For students embarking on their college journeys this fall, there’s no tool more essential than an APA Style guide. Now in their seventh editions, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association and the Concise Guide to APA Style remain invaluable resources for those tasked with writing and publishing within the social sciences and many other fields.
In addition to providing general guidance for writing grammatically correct, clear, communicative prose, the texts provide detailed instruction relating to formatting academic papers, reference and source citation, crafting bibliographies, utilizing bias-free language, and much more.
Emily Ayubi, APA Style senior director, and Timothy McAdoo, APA Style manager, spoke with PW about significant updates and user-friendly new features integrated into the seventh editions of the manual and guide—enduring resources that continue to meet the needs of today’s college students, educators, writers, and other professionals.
What are the goals for the seventh editions of the Publication Manual and Concise Guide to APA Style?
Ayubi: The overarching goals for seventh edition APA Style are to write with clarity, precision, and inclusion and to achieve excellence in scholarly communication. The seventh editions of the Publication Manual and the Concise Guide to APA Style provide readers with guidelines and other aids for clear, precise, and inclusive writing while ensuring flexibility and adaptability for the myriad ways in which APA Style is used across educational levels, audiences, and disciplines all over the globe.
What are the differences between the Publication Manual and Concise Guide to APA Style?
Ayubi: The Publication Manual is the official complete resource for reporting research, writing, and publishing in APA Style. The Concise Guide to APA Style is the official abridged resource for APA Style guidelines that are most pertinent for students and other novice writers or those new to APA Style.
Namely, the Concise Guide does not include the information on journal article reporting standards or how to publish a manuscript that is covered in the Publication Manual but rather focuses on the foundational aspects of APA Style, including writing and formatting student papers, grammar and punctuation, bias-free language, in-text citations and references, and annotated bibliographies.
What extra features are included in the new editions?
Ayubi: New to this edition, both the Publication Manual and the Concise Guide include guidance on writing and formatting student papers and assignments and a full dedicated chapter on bias-free language. The print and e-book versions of both titles are newly in color for this edition as well.
New to only the Publication Manual is a dedicated chapter on journal article reporting standards with coverage on reporting quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research. The spiral-bound version of the Publication Manual also features chapter divider tabs by popular demand.
We also created this edition of the Publication Manual and Concise Guide with the practical needs of users in mind by opting for a task-based organization given that most people do not read either book from beginning to end. However, the Publication Manual follows a logical progression from principles for all writers to publication considerations. Within chapters of both books, content is organized with numerous numbered sections and cross-references to help users quickly locate answers to their questions.
Rather than promoting prescriptive rules as with previous editions, we put forward best practices and guidelines that can be adapted for different needs and circumstances to ensure maximum flexibility and impact. We also expanded our examples and scope to appeal to multiple fields and international audiences given that APA Style has spread globally across disciplines and scholarly publishers as well as into higher and secondary education. In the Publication Manual, we included more than 100 reference examples, 40 sample tables and figures, student and professional sample papers, and a sample annotated bibliography to model effective scholarly presentation and formatting. The Concise Guide also contains the samples and examples from the Publication Manual that are most relevant for student assignments.
This edition also marks the first time that we worked with accessibility experts to ensure equitable access for all consumers of APA Style. The seventh edition Publication Manual and Concise Guide e-books are fully optimized for accessibility and include alternative text and long descriptions for graphics, screen reader–friendly headings, and other features for use with assistive technology. We are also part of the AccessText Network and other services that provide access to educational resources for students with print disabilities.
In addition, we evaluated APA Style itself and addressed needed improvements to our editorial guidelines through the lens of accessibility. Using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and our experts’ recommendations as a framework, we made updates to APA Style in the following areas: accessible use of color, headings, in-text citations, fonts, URLs, and spacing after punctuation.
Many of our guidelines and resources, including videos, handouts, checklists, and blog posts, are published on the APA Style website to complement the books and to support instruction, learning, and application of APA Style. In service of APA’s mission and to ensure equitable access for all, these and other APA Style resources are freely available on our website.
Finally, we also offer other official resources for adopting instructors, including lecture slides for both books and a transition guide for the Publication Manual to assist educators who are switching from sixth edition to seventh edition APA Style.
From your perspective, what makes the Publication Manual and Concise Guide essential for today