Generate an APA Citation — Free, Full 7th Edition
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- ✓ Verified against the official guide
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🔒 100% private — all formatting happens in your browser, your data is never uploaded to any server.
How it works
- Choose the source type you want to cite.
- Fill in the details (author, year, title…).
- Copy the citation, already formatted in APA 7th edition.
Every formatting rule in this generator — from how multiple authors are listed to how a citation is shortened with "et al." — is verified against the official American Psychological Association style guide (apastyle.apa.org) and Purdue OWL, not guessed. The 7th edition changed important rules from the 6th: for example, "et al." is now used from the first citation with 3 or more authors, instead of waiting until the sixth. Even with an accurate tool, it's always worth reviewing your final citation before submitting a paper — no automatic generator is infallible 100% of the time, and that final responsibility is yours as the author of the work. We cover the most common mistakes (and how to avoid them) in our common APA citation mistakes guide.
Two 7th-edition rules that often trip people up: the DOI is written
as a full URL (https://doi.org/10.1086/720277), not
just the alphanumeric code anymore — this generator's DOI
autocomplete already does that automatically. And article or
chapter titles use sentence case (only the first word, and the
first word after a colon, capitalized), unlike MLA or Chicago,
which capitalize every major word in the title — one of the most
common mix-ups when switching between styles.
Real example, with a book's minimal fields (author, year, title, edition, publisher): Belcher, W. (2019). Writing your journal article in twelve weeks: A guide to academic publishing success (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press. In-text, this would be cited as (Belcher, 2019).
Frequently asked questions
Does this generator cover APA for free, not just MLA?
Yes, fully. Unlike other tools that only give MLA for free and charge for APA, here APA 7th edition is free with no limits.
Do I need to create an account?
No. No sign-up, no email, no login.
Does this site have interrupting ads?
No. Ads (once the advertising account is active) live in fixed spaces around the content — they never take over the full screen, never require watching a video to continue, and never interrupt while you're generating or copying your citation.
What source types can I cite?
Book, ebook, journal article (with DOI), website, edited book chapter, video, social media post, and newspaper article. Besides APA, we also cover MLA, Chicago (Notes-Bibliography and Author-Date), and Harvard for books, articles, and websites.
How do I cite a source with 3 or more authors?
In-text, use "Last name et al." starting from the first citation (APA 7th edition rule, different from the 6th). In the reference list, include all authors up to 20; with 21 or more, list the first 19, an ellipsis, and the last author.
Why trust this generator's accuracy?
Every formatting rule is verified against the official APA style guide (apastyle.apa.org) and Purdue OWL, not guessed. Even so, always review your final citation — no automatic generator is 100% infallible in every case.
Is this generator based on Purdue OWL?
Yes. Purdue OWL is one of the two official sources we verify every formatting rule against (along with apastyle.apa.org for APA, and the official MLA, Chicago, and Cite Them Right guides for the other styles) — not rules guessed or copied from other generators.
Is using a citation generator cheating?
No. A citation generator only formats the details of a source you already found and read — it doesn't do your research or decide what to cite for you. Citing correctly is a normal part of academic work; what actually counts as plagiarism is not citing the source at all, not using a tool that helps with the formatting.
Does this generator use AI?
No. Formatting is produced with fixed rules verified against each style's official guide, not an AI model that could invent or hallucinate an incorrect format — the same input always produces the same verifiable result.
Is my data stored on any server?
No. All formatting happens in your browser; no information is sent to any server.
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