APA citation generator

Cite websites, books, articles, ...

apa citation generator

Cite websites, books, articles, ...

What is an APA citation generator and how can it help you?

Getting citations and reference lists correctly done can be very confusing and time-consuming.

The good news is that our APA citation generator can do it automatically for you and it is FREE to use! 🎉

Not convinced yet? Here are 5 reasons why you are going to love the BibGuru APA citation maker:

🚀 Fast

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🎓 APA, MLA, Chicago and thousands of other citation styles

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With BibGuru we have made a citation tool that truly helps students to focus on the content of their work instead of worrying about how to get their reference list correctly done.

Those days of wasting time entering data manually or losing grades on incorrect bibliographies are finally gone!

If you need to know more about APA citations check out our How do I cite in APA style? section or our detailed APA citation guides.

Why, when, and what do I have to cite?

Why
The broad scientific knowledge we have today is the accomplishment of many researchers over time. To put your own contribution in context, it is important to cite the work of the researchers who influenced you.

Cited sources can provide key background information, support or dispute your thesis, or offer important definitions and data. Citing also shows that you have personally read the work.


When
In addition to crediting the ideas of others that you used to build your own argument, you need to provide documentation for all facts and figures that are not common knowledge.

Common knowledge is knowledge that is known by everyone, or nearly everyone, and can basically concern any subject. An example for common knowledge would be "There are seven days in a week".


What
The number of sources you cite in your work depends on the intent of the paper. In most cases, you will need to cite one or two of the most representative sources for each key point.

However, if you are working on a review article, the aim is to present to the readers everything that has been written on a topic, so you will need to include a more exhaustive list of citations.

What is the APA citation style?

apa book image

APA stands for American Psychological Association. The APA citation style was developed by social and behavioral scientists to standardize scientific writing. Behavioral scientists study human and animal behavior, and can be psychologists or neuroscientists for example.

Social scientists, on the other hand, focus on one specific aspect of human behavior, social and cultural relationships. Some examples for social scientists would be economists, anthropologists or political scientists.

But the APA citation style is also used in many other fields. If you are not sure which citation style to use in your paper, ask your instructor. There are many different citation styles and using the style your institution has established for their research correctly can have a great impact on your grade.

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition, which is the basis of this guide) contains guidelines on manuscript structure and content, writing and formatting, and crediting sources. This guide focuses on crediting sources (citations).

How do I cite in APA style?

The APA citation style uses in-text citations and a reference list. Both can be created with just a click with BibGuru's APA citation generator above.

APA in-text citation

For in-text citations, the APA style uses the author-date citation system. This system allows readers to find the sources cited in text and in the reference list, where each source is listed alphabetically. This is how in-text citation works:

  • To insert a citation in text, include the author's surname and year of publication.
  • For a direct quotation, include the page number or specific location of the phrase or sentence in the original work.

If you cite a work with more than one author or editor, additional rules apply:

  • If a work has two authors, cite both names every time the reference occurs in text.
  • When citing a work with 3-5 authors, cite all authors the first time the reference occurs, then include only the surname of the first author, followed by et al.
  • When citing 6 or more authors, use the first author's surname followed by et al. for all citations

Here is an example for an in-text citation of a work with 4 authors:

First in-text citation: Smith, Hill, Adams, and Sanders (2000)

Subsequent in-text citation: Smith et al. (2000)

Intext examples

Rode (2012) claims that productive activities have been part of human civilization since ancient times.

In the production process nowadays, skilled labor and computerized machines are used (Rode, 2012).

In 2003, Rode wrote about the productive activities ...

How do I create a reference list in APA?

The reference list at the end of your paper provides the information necessary to identify and retrieve each source you have used. Accurately prepared reference lists help establish the credibility of your work and yourself as the author.

We have summarized the most important things you need to know when creating your reference list:

  • The reference list should be double-spaced and entries should have a hanging indent.
  • Each reference cited in text must appear in the reference list, and each entry in the reference list must be cited in text.
  • Each entry in the reference list contains the following elements: author, year of publication, title, and publishing data.
  • Put references in order by the author's surname, or first author's surname if there is more than one author.
Reference list examples

Halliday, D., Resnick, R., & Walker, J. (2013). Fundamentals of Physics (10th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

While all the specific rules of the APA citation style might sound very complicated, you don't need to worry about getting them wrong with BibGuru.

Use our APA citation generator above to create the fastest and most accurate APA citations possible.

If you want to know more about APA citations check out our APA citation guides to get detailed information on the various publication types.

BibGuru is the perfect alternative to these APA citation generators

There are many online APA citation generators, but BibGuru has the goal to be number 🥇 in speed, accuracy, and simplicity. Have you ever tried one of these citation makers? Give BibGuru a try now to see the difference it will make to your academic writing!

FAQ

🎓 What does the APA format stand for?

APA is the referencing style of the American Psychological Association. The principles of the APA style can be found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. The style is commonly used in psychology, education, and the social sciences.

✍️ How do I cite in APA?

In the APA style, you need to cite your source in-text with the author's last name and year of publication in brackets, and then give a full reference in the alphabetic reference list. Our (APA citation guides)[/guides/apa] show you how to cite different sources in APA, taking into consideration all the rules set out in their Publication Manual.

🔔 Is the APA format double-spaced?

In general, all parts of an APA styled paper should be double-spaced, that includes the abstract, text, titles, notes, and the reference list. There are some exceptions, however, which you can read all about here.

🏫 What is the latest version of the APA Manual?

The latest version of the APA Manual is the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (2020), published in October 2019.

🤷‍♀️ What are the differences between the APA 6th and APA 7th format?

In the fall of 2019, the American Psychological Association (APA) issued the 7th edition of their publication manual. Some of the major changes in APA 7th are:

  • Book references now omit the publisher location.
  • Journal articles should always include an issue number.
  • You can add up to 20 authors in a reference list instead of only 7.
  • Websites’ URLs omit the “Retrieved from” or "Accessed from" phrase.

    • You can read more about the changes in the latest version here - APA Format: differences between APA 6th and APA 7th.

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