LibGuides: Dissertation & Doctoral Project Formatting & Clearance: APA Style 7th Ed.

Finding It @ Your Library

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by American Psychological Association
Call Number: BF 76.7 .P83 2020
ISBN: 9781433832161
Publication Date: 2019-10-01
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition is the official source for APA Style. With millions of copies sold worldwide in multiple languages, it is the style manual of choice for writers, researchers, editors, students, and educators in the social and behavioral sciences, natural sciences, nursing, communications, education, business, engineering, and other fields. Known for its authoritative, easy-to-use reference and citation system, the Publication Manual also offers guidance on choosing the headings, tables, figures, language, and tone that will result in powerful, concise, and elegant scholarly communication. It guides users through the scholarly writing process-from the ethics of authorship to reporting research through publication. The seventh edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect best practices in scholarly writing and publishing.

General APA Style Guidelines

WRITING STYLE

Verb tense. APA style papers should be written in past or present perfect tense:

Avoid: Mojit and Novian's (2013) experiment shows that...

Allowed: Mojit and Novian's (2013) experiment showed that...

Allowed: Mojit and Novian's (2013) experiment has shown that...

Be concise and clear

Avoid vague statements
Present information clearly
Eliminate unnecessary words

Style matters

Write objectively
Avoid poetic or flowery language

AVOIDING BIAS

Be sensitive to labels

Avoid identifying groups by a disorder
Avoid: schizophrenics
Allowed: people diagnosed with schizophrenia
Avoid outdated or inappropriate labels
When you must label a group, try to use a term that group prefers

Gender pronouns

Gender refers to a social role
Sex refers to biological characteristics

What is the APA 7th Edition Publication Manual?

The 7th edition of Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association was created by the American Psychological Assocation (APA), and contains the complete guidelines on how to format material for publication and cite your research. It is a set of style rules that codifies the components of scientific writing in order to deliver concise and bias free information to the reader.

This guide provides some of the basics to keep in mind, but it doesn't replace owning or borrowing the actual Publication Manual itself. It should be on your desk by your side throughout your writing process.

Headings

APA style, 7th edition requires specific heading formatting.

For Levels 1-3, the paragraph text begins on a new line. For Levels 4-5, the paragraph text begins on the same line and continues as a paragraph.

Level of heading	Format
1	Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
2	Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
3	Flush Left, Bold Italic, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
4	Indented, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase, Ending With a Period.
5	*Indented, Bold Italic, Uppercase and Lowercase, Ending With a Period.*

Verb Tense

In Section 4.2 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), APA (2020) states that you should use verb tenses consistently throughout your work. See a chart of when and how to use past tense (Rodriguez found) and present perfect tense (Researchers have shown) at the APA Style website.

In-Text Citation Basics

Author/Date Citation Method

APA publications use the author/date in text citation system to briefly identify sources to readers. Each in-text citation is listed alphabetically in the reference list. All in-text citations referenced in the body of work musr appear in the reference list and vice versa.

The author-date method includes the author's surname and the the publication year. Do not include suffixes such as Jr., Esq., etc. Example: (Jones, 2009)
The author/date method is also used with direct quotes. Another component is added in this format: (Jones, 2009, p.19)
When multiple pages are referenced, use pp. (Jones, 2009, pp.19-21)

Variations of author/date within a sentence
Here are some examples of how the author/date citation method are formatted within different parts of a sentence. Please note the author, publication date, and study are entirely fictional.

Beginning of a sentence: Jones (2009) completed a study on the effects of dark chocolate on heart disease.
Middle of a sentence: In 2009, Jones's study on the effects of dark chocolate and heart disease revealed...
End of a sentence: The study revealed that participants who ate dark chocolate bars every day did not develop heart disease (Jones, 2009).

Citing works with more than one author

One author: Jones (2009) // (Jones, 2009)
Two authors: Ahmed and Jones (2010) // (Ahmed & Jones, 2010)
Three or more authors: Tsai et al. (2011) // (Tsai et al., 2011)
Group/organization author that can be abbreviated: 1st mention: National Institutes of Health (NIH, 2012) // subsequent mentions: NIH (2012)

Sample References

Journal articles

Sharifian, N., & Grühn, D. (2019). The differential impact of social participation and social support on psychological well-being: Evidence from the Wisconsin longitudinal study. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 88(2), 107-126. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091415018757213

Book

Shiraev, E. (2017). Personality theories: A global view. SAGE.

Chapter from a book

Ochs, E., & Schieffelin , B. B. (1984). Language acquisition and socialization: Three developmental stories and their implications. In R. A. Shweder & R. A. LeVine (Eds.), Culture theory: Essays on mind, self, and emotion (pp. 276 320). Cambridge University Press.

Webpage from a website

World Health Organization. (2020, June 15). Elder abuse. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/elder-abuse

View many more examples in the APA Style Manual or on the APA Style website.