In late 2019, the American Psychological Association (APA) published a revised style guide: the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. This edition contains a few minor changes to the 6th edition of the manual.
Key changes at a glance
- Et al.: “et al.” is used in the first in-text citation for works with three or more authors.
- Up to 20 authors cited: In the reference list, give the surnames and initials for up to 20 authors.
- Website names: Website names are now included as well as the webpage title.
- Publication location: The location of the publisher (i.e., city, country/state code) is no longer required.
- Ebook publisher: You no longer need to give the platform, format, or device (e.g., Kindle) for ebooks, but you do need give the publisher.
- “Retrieved from”: You no longer need to write “Retrieved from” before a URL.
- DOIs: DOIs are formatted the same as URLs. You do not need to write “DOI.”
APA 7th edition
This short video lecture introduces the 7th ed. of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
Which edition should I use?
Some courses at Massey use the 6th ed. of APA, but this will change to the 7th ed. as course content is updated. If your course uses APA 6th, then you can find examples of how to format APA Style (6th ed.) references and in-text citations at APA Interactive (6th ed.).
Your course/study guide should tell you which edition to use. However, if it does not, then it is suggested that you ask your lecturer or course coordinator.
Many authors: In-text citations (“et al.” in the first citation)
In APA 6th ed., for works with three to five authors, the first time the source is cited the in-text citation lists all names followed by commas:
(Smith, Khan, & Zhang, 2019)
Smith, Khan, and Zhang (2019)
In APA 6th ed. subsequent in-text citations for works with three to five authors only include the first author followed by “et al.” (which means “and others” in Latin) and the date:
(Smith et al., 2019).
Smith et al. (2019).
APA 6th ed. all in-text citations for six or more authors include only the first author followed by “et al.” and the date.
APA 7th ed. in-text citations for works with three or more authors include only the first author name and “et al.” (which means “and others” in Latin) is used in all citations, including the first in-text citation:
(Smith et al., 2019).
Smith et al. (2019).
Many authors in the reference list
APA 6th ed. uses “. . .” (an ellipsis) to replace all authors between the sixth author and the last author (no more than seven authors are listed):
Smith, J. D., Khan, V., Zhang, H., Williams, T., Garcia, J., Sato, Y., . . . Laurence, D.
If there are 6 or 7 authors, all of their names are spelled out in the reference list.
APA 7th ed. includes the surnames and initials of up to and including 20 authors in the reference list. For works with more than 21 authors, use an ellipsis between the 19th and final author. There should be no more than 20 names:
McDuff, C., Smith, J., Kensington, K., Jones, S., Coughlan, S., Bortolin, L., Witte, M., Scott, A., Newport, A., Jensen, K., Wutzler, J., van Staden, I., McLean, J., Bergsma, G., Dowman, B., Petrie, K., Higgens, D., McCloud, R., Jessop, L., …Duncan, P. (2017). An introduction to quantitative analysis in finance. Houghton.
(McDuff et al., 2017).
McDuff et al. (2017).
Website names
The 6th ed. does not include the name of the website or organisation that hosts the webpage, report, or any other kind of source:
Lawson, J. F. (2019). The impacts of plastic on Indonesian migratory birds. Retrieved from https://www.doc.govt.nz/reports/birds/indonesiaplastic/
The 7th ed. includes the name of the website or organisation that hosts the webpage, report, or any other kind of source:
Lawson, J. F. (2019). The impacts of plastic on Indonesian migratory birds. Department of Conservation. https://www.doc.govt.nz/reports/birds/indonesiaplastic/
Publication location
The 6th ed. includes the publisher location in reference list entries. If the city is not in the United States, the country is also written, after a comma:
Palmerston North, New Zealand:
Oxford, England:
For cities in the United States, the 6th ed. uses the two-letter postal code abbreviation for the state instead of the country:
Anaheim, CA:
The 7th ed. omits publisher location from reference list entries:
Lawford, C. K. (2009). Moments of clarity: Voices from the front lines of addiction and recovery. William Morrow.
Note: When the author and publisher are the same, omit the publisher in the reference.
Ministry of Education. (2009). Research ethics in New Zealand: A student guide.
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
Note: Multiple publishers are listed in the order shown on the copyright page of a work, separated with a semi-colon:
Neftci, S. N. (2009). Principles of financial engineering (2nd ed.). Academic Publishing; Massey University Press.
E-book format
The 6th ed. includes the e-book format, platform, or device (e.g., Kindle) but not the publisher:
Roach, M. (2010). Packing for Mars: The curious science of life in the void [Kindle version]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com
The 7th ed. omits the e-book format, platform, or device (e.g., Kindle) but includes the publisher:
Forsyth, D. (2018). Probability and statistics for computer science. Springer Publishing Company. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319644097
Retrieved from
The 6th ed. includes the words “Retrieved from” before the url in the reference list:
Forsyth, D. (2018). Probability and statistics for computer science. Springer Publishing Company. Retrieved from https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319644097
Ministry of Education. (2009). Measuring hauora in primary schools.Retrieved from http://www.education.govt.nz/school/student-support/haurora/
The 7th ed. omits the words “Retrieved from” before the url in the reference list:
Forsyth, D. (2018). Probability and statistics for computer science. Springer Publishing Company. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319644097
Ministry of Education. (2009). Measuring hauora in primary schools.http://www.education.govt.nz/school/student-support/haurora/
DOI format
The 6th ed. includes the label “doi:” before the DOI number in the reference listing:
Gelkopf, M., Ryan, P., Cotton, S., & Berger, R. (2008). The impact of “training the trainers” for helping tsunami-survivor children on Sri Lankan disaster volunteer workers. International Journal of Stress Management, 15(2), 117-135. doi:10.1037/1072-5245.15.2.117
The 7th ed. omits the label “doi:” from the reference listing, and starts a DOI link with https://doi.org/ instead:
Smith, J. D. (2009). Research ethics in New Zealand: A student guide. https://doi.org/10.1000/182
The 7th ed. includes DOIs for all sources where a DOI is available even if the source wasn’t accessed online. For more on this see the DOIs and URLs or the quick guide.
Minor changes
Show all | Hide allInclusive language [show]Formatting assignments [show]The mechanics of style [show]Tables, figures, and graphs [show]Heading levels [show]
Sample papers
There are sample papers available at:
- Annotated sample student assignment
- Annotated sample professional paper
- Unannotated sample student assignment
- Unannotated sample professional paper
- Reference examples
References and further reading
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). [Massey Library link]
American Psychological Association. (2020a). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000 [Massey Library link]
American Psychological Association. (2020b). Quick reference guide. https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/reference-guide.pdf
Disclaimer
These pages are provided as a guide to proper referencing. Your course, department, school, or institute may prescribe specific conventions, and their recommendations supersede these instructions. If you have questions not covered here, check in the style guide listed above, ask your course coordinator, or ask at Academic Q+A.