What Is APA 7th Edition?
APA style is published by the American Psychological Association and is now in its 7th edition (2020). It originated in psychology but is now the default style for most education, nursing, social science, and business doctoral programs — if your committee or graduate school hasn't specified a style, APA 7th is the safest default to ask about.
APA uses an author-date system: you cite sources in the text using the author's surname and year of publication — (Smith, 2022) — and provide full reference details at the end of your dissertation in a "References" list, sorted alphabetically. This lets your committee gauge the recency of your evidence base at a glance, which matters when a literature review is being checked for currency.
The 7th edition (released September 2020) introduced several meaningful changes from the 6th edition, including simplified DOI formatting, updated rules for citing online sources, new guidance on group authors, and expanded coverage of modern source types such as social media posts and datasets.
What Changed in the 7th Edition?
If you have previously learned APA 6th edition, pay attention to these key updates in the 7th:
- DOIs: now formatted as hyperlinks — https://doi.org/xxx — not as "doi: xxx"
- Up to 20 authors: list all authors up to 20 before using an ellipsis (…). The 6th edition used "et al." after 6 authors
- Running head: no longer required for student papers (only professional manuscripts)
- Publisher location: no longer needed for books — just the publisher name
- URLs for websites: always include the URL; "Retrieved from" is no longer needed unless a retrieval date is required
- Group authors: clearer rules for citing organisations, government bodies, and institutions
- Paper format: two templates — one for students, one for professional manuscripts
In-Text Citation Rules
Every claim, paraphrase, or quote that comes from another source needs an in-text citation. In APA 7th, this is the author's last name + year, placed in parentheses. For a direct quote, add the page number.
| Scenario | Format | Example |
|---|
| One author | (Surname, Year) | (Smith, 2022) |
| Two authors | (Surname & Surname, Year) | (Smith & Jones, 2022) |
| Three or more authors | (First Author et al., Year) | (Smith et al., 2022) |
| Organisation as author | (Organisation, Year) | (NASA, 2023) |
| No author | ("Title," Year) | ("Deep Learning," 2023) |
| Direct quote | (Surname, Year, p. #) | (Smith, 2022, p. 45) |
| Multiple sources | (Author A, Year; Author B, Year) | (Chen, 2022; Patel, 2023) |
| Same author, same year | (Surname, Yeara; Surname, Yearb) | (Smith, 2022a, 2022b) |
Narrative vs parenthetical citations
You can integrate the author's name into the sentence (narrative) or put the whole citation in parentheses at the end (parenthetical). Both are acceptable:
Narrative: Chen et al. (2023) demonstrated that the algorithm achieves 94.3% accuracy.
Parenthetical: The algorithm achieves 94.3% accuracy on standard benchmarks (Chen et al., 2023).
Journal Articles
Journal articles make up most of a dissertation's literature review. In APA 7th, the volume number is italicised but the issue number is not.
Format
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article in sentence case. Journal Name in Title Case, Volume(Issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Example — three authors, with DOI
Chen, J. K., Patel, R. M., & Torres, L. D. (2023). Transformational leadership and nurse turnover intention in acute care settings. Journal of Nursing Management, 31(3), 221–234. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13845
Example — twenty-one authors (use ellipsis after 19th, then last author)
Smith, A., Jones, B., Brown, C., Wilson, D., Taylor, E., Johnson, F., Davies, G., Evans, H., Thomas, I., Roberts, J., Walker, K., Hall, L., Allen, M., Young, N., Hernandez, O., King, P., Wright, Q., Lopez, R., Hill, S., … Green, T. (2023). A multi-site study of employee engagement and retention outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 108(6), 890–901. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001234
Example — no DOI available (include URL)
Rahman, A., & Park, S. (2021). Mentorship structures and early-career attrition in K-12 teaching. Educational Administration Quarterly, 57(2), 106–135. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131946005678
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Books
Whole book — one or more authors
Format
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of book in sentence case (Edition ed.). Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Examples
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Edited book
Brown, A. B., & Wilson, C. D. (Eds.). (2022). Handbook of organizational leadership research. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12345-6
Chapter in an edited book
Format
Author, A. A. (Year). Chapter title. In A. B. Editor & C. D. Editor (Eds.), Book title (pp. xx–xx). Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Example
Nguyen, T. H. (2022). Servant leadership in higher education administration. In A. B. Brown & C. D. Wilson (Eds.), Handbook of organizational leadership research (pp. 145–178). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12345-6_7
Websites and Webpages
In APA 7th, always include the URL for websites. A retrieval date is only needed if the content is likely to change over time (e.g., a Wikipedia article or a live database). For institutional or government pages that are stable, no retrieval date is needed.
