APA 7th Edition (2020) | The 17 Most Notable Changes - Scribbr

The 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual introduces updated guidelines for citing sources, formatting, and academic writing. Havealanguageexpertimproveyourwriting Proofreading&Editing Checkyourpaperforplagiarismin10minutes Dothecheck GenerateyourAPAcitationsforfree! APACitationGenerator Home KnowledgeBase APAStyle7thedition APA7thedition:Themostnotablechanges APA7thedition7theditionchangesCitationQuickguideDirectquotesIn-textcitationReferenceentryPaperformatQuickguideRunningheadTitlepageAbstractTableofcontentsHeadingsTablesandfiguresReferencepageAppendicesLanguageguidelinesReportingstandardsMethodsResultsNumbersandstatisticsCitationexamplesOverviewBookJournalarticleWebsiteWebsiteMissinginformationNewspaperarticleMagazinearticleMovieordocumentaryYouTubevideoImageDictionaryentryEncyclopediaentryWikipediaentryPersonalcommunicationTableorfigureInterviewPowerPointslidesConferencepaperTweetPatentReportGovernmentdocumentPDFDissertationorthesisSurveyTVshowSpeechPressreleaseTEDTalkPodcastBibleBrochureorpamphletCourtcaseLaw Interestingtopics Researchpaper Researchbias Collegeessay APAStyle6thedition Applyingtograduateschool Statistics ChicagoStyle Languagerules Methodology MLAStyle Academicwriting Startingtheresearchprocess Dissertation Essay Tips APAStyle7thedition APAcitationexamples Citingsources Plagiarism Havealanguageexpertimproveyourwriting Proofreading&Editing Checkyourpaperforplagiarismin10minutes Dothecheck GenerateyourAPAcitationsforfree! APACitationGenerator APA7thEdition(2020)|The17MostNotableChanges Publishedon October11,2019 by RaimoStreefkerk. Revisedon January3,2022. InOctober2019,theAmericanPsychologicalAssociation(APA)introducedthe7theditionoftheAPAPublicationManual,whichreplacesthe6theditionpublishedin2009. Inthattimealotofthingshavechanged.Citingonlinematerialhasbecomemorecommon,theuseofinclusiveandbias-freelanguageisincreasinglyimportant,andthetechnologyusedbyresearchersandstudentshaschanged. The7theditionaddressesthesechangesbyprovidingbetterandmoreextensiveguidelines.Thisarticleoutlinesthebiggestchangesthatyoushouldknowabout. TableofcontentsReferencesandin-textcitationsinAPAStyleInclusiveandbias-freelanguageAPAPaperformatMechanicsofstyleAPA7theditioncitationgeneratorFreelectureslidesBuyingthenew7theditionAPAManualFrequentlyAskedQuestions Referencesandin-textcitationsinAPAStyle Whenitcomestocitingsources,moreguidelineshavebeenaddedthatmakecitingonlinesourceseasierandclearer. Intotal,114examplesareprovided,rangingfrombooksandperiodicalstoaudiovisualsandsocialmedia.Foreachreferencecategory,aneasytemplateisprovidedtohelpyouunderstandandapplythecitationguidelines.Thebiggestchangesinthe7theditionare: Thepublisherlocationisnolongerincludedinthereference. Covey,S.R.(2013).The7habitsofhighlyeffectivepeople:Powerfullessonsinpersonalchange.NewYork,NY:Simon&Schuster. Covey,S.R.(2013).The7habitsofhighlyeffectivepeople:Powerfullessonsinpersonalchange.Simon&Schuster. Thein-textcitationforworkswiththreeormoreauthorsisnowshortenedrightfromthefirstcitation.Youonlyincludethefirstauthor’snameand“etal.”