Free APA Citation Generator - Cite Websites & Books

For a complete APA website citation (7th edition), you typically need:

• Author(s): Last name, first initial(s)
• Publication date: Year, month, and day if available
• Title of the webpage or article: In sentence case
• Site name: The name of the website
• URL: Full web address
• Retrieval date: Only if the content is likely to change

If any information is missing, APA guidelines specify how to handle it (e.g., use "n.d." for no date, or start with the title if no author).

APA 7th edition has specific rules for author formatting:

• 1 author: Last name, First initial. (Smith, J.)
• 2 authors: Last name, F. I., & Last name, F. I. (Smith, J., & Johnson, M.)
• 3-20 authors: List all authors separated by commas, with & before the last author
• 21+ authors: List first 19 authors, then ... (ellipsis), then the last author
• No author: Start citation with the title
• Organization as author: Use the full organization name

Always use & (ampersand) for citations within parentheses and "and" for narrative citations in the text.

APA 7th edition prioritizes DOIs over URLs:

• DOI (Digital Object Identifier): A permanent link to a digital object. Always use if available. Format as: https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx
• URL (Uniform Resource Locator): A web address that may change. Use only if no DOI exists
• When to use which:
  • Journal articles: Always use DOI if available
  • Websites: Use URL (no DOI for websites)
  • Books: Use DOI if available, otherwise use publisher URL if online

Never include "Retrieved from" before a DOI. For URLs, only include "Retrieved from" if you need to include a retrieval date.

Social media and online videos have specific APA formats:

• YouTube videos: Author/Channel. (Year, Month Day). Video title [Video]. YouTube. URL
• Tweets: Author [@username]. (Year, Month Day). Text of tweet [Tweet]. Twitter. URL
• Instagram posts: Author [@username]. (Year, Month Day). Post text [Photograph/Video]. Instagram. URL
• Facebook posts: Author/Page. (Year, Month Day). Post text [Status update]. Facebook. URL

For all online content, include the exact date if available, and use the specific platform name (not just "website").