When citing a conference presentation according to APA (7th edition) standards, the reference list entry must completely include the presenters' last names and initials, the full date range of the conference, the presentation title in italics, the presentation format description in square brackets, the full name of the conference, the location where the event took place, and a link providing access (DOI or URL) if available. This guide explains the APA 7 rules step by step for unpublished paper presentations, symposium contributions, and poster sessions.
Decision Before Citing: Conference Presentation or Proceedings Book?
Before beginning your citation preparation, you must clarify the publication status of your source. In academia, conference works are encountered in two fundamental forms:
- Published proceedings books: If the paper has been published in full text by a publisher or an academic journal, this work is no longer cited as an independent presentation, but rather in the format of a book chapter or journal article depending on the medium where it was published. This distinction is clearly outlined in the Concordia University St. Paul Library guide.
- Unpublished or archived presentations: If the work was merely presented orally at the conference, displayed in a poster session, or shared as a session recording of the event, the direct conference presentation format is applied. If you want to add citations to your slides while preparing your own work, you can benefit from our guide on PowerPoint presentation APA citation.
Core Elements Needed for the Reference List
To format the reference list completely, gather the following technical elements from the event program or official presentation record:
Presenter information: The full last names of the presenters, along with the initials of their first and, if applicable, middle names. A period is placed after each initial, with a space between the first and middle initials.
Date range: The full date range across which the conference began and ended. Not just the day the presentation was delivered, but the entire duration of the conference must be indicated.
Presentation title: The full title of the presentation and its subtitle, if present, separated by a colon.
Format description: The presentation type matching the official description of the conference (for example [Conference session], [Poster presentation], [Keynote address], or [Paper presentation]).
Conference name and location: The complete name of the conference along with the city, state/region abbreviation if applicable, and country where the event took place.
Retrieval address: A DOI number in https://doi.org format, or a direct web address (URL), if available.
APA 7 Reference List Standard Format and Sequence
According to APA 7th edition rules, the reference list template for a conference presentation is as follows:
Presenter Last Name, F. M. (Year, Month Day-Day). Title of presentation [Format description]. Full Name of Conference, City, State/Region, Country. DOI or URL
The fundamental formatting rules to pay attention to in this sequence are:
- Author ordering: Presenters are listed in the original order in which they appear on the presentation. Name order is not altered. An ampersand (&) is added before the final presenter.
- Title formatting: The presentation title is italicized; only the first word of the title, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns are capitalized.
- Square brackets: The format description immediately following the title is not italicized, and the period for the clause is placed outside the square brackets.
- Conference name and location: The conference name is not italicized; it is written in plain text and followed by a comma. After the comma, the city, state abbreviation (if applicable), and country information are added, followed by a period.
- Link ending: A period is strictly never added to the end of a DOI or URL address. This rule is explicitly highlighted in The College of St. Scholastica Library guidelines.
In-Text Citation Rules: Parenthetical and Narrative Formats
When citing a presentation in-text, APA 7 standards are applied according to the number of authors:
- Single-author presentations: Indicated in parenthetical citations as (Demir, 2024), and in narrative citations as Demir (2024).
- Two-author presentations: The format (Demir & Kaya, 2024) is used in parentheses, and Demir and Kaya (2024) is used in narrative text.
- Presentations with three or more authors: By APA 7 rule, from the first citation onward, only the first author's last name is written, followed by the abbreviation "et al.": expressed in parentheses as (Reeve et al., 2015), and in narrative text as Reeve et al. (2015).
DOI and URL Usage: Shortened Forms and Live Hyperlinks
When including links in the reference list, attention must be paid to the technical guidelines provided by APA 7:
- Live link preference: If your work will be submitted solely in print format or as a standard word-processing document (Word/Google Docs), links should not be live (blue and underlined). However, if the work will be published online or read digitally, they should be added as live hyperlinks so the reader can access them directly. Always check whether your institution or advisor has a specific preference.
- Short URLs and shortDOIs: For very long and complex links, a shortened URL created with services such as Bitly or TinyURL can be used; similarly, shortened DOI numbers created with the International DOI Foundation's shortDOI service may be preferred. However, it must always be tested beforehand to ensure the shortened address redirects to the correct destination.
Hypothetical Practical Example
Scenario: Dr. Elif Arslan and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mert Çelik presented an oral paper titled "Yapay zeka destekli öğrenme ortamlarında öğrenci katılımı" [Student engagement in artificial intelligence-supported learning environments] at the National Educational Technologies Convention held in Ankara on October 12-14, 2025.
Format in Reference List: Arslan, E., & Çelik, M. (2025, October 12-14). Yapay zeka destekli öğrenme ortamlarında öğrenci katılımı [Conference presentation]. Ulusal Eğitim Teknolojileri Kurultayı, Ankara, Turkey. https://ornek-etkinlik.org/bildiriler/arslan-celik
In-Text Parenthetical Citation: (Arslan & Çelik, 2025)
In-Text Narrative Citation: As reported by Arslan and Çelik (2025)...
If the same work had been presented as a poster, the phrasing in the square brackets would have been updated to [Poster presentation]. As noted in the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library guide, presentation, poster, or session formats share the same underlying structure. If you want to reflect the presentations you have prepared on your career, you can benefit from our article on conference presentation on CV.
Common Formatting Errors
- Writing a single day: The most frequent error is writing only the day the presentation took place in the conference date. APA 7 requires specifying the full date range found in the official program of the conference (e.g., 2025, October 12-14).
- Italicizing the wrong element: Only the presentation's own title must be written in italics, not the name of the conference.
- Forgetting the format description: The square-bracket descriptor following the title, such as [Conference presentation] or [Poster presentation], must not be skipped.
- Adding a period to the end of a link: Placing a period at the end of a DOI or URL address causes the link to break; for this reason, periods are not used at the end of links.
Review and Verification Checklist
Before submitting your work, verify your reference list against these items:
- Were authors' last names and initials written in the order they appeared on the presentation?
- Were the year, month, and full date range of the event specified in parentheses?
- Was the presentation title italicized, with only its first word and proper nouns capitalized?
- Was the format description in square brackets added immediately following the title?
- Was the full name of the conference written in plain text and followed by a comma?
- Was the location where the event took place (city, country) written completely?
- Was a DOI or URL added if available, and was a period omitted from the end of the address?
Frequently Asked Questions
If the conference lasted several days, can I write only the day of my own presentation in the date?
No. According to the APA 7 rule, not just the day you presented, but the entire date range across which the conference took place must be written in the date (for example: 2018, September 27-30).
Is a period placed at the end of URL or DOI addresses?
No. A period is strictly never placed at the end of DOI and URL addresses located at the end of the reference list entry; adding a period may cause the links to malfunction.
Can I shorten a very long DOI or URL address?
Yes. APA 7 permits the use of reliable URL shortening services (Bitly, TinyURL) or the shortDOI service. However, it must always be checked beforehand to ensure that the shortened address redirects to the correct destination.
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