. (Taylor,Kotler,Johnson,&Parker,2018) (Tayloretal.,2018) Surnamesandinitialsforupto20authors(insteadof7)shouldbeprovidedinthereference entry. Miller,T.C.,Brown,M.J.,Wilson,G.L.,Evans,B.B.,Kelly,R.S.,Turner,S.T.,...Lee,L.H.(2018). Miller,T.C.,Brown,M.J.,Wilson,G.L.,Evans,B.B.,Kelly,R.S.,Turner,S.T.,Lewis,F.,Nelson,T.P.,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.,...Lee,L.H.(2018). DOIsareformattedthesameasURLs.Thelabel“DOI:”isnolongernecessary. doi:10.1080/02626667.2018.1560449 https://doi.org/10.1080/​02626667.2018.1560449 URLsarenolongerprecededby“Retrievedfrom,”unlessaretrievaldateisneeded.Thewebsitenameisincluded(unlessit’sthesameastheauthor). Streefkerk,R.(2019,October11).APA7thedition:Themostnotablechanges[Blogpost].Retrievedfromhttps://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/apa-seventh-edition-changes/ Streefkerk,R.(2019,October11).APA7thedition:Themostnotablechanges.Scribbr.https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/apa-seventh-edition-changes/ Forebooks,theformat,platform,ordevice(e.g.Kindle)isnolongerincludedinthereference,andthepublisherisincluded. Brück,M.(2009).WomeninearlyBritishandIrishastronomy:Starsandsatellites[Kindleversion].https:/doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2473-2 Brück,M.(2009).WomeninearlyBritishandIrishastronomy:Starsandsatellites. SpringerNature.https:/doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2473-2 Clearguidelinesareprovidedforincludingcontributorsotherthanauthorsandeditors.Forexample,whencitingapodcastepisode,thehostoftheepisodeshouldbeincluded;foraTVseriesepisode,thewriteranddirectorofthatepisodearecited. Dozensofexamplesareincludedforonlinesourcetypessuchaspodcastepisodes,socialmediaposts,andYouTubevideos.Theuseofemojisandhashtagsisalsoexplained. Inclusiveandbias-freelanguage Writinginclusivelyandwithoutbiasisthenewstandard,andAPA’snewpublicationmanualcontainsaseparatechapteronthistopic. TheguidelinesprovidedbyAPAhelpauthorsreducebiasaroundtopicssuchasgender,age,disability,racialandethnicidentity,andsexualorientation,aswellasbeingsensitivetolabelsanddescribingindividualsattheappropriatelevelofspecificity.Someexamplesinclude: Thesingular“they”or“their”isendorsedasagender-neutralpronoun. Aresearcher’scareerdependsonhowoftenheorsheiscited. Aresearcher’scareerdependsonhowoftentheyarecited. Insteadofusingadjectivesasnounstolabelgroupsofpeople,descriptivephrasesarepreferred. Thepoor Peoplelivinginpoverty Insteadofbroadcategories,youshoulduseexactagerangesthataremorerelevantandspecific. Peopleover65yearsold Peopleintheagerangeof65to75yearsold APAPaperformat Inthe7thedition,APAdecidedtoprovidedifferentpaperformatguidelinesforprofessionalandstudentpapers.Forbothtypes,asamplepaperisincluded.Somenotablechangesinclude: Increasedflexibilityregardingfonts:optionsincludeCalibri11,Arial11,LucidaSansUnicode10,TimesNewRoman12,andGeorgia11. Therunningheadonthetitlepagenolongerincludesthewords“Runninghead:”.Itnowcontainsonlyapagenumberandthe(shortened)papertitle. Runninghead:THEEFFECTOFGOOGLEONTHEINTERNET THEEFFECTOFGOOGLEONTHEINTERNET Therunningheadisomittedinstudentpapers(unlessyourinstructortellsyouotherwise). Headinglevels3-5areupdatedtoimprovereadability. Mechanicsofstyle