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To cite a blog post in APA 7th edition, give the author, the full date of the post, the post title in sentence case, the name of the blog, and the URL. The APA Style handout of common reference examples lists this as its “Blog Post” entry under Publication Manual section 10.1, so a blog post has its own entry pattern in the handout, with the blog name after the post title.
The format
The template, with each element named:
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the post in sentence case. Blog Name. URL
- Author: surname and initials. If the poster uses only a username, the username stands in for the name.
- Date: year, then month and day of the post, in parentheses.
- Post title: sentence case, not italicised, no quotation marks.
- Blog name: the container for the post. The Wintec library guide shows it in italics and title case.
- URL: the address of the post as shown in the browser.
Examples
Blog post with a named author (from the APA Style handout)
This is the blog entry in the APA Style “Common Reference Examples” handout (7th edition, last updated March 3, 2026):
Rutledge, P. (2024, April 23). Are tweens too young for digital literacy? Dr. Pam: Living With Media. https://www.pamelarutledge.com/are-tweens-too-young-for-digital-literacy/
Blog post with a username instead of a name (from the Wintec guide)
vaughanbell. (2010, November 1). It only exists if I can see colours on a brain scan. Mind Hacks.
The guide says to copy the username exactly as it appears, including any @ sign and capitalisation, and not to add square brackets.
Blog post by an organisation (from the Wintec guide)
Diabetes New Zealand. (2022, October 12). HOPE for diabetes prevention. Diabetes New Zealand Blog.
When the author is an organisation, the guide adds “Blog” to the site name in the blog-name position. The library guide shows these two examples without URLs; in your own reference list, end the entry with the URL as shown in the browser.
In-text citation version
In-text citations follow the general APA author-date rule: (Author, Year) in parentheses, or Author (Year) in the sentence. For the Rutledge post that gives (Rutledge, 2024) or Rutledge (2024). For a username, the Wintec guide uses the username in place of the surname: vaughanbell (2010) or (vaughanbell, 2010). For a direct quotation, add the location; the Wintec guide uses a paragraph number such as (vaughanbell, 2010, para. 4) for a blog post and treats paragraph numbers as optional when you paraphrase. By the same pattern, an organisation author would read Diabetes New Zealand (2022); that last form is an inference from the author-date rule, not a separate example in the guides.
| Author type | Reference list begins | In text |
|---|---|---|
| Named individual | Rutledge, P. (2024, April 23). | (Rutledge, 2024) |
| Username only | vaughanbell. (2010, November 1). | (vaughanbell, 2010) |
| Organisation | Diabetes New Zealand. (2022, October 12). | (Diabetes New Zealand, 2022) |
Blog post or webpage?
A post that belongs to a named blog is cited with the blog name after the title, as above. A page on a general website that is not a blog post follows the webpage pattern instead; see how to cite a website in APA. For a page designed to change, the APA handout shows n.d. as the date and a “Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL” element, as in its Worldometer entry; a fixed-date blog post like the Rutledge example has no retrieval date.
Common errors
- Quotation marks around the post title. The APA handout’s blog example does not use them.
- Italicising the post title. Both the Wintec and George Washington University guides leave blog post titles unitalicised.
- Leaving out the blog name. The post title alone does not tell the reader which blog the post sits on.
- Putting the day before the month, or leaving out the day. The date order is year, month, day: (2024, April 23).
- Capitalising the post title like a headline. Sentence case applies to the post title; the blog name keeps its own capitalisation.
- Square brackets around a username. The Wintec guide says not to use them.
For manuscripts and theses
A blog post is a source you can name and date, so it goes in the reference list like any other cited work and is matched by an in-text citation. Because blog posts are a kind of grey literature, check the byline and the post date before you rely on one, and cite the post itself rather than the blog’s home page. For the rest of the reference list, see the guides on the APA reference page, the APA hanging indent and citing a paraphrase in APA. For other new source types, see citing AI tools in APA, MLA and Chicago.
Style-guide edition
This page follows the APA Publication Manual, 7th edition (2020), as shown in the APA Style “Common Reference Examples” handout, which is headed “7th edition” and was last updated March 3, 2026. Checked 2026-10-29.
FAQ
How do I cite a blog in APA?
Use the blog post pattern: Author. (Year, Month Day). Post title in sentence case. Blog Name. URL. Add a matching author-date citation in the text.
How do you cite a blog post in APA 7th edition?
The same pattern applies; it is the “Blog Post” example in the APA Style handout, Publication Manual section 10.1.
What if the blog post has no author name?
If the poster uses a username, the Wintec guide uses the username in the author position. If the author is an organisation, the organisation is the author and the guide adds “Blog” to the site name.
Is the title of a blog post italic or in quotation marks?
Neither. In the APA handout’s example the post title is plain text in sentence case.
Do I need a retrieval date?
Not for a post with a fixed date: the APA handout’s blog post example has none. The handout uses “Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL” with n.d. as the date for a page designed to change over time.
Sources
- American Psychological Association, APA Style, “Common Reference Examples” handout (7th edition, last updated March 3, 2026), https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/reference-examples.pdf. Checked 2026-10-29.
- Wintec (Te Pukenga) Library, APA 7th referencing guide, “Blog” page, https://libguides.wintec.ac.nz/APA7/online/blog. Checked 2026-10-29.
- George Washington University Himmelfarb Library, APA guide, “Blog post” page, https://guides.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/APA/blogpost. Checked 2026-10-29.
