APA 7 referencing, from the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, is an author-date style used across psychology, health, environmental science, data science and parts of engineering.
This page shows the reference formats STEM students need most, including datasets, software and preprints, plus the in-text rules and a final checklist. All names, titles and DOIs in the examples are illustrative.
The Four Parts of Every APA 7 Reference
Every APA 7 reference answers four questions: who (author), when (date), what (title) and where (source). Get those four elements in order and most reference types fall into place.
In the text, cite the author's surname and the year, for example (Okafor, 2024), and add a page number for direct quotations.
The Four Elements
| Element | Answers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Who? | Okafor, L., & Singh, P. |
| Date | When? | (2024). |
| Title | What? | Thermal limits of solid-state batteries. |
| Source | Where? | Journal of Example Energy, 12(4), 210–225. https://doi.org/10.1000/xyz123 |
Authors are given as surname then initials. Use an ampersand (&) before the last author in the reference list.
Journal Articles
Okafor, L., Singh, P., & Chen, M. (2024). Thermal limits of solid-state batteries. Journal of Example Energy, 12(4), 210–225. https://doi.org/10.1000/xyz123
Rivera, A., & Lindqvist, S. (2023). Sparse sensing for structural health monitoring. Example Engineering Letters, 8, Article e0145. https://doi.org/10.1000/abc456
- Article title in sentence case, not italic.
- Journal name in title case and italic; volume number italic; issue number in roman type in brackets.
- Many online journals use article numbers instead of page ranges; write "Article" and the number.
- Give the DOI as a full https://doi.org/ link, with no full stop after it.
- List up to 20 authors. For 21 or more, list the first 19, an ellipsis, then the final author.
Books and Edited Chapters
Patel, R. (2021). Introduction to control systems (3rd ed.). Example Press.
Moss, H. (2020). Sensor fusion. In T. Lin (Ed.), Robotics handbook (pp. 101–128). Example Books.
APA 7 omits the publisher's location. Add a DOI if the book has one. In an edited book, the chapter title is plain and the book title italic, with the editor's initials before the surname.
Datasets, Software and Code
STEM work often relies on data and software, and APA 7 has clear formats for both. Use a description in square brackets after the title.
Example Climate Lab. (2023). Regional temperature dataset, 1950–2020 (Version 2) [Data set]. https://doi.org/10.1000/data456
R Core Team. (2024). R: A language and environment for statistical computing (Version 4.4.0) [Computer software]. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://www.R-project.org/
Rivera, A. (2024). path-planner (Version 1.3) [Computer software]. GitHub. https://github.com/example/path-planner
Cite specialized software and packages you name in your method or that shaped your analysis. You do not need to cite common tools such as word processors. If a project gives its own preferred citation, use that.
Preprints, Reports, Theses and Standards
Chen, M., & Novak, A. (2025). Scheduling heuristics for mixed-criticality systems. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.1000/arxiv789
Example Energy Agency. (2024). Grid storage outlook 2024 (Report No. EEA-24-3). https://www.example.gov/grid-outlook
Lindqvist, S. (2022). Adaptive beamforming for low-cost arrays [Master's thesis, Example University]. Example University Repository. https://repository.example.edu/123
Unpublished and stand-alone works such as preprints, reports and theses have italic titles. When the author and publisher are the same organization, give the name once, as the author. For a published dissertation from a database, write "Doctoral dissertation" in the brackets and name the database.
In-Text Citations
| Authors | Parenthetical | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| One | (Okafor, 2024) | Okafor (2024) |
| Two | (Okafor & Singh, 2024) | Okafor and Singh (2024) |
| Three or more | (Okafor et al., 2024) | Okafor et al. (2024) |
| Group author | (Example Energy Agency, 2024) | Example Energy Agency (2024) |
For three or more authors, use "et al." from the very first citation. Add a page number for direct quotations, as (Okafor, 2024, p. 212). Cite several works in one bracket in alphabetical order, separated by semicolons.
Formatting the Reference List
- Start on a new page headed "References", bold and centered.
- Order entries alphabetically by the first author's surname.
- Use a hanging indent of 0.5 inch (1.27 cm) and double spacing.
- For two works by the same author, order by year, earliest first.
- For two works by the same author in the same year, add a, b and so on: 2024a, 2024b.
- Do not write "Retrieved from" before a URL unless the page is designed to change and you give a retrieval date.
Common APA 7 Mistakes
- Title case for article titles instead of sentence case.
- Italicizing the issue number along with the volume.
- Writing "doi:" instead of a full https://doi.org/ link.
- Including the publisher's city for books, as APA 6 did.
- Using "et al." in the reference list instead of listing up to 20 authors.
- In-text citations with no matching reference, or the reverse.
APA 7 Checklist
- Every in-text citation has a matching reference, and vice versa.
- Article and book titles are in sentence case.
- Journal names and volume numbers are italic.
- DOIs are full https://doi.org/ links.
- Datasets and software have versions and bracketed descriptions.
- The list is alphabetical, double-spaced, with hanging indents.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Give the author or organization, the year, the title in italics, any version, the description [Data set] and the DOI or URL.
Up to 20. For 21 or more, list the first 19, an ellipsis and then the final author.
In the text, for any source with three or more authors, from the first citation. In the reference list, write out up to 20 authors.
Cite software and specialized packages you name in your method or that shaped your analysis. Follow your instructor's guidance on common tools.
APA 7 drops the publisher's location, lists up to 20 authors, presents DOIs as https links and drops "Retrieved from" before most URLs. In the text, "et al." is used from the first citation for three or more authors.
No. Leave the DOI or URL without a full stop, so it still works when copied.