Intermsofstyle,notmuchhaschangedinthe7thedition.Inadditiontosomeupdatedandbetterexplainedguidelines,therearetwonotablechanges: Useonlyonespaceafteraperiodattheendofasentence. Usedoublequotationmarksinsteadofitalicstorefertolinguisticexamples. APAendorsestheuseofthesingularpronounthey APAendorsestheuseofthesingularpronoun“they” APA7theditioncitationgenerator WithScribbr’sfreecitationgeneratoryoucaneasilyciteyoursourcesaccordingtothenew7theditionguidelines.It’saccurate,fast,andeasytouse.Giveitatry! Freelectureslides AreyouateacherorprofessorwhowouldliketoeducateyourstudentsabouttheAPA7theditionchanges?Great!Youcandownloadourfreelectureslides,availableforGoogleSlidesandMicrosoftPowerPoint. OpenGoogleSlidesDownloadPowerPoint Buyingthenew7theditionAPAManual BuytheAPAManual7theditiontodaytokeepupwiththelatestchanges. FrequentlyAskedQuestions Whenwillpeoplestartusingthe7theditionAPAManual? TheAmericanPsychologicalAssociationanticipatesthatmostpeoplewillstartusingthe7theditioninthespringof2020orthereafter. It’sbesttoaskyoursupervisororcheckthewebsiteofthejournalyouwanttopublishintoseewhichAPAguidelinesyoushouldfollow. WherecanIbuyordownloadtheAPAManual7thedition? TheAPAManual7theditioncanbepurchasedatAmazonasahardcover,paperbackorspiral-boundversion.YoucanalsobuyanebookversionatRedShelf. WhatisthemostcurrenteditionoftheAPAmanual? The7theditionAPAManual,publishedinOctober2019,isthemostcurrentedition.However,the6thedition,publishedin2009,isstillusedbymanyuniversitiesandjournals. Isthisarticlehelpful? 2992 183 42 Youhavealreadyvoted.Thanks:-) Yourvoteissaved:-) Processingyourvote... RaimoStreefkerk Raimoisanexpertinexplainingplagiarismandcitingsources.Hehasbeenwritinghelpfularticlessince2017andiscontinuouslyimprovingScribbr'sCitationGenerators. Otherstudentsalsoliked SettinguptheAPAreferencepage TheAPAreferencepagestartswiththelabel“References”inboldandcentered.Double-spacealltextandapplyahangingindent. 182 Beginner'sguidetoAPAin-textcitation APAin-textcitationsconsistoftheauthor’slastname,publicationyear,andwhenquoting,apagenumber:(Parker,2020,p.67) 480 APAformatforacademicpapersandessays LearnhowtosetupAPAformatforyourpaper.Fromthetitlepageandheadingstoreferencesandcitations. 757 42comments HeatherBaez January30,2022at9:16PM Howcanyoutellwhen"retrievedfrom"isneededornotneededforAPA7theditiononawebsitesource? Reply JackCaulfield(ScribbrTeam) February1,2022at12:34PM HiHeather, InAPA7,youonlyneed"retrievedfrom"whenyouareincludinganaccessdate,e.g."RetrievedOctober11,2021,from[URL]".Otherwise,youcanomitthesewords. Reply KimSebert July17,2021at11:46PM DoyouhaveanexamplepaperifAPAformat7thedition?Idownloadedmyuniversity’stemplatebutthepagesarenotnumbered..isnumberingnecessary?Andifsoisitstillintheupperrighthandcorner? Reply JackCaulfield(ScribbrTeam) July20,2021at3:51PM HiKim, Yes,youcanfindtemplatedocumentsshowinghowanAPA7papershouldbeformattedhere.Pagenumbersindeedappearinthetoprightcorner. Reply sylvie April14,2021at6:11PM Hello Ihave"APocketStyleManual"7theditionbyDianaHackerandNancySommers.IsthisinfactusingtheAPA7theditionrecommendations?Becauseitdoesnotmentionalotofwhatyoutalkabout.Confused. Reply JackCaulfield(ScribbrTeam) April16,2021at4:13PM