You found the perfect source for your paper, and now you need to cite it. Suddenly you are asking where the date goes, what gets italics, and whether you need a link. APA style looks strict, but it follows a small set of patterns. Learn the pattern for each source type, and you can fill in your own details in a few minutes. This guide gives you the four patterns students use most, plus the in-text rules that go with them.

The Two Parts of Every APA Citation

Every source you use needs two things. The first is a short citation inside your paper, called an in-text citation, such as (Rivera, 2024). The second is a full entry in the reference list at the end of your paper. The two parts must match, so every source in your text appears in your list, and every source in your list appears in your text. If you want more background, see our tutorial on How to cite in APA format.

The Basic Pattern

Most APA references follow the same order. You start with the author, then the date, then the title, and then the source where the reader can find it. The pieces change a little depending on the type of source, but this order stays the same. Think of it as four questions: who made it, when, what is it called, and where can I find it? Answer those four questions, and you have a reference.

How to Cite a Website

Use this pattern for a regular webpage with a named author. Write the author's last name and initials, then the date in parentheses, then the page title in italics, then the website name, and then the link. Capitalize only the first word of the title and any proper names, which is called sentence case. If the page has no date, write n.d. in the parentheses. If the author and the website name are the same, leave out the website name.

Rivera, L. (2024, March 12). How to build a study habit. Learning Lab. https://www.example.com/study-habit

If a page has no personal author, you can use the group that made it, such as a school or company, as the author. If the page has no author or group at all, move the title to the author spot. Do not use a copyright year from the bottom of a page as the date. Also remember that you do not need to write "Retrieved from" before the link in APA 7, unless the page is built to change over time, like a live news feed.

How to Cite a Book

For a book, you need the author, the year, the title in italics, and the publisher. Write the title in sentence case, and do not add the city of publication, because APA 7 no longer asks for it. If the book has two authors, put an ampersand (&) between them. If it has up to twenty authors, list them all in the reference. If you read an online book that has a DOI, add the DOI as a link at the end.

Hughes, T. R., & Patel, N. (2022). The student's guide to focus. Northbridge Press.

For a book with an edition number, add it in parentheses after the title, such as (2nd ed.). For a book with an editor instead of an author, put the editor's name first and add (Ed.) after it. If you only read one chapter of an edited book, you cite the chapter and then the book, so check an official example for that case. Most class papers use a plain authored book, so the pattern above will cover you.

How to Cite a Journal Article

Journal articles have the most parts, but each part has a clear rule. After the author and date, write the article title in sentence case with no italics. Then write the journal name in italics with every main word capitalized. Next comes the volume number in italics, then the issue number in parentheses with no italics. Finally, add the page numbers or the article number, and the DOI as a link if the article has one.

Chen, M., Alvarez, J., & Brooks, K. (2023). Sleep and school performance in first year students. Journal of Student Health, 18(2), Article 4521. https://doi.org/10.1000/example4521

Some journals use page numbers, and some use article numbers. If yours has page numbers, write them after the issue number, with the first and last page joined by a short line called an en dash. If your article was found in a library database and has no DOI, you can leave the link out in most cases. If you are ever unsure which parts your teacher wants, ask before you finish your list.

How to Cite a YouTube Video

For a video, the author is the person or group that posted it, not always the person speaking in it. Write that name first, then the full date in parentheses with the year, month, and day. Next, write the video title in italics in sentence case, followed by [Video] in square brackets. Finish with the name of the site, such as YouTube, and then the link. If the account name and the site name are the same, you can leave out the site name.

Study Skills Hub. (2023, September 5). Five ways to remember what you read [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example123

You can find the poster's name, the date, and the exact title right below the video. For a TED Talk watched on YouTube, cite it as a YouTube video and use the account that posted it. If you quote a spoken line, your in-text citation can use a time stamp instead of a page number, such as (Study Skills Hub, 2023, 2:15). Always copy the title exactly as it appears on the page.

In-Text Citations You Will Use Most

In-text citations use the author's last name and the year. You can put them in parentheses at the end of a sentence, or you can name the author in your sentence and put only the year in parentheses. Here is how the most common cases look.

• One author: (Rivera, 2024) or Rivera (2024)
• Two authors: (Hughes & Patel, 2022) or Hughes and Patel (2022)
• Three or more authors: (Chen et al., 2023)
• No date: (Rivera, n.d.)
• Group author: (Study Skills Hub, 2023)
• Direct quote with a page: (Hughes & Patel, 2022, p. 14)

Use a page number only when you quote the exact words, and write p. for one page or pp. for several. For web pages with no page numbers, you can name a section heading or a paragraph number instead. If you paraphrase an idea, you still need the author and year. For help with quotes, see our guide on How to use quotes in an essay.

Rules for Your Reference List

Put your list on a new page at the end of your paper, with the title References in bold and centered. Arrange the entries in alphabetical order by the first author's last name. Use a hanging indent, which means the first line of each entry sits at the left edge and the lines after it are indented half an inch. Double space the whole list, with no extra blank lines between entries. Only include sources that you actually cited in your paper. Our guide on How to create a reference page shows the layout for APA and MLA side by side.

Mistakes to Avoid

The most common mistake is mixing up the capitalization rules. Article, book, and webpage titles use sentence case, while journal names use title case. Another mistake is forgetting the italics, so check that the book title, webpage title, video title, journal name, and volume number are italic. Some students leave sources out of the list or leave sources in the list that never appear in the paper. Others copy a citation from a generator without checking it, and these tools often make small errors. Finally, never invent a source or a detail, because every part of your reference should come from the real source.

A Quick Checklist

• My entry follows the order: author, date, title, source.
• I used sentence case for titles and title case for journal names.
• I italicized the right parts for my source type.
• I used n.d. when there was no date.
• My in-text citation matches the first words of my reference entry.
• My list is alphabetical, double spaced, and has a hanging indent.
• I checked each link or DOI to make sure it works.

Closing Thoughts

APA citation gets easier once you stop seeing it as one huge rule book. Each source type has one simple pattern, and the pieces always come in the same order. Keep this page open while you build your list, fill in the details from your real sources, and check each entry against the checklist. When your citations are neat and correct, your reader can trust your work and find your sources with ease.