APA 7 Citation for Canadian Students: Complete 2026 Guide

APA 7 in-text citations follow the pattern (Author, Year, p. #) for direct quotes and (Author, Year) for paraphrases. The reference list is alphabetised by author surname with hanging indent, italicised journal titles, and full DOI URLs in the format https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/yyyy. Canadian student papers drop the running head but keep the page number.

Title page (student version): paper title, author, university, course code and name, instructor, and due date. Each item on its own line, centred, in the upper half of the page.

In-text rules to memorise: one author (Smith, 2024); two authors (Smith & Lee, 2024); three or more (Smith et al., 2024); organisation as author with abbreviation introduced once.

Reference patterns: journals need volume(issue), page range, and DOI. Books need publisher only (no city). Webpages need a retrieval date only if the content changes over time (wikis, Statistics Canada tables).

Canadian-specific cases: Statistics Canada tables, Government of Canada publications, and Indigenous Elders all have explicit APA 7 patterns - cite them properly.

Common deductions: Title Case vs. sentence case errors in reference titles, missing DOIs, mixing 'and' with '&', italicising the wrong element.