APA reference checker: are the sources real, and is the format APA 7?
Paste your reference list: each source is verified in scholarly records, and verified entries are rewritten to APA 7 (author initials, year in parentheses, italic journal name, volume(issue), page range, https://doi.org/ link). Same author–same year works get 2022a/2022b letters automatically.
The three most common problems in APA bibliographies
Right format, wrong source
A perfectly APA-looking entry can be fabricated. Existence is verified first, format second.
Mixed formatting
'et al.' in one entry, full lists in another; 'doi:' here, a URL there. Verified records are regenerated in uniform APA 7.
Missing DOI and wrong year
A DOI present in the record but absent from the list is added; for online-first papers the print-issue year is used.
The 8 most common APA 7 mistakes
- 'and' instead of '&' — Use '&' before the last author in the reference list: Kaya, A., & Demir, B.
- Truncating at 7 authors — APA 6's rule is gone; list up to 20 authors, and for 21+ give the first 19, an ellipsis, and the last.
- Italicising the issue number — Journal of Applied Psychology, 105(3), 245–260 — journal name and 105 italic, (3) roman.
- Not writing the DOI as https://doi.org/ — 'doi:10…' and 'Retrieved from' are gone in APA 7; a retrieval date only for pages that change.
- Including the publisher location — City/country was removed for books: Author. (Year). Title. Publisher.
- Title-casing article titles — Sentence case: only the first word, proper nouns and the first word after a colon are capitalised.
- No letters for same author–same year — Kaya (2022a) and Kaya (2022b) must carry letters both in text and in the list.
- Missing the en dash in page ranges — 245–260 with an en dash, not a hyphen.
Workflow for an APA reference list
Verify the sources
Fabricated, faulty and retracted sources are separated; verified ones are written in APA 7.
See format deviations
Deviations from APA 7 (year without parentheses, missing DOI, 'et al.' misuse) are listed per entry.
Convert inside your Word file
The bibliography section of a .docx is converted to APA 7; the rest of the document is untouched.
Match in-text citations
Entries never cited in the text, and citations missing from the list, are found.
APA 7 submission list
- Is every entry in alphabetical order?
- Is the year in parentheses and followed by a period?
- Are journal name and volume italic?
- Is the DOI in https://doi.org/ form?
- Do a/b letters for same author–year works match the text?
Formatting from the verified record
An APA 7 entry is produced only for sources that match a scholarly record; unverified sources are kept as written and flagged. If your institution deviates from APA (e.g., a house style), the same tool accepts a custom format description.