APA 7th edition, published in 2019, introduced several significant changes from APA 6th. Many UK psychology students — and some lecturers — are still applying 6th edition rules to 7th edition requirements. This guide covers everything that changed, plus the correct format for every reference type you're likely to encounter in a psychology degree.
What changed from APA 6th to APA 7th
The key changes most relevant to UK psychology students are: (1) Author lists: up to 20 authors are now listed in full before using et al. — previously the threshold was 6. (2) DOIs: now formatted as hyperlinks (https://doi.org/...) rather than the old 'doi:' prefix. (3) Running heads: no longer required for student papers (only for manuscripts submitted for publication). (4) Website references: the URL format changed and 'Retrieved from' is no longer used for most stable web sources. (5) Journal article page numbers: no longer included in in-text citations — just (Author, Year).
Journal article — the most common reference type
Format: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article in sentence case. Title of Journal in Title Case and Italics, volume(issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Example: Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95(2), 256–273. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.95.2.256
Note: article title in sentence case (only first word capitalised), journal name in title case and italics, volume number in italics, issue number in parentheses but not italicised.
Book and book chapter references
Book: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book in sentence case (edition if not first). Publisher.
Example: Eysenck, M. W., & Keane, M. T. (2020). Cognitive psychology: A student's handbook (8th ed.). Psychology Press.
Book chapter in edited volume: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter in sentence case. In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. page–page). Publisher.
Note: the chapter title is in sentence case and not italicised. The book title is italicised. The editors' initials precede their surnames.
Web pages and online sources
Web page with an individual author: Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of web page. Site Name. URL
Web page with no author: Title of web page. (Year, Month Day). Site Name. URL
Web page with no date: Author, A. A. (n.d.). Title of web page. Site Name. URL
Note: 'Retrieved from' is no longer used in APA 7th for most web sources with stable URLs. Only include a retrieval date if the content is likely to change over time (e.g., a wiki page, a live dataset).
In-text citation rules for APA 7th
One author: (Smith, 2021) or Smith (2021) argues that...
Two authors: always cite both: (Smith & Jones, 2021)
Three or more authors: use et al. from the first citation: (Smith et al., 2021)
Direct quote: include page number: (Smith, 2021, p. 47) or (Smith, 2021, pp. 47–49) for a range
Secondary source (citing a source you found cited in another source): (Original Author, Year, as cited in Smith, 2021). Try to avoid secondary citations wherever possible — find the original source.
Two sources in one citation: order alphabetically by first author's surname, separated by semicolons: (Jones, 2019; Smith, 2021)