🔥 Benefits of Our APA Reference Generator
- It is free. You can use our tool as many times as you want, absolutely free of charge.
- It’s fast. It's much quicker to generate the references than to make them yourself.
- It’s convenient. Our APA 7th referencing generator is intuitive and easy to use.
✅ How to Use Our Free APA Reference Generator
Why waste time consulting the APA style guidelines? Just follow these 5 simple steps to create a perfect reference list:
- Select your source type from the list. You can choose a website, book, journal, newspaper, etc.
- Type in the information about the source. Provide the author's name, DOI number, and other relevant data.
- Type in other details if necessary. You can mention additional contributors, website title, date, etc.
- Click the Add button. You can generate several references this way.
- Get the results. Now, you can download an in-text citation or a reference.
You can also paste the link to your source, and our tool will format it automatically. Just check the preview and edit it if needed.
🔬 What Is APA Style?
APA stands for American Psychological Association. Unlike Harvard or MLA style, it is a format of writing used mainly in sociology, nursing, psychology, anthropology, and other social sciences.
APA was first introduced for scientific writings to make it more convenient for readers to follow and focus on the text.
The style was created in 1929 by a group of anthropologists, psychologists, and business managers. Later, it has undergone some changes to meet the needs of the researchers, but the original idea remains the same. The latest 7th edition was published in 2020. It includes more than 100 examples, guidelines on new resources, and accessibility guidelines.
💬 APA In-text Citations vs. References
In APA-style papers, you use correctly formatted in-text citations and references. Let's see what they are like.
APA In-Text Citations Explained
In-text citations are used to refer your reader to the source of information you're citing. It serves multiple purposes, such as:
- Showing your reader that the information you cite is legitimate.
- Giving credit to the original researcher or author.
- Showing your knowledge in the field.
You should put in-text citations after referencing a text in your work. If you reference the whole work or use indirect quoting, you should only put the author's last name and the year of the publication.
However, if you use a direct quote from another work, make sure to include a page number, too.
APA References Explained
The reference list provides information about the source in more detail. Just like in-text citations, references prove your source's credibility. They contain more information than in-text citations; that's why they're listed separately.
Make sure to include the following:
| ✔ | The author’s last name and initials. |
| ✔ | Publication date. |
| ✔ | The headline for articles and the title of newspapers or books in italics. |
| ✔ | The publishing information. |
But what if you’re referencing online content, for example, a social media post? In that case, do the following:
| 🌐 | To make a reference to a website, you need to mention the author’s name, the publication date, the page’s title in italics, the website’s name, and URL. |
| 📲 | For a reference to a social media post, put the author’s name, the publication date, the content of the post in italics, the format in square brackets, the social media name, and URL. |
| ✍️ | If you are referencing a blog post, you should include the name of the author, the publication date, the post’s title, the blog’s name in italics, and URL. |
All the references should be ordered alphabetically and double-spaced.
✨ APA Citations & References Examples
Looking for some examples of APA-styled citations and references? Check them out below to better understand what they should look like.
APA In-text Citations Examples
📰 Article
Magazine
Newspaper
📚 Book
One Author
Two authors
🌐 Website
📲 Social Media
✍️ Blog
APA References Examples
📰 Article
Magazine
Newspaper
📚 Book
One Author
Two authors
🌐 Website
📲 Social Media
✍️ Blog
Make sure to refer to the official APA Publication Manual for other cases examples and instructions. We also recommend asking your instructor about their requirements for each formatting style.
We hope this article was helpful! Check out our free APA reference generator and other reference generators for different writing styles. We also recommend using our paraphrasing tool for indirect quotations.
❓ Reference Generator FAQs
The APA References page should be double-spaced with all the references in alphabetical order. Each reference should include the author’s name, the publication date, the headline or title of the work in italics, and the publishing details.
Our APA 7th referencing generator can make a reference list or in-text citations momentarily and absolutely for free. All you need to do is to provide the necessary information or a link to the source. You can use it as many times as you want.
Custom-Writing's APA reference generator can make a reference list or in-text citations for your paper. To get a reference done, you just need to provide the necessary information about your source, such as the author's name, DOI number, and other details. You can also add a link to your source, and the generator will format it automatically.
According to APA format, the reference page should be the last page of your work. You should put all the references double-spaced on a new page in alphabetical order. Make sure to include the author's name, the headline or the work's title, the publication date, and other publication details.