APA 7 Referencing Guide for UK Students (with Examples)

• The two parts of APA
• In-text citation basics
  • Direct quotations
  • Two authors
  • Three or more authors
  • Multiple sources in one citation
  • No author
  • Secondary citations
• Reference list rules
• Reference list examples
  • Journal article (with DOI)
  • Book (print)
  • Edited book chapter
  • Website article with an author
  • Website article with no author
  • Thesis or dissertation
  • Newspaper article
• The 10 mistakes UK markers spot instantly
• APA 7 for AI-generated content
• Further help

APA 7 (American Psychological Association, 7th edition) is the standard referencing style for psychology, education, nursing and many social-science courses across UK universities. This guide gives you the rules and examples you actually need, plus the mistakes we see most often when editing student work.

#The two parts of APA

APA has two parts that must always agree:

1. In-text citations — a short parenthetical reference at the point you use a source.
2. Reference list — a full alphabetical list at the end of the paper.

If something is cited in the text, it must appear in the reference list, and vice versa. This is the single biggest source of lost marks in APA work.

#In-text citation basics

The basic APA in-text citation is (Author, Year):

Working memory capacity predicts academic performance (Alloway, 2018).

If you name the author in your sentence, put only the year in brackets:

Alloway (2018) argued that working memory capacity predicts academic performance.

#Direct quotations

For direct quotations, add a page number:

“Memory is not a single store” (Baddeley, 2020, p. 42).

#Two authors

List both names every time:

(Smith & Nguyen, 2022)

#Three or more authors

Use the first author plus et al. every time (even the first time):

(Patel et al., 2021)

#Multiple sources in one citation

Order alphabetically, separate with semicolons:

(Alloway, 2018; Baddeley, 2020; Patel et al., 2021)

#No author

Use the title (in quotes if an article, italics if a book) and the year:

(“Global literacy,” 2023)

#Secondary citations

Avoid them where possible. When you cannot access the original:

Miller (as cited in Green, 2022) argued that…

Only Green (2022) goes in your reference list.

#Reference list rules

• Hanging indent (first line flush, subsequent lines indented ~1.27 cm).
• Alphabetical by first author’s surname.
• Double spaced (or as specified by your department).
• Use DOIs when available, formatted as URLs: https://doi.org/...

#Reference list examples

#Journal article (with DOI)

Patel, J., Wang, L., & Ortiz, R. (2021). Sleep and memory consolidation in adolescents. Journal of Sleep Research, 30(4), 123–138. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12345

#Book (print)

Baddeley, A. (2020). Working memory (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.

#Edited book chapter

Green, S. (2019). Curriculum design in higher education. In H. Cole & M. Wright (Eds.), Teaching in the 21st century (pp. 45–62). Routledge.

#Website article with an author

Alloway, T. (2018, August 14). The memory system we ignore. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/memory

#Website article with no author

UK Department for Education. (2023, June 10). Post-16 attendance statistics. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/post-16-attendance

#Thesis or dissertation

Okafor, A. (2022). Attachment styles and academic persistence [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Manchester.

#Newspaper article

Adams, R. (2024, January 12). University funding review. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education

#The 10 mistakes UK markers spot instantly

1. Surname-first-name confusion in the reference list.
2. Incorrect italics. Italicise the journal name and volume number, not the article title.
3. Use of “pg.” or “pages” instead of p. / pp.
4. Random capitalisation. Only the first word of an article title and after a colon are capitalised. Journal names use title case.
5. Missing DOIs when they exist.
6. Et al. for two authors. Never use et al. for two authors.
7. Citing things that aren’t in the reference list.
8. Secondary citations everywhere. It signals you haven’t read the originals.
9. Inconsistent hanging indent. One-line wonky formatting ruins presentation marks.
10. Wrong edition — always check the latest edition of a book if one exists.

#APA 7 for AI-generated content

If you quote or paraphrase content from ChatGPT, APA 7 expects you to cite it as personal communication in-text and describe it in your methods. Most UK universities treat undisclosed AI use as academic misconduct — when in doubt, declare it.

#Further help

For referencing-heavy essays and dissertations, our editors provide full APA 7 checks as part of our essay writing service and dissertation help. You keep your draft; we fix the style.