HiSylvie, I'mnotpersonallyfamiliarwiththebookyoumention.Itseemslikeitcomesindifferentversionsthatprovidedifferentguidelines,includingan"APAversion";I'mnotsureifthat'stheversionyouhave,orifotherversionsalsoincludeAPAinformation.Thisshouldhopefullybeclarifiedsomewhereinthebook. However,the7theditionofthePocketStyleManualseemstohavebeenpublishedbeforethe7theditionoftheAPAmanualitself,soit'slikelythatanyAPAguidelinesitprovidescomefromthe6theditionoftheAPAmanual.IfyouneedtofollowAPA7specifically,it'sprobablybesttofollowtheguidelinesweexplainhereonthesite,orbuyamorerecentedition. Reply RahmaHidayati April4,2021at1:07PM Hi! FromthepreviousAPA6thedition,inthereferenceguidance.Wemustwritethereferencebasedonalpahbeticalarrangement Howabout7thedition?, DoesithavedifferentwritingrulesinreferencefromAPA6thedition? Thankyouu Reply JackCaulfield(ScribbrTeam) April6,2021at3:04PM HiRahma, Thishasn'tchangedinthe7thedition;entriesinthereferencelistshouldstillbeorderedalphabetically.Youcanreadmoreaboutthespecificruleshere. Reply AdeagboAyobami. April8,2021at12:08AM Withthe7theditionofAPAformat,willIstillhangreferencesafterwritingthefirstline Reply JackCaulfield(ScribbrTeam) April16,2021at2:59PM HiAdeagbo, Yes,youshouldstilluseahangingindentforreferencesinyourreferencelistinAPA7—nochangestothatguideline. Reply cat March28,2021at9:48AM Whattodointhein-textcitationifthereisnoauthormentioned? Reply JackCaulfield(ScribbrTeam) March29,2021at7:17PM Youcanfindmoreinformationabouthandlingin-textcitationsforsourceswithnoauthorhere,under"Noauthor."Basically,youwoulduseeitheranorganizationalauthoror,whenthat'snotpossible,ashortenedversionofthesource'stitle. Reply shirley March23,2021at10:21AM HowdoInumbersubheadingsbeyond3subsectionseg.shouldIdo 1.1.2.3etcor1.1.2.iiior1.1.2.(iii)andwhatifihaveasubsectionbeyondthis.HowmanysubsectionscanihaveinarabicnumeralsandatwhatpointdoIchangetoromannumerals. Thankyou Reply JackCaulfield(ScribbrTeam) March29,2021at6:29PM HiShirley, APAdoesn'tspecificallyrecommendnumberingtheheadingsinapaper—rather,differentlevelsofheadingareidentifiedbydifferenttextformatting—sotheydon'tprovidespecificguidanceonthisissue.Theyalsorecommendusingamaximumoffivelevelsofheading,sodon'tusetoomanylevelsunlessit'sstrictlynecessary. Mypersonalrecommendationregardingthenumbering,ifyoudouseit,istosticktoArabicnumeralsconsistently;mixinginRomannumeralsIthinkonlyconfusesmatters.Soe.g.1.1.2.3 Reply DoestheAPAreferencingstyleformatchangeseverydecade,whydoestheformatchangeandisitwrongtouseanyothereditionapartfromtheCurrentedition? February13,2021at9:03AM DoestheAPAreferencingstyleformatchangeseverydecade,whydoestheformatchangeandisitwrongtouseanyothereditionapartfromtheCurrentedition Reply JackCaulfield(ScribbrTeam) February17,2021at3:48PM APAtendstoreleaseaneweditionofitsstylemanualroughlyonceperdecade,yes.Theformatisupdatedeachtimeforvariousreasons:tokeepuptodateonhowtocitenewtypesofsource,toreflectchangesinacademicwritingstyleandethicalstandards,andsimpletoimproveandrefinetheadvicegiveninthemanual. It'snotnecessarilywrongtousethe6thedition,butyoushouldfollowtheguidanceofyouruniversityorinstructor.Someinstitutionsstillfollow6theditionstyle,whileothersnowrequireyoutofollowthe7thedition.Veryfewinstitutionsarestillusinganyeditionsearlierthanthe6thatthispoint. Reply