APA (7th edition) · Report
How to cite a report in APA (7th edition)
Reports come from organisations rather than journals: government papers, NGO studies, technical reports, working papers. The organisation often doubles as author and publisher, and a report number, where one exists, is the detail that makes the reference findable.
Worked example · APA (7th edition)
Lovelace, A. (2025). State of graduate research 2025 (TR-2025-04). Example Research Institute. https://www.example.org/reports/tr-2025-04
Rendered with the official APA (7th edition) style file from a placeholder source (reserved example DOI and domain), so the format is exactly what the style produces. In text: Author-date in-text citations, for example (Author, 2021), with a References list.
What to collect before you cite a report
- Author (a person if named, otherwise the organisation)
- Report title
- Report number or series, if any
- Publishing organisation
- Year
- URL, since most reports live online
Have a DOI? Generate the reference instantly
Journal articles, many books and reports carry a DOI. Paste it and get the APA (7th edition) entry from the same engine that produced the example above.
Citing a whole thesis, not one source?
CiteDash keeps your bibliography in APA (7th edition) automatically, verifies every citation against a real paper, and compiles to DOCX, PDF or LaTeX.
Citing a report in APA (7th edition): FAQ
The organisation is both author and publisher. Do I write it twice?
Styles differ: some repeat it, some replace the publisher slot to avoid the duplication. The worked example on this page shows what this style actually does.
Is a working paper cited like a report?
Broadly yes: organisation, title, series and number, year, link. If it is later published as a journal article, switch your citation to the published version.
Grey literature makes my reference list look thin. Should I avoid reports?
No. Government and institutional reports are often the primary source for policy and statistics. Cite them properly and pair them with peer-reviewed sources where the claim needs it.
What does the in-text citation look like in APA (7th edition)?
Author-date in-text citations, for example (Author, 2021), with a References list.
Is the example on this page hand-written?
No. It is rendered by the same citation engine and official CSL style file CiteDash uses for full thesis bibliographies, from a clearly-marked placeholder source, and a test re-renders it on every release so the page can never drift from the engine.