How to Cite a Conference Paper in APA 7th Edition

This guide explains how to format a conference paper citation in APA 7th Edition. Follow the format template below, refer to the real example, and use the step-by-step instructions to build your citation correctly.

Format Template

The general pattern for citing a conference paper in APA 7th Edition:

Template

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year, Month Days). Title of paper [Conference presentation]. Conference Name, Location. https://doi.org/xxxxx

In-Text Citation Example

How the citation appears within the body of your paper:

In-text citation

(Lee & Park, 2022)

Reference List Entry Example

The full citation as it appears in your reference list:

Reference list entry

Lee, J., & Park, H. (2022, August 7--10). Transformer architectures for low-resource languages [Paper presentation]. Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, Dublin, Ireland. https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2022.acl-long.45

Step-by-Step Guide

1
Identify the author(s)
List all presenters in standard APA author format.
2
Add the date
Include the year and the specific date(s) of the conference using an en dash for date ranges (e.g., 2022, August 7--10).
3
Write the paper title
Use sentence case. Do not italicize. Follow the title with the contribution type in square brackets, e.g., [Paper presentation] or [Poster session].
4
Add the conference name and location
Write the full name of the conference (not italicized), followed by a comma and the location (City, State/Country).
5
Include URL or DOI if available
If the paper is available online or in a digital proceedings, provide the DOI or URL.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Not specifying the contribution type in square brackets (e.g., [Paper presentation], [Poster session], [Conference session]).
Confusing conference presentations with published proceedings (published proceedings use "In" with the proceedings title).
Omitting the conference location.
Not including the full date range of the conference.
Using "Paper presented at" instead of the square bracket notation required by APA 7th edition.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I cite a published conference proceedings paper in APA?

If the paper was published in a proceedings volume, cite it like a book chapter: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of paper. In E. Editor (Ed.), Title of proceedings (pp. xx--xx). Publisher. DOI. If the proceedings were published in a journal, cite it as a journal article.

What goes in the square brackets after the title?

Describe the type of contribution: [Paper presentation], [Poster session], [Keynote address], [Conference session], or [Symposium]. This replaces the older "Paper presented at" phrasing.

Do I include the conference location?

Yes. Include the city and state (for U.S. locations) or city and country (for international locations) after the conference name.

Information You Will Need

Before creating your citation, gather the following information from your conference paper:

Author(s)
Year of presentation
Title of paper
Conference name
Location
Date(s) of conference
Publisher of proceedings (if published)
Page range (if in proceedings)
DOI or URL

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Reference List Entry Example

The full citation as it appears in your reference list:

Reference list entry

Step-by-Step Guide

Identify the author(s)

List all presenters in standard APA author format.

Add the date

Include the year and the specific date(s) of the conference using an en dash for date ranges (e.g., 2022, August 7--10).

Write the paper title

Use sentence case. Do not italicize. Follow the title with the contribution type in square brackets, e.g., [Paper presentation] or [Poster session].

Add the conference name and location

Write the full name of the conference (not italicized), followed by a comma and the location (City, State/Country).

Include URL or DOI if available

If the paper is available online or in a digital proceedings, provide the DOI or URL.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Not specifying the contribution type in square brackets (e.g., [Paper presentation], [Poster session], [Conference session]).

Confusing conference presentations with published proceedings (published proceedings use "In" with the proceedings title).

Omitting the conference location.

Not including the full date range of the conference.

Using "Paper presented at" instead of the square bracket notation required by APA 7th edition.