Chiamaka January18,2021at5:33AM Howdowereferenceabookthatiseditedby3ormorepersons Reply ShonaMcCombes(ScribbrTeam) January19,2021at11:52AM HiChiamaka, Inthereferenceentry,listalltheeditors(thesameasyouwouldlistmultipleauthors)followedbythelabel(Eds.). Inthein-textcitation,youwouldusuallycitetheauthorofaspecificworkwithintheeditedbook(asinthisexample).Butifyou'recitingthewholecollection,youcansimplytreattheeditorsasauthorsandshortenthecitationwith"etal."asusual. Hopethathelps! Reply PATORMOND January12,2021at6:44PM IhavemanyreferenceswhereIhavesamefirstauthorwithdifferentsecond,third,etc.authors.Isthecontrollingorderalphaorisitalphainsideofdate? Example: Smith,A.B.,&Jones,C.D.(2014).Titleetc. Smith,A.B.,&Barber,E.F.(2018).Titleetc. Whichshouldbefirst? Reply ShonaMcCombes(ScribbrTeam) January15,2021at8:45PM HiPat, Youshouldalphabetizebasedonthesecond(orthird,etc)author'sname.Soinyourexample,thereferenceswouldbetheotherwayaround,becauseBarberprecedesJones.Onlyorderbydatewhentheauthorisidentical. Youcanreadmoreinthisin-depthguidetoorderingthereferencelist.Ihopethathelps! Reply ShanayMeeks February12,2021at8:58AM Howdoyouknowwhatlevelofheadingstouse? Reply JackCaulfield(ScribbrTeam) February17,2021at4:10PM HiShanay, Seeourguidancehereonlevelsofheading.Level1headingsareusedformainsectionsliketheintroduction,level2headingsforsubsectionswithinthese,andsoon. Reply Belihu August27,2020at2:38PM IlikethechangesfromAPA6thto7theditions.Iamwonderinghowtomakethesechangeseasily!ShouldImakechangestoeachsourceofresearchusedbasedonthe6theditionifIamrequiredtouseAPA7thed?WhatistheeasiestwaytoconvertAPA6thed.researchsourcesto7theditionAPAformat?DoesZoteroincludeallthenecessarychanges? Reply ShonaMcCombes(ScribbrTeam) August27,2020at4:17PM HiBelihu, Youcaneasilycreateyour7theditionreferencesusingourAPACitationGenerator.SimplyinserttheDOI,URL,orISBN,orsearchforthesourcetitle,andthegeneratorwillautomaticallyretrieveallthenecessaryinformation.Youcansaveanddownloadyourentirereferencelistinthistool,andyoucanalsoeasilyswitchbetweenthe6thand7theditionformats. Ihopethathelps! Reply Mojgan June10,2020at5:36PM WhenIreportsecondarycitationsinsidethetext,shouldImentiontheyearfortheoriginalsource?orjusttheyearofthesourceIread? Reply ShonaMcCombes(ScribbrTeam) June11,2020at12:15PM HiMojgan, Youshouldincludetheyearoftheoriginalsourceaswell.Forexample:(Smith,2019,ascitedinJones,2020). Reply OgundeleMichaelola May19,2020at1:37PM WhatabouttheJournalswithoutDOI THANKS Reply ShonaMcCombes(ScribbrTeam) May19,2020at7:45PM Hi, ForonlinejournalarticleswithnoDOI,youcanuseaURLinstead.However,makesurethatitwillbeaccessibletoyourreader(forexample,don'tuseaURLthatrequiresadatabaselogin).ManydatabasesprovideastableURLforjournalarticles. Reply JoanneDavie May1,2020at3:39AM IftheheadingofasectionisatthebottomofapagedoIleaveitthere,ormoveittothetopofthenextpage? Reply ShonaMcCombes(ScribbrTeam) May6,2020at8:38PM HiJoanne, AccordingtoAPAstyle,youshouldn'taddanyblanklinesaboveorbelowyourheadings,soyoushouldleaveitatthebottomofthepage.Seethisblogforfurtherinformationonheadings.Hopethathelps! Reply BarbaraParsons April29,2020at9:35PM