In October 2019, the American Psychological Association (APA) introduced the 7th edition
of the APA Publication Manual, which replaces the 6th edition published in 2009.
In this video we'll go over the 17 most notable changes on citing sources
formatting paper and writing inclusively and bias-free.
Hi, I'm Jessica from Scribbr, here to help you achieve your academic goals.
Let's start with the most notable changes in citing sources.
Number 1, the publisher location is no longer included in the reference.
The publisher, in this example Simon & Schuster, is placed right after the book title
without including the city and state New York.
Number 2, the in-text citation for works with three or more authors is now shortened right
from the first citation using et al.
In the 6th edition, sources with three, four or five authors were given in full
the first time the source was mentioned.
Number 3, you should include surnames and initials for up to 20 authors in the reference list.
In the 6th edition it was up to 7.
Number 4, the label “DOI:” is no longer necessary.
DOIs are now formatted as URLs.
Number 5, you no longer need to write "Retrieved from” in front of the url
unless a retrieval date is needed.
You now also include the website name, unless it’s the same as the author.
Number 6, for ebooks, the format, platform,
or device (for example, Kindle) is no longer included in the reference.
Number 7, clear guidelines are provided for including contributors other than authors
and editors.
For example, if you want to cite this video, make sure to include Scribbr as the author!
Number 8, dozens of examples are included for online source types such as podcast episodes,
YouTube videos, and social media posts.
The 7th edition of the APA publication manual provides guidelines on inclusive and bias-free
language for topics such as gender, age, disability, racial and ethnic identity, and sexual orientation.
For example: Number 9, the singular “they” or “their”
is endorsed as a gender-neutral pronoun.
Instead of saying he/she, you are encouraged to say “they”.
Number 10, instead of using adjectives as nouns to label groups of people
descriptive phrases are preferred.
So instead of using the poor, you should say people living in poverty.
Number 11, instead of broad categories, you should use exact age ranges that are more
relevant and specific.
So use people in the age range of 65 to 75 years old instead of over 65.
The APA also provided different paper format guidelines for professional and student papers.
You can find a sample paper for both types in the manual.
Some of the format changes include: Number 12, increased flexibility regarding
fonts: options include Calibri 11, Arial 11, Lucida Sans Unicode 10, Times New Roman 12,
and Georgia 11.
Number 13, the running head on the title page no longer includes the words “Running head:”.
It now contains only a page number and the paper title.
Number 14, the running head is omitted in student papers
unless your instructor tells you otherwise.
Number 15, heading levels 3 to 5 are updated to improve readability.
For level 3, instead of indenting, it is now flushed left, and also italicized.
Level 4 headings are no longer italicized.
A level 5 heading is now bolded.
In terms of style, not much has changed but there are two changes you should know about:
Number 16, use only one space after a period at the end of a sentence.
Number 17, use double quotation marks to refer to linguistic examples instead of italics.
So when will people start using the 7th edition APA manual?
The APA expects that people will start using the 7th edition in the spring of 2020.
But make sure to check with your supervisor or journal publisher which edition you should adhere to.
The manual is now available in color, you can choose between a hard cover, spiral bound
or ebook.
If you're interested in getting a copy, the link is in the description.
That's it for this video, make sure you give this video a like, and if you have any questions
about the new changes, ask away in the comments!
See you soon!