LibGuides: APA Style: Citations

APA Style Guide

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
Call Number: Ready Reference BF76.7. P83 2020
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is the style manual of choice for writers, editors, students, and educators in the social and behavioural sciences. It provides invaluable guidance on all aspects of the writing process, from the ethics of authorship to the word choice that best reduces bias in language. Well-known for its authoritative and easy-to-use reference and citation system, the Publication Manual also offers guidance on choosing the headings, tables, figures and tone that will result in strong, simple, and elegant scientific communication.

Here is a summary of the major changes in the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual. For more detailed guidance please visit APA Style or the OWL @ Purdue. You find the links below.

Essay Format:

Font - While you still can use Times New Roman 12, you are free to use other fonts. Calibri 11, Arial 11, Lucida Sans 10, and Georgia 11 are all acceptable.
Headers - No running headers are required for student papers.
Tables and Figures - There is a standardized format for both tables and figures.

Style, Grammar, Usage:

Singular "they" required in two situations: when used by a known person as their personal pronoun or when the gender of a singular person is not known.
Use only one space after a sentence-ending period.

Citation Style:

Developed the 'Four Elements of a Reference" (Author, Date, Title, Source) to help writers to create references for source types not explicitly examined in the APA Manual.
Three or more authors can be abbreviated to First author, et al. on the first citation.
Up to 20 authors are spelled out in the References List.
Publisher location is not required for books.
Ebook platform, format, or device is not required for eBooks.
Library database names are generally not required.
Hyperlinks -
- No "doi:" prefix, simply include the doi.
- All hyperlinks retain the https://
- Links can be "live" in blue with underline or black without underlining

Handouts

APA Citation Handout 7thEd
Check out the Merritt College APA guide for help creating your Reference list.

More Information

APA style
Provides instructions on many aspects of the scientific writing process.
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
These OWL resources will help you learn how to use the American Psychological Association (APA) citation and format style. This section contains resources on in-text citation and the References page, as well as APA sample papers, and slide presentations. This guide covers APA 7th edition which was released in Oct. 2019. There is a link to APA 6th ed. Please ask your instructor which pattern you should follow.