Noneoftheexamplesinthevideouseahangingindent.Haveyouremoveditfromtheformat,oristhisanerrorinthevideo? Reply ShonaMcCombes(ScribbrTeam) May6,2020at3:00PM HiBarbara, Youshouldstilluseahangingindentwhenformattingyourreferencelist.Sincetheexamplesinthevideoaimedtoshowthecontentofsourcecitationsratherthantheformatofthereferencepage,wedidn'tapplythehangingindenthere.Apologiesforanyconfusion! Reply Iliana April18,2020at7:46AM Pleasehelpmesolvingabigdoubt.IfI'musingtheAPAStylerules,canIuseBritishEnglishspellingandpunctuation?OrhowshouldIproceed?ItriedtomixBritishEnglishspellingandAmerican-stylepunctuationinaccordancewithAPAstyle,butit'sjustsomanyrules. Thankyouinadvance, Ili Reply ShonaMcCombes(ScribbrTeam) April24,2020at7:44PM HiIliana, It'sbesttocheckwithyourinstructororthejournalyou'resubmittingtoonthispoint.BritishEnglishtendstobesomewhatmoreflexible,soitmaybeacceptabletouseAmerican-stylepunctuationalongwithBritishspellings.Foranoverviewofthedifferences,youcancheckourarticlesaboutUSvsUKEnglish. Reply christinaanstey February6,2021at12:18AM OnyourwebsiteitsaysTherunningheadonthetitlepagenolongerincludesthewords“Runninghead:”.Itnowcontainsonlyapagenumberandthe(shortened)papertitle. IntheAPA7PublicationManualitdoesnotshowashortenedpapertitleintheexample. Alsoonthetitlepageforstudents,therehavebeenmorechangedthanjusttherunninghead. Canyoupleaseincludetheseonyourwesbite. Thankyou, Christina Reply JackCaulfield(ScribbrTeam) February9,2021at4:27PM HiChristina, TheexampleshowninAPA7foraprofessionalpaperdoesshowashortenedpapertitleastherunningheadofallpages.Itmaybethatyouwerelookingattheexampleforastudentpaper,wherethisisindeednotincluded. Intermsofotherchanges,thisarticleonlyaimstocoverthemostsignificantones.Otherdetailsofthetitlepageformatcanbefoundinourarticleonthistopic. Reply SheriDGrell March28,2020at5:03PM DoesAPA7theditionpreferthewriterusetheform: Theauthor or I Reply ShonaMcCombes(ScribbrTeam) April2,2020at12:57PM HiSheri, TheAPA7theditionrecommendsusingfirstpersonpronouns("I")whenreferringtoyourownactionsandreflections.Thisisbecausewritinginthethirdperson("theauthor")cancreateambiguityinyourwriting. Reply Carolyn February13,2020at3:21PM CanIjustclarifythisisstillcorrect. Intext Brown(2019)suggest... Or Attheendofasentence......(Mims2015). Reply ShonaMcCombes(ScribbrTeam) February14,2020at4:39PM HiCarolyn, Yes,theplacementofin-textcitationshasnotchanged.However,notethatwhenyouincludetheauthoranddateinparentheses,theyshouldbeseparatedbyacomma:(Mims,2015). Hopethathelps! Reply Davidwanjala January22,2020at9:16PM WHATABOUTLABELINGTABLESANDFIGURES?Dowestillputdownastable3.1,3.2? Reply ShonaMcCombes(ScribbrTeam) January28,2020at6:46PM HiDavid, TheAPAmanualadvisesstudentstonumbercaptionsintheorderinwhichtheyarementionedinthetext.SoinsteadofTable3.1and3.2,youwouldsimplywriteTable3andTable4. However,someuniversitiesmightrequirechapternumberstobeincludedinthecaption;inthiscaseyoucanlabelthemasTable1.1,2.1,etc,accordingtothechapternumber.Youruniversity'sformatrequirementsalwaystakeprecedenceovertheAPAguidelines. Hopethathelps! Reply Stillhavequestions? Pleaseverifyyouarehuman! Pleaseclickthecheckboxonthelefttoverifythatyouareanotabot. 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