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Walden University Writing Center 1

APA 6 and 7 Comparison Tables of Changes

These comparison tables offer highlights of some changes between APA 6 and APA 7. Note that

these are not comprehensive tables of all changes between the two editions.

Citations

Topic APA 6 (location and old guideline) APA 7 (location and new guideline)

In-text

citation

format for

three or

more authors

Table 6.1: In in-text citations of

sources with three to five authors,

list all authors the first time, then use

et al. after that; for sources with six

or more authors, use et al. for all

citations.

8.17 (Table 8.1): In in-text citations,

use et al. for all citations for sources

with three or more authors.

References

Topic APA 6 (location and old guideline) APA 7 (location and new guideline)

Number of

author names

listed in a

reference

6.27: Provide surnames and initials

for up to seven authors in a reference

entry. If there are eight or more

authors, use three spaced ellipsis

points after the sixth author,

followed by the final author name

(no ampersand).

9.8: Provide surnames and initials for

up to 20 authors in a reference entry.

If there are 21 or more authors, use

the ellipsis after the 19th, followed

by the final author name (no

ampersand).

Issue numbers

for journal

articles in

references

6.30; see also 7.01: Include issue

number when journal is paginated

separately by issue.

9.25: Include issue number for all

periodicals that have issue numbers.

Publisher

location

6.30: Provide publisher location

(city, state, etc.) before publisher

name.

9.29: Do not include publisher

location (city, state, etc.) after

publisher name in a reference.

Reference for

online work

with no DOI

6.32: If an online work has no DOI,

provide the home page URL of the

9.34: If an online work (e.g., a

journal article) has no DOI and was

found through an academic research

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journal or of the book/report

publisher.

database, generally, no URL is

needed. The reference will look just

like the print version.

Hyperlinks in

DOI and URL

formatting

6.32: DOI begins with either "doi:"

or with "https://doi.org/" in

references. The recommendation that

URLs should be in plain black text,

not underlined, follows examples

from APA 6 and the APA Style

Blog.

9.35: Both DOIs and URLs should be

presented as hyperlinks (beginning

with "http://" or "https://").

Standardize DOIs as starting with

"https://doi.org/". Blue/underlined is

fine for hyperlinks in references, as is

plain black text, not underlined.

URL retrieval

information in

references

7.01: URLs include a retrieval phrase

(e.g., "Retrieved from").

9.35: The words "Retrieved from" or

"Accessed from" are no longer

necessary before a URL. The only

time the word "Retrieved" (and not

"Retrieved from") is needed is in

those rare cases where a retrieval

date is necessary (see p. 290, 9.16).

Avoiding Bias

Topic APA 6 (location and old guideline) APA 7 (location and new guideline)

Singular

usage of

"they"

3.12: No mention of singular human

pronouns other than traditional,

binary "he" and "she" and their

related forms.

4.18: Use singular "they" and related

forms (them, their, etc.) when (a)

referring to a person who uses "they"

as their preferred pronoun (b) when

gender is unknown or irrelevant.

Disability 3.15: Use person-first language. 5.4: Both person-first and identity-

first language "are fine choices

overall" (p. 137). Okay to use either

one until you know group preference.

Gender and

noun/pronoun

usage

n/a: No guidance. 5.5: Use individuals' preferred names

and pronouns even if they differ from

official documents, keeping in mind

concerns about confidentiality.

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Race and

ethnicity--

Latin@

n/a: No guidance. 5.7: "Latin@" for Latino and Latina

can be used to avoid "Latino," which

is gendered.

Race and

ethnicity--

Latinx

n/a: No guidance. 5.7: "Latinx" can be used to include

all gender identities.

General Formatting/Mechanics

Topic APA 6 (location and old guideline) APA 7 (location and new guideline)

Italics vs.

quotation

marks

4.07: Use italics to highlight a letter,

word, phrase, or sentence as a

linguistic example (e.g., they

clarified the distinction between

farther and further).

6.07: Use quotation marks to refer to a

letter, word, phrase, or sentence as a

linguistic example of itself (e.g., they

clarified the difference between

"farther" and "further").

Numbers 4.31: Numbers in the abstract of a

paper should be expressed as

numerals.

6.32: Use numerals for numbers 10+

for all sections of the paper including

the abstract (numbers in abstracts now

follow general APA number rules).

Spacing after

punctuation

marks

4.01: Recommendation to space

twice after punctuation marks at the

end of sentences to aid readers of

draft manuscripts.

6.1: Insert only one space after

periods or other punctuation marks

that end a sentence.

Preferred

spellings of

technology

terms

Based on how words were written in

6th edition manual, not explicit

examples of spelling, preferred

spellings were as follows: "e-mail,"

"Internet," and "web page." 4.12

indicates spelling should conform to

standard American English as in

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate

Dictionary.

6.11: Commonly used technology

terms are listed and should be spelled

as follows: "email," "internet," and

"webpage."

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Paper-Specific Formatting

Topic APA 6 (location and old guideline) APA 7 (location and new guideline)

Paper title

length

2.01: Recommended title length is no

more than 12 words.

2.4: No prescribed limit for title

length (though recommendation for

conciseness).

Title

formatting

2.1: Title in regular type (not bold). 2.4: Title in bold type.

There is an institutional variation for

titles in doctoral capstone documents

(i.e., dissertations, doctoral studies,

or projects): The title is in plain type.

Doctoral capstone students should

refer to the APA 7 template for their

program posted on the Doctoral

Capstone Form and Style Programs

page after June 1 to see this Walden

institutional variation in place.

Heading

levels 3,4,

and 5

formatting

3.03: Levels 3, 4, and 5 are all

indented and sentence case.

2.27-2.28: Levels 3, 4, and 5 are all

title case. Level 3 is now flush left,

while 4 and 5 remain indented.

Tables and Figures

Topic APA 6 (location and old guideline) APA 7 (location and new guideline)

Tables 5.1 and 5.16: Table number is plain

type, table title is title case and set in

italics; see Sample Tables 5.1 to

5.16.

7.2 and 7.24: Table number is bold; table title

is title case and set in italics. See Sample

Tables 7.2 to 7.24.

Figures 5.1 and 5.12: Figure number and

caption are on same line and are

7.2-7.21: Figure number and caption are on

separate lines and are placed above the figure,

and the style matches that for tables: Figure

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placed below the figure; see Sample

Figures 5.1 to 5.12.

number is bold, figure caption is title case and

set in italics; see Sample Figures 7.2 to 7.21.