How to write the author in an APA 7 reference

What the author element represents

The author is the person or group responsible for a work. This may be the person who wrote a book or article, an organization that issued a report, a film director, or someone who held another primary creative role.

To identify the author, ask who takes primary responsibility for the work you are citing. Do not automatically choose the most prominent name on a page or website.

The names used in this guide are illustrative.

Where to find the name

For a book, check the title page and copyright page. For a journal article, look for the author line, usually near the beginning. For a report, check the cover and credits.

On a webpage, the author may appear near the title, at the end of the content, or on an About page. If no person is named, an organization may be the author.

Use information from the original work whenever possible. A suggested citation may help you find the details, but check that it accurately describes the work you used.

How to write a person's name

Write the surname first, followed by a comma and the given-name initials:

Mendoza, L. P.

Preserve compound surnames, hyphens, and the form used in the publication:

Santos-Garcia, M.

Velasco Rodriguez, P.

Place a space between initials. If a given name is hyphenated, retain the hyphen between the initials:

Xu, A.-J.

Do not include forms of address, positions, ranks, or academic degrees such as Dr., Professor, PhD, or President.

Works with multiple authors

When a work has two to 20 authors, include every author in the order shown in the publication. Separate the names with commas and use & before the final author:

Ruiz, A., Molina, C., & Torres, P.

Do not rearrange the names. Their order may reflect each person's contribution to the work.

If a work has 21 or more authors:

1. Write the first 19 authors.
2. Add an ellipsis.
3. Finish with the final author's name.
4. Do not place & before the final author.

Do not use et al. in a reference. That abbreviation is used when the number of authors changes a citation, not in the complete reference entry.

When an organization is the author

A government agency, institution, company, association, or task force can be an author. Write the group's full name in the reference:

National Reading Institute.

Do not add the group's abbreviation in parentheses. If you need an abbreviation in later citations, introduce it in the text, not in the reference.

When several levels of a government organization are listed, use the most specific agency responsible for the work. Include parent agencies only when they are needed to avoid confusion.

If the cover lists individual names, treat those people as the authors. If it lists only the organization, treat the organization as the author.

One name and usernames

If someone publishes under one name or a name that should not be divided, keep it in full and add a period:

Aurora.

When a social media work displays both a real name and a username, write the real name followed by the username in square brackets:

Herrera, L. [@lunaherrera].

If only a username is known, use it without reversing it.

What to do when there is no author

Before deciding that no author exists, check whether an organization is responsible for the work. A website, institution, or government agency may supply the missing information.

If the author is unknown and cannot reasonably be determined, move the work's title to the author position. Then provide the date:

A guide to organizing research. (2024). Academic Press.

Use Anonymous as the author only when the work is explicitly signed that way. Do not use it to replace an unknown name.

The citation for a work with no author begins with a shortened form of the title. Review how to cite a work when information is missing to keep the citation and reference consistent.

How to check the author element

• The name identifies the person or group responsible for the work.
• Surnames and initials follow the original publication.
• Authors remain in the order shown in the work.
• You included every author when there are 20 or fewer.
• You did not use et al. in the reference.
• You wrote an organization's full name.
• If there is no author, you began the reference with the title.

After completing the author, learn how to write the date in an APA reference.