APA 6 vs. APA 7
Important Differences Between APA 6 and APA 7
Only one space between sentences and other punctuation.
APA 6 I ate the apple. It tasted good!
APA 7 I ate the apple. It tasted good!
For in-text (parenthetical) citations, if there are more than two authors, you mention the first author and then include et al.
APA 6 (Smith, Janey, Keys, & James, 2019)
APA 7 (Smith et al., 2019)
In APA 6, when a reference had more than seven authors, only the first seven authors were listed in the references list, followed by et al. In APA 7, list all authors up to 20.
When citing a resource, do not include the publisher’s city or state.
APA 6
Merriam, S.B. & Grenier, R.S. (2019). Qualitative research in practice: Examples for discussion and analysis. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
APA 7
Merriam, S.B. & Grenier, R.S. (2019). Qualitative research in practice: Examples for discussion and analysis. Jossey-Bass.
When creating a citation for a journal article, if the volume, issue, and page numbers are known, then it is not necessary to include the URL or the DOI number. However, if the volume, issue, or page numbers are missing, then the URL or DOI needs to be included as active hyperlinks.
APA 6
Grubb, J. M., Scott, P. H., & Good, D. W. (2017). The answer is yes: Dual enrollment benefits students at the community college. Community College Review, 45(2), 79–98. doi: 10.1177/0091552116682590
APA 7
Grubb, J. M., Scott, P. H., & Good, D. W. (2017). The answer is yes: Dual enrollment benefits students at the community college. Community College Review, 45(2), 79–98.
When citing from a Cengage textbook or from the library’s databases, do not include the URL given. Because these are subscription services and only people who have access to these services can see the resources, use instead the URL for the main page of that service.
For Cengage resources use https://www.cengage.com/
For EBSCO resources use https://www.ebsco.com/
Finally, for a web source that does not come from a subscription service, you will need to include the URL or the DOI (if provided). However, omit the words “Retrieved from” tag.
APA 6
Thorndike, E.L. & Gates, A.I. (1929). Elementary principles of education. New York, NY: The Macmillan Company. Retrieved from https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015066413991&view=1up&seq=9
APA 7
Thorndike, E.L. & Gates, A.I. (1929). Elementary principles of education. The Macmillan Company. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015066413991&view=1up&seq=9
For more detailed information on the changes between APA 6 and APA 7, please see one of the following resources:
- What's New in the Publication Manual, Seventh Edition (APA)
- APA 6 & 7 Comparison Tables (Walden University)
- APA 6th vs. 7th edition (Massey University)