Format — individual author
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of webpage. Website Name. URL
Format — organisation as author
Organisation Name. (Year, Month Day). Title of webpage. URL
Examples
American Nurses Association. (2023, September 12). Nurse staffing standards and patient outcomes. https://www.nursingworld.org/staffing/
World Health Organization. (2023). Global mental health report 2023. https://www.who.int/teams/mental-health/reports
U.S. Department of Education. (2024, January 10). National assessment of educational progress: 2023 results. https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/ (Retrieved February 1, 2024)
Dissertations and Theses
You will need to cite other dissertations in your literature review, and your own committee will expect your reference list to follow this exact format. See our dedicated guide to citing a dissertation for more detail.
Published dissertation (ProQuest or institutional repository)
Almeida, S. M. (2022). Transformational leadership practices and nurse retention in acute care hospitals [Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
Unpublished thesis
Park, J. Y. (2023). Mentorship structures and early-career teacher attrition [Master's thesis, University of Cambridge]. University of Cambridge Repository.
Institutional and Organizational Reports
Format
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of report (Report No. xxx). Publisher/Organisation. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Examples
National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Condition of education 2023 (NCES Report 2023-144). U.S. Department of Education. https://doi.org/10.6028/NCES.2023.144
Institute of Medicine. (2023). The future of nursing 2020-2030: Charting a path to achieve health equity. National Academies Press. https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25982
Survey and Interview Datasets
If your study deposits raw survey or interview data in a repository (common for IRB-compliant mixed-methods and quantitative dissertations), cite it as a dataset with an author, year, title, and repository.
Format
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of dataset (Version #) [Data set]. Repository. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Example
Smith, A. B. (2022). Employee engagement and turnover survey data, 2021–2022 [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.123456
Conference Papers and Proceedings
Published proceedings (with DOI)
Nguyen, D., Rahman, A., & Park, S. (2023). Mentorship interventions and retention in early-career nursing. In Proceedings of the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (pp. 451–459). AERA. https://doi.org/10.3102/aera2023.00448
Unpublished/poster presentation
Torres, L. D. (2023, April 12–15). Organizational tenure and burnout in K-12 administration [Poster presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, United States.
Tests, Survey Instruments, and Analysis Software
IBM Corp. (2023). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows (Version 29.0) [Computer software]. IBM Corp.
QSR International. (2022). NVivo (Version 14) [Computer software]. QSR International Pty Ltd. https://www.qsrinternational.com/nvivo
The Reference List — Formatting Rules
- Title: "References" — centred, bold, on a new page
- All references are alphabetical by first author's last name
- Same author, multiple works: chronological (earliest first)
- Same author, same year: add a, b, c after the year (Smith, 2022a)
- Hanging indent: first line flush left, subsequent lines indented 0.5 inch (1.27 cm)
- Double-spaced, no blank line between entries
- Italicise journal name and volume number — not the issue number
- DOIs formatted as clickable hyperlinks: https://doi.org/xxxxx
Reminder on et al.: In-text you use "et al." for 3+ authors from the very first citation. But in the reference list, you must list ALL authors up to 20. Only use an ellipsis after the 19th author if there are 21 or more total.
Common APA 7th Mistakes to Avoid
| Mistake | What to do instead |
|---|
| Writing "doi: 10.xxx" (old format) | Use the full URL: https://doi.org/10.xxx |
| Using "et al." after 2 authors in reference list | List all authors up to 20 |
| Writing "Retrieved from" before URLs | Just include the URL (no "Retrieved from" unless retrieval date needed) |
| Italicising the issue number in parentheses | Only the volume number is italicised: 5(3) |
| Including publisher location for books | APA 7th does not require location — just the publisher name |
| Using "&" inside the text narrative | Inside text: use "and" — only use "&" in parenthetical citations |
| Capitalising article and chapter titles in the reference list | Use sentence case: only the first word and proper nouns are capitalised |
| Leaving out the issue number | Always include both volume and issue: Volume(Issue) |
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I use "APA" or "APA 7th edition"?
If your institution or journal has specified APA style, always confirm whether they mean 6th or 7th edition. The formats differ in meaningful ways. When in doubt, use the 7th edition as it is the current version published in 2020.
How do I cite a secondary source (something cited within another paper)?
Try to find the original source. If you cannot, cite the secondary source and indicate where you found it: (Original Author, Year, as cited in Secondary Author, Year). Only the secondary source appears in your reference list. Use secondary citations sparingly — ideally no more than once or twice in a paper.
How do I cite a source with no author and no date?
In-text: ("Title of the Page," n.d.)
Reference: Title of the page. (n.d.). Website Name. URL
Does every dissertation use APA?
No — it depends on your discipline and program. Education, nursing, psychology, and most business doctoral programs default to APA. History, humanities, and law programs often use Chicago or Turabian; some UK and Commonwealth programs use Harvard or OSCOLA. Always confirm with your handbook or committee chair before drafting your reference list.
How do I handle a paper with a very long title in the in-text citation?
Use the full title in the reference list. In the text, you can shorten it to the first few words if it is used as a stand-in for "no author" — e.g., ("Deep Learning Approaches," 2023). Keep enough words to identify it clearly in the reference list.