Create a spot-on reference in APA 6
The seventh edition of the American Psychological Association's Publication Manual (APA 7th ed.) sets a number of rules as regards references and in-text citations which differ from the requirements of the previous – sixth – edition (APA 6th ed.). This article provides an overview of the main changes in the latest edition of the manual. The elements highlighted in yellow are those different for the two editions.
References in the list of references
Number of authors
APA 6: requires indicating the last names and initials of up to 7 authors:
Meehl, G. A., Goddard, L., Boer, G., Burgman, R., Branstator, G., Cassou, C., . . . Yeager, S. (2014). Decadal climate prediction: An update from the trenches. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 95, 243–267. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00241.1
APA 7: requires indicating the last names and initials of up to 20 authors:
Meehl, G. A., Goddard, L., Boer, G., Burgman, R., Branstator, G., Cassou, C., Corti, S., Danabasoglu, G., Doblas-Reyes, F., Hawkins, E., Karspeck, A., Kimoto, M., Kumar, A., Matei, D., Mignot, J., Msadek, R., Navarra, A., Pohlmann, H., Rienecker, M., . . . Yeager, S. (2014). Decadal climate prediction: An update from the trenches. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 95(2), 243–267. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00241.1
For the principles of citing authors in references according to APA 7, see this article.
Place of publication (for books, etc.)
APA 6: requires indicating the place of publication before the name of publisher:
Carter, R. E. (2008). The Japanese arts and self-cultivation. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
APA 7: the place of publication is omitted:
Carter, R. E. (2008). The Japanese arts and self-cultivation. State University of New York Press.
Journal issue number
APA 6: the issue number is to be indicated only when each journal issue has separate pagination:
Mass, C. F., & Ovens, D. (2019). The Northern California wildfires of 8–9 October 2017: The role of a major downslope wind event. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 100, 235–256. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0037.1
APA 7: the issue number is to be indicated always:
Mass, C. F., & Ovens, D. (2019). The Northern California wildfires of 8–9 October 2017: The role of a major downslope wind event. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 100(2), 235–256. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0037.1
DOI format
APA 6: the DOI is given in the format 'doi:xxxxx', i.e. only the identifier's alphanumeric value is indicated:
Mass, C. F., & Ovens, D. (2019). The Northern California wildfires of 8–9 October 2017: The role of a major downslope wind event. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 100, 235–256. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0037.1
APA 7: the DOI is given as a hyperlink, just as the URL: in the format 'https://doi.org/xxxxx':
Mass, C. F., & Ovens, D. (2019). The Northern California wildfires of 8–9 October 2017: The role of a major downslope wind event. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 100(2), 235–256. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0037.1
Indication of URL addresses
APA 6: a URL address is preceded by 'Retrieved from':
Wildifre, J. (2019, January 1). A street guide to feminism. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@JessicaLexicus/a-street-guide-to-feminism-1f6579597dc1
APA 7: no additional text is put before a URL address:
Wildifre, J. (2019, January 1). A street guide to feminism. Medium. https://medium.com/@JessicaLexicus/a-street-guide-to-feminism-1f6579597dc1
Website name in an online source reference
APA 6: the website name is not given, and the title of the webpage is not italicised:
Wildifre, J. (2019, January 1). A street guide to feminism. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@JessicaLexicus/a-street-guide-to-feminism-1f6579597dc1
APA 7: the website name is given, and the webpage title is italicised:
Wildifre, J. (2019, January 1). A street guide to feminism. Medium. https://medium.com/@JessicaLexicus/a-street-guide-to-feminism-1f6579597dc1
Author same as publisher
APA 6: if the author is at the same time the publisher of a source, 'Author' is stated instead of the publisher element:
American Psychological Association. (1994). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
APA 7: the publisher element is omitted in the reference:
American Psychological Association. (1994). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.).
Page range in newspapers
APA 6: the page range is preceded by ‘p./pp.’:
Hatter, D. (1986, January 25). Gas ground rules face new test. The Financial Post, 80(4), p. 220. Retrieved from https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=YClPFpxzHmwC&dat=19860125&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
APA 7: the page range is given without any additional inscriptions:
Hatter, D. (1986, January 25). Gas ground rules face new test. The Financial Post, 80(4), 220. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=YClPFpxzHmwC&dat=19860125&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
Parentheses/brackets in dissertation/thesis references
APA 6: when referencing a dissertation/thesis, give the type of work and the name of the university in parentheses:
Walshe, K. (1998). The reliability and validity of adverse-event measures of the quality of health care (Ph.D. thesis, University of Birmingham). Retrieved from http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/342/
APA 7: give the appropriate information in brackets:
Walshe, K. (1998). The reliability and validity of adverse-event measures of the quality of health care [Ph.D. thesis, University of Birmingham]. UBIRA Etheses. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/342/
Institutional repository name in dissertation/thesis references
APA 6: for a dissertation/thesis accessed from an institutional online repository, do not include the repository’s name in the reference:
Walshe, K. (1998). The reliability and validity of adverse-event measures of the quality of health care (Ph.D. thesis, University of Birmingham). Retrieved from http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/342/
APA 7: include the institutional repository’s name in the reference:
Walshe, K. (1998). The reliability and validity of adverse-event measures of the quality of health care [Ph.D. thesis, University of Birmingham]. UBIRA Etheses. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/342/
In-text citations
Number of authors in citations for sources with three or more authors
APA 6: for a source with 3 to 5 authors, all authors' names are given in the first citation, and the first author's name followed by 'et al.' is given in all subsequent citations; for a source with 6 or more authors, the first author's name followed by 'et al.' is given in all citations:
3 to 5 authors:
(Gries, Jungblut, Krieger, & Meyer, 2019)
(Gries et al., 2019)
6 or more authors:
(Simpson et al., 2020)
APA 7: in in-text citations of sources with 3 or more authors, only the first author's name followed by 'et al.' is given:
(Gries et al., 2019)
(Simpson et al., 2020)
See in more detail about the principles of giving authors' names in in-text citations according to APA (7th ed.) in our article.
Automatic citations in APA (7th ed.)
The web service Grafiati allows creating references and citations in line with the requirements of the latest edition of the APA Style manual taking into account the tiniest nuances: from the ordering of items in the list of references to the indication of the required number of authors and the additional indication of initials in in-text citations when required so by the manual. Use our service to minimise your time expenditures and get the most exact references and citations possible.