APA Referencing- 6th edition v 7th edition

09 Nov 2020By Mtemi

Towards the end of 2019, the American Psychologist Association (APA) made some changes to the 6th Edition of APA. This article shows the differences between APA 6th edition and APA 7th edition

Differences

APA 6th Edition

APA 7th Edition

Running head

Requires a running head

A running head is no longer required; only a page number

In-text citation

Upto five authors can be listed before using 'et al'.

Et al. is used for more than two authors

Publisher location in the reference section

Publisher location is always included

Publisher location is omitted

DOI

The label 'DOI' is used when citing a web article

The label 'DOI' is no longer necessary

Embedding URL references

URLs are preceded by the word 'retrieved from'

URLs are pasted directly into the reference, no use of the word 'retrieved from'

Gender, status, culture and racial sensitivity

APA 6 is not particular about the descriptive words used

Gender neutral pronouns such as 'they' are endorsed. It is deemed inappropriate to label people. For instance, instead of calling people poor, they should be described as people living in poverty

Paper format

The only font option is Times New Romans 12

Allows flexibility in font options. One can use: Calibri 11, Arial 11, Lucida Sans Unicode 10, Times New Roman 12, and Georgia 11

Website Names

Does not include the name of the website or organization that hosts the webpage. eg: Lawson, J. F. (2019). The impacts of plastic on Indonesian migratory birds. Retrieved from https://www.doc.govt.nz/reports/birds/indonesiaplastic/

Website names and titles are now used. eg: Lawson, J. F. (2019). The impacts of plastic on Indonesian migratory birds. Department of Conservation. https://www.doc.govt.nz/reports/birds/indonesiaplastic/

More than 7 authors

The maximum number of authors listed is 7. Uses “. . .” (an ellipsis) to replace all authors between the sixth author and the last author

Up to 20 authors can be listed in the references

E-book Format

Includes the e-book format, platform, but excludes the publisher. eg: Roach, M. (2010). Packing for Mars: The curious science of life in the void [Kindle version]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com

Omits the e-book format, platform, or device (e.g., Kindle) but includes the publisher. eg: Forsyth, D. (2018). Probability and statistics for computer science. Springer Publishing Company. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319644097