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Referencing: APA 7th ed. Important Changes

A 7th edition of APA Referencing was released in October 2019. The guidelines were updated to make it easier to cite online sources.

For more detailed information on the changes see the Concise guide to APA style  


The following are eight important changes in the the 7th edition:

  • The publisher location is no longer included in the full text reference for a book.

  • The in-text citation for works with three or more authors is now abbreviated from the first citation. That is you only include the first author’s surname followed by “et al.” for all in text citations with three or more authors

  • The terms ‘doi:’ or ‘retrieved from’ are no longer required for full text reference of electronic resources unless a retrieval date is needed.

  • The ebook format, platform, or device (e.g. Kindle) is no longer included in the reference while the publisher is included.

  • Resources with up to 20 authors are listed in the reference list with an ampersand before the final author's name.

  • There is no requirement to include the library database name or library database ‘url’ in the reference list. The ‘doi’ can be provided if it is available. If it is not available the reference will look closely like a reference for a print item.

  • The URL should be included if there is no ‘doi’ but only if the ‘url’ is available to all readers ( so generally speaking you will not include a library database ‘url’).

  • Web pages titles are now italicized and only major words in the titles should begin with a capital letter.

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