What APA 7 is
APA Style is widely used in psychology, education, social sciences and related fields. The seventh edition covers references, in-text citations, headings, tables and many other parts of academic writing. A reference list entry and an in-text citation serve different purposes and are formatted differently.
A basic webpage pattern
A basic webpage reference often includes author, date, page title, site name and URL. A simplified pattern is: Author. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Site Name. URL. This is only a starting pattern because a news article, report or journal article follows different rules.
Organization authors
If an organization is clearly responsible for the content, the organization can often act as the author. When author and site name are the same organization, APA may omit the repeated site name. Do not assume the domain owner authored every page.
Missing dates
When no publication or update date is available, APA commonly uses “n.d.” Do not use a site-wide copyright year as the publication date unless it clearly applies to the specific page.
Why generator output needs review
A generator can format only the information it receives. Verify the author, exact title, date and source type on the original page, then compare the result with the APA guidance required by your instructor.
In-text citations are a separate step
A reference-list entry alone is not the complete APA citation process. When you paraphrase or quote a source in the paper, you also need the appropriate in-text citation. The exact in-text form depends on whether the author is a person, organization or missing and whether you are quoting directly.
Related resources
- APA Citation Generator
- Cite a Website with No Author
- Cite a Website with No Date
- Check Citation Generator Output
Reviewed: October 2026. CurioLift explanations are educational; when a school, instructor or required style guide uses different rules, those rules take priority.