Citation Style: APA 7th edition

• References is title of the list of citations.
• Authors listed as last name, initial(s). Example: Welty, E. Lists all authors (up to 20); an ampersand (&) precedes the last author.
• Year of publication follows the name(s) of the author(s).
• In text citations must include author's last name and year of publication. Example: (Williams, 2009). Page numbers, if available, are used only for materials in quotation marks. Use p. for one page and pp. for a range. Example: (Williams, 2009, pp. 2-9).
• Book titles in italics; capitalizes only the first word in the title, the first word in the subtitle, acronyms, and proper nouns. Example: Brewing justice: Fair trade coffee, sustainability, and survival. (This is called sentence case.)
• Journal article titles without quotation marks; capitalization rules are the same as for book titles. Example: Coffee consumption and cardiovascular health. (These also use sentence case.)
• Library database & date of Access: Do not list the name of the library database or the date of access for resources found through a library database. Resources should be treated as print works except for journals that include DOI #'s.

• DOI or URL is required for journal articles if available. A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a string of numbers, letters and symbols used to permanently identify an article or document and link to it on the web. A DOI will help your reader easily locate a document from your citation. Think of it like a Social Security number for the article you’re citing — it will always refer to that article, and only that one. While a web address (URL) might change, the DOI will never change. Example: https://doi.org/10.1044/2015_AJA-15-0021. 

• Period should be placed at the end of the References list, except after a URL or DOI.

Formatting changes:

• New guidelines for formatting student papers
• More options for choosing a font size and style (other than Times New Roman 12) as long as the fonts are legible and widely available
• One space after sentence period
• More quotations will be used rather than italicizing words
• In-text citations – if a source was written by 3 or more authors, you can use et al.

More Citation examples:

• The new manual includes more citation examples that include classroom material, Intranet sources, and social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

eBooks and articles databases:

• Continue to use the DOI URL for journal articles that include a DOI #. A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a string of numbers, letters and symbols used to permanently identify an article or document and link to it on the web. A DOI will help your reader easily locate a document from your citation. Think of it like a Social Security number for the article you’re citing — it will always refer to that article, and only that one. While a web address (URL) might change, the DOI will never change.
• Journal articles without a DOI # including eBooks, magazine and newspaper articles found in a database should be treated as print works. Do not list the database name or the URL of the publisher’s home page. Only include database information in the reference if the source comes from a database that publishes original, proprietary content, such as UpToDate. For an explanation of this change, click here.
  ​

Hyperlinks/URLs:

• Present both DOIs and URLs as hyperlinks (i.e., beginning with “http:” or “https:” – https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185). 
• Because a hyperlink leads readers directly to the content, it is no longer necessary to include the words “Retrieved from” or “Accessed from” before a DOI or URL.
• It is acceptable to use either the default display settings for hyperlinks in your word-processing program (e.g., usually blue font, underlined) or plain text that is not underlined.
• Leave links live if the work is to be published or read online.
• For more information on DOIs, URLs and hyperlinks, click here.

Publisher information:

• Publisher location is no longer necessary (same as MLA guidelines)

Student papers in APA style require the following:

• Simplified title page (link to example above)
• Page numbers
• Reference list

Not required for student papers (unless required by instructor):

• Running head
• Author note
• Abstract

General formatting guidelines:

• The citations list is called References (when you only have one citation on the list, the list should be labeled Reference)
• Reference list entries are alphabetized by author's last name.  If there is no author, the entry is alphabetized by title.
• Entries are double spaced.
• The first line of an entry is set against the left margin. Subsequent lines are indented using the hanging indent format.
• For journal articles that include a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), the DOI is formatted as a URL, with the prefix https://doi.org/ followed by the DOI number. A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a string of numbers, letters and symbols used to permanently identify an article or document and link to it on the web. A DOI will help your reader easily locate a document from your citation. Think of it like a Social Security number for the article you’re citing — it will always refer to that article, and only that one. While a web address (URL) might change, the DOI will never change. Example: https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.134.2.258.

Hanging indents:

Microsoft Word instructions:

1. Select the text you would like to format (you can select your entire list of citations, for example, to format all at once)
2. From the Home tab in Word, select the small arrow next to the Paragraph menu
3. Next, under the Special, menu select Hanging then click OK
4. Your selected text will now be formatted with a hanging indent.

Google Docs instructions:

1. Select the text you want to format in hanging indent style
2. Click on the Format menu
3. When the Format menu appears, click on Align & indent
4. When a submenu appears, click on Indentation options
5. Under Special indent, select Hanging then click Apply

Though not labeled as such, APA citations are composed of 4 core elements:  who, when, what, where.

who -- author field

when -- date field (in parentheses)

what -- title of the source

where -- where the source lives

Example:

Anderson, A. K. (2005). Affective influences on the attentional dynamics supporting awareness. Journal of  Experimental Psychology: General, 154, 258-281. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.134.2.258

Who = Anderson, A. K.

When = (2005)

What = Affective influences on the attentional dynamics supporting awareness.

Where = Journal of  Experimental Psychology: General, 154, 258-281. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.134.2.258

Image taken from the APA Referencing 7th Edition guide is used with permission from the University Library, The University of Notre Dame, Australia.

Video created by Bob Hoffman from the School of Education, The University of Notre Dame Austrailia.