en-dashed page ranges, and DOI formatting. Headings are checked against APA’s five-level structure. Spelling and punctuation are pushed toward American conventions and the serial comma.
Every change lands as a tracked change in Word, so you can accept or reject each suggestion. If the editor is unsure (for example, when a citation references a source that is not in your reference list), it leaves a comment rather than rewriting silently. The Manual is the authority. The editor applies what it can confidently apply, flags what it cannot, and stays out of judgement calls that belong to you and your supervisor.
Where to go from here
For the rules in their canonical form, the APA Style website is the best free resource, and the Publication Manual itself is the definitive printed reference. Both are produced by the people who define the rules. This blog post is an orientation that helps you understand the system; the canonical resources are where you go when you need to settle a specific question.
When you are ready to apply APA 7 to your own draft, the upload form on the homepage is one click away. The first 3,000 words on a new account are free, which is enough to run a short paper end to end and see how the editor handles your particular writing.