APA 7th edition

Once every few years, the creators of the APA referencing style make some changes to the guidelines. In 2019, the 7th edition of the APA style manual was introduced. Since then, several new rules for references have been developed. Which changes were made to the old APA guide? In this article, we have compiled the most important ones for you to know in order to stay up to date.

The new edition was not created by accident. Since the previous APA edition, there have been many developments in how sources should be used. For instance, we increasingly refer to online sources, and all sorts of modern technology like podcasts or YouTube videos have been added. Ten years ago, those types of media were not nearly as popular for referencing. 

All these developments, according to the creators of APA style, called for a new edition of APA. All the rules for writing in the APA style are summarised in a single manual, of which the creators have just released a 7th edition.

In a number of our other articles, we describe exactly how you refer to certain types of sources. Want to know the details? Check out our articles on the following topics:

• APA style guidelines;

• examples of APA style;

• source references in the running text;

• layout of the bibliography;

• plagiarism.

To sum it up, for every piece of information you refer to in your work, either by direct quote or paraphrasing, you need to cite it both in the text and in your bibliography. For both references, there are  certain guidelines you must follow. Our APA style examples show you what this looks like for different types of sources according to the 7th edition of APA. 

Do you have specific questions, such as how to refer to YouTube videos or posts on social media? Then you should check out the 7th edition of the APA Handbook for yourself. In it, you will find examples and explanations of correct references for all kinds of sources.

Not all changes in APA 7th edition are equally important to know. We have outlined the most essential changes for you below.

1. Create a DOI as a URL

Do you include a DOI for an online source in your bibliography? Then, turn it into a URL with https://doi.org. You no longer need to include the label "doi:".

2. Include only the first author's name in the text

Luckily, this change makes your life a little easier. Previously, you had to mention the names of the first three authors in the running text, followed by "et al." Now you only have to mention the first author and put "et al." immediately after. In the bibliography, however, you still include the names of all authors.

Correct is thus:

(De Vries et al., 2022)

You no longer need to write this as follows:

(De Vries, Janssen, Pieters, Stevens, & De Jong, 2022)

3. Omit the publisher's location

Previously, when citing the source of a book, you also had to include the location of the publisher. This is no longer necessary. Now, you only mention the publisher's name.

Correct is thus:

Challouki, H. (2021). Inclusive communication: everything you need to know to reach diverse audiences. Pelckmans.

Previously, you would have cited this source as follows:

Challouki, H. (2021). Inclusive communication: everything you need to know to reach diverse audiences. Kalmthout, Belgium: Pelckmans.

4. Include up to 20 authors per source in the bibliography

Earlier, you were allowed to abbreviate a source citation if it had more than seven authors. You only had to mention the first six authors, the last author, and put three dots between them. You did not have to mention the other authors. Since the release of the 7th APA edition, you have to mention every name up to the 20th author.

If there are more than 20 authors, put three dots between the nineteenth and last author to shorten the citation.

For example, this looks like:

Levelt, P., 't Hof, M.N., Bouwman, L.K., Peters, P.R., Vreek, D.E.M., Bakker, E., Verhoef, L.W., Willems, D.O., Harmen, W.W., Den Duif, A.A., Raven, V.B., & Van Aalst, R.W.S. (2020).

5. Refer to podcasts and series as follows

The sources you use are not always texts. With other types of sources, it can be quite difficult to determine who the "author" is. That is something APA 7th edition has clarified. They state the following:

• For podcasts, refer to the host of the podcast.
• For TV series, name the writer and director of the episode you refer to.

For example, a reference to a TV series looks like this (leaving you to input the bolded information yourself):

Surname writer, Initials. (Writer) & Surname director, Initials. (Director). (Year, Date). Episode name (Season season number, Episode episode number) [Episode TV series]. In Initials and surname producer (Producer), Series name. Production company.

For a podcast, for example, the source citation will look like this:

Surname host, Initials. (Host). (Year, Date). Episode title (No. episode number) [Podcast episode]. In Name podcast. Production company. Accessed on day month and year, from link

Changes for inclusive and gender-neutral language

Another important change in APA 7th edition is that separate guidelines have been introduced for more inclusive and gender-neutral language. The aim of this is to reduce the likelihood that you referto people in a biased way in terms of gender, age or origin. Two key guidelines in this area are as follows:

6. Refer to groups of people with the plural form

Try to avoid the word "he" or "she" when referring to a general group of people. Instead, opt  for the plural form.

Don't say:

"Site visitors can use the contact form to request the information he or she is looking for."

Prefer to make that:

“Site visitors can use the contact form to request the information they are looking for”

OR

"Visitors to the site can use the contact form to request desired information."

7. Give descriptions rather than labels

Instead of saying "intelligent people", make it specific: "people with an IQ above 120" or "highly educated". This keeps things clearer for your audience, and more factual.

Want to know how to correctly cite sources according to the latest APA guidelines? With our free source generator for APA, you can have the correct citation generated for any source. Enter the required data and immediately receive the correct source citation.

Want to have your sources double-checked, just to be sure they are correct? Request a source check from one of the AthenaCheck editors. We will check the sources for you, and help you avoid unintentional plagiarism!