How to Cite Workshop Proceedings in APA 7th Edition

APA 7th edition treats a paper in published proceedings like a chapter in an edited book. This page shows the pattern, the variants and the usual errors, using fictional examples only.

Last updated 6 November 2026

The basic APA 7 pattern for a published proceedings paper

APA 7th edition files a paper in published proceedings under the book-chapter pattern. The paper is the part, and the proceedings volume is the whole. The APA Style website lists the format by how the proceedings were issued: as a journal issue, as a whole book, or as a chapter of an edited book. Most workshop volumes fall into the last case.

The template has five parts, and the diagram above shows them in order.

1. Authors: surname first, then initials, joined by an ampersand before the last name.
2. Year: the publication year of the proceedings, in parentheses.
3. Paper title: sentence case, no italics, no quotation marks.
4. Container: “In”, the editors, the proceedings title in italics, and the page range in parentheses.
5. Publisher and link: the publisher name, then the DOI or URL.

A complete fictional example looks like this:

Doe, J., & Roe, R. (2023). An example title of a fictional workshop paper. In A. Editor (Ed.), Proceedings of the Example Workshop on Citation Practice (pp. 1–8). Example Publisher. https://doi.org/10.0000/example.2023.1

Notice that the editor’s initials come before the surname, which is the reverse of the author order. “Ed.” sits in parentheses after the name. Two editors become “(Eds.)”. The year is the year the volume was published, not necessarily the year of the event. See common mistakes for why this matters.

With and without editors

Many workshop volumes name editors on the title page or in the preface. Include them when they are named, as in the first example. If the volume lists no editor, APA lets you drop the “In … (Ed.)” element and start the container with the proceedings title. The sentence stays otherwise the same.

Without an editor

Doe, J., & Roe, R. (2023). An example title of a fictional workshop paper. In Proceedings of the Example Workshop on Citation Practice (pp. 1–8). Example Publisher. https://doi.org/10.0000/example.2023.1

With two editors

Doe, J., & Roe, R. (2023). An example title of a fictional workshop paper. In A. Editor & S. Sample (Eds.), Proceedings of the Example Workshop on Citation Practice (pp. 1–8). Example Publisher. https://doi.org/10.0000/example.2023.1

Check the title page of the PDF, not a search-engine snippet, to decide which version applies. If the volume belongs to a numbered series, APA treats the series information differently from a plain book. When in doubt, consult the APA Style page listed in the sources and keep your choice consistent.

Papers with an article number instead of pages

Some proceedings volumes number their papers rather than paginate them. The printed pages then say something like “Paper 12” and restart at one for every paper. In that case, no page range exists to cite.

APA’s journal-article pattern writes an article number in the place of the page range, in the form “Article 12”. A common adaptation for proceedings does the same in parentheses after the title. I could not confirm a proceedings-specific APA model, so treat this as an adaptation and check your instructor’s or venue’s preference. The fictional entry below follows that approach:

Sample, S., & Doe, J. (2022). A fictional paper identified by an article number. In A. Editor (Ed.), Proceedings of the Sample Symposium on Reference Practice (Article 12). Sample Press. https://doi.org/10.0000/sample.2022.12

Use the wording the volume itself uses, such as “Article” or “Paper”. Do not invent page numbers from the PDF viewer.

Three or more authors

APA 7th edition names every author in the reference list, up to twenty. Separate them with commas and put an ampersand before the final one. The reference below has three fictional authors:

Doe, J., Roe, R., & Sample, S. (2023). A fictional paper with three authors. In A. Editor (Ed.), Proceedings of the Example Workshop on Citation Practice (pp. 9–16). Example Publisher. https://doi.org/10.0000/example.2023.2

In the running text, the rule is shorter. With three or more authors, give the first author’s surname followed by “et al.” from the first citation onward. Two authors are always both named. This difference between the list and the text is a frequent source of errors.

In-text citations

APA uses the author–date system. Place the surname and the year in parentheses at the end of the sentence, or name the author in the sentence and put only the year in brackets.

For a direct quotation, add the page: (Doe & Roe, 2023, p. 4). When the paper has no page numbers, APA allows a paragraph or section locator. Every in-text citation must match an entry in the reference list. The citation checklist includes this check.

Presented but not published

If you heard a paper at a workshop and no proceedings volume exists, do not use the pattern above. APA provides a conference-presentation form. It gives the year and date range of the event, then the title in italics followed by a bracketed description such as “[Paper presentation]”. The event name, location and a link, if any, come after it. Use this form only when no published version exists. If a published paper later appears, cite that version instead.

Common errors in APA proceedings references

• Italicising the paper title. Only the proceedings title is italic.
• Title case in the paper title. Use sentence case: capitalise the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns.
• Dropping “In”. The container begins with the word “In”.
• Using the event year. Use the publication year of the volume.
• Listing authors by full first name. APA uses initials.
• Writing “doi:” or a bare number. Use the full https://doi.org/ form.
• Mixing styles. A semicolon, a quotation mark or a bracketed number signals another style.

A reference manager can produce this pattern, but it often keeps title case from the source. Read the output against the pattern; reference managers explains the usual metadata faults, and the formatter rearranges fields you type but does not change case.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and further reading

Related topics

• Chicago Style for Conference Papers and ProceedingsCite a paper in conference proceedings in Chicago 17th edition: notes-bibliography and author-date forms, editors, place, publisher, DOI and shortened notes.
• Ten Common Mistakes When Citing ProceedingsTen practical errors in citing workshop and conference papers, from a missing proceedings title to the wrong year or version, with a fictional example.
• Proceedings Reference Formatter: APA, IEEE, ACM, Chicago, MLA, Harvard, BibTeXFree browser tool that arranges the details of a workshop or conference paper into APA, IEEE, ACM, Chicago, MLA, Harvard and BibTeX. Field guide and limits.