RES 7: Changes in APA 7th Edition

Dynamic PDF: Changes in APA 7th Edition

Why the Update: The newest edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) style guide, published in October 2019, addresses many changes in writing since the 6th edition’s publication in 2009. Specifically, “[c]iting online material has become more common, the use of inclusive and bias-free language is increasingly important, and the technology used by researchers and students has changed.”[i] This guide helps writers identify the biggest changes in the 7th edition.

What are the Changes?

References and In-text Citations:

  1. The publisher’s location is not included in the reference.
    • INCORRECT: Lamott, A. (1994). Bird by bird. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.
    • CORRECT: Lamott, A. (1994). Bird by bird. Pantheon Books.
  1. Surnames and initials for up to 20 authors are used in the reference.[ii]
    • INCORRECT: Miller, T. C., Brown, M. J., Wilson, G. L., Evans, B. B., Kelly, R. S., Turner, S. T., . . . Lee, L. H. (2018).
    • CORRECT: Miller, T. C., Brown, M. J., Wilson, G. L., Evans, B. B., Kelly, R. S., Turner, S. T., Lewis, F., Lee, L. H., Cox, G., Harris, H. L., Martin, P., Gonzalez, W. L., Hughes, W., Carter, D., Campbell, C., Baker, A. B., Flores, T., Gray, W. E., Green, G., . . . Nelson, T. P. (2018).
  1. It is no longer necessary to include the format, platform, or device foreBooks, but the publisher is included.
    • INCORRECT: Brück, M. (2009). Women in early British and Irish astronomy: Stars and satellites [Kindle version]. https:/doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2473-2
    • CORRECT: Brück, M. (2009). Women in early British and Irish astronomy: Stars and satellites. Springer Nature. https:/doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2473-2
  1. “Retrieved from” or “Accessed from” is no longer used beforeDOIs and URLs because they are formatted as hyperlinks, which remain active if the document is read/published online. The website page title is in italics, and the website name is added.
    • INCORRECT: Streefkerk, R. (2019, November 26). APA Manual 7th edition: The most notable changes. Retrieved from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/apa-seventh-edition-changes/
    • CORRECT: Streefkerk, R. (2019, November 26). APA Manual 7th edition: The most notable changes. Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/apa-seventh-edition-changes/
  1. The in-text citation for works with three or more authors is abbreviated from the first citation: (first author’s last name et al., year).
    • INCORRECT: (Hall, Rosado & Chapman, 2019)
    • CORRECT: (Hall, et al., 2019)
  1. DOIs and URLs are both formatted as hyperlinks.