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APA Citation Guide

Use to this guide to help you with formatting your paper using APA style format

What is APA?

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APA style was created by the American Psychological Association. It is a set of rules for publications, including research papers.

In APA, you must "cite" sources that you have paraphrased, quoted or otherwise used to write your research paper. Cite your sources in two places:

  1. In the body of your paper where you add a brief in-text citation.
  2. In the Reference list at the end of your paper where you give more complete information for the source.

Changes in the APA 7th Edition

Formatting

  • The running head is no longer required in student papers.

  • In professional papers, the words "Running head:" no longer appear on the title page. Only the shortened title and page number should be used.

  • Authors may now use additional fonts (Calibri 11, Arial 11, Lucinda Sans Unicode 10, Times New Roman 12, and Georgia 11).

  • APA now uses more inclusive language, notably the use of the singular "they."

Citations

  • Et al. should be used in in-text citations of sources with more than two authors. This change includes the initial citation.

References

  • Don't state "retrieved from" in the reference list.

  • Websites should now be italicized.

  • Publisher location is no longer needed in the reference entry.

  • DOIs should be listed as a URL.

  • Up to 20 authors for each source should be listed in the reference list. Formerly, APA only required that one list the first 7 authors for a given source.