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APA Citation Style, 7th Edition: New & Notable Changes

New & Notable Changes in APA 7th edition

Publisher Location

Publisher location is no longer included in the reference citation. This part of the citation is now called the SOURCE and location is not necessary.

Shortened in-text citations

In-text citations no longer need all authors listed over 2+ authors. As shown here, even from the FIRST citation, (et al.) can be used after the first author for references with 3+ authors.

20+ authors

In the references, citations can now include up to 20 authors total listed in a reference citation, you would type in the first 19, and then add the last author at the end. In APA 6th edition up to 7 were included total.

DOI as an http://

DOI’s (Digital Object Identifiers) are now listed as complete websites on the reference page. DOI’s are also accepted shortened using http://shortdoi.org, you can search for a shortened form of your DOI there OR if there is not one currently available, it will create one for you. The complete DOI link (OR other website) is also allowed to be active/live for any assignment that is being electronically delivered. If the paper is in print, the link should not be active. Also, if you are able to locate a DOI for a book, include it at the end of the citation after the publisher.

“Retrieved from” usually not necessary

Most websites will no longer need “retrieved from” listed on the reference citation. Website titles (Usually the publisher or corporation) are also used in website reference citations now in the place a journal title would be listed. The only time you need to use “retrieved from, date” is when citing from sources where contents are designed to change over time or are updated by various users and previous editions of the page are not archived (like Wikipedia). The title of the website article or post is also italicized when it was not in the past. A website/URL can be shortened by using link shorteners such as http://bitly.com or http://tinyurl.com

ONE space after a period.

Keep in mind this is at the discretion of the instructor however, especially when concerning students papers.

Bias-Free Language & updated grammar & language guidelines

One example of how APA is striving to use language that is free of bias. In this example the use is the singular “they” is now accepted by APA as a gender neutral description.

Student Paper Running Head

The running head has been omitted for Student papers (only requiring a page number in the header) and has been simplified for Professional papers. Student papers also do not require the use of an abstract or keywords on the 2nd page.

Paper Layouts

Student papers and Professional papers have been slightly redesigned with easier to read, bolded heading levels throughout the document.

Fonts

In APA 6th edition only Times New Roman 12 pt. was the accepted and preferred font choice. Now the fonts below are also accepted because they are considered legible and widely available and they include special characters such as math symbols and Greek lettering. (APA 7th ed., 2020, p. 44)

Determining the "author" for non-traditional mediums

APA 7th edition makes general websites, online audio and video (such as podcasts and YouTube videos), webinars, and even television series episodes easier to cite than ever, including the person or group that should be considered the “author” for reference citations.

References:

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Instructional Aids. Retrieved February 17, 2020, from https://apastyle.apa/org/instructional-aids/
Streefkerk, R. (2020, February 17). APA manual 7th edition: The most notable changes. Scribbr. http://scribbr.com/apa-style/apa-seventh-edition-changes/
Elias, D. (2019, September 14). APA style 7th edition: The changes you need to know. MyBib. http://mybib.com/blog/apa-style-7th-edition-changes

Carrie Forbes, MLS

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