Write it Right. Cite with Confidence.
Get clear, step-by-step help with APA 7th edition citations, formatting, and scholarly writing, so you can stay focused on what matters most: your education.
What You’ll Learn
Master APA 7th edition skills that strengthen your academic work.
What Is APA 7th Edition?
APA 7th edition is the current publication style of the American Psychological Association, released in 2019 and required by most U.S. nursing programs. It standardizes how academic papers look and how sources are credited: title pages, headings, and spacing on the formatting side, and in-text citations matched to a reference list on the crediting side. Mastering it protects your grades, your credibility, and your academic integrity.
The free lessons below answer the most common APA questions with nursing-specific examples. When you want your actual paper reviewed and the rules taught one to one, our APA and scholarly communication support is built for exactly that.
Explore APA 7th Edition Help Topics
Find answers and examples for the most common APA questions.
APA Format & Paper Setup
Learn how to format your paper with correct margins, spacing, headings, and title page.
APA Format & Paper Setup
APA 7 formatting is mostly a fixed recipe, and setting it up before you write saves an hour of panic at the deadline. Student papers use a simplified format: no running head, no abstract unless your instructor asks, and a title page listing your title in bold, your name, affiliation, course, instructor, and date.
- One-inch margins on all sides, double-spaced throughout
- Accepted fonts include Times New Roman 12, Calibri 11, and Arial 11
- Level 1 headings are centered and bold; level 2 are flush-left and bold
- Every page is numbered in the top-right corner, starting with the title page
In-Text Citations
Master parenthetical and narrative citations with clear nursing examples.
In-Text Citations
Every idea you take from a source needs an in-text citation, whether you quoted it or paraphrased it. APA 7 offers two forms: parenthetical, like (Smith & Lee, 2024), and narrative, like Smith and Lee (2024) found. Both point the reader to the full entry in your reference list.
- Two authors: cite both names every time, joined by & in parentheses and "and" in the sentence
- Three or more authors: first author et al. from the very first citation, e.g. (Chen et al., 2023)
- Direct quotes add a page number: (Chen et al., 2023, p. 14)
- No author? Use the first words of the title in quotation marks with the year
Reference List Examples
See the patterns for books, journals, websites, and reports.
Reference List Examples
The reference list is where graders look first, and each source type follows a pattern. Journal article: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pages, then the DOI as a link. Book: Author. (Year). Title of the book. Publisher. Web page: Author or Organization. (Year, Month Day). Title. Site Name. URL.
- Alphabetical order by first author surname, with a hanging indent
- Article titles in sentence case; journal names in title case and italics
- No publisher locations for books in APA 7
- Every reference must be cited somewhere in your text, and vice versa
Tables, Figures & Images
Learn how to format, number, and cite visual material in APA 7.
Tables, Figures & Images
Tables and figures follow the same skeleton: a bold label (Table 1, Figure 1) on its own line, an italic title below it, the content, and any notes underneath. Images you did not create need a copyright attribution in the note, and everything you include must be referred to in your text.
- Number tables and figures separately, in the order mentioned
- Refer to each one in the text: "as shown in Table 1", never "the table below"
- Notes go under the table or figure, starting with the italic word Note.
- Reprinted or adapted images need source attribution and a reference entry
Quotations & Paraphrasing
When and how to use quotes and paraphrases correctly.
Quotations & Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing, restating a source's idea in your own words with a citation, should carry most of your paper; it shows understanding. Quote only when the exact wording matters. Either way the citation is not optional: an uncited paraphrase is plagiarism even when every word is yours.
- Paraphrase = your words + citation; changing a few words is not paraphrasing
- Short quotes take quotation marks and a page number
- Quotes of 40+ words become indented block quotes without quotation marks
- Nursing faculty generally expect far more paraphrase than quotation
DOI & URL Citations
Cite online sources, DOIs, and URLs the right way in APA 7.
DOI & URL Citations
APA 7 simplified electronic sources, which is where most 6th-edition habits go wrong. A DOI is presented as a plain hyperlink in the form https://doi.org/10.xxxx, with no "DOI:" label. "Retrieved from" is gone before ordinary URLs, and articles from academic databases are cited like print articles, with no database name at all.
- Always include the DOI when one exists, formatted as a link
- No "Retrieved from" unless the content is designed to change, like a dashboard
- Database names (CINAHL, ProQuest) do not appear in references
- Long URLs may be left as-is; do not add a period after a DOI or URL
Authors & Group Authors
Cite works by multiple authors, organizations, and corporate groups.
Authors & Group Authors
Author count drives both citation forms. One or two authors are named every time. Three to twenty authors: name them all in the reference entry, but cite the first plus et al. in text. Twenty-one or more: list the first nineteen, an ellipsis, then the final author. Organizations can be authors too.
- Group authors are written in full first, with the abbreviation in brackets: (World Health Organization [WHO], 2024)
- After the first citation, the abbreviation stands alone: (WHO, 2024)
- When author and publisher are the same organization, omit the publisher
- No author at all? Move the title into the author position
Common APA Mistakes
Identify and fix the errors graders see most, before you submit.
Common APA Mistakes
Across thousands of nursing papers, the same short list of APA errors costs the most points. The good news: they are all mechanical, which means a 20-minute final pass with a checklist catches nearly all of them.
- Listing every author in-text for sources with three or more authors
- References that are never cited, and citations with no reference entry
- Publisher locations, "DOI:" labels, and "Retrieved from" leftovers from APA 6
- Missing page numbers on direct quotes, and title-case article titles in references
Free APA 7th Edition Resources
Download free guides, checklists, and templates to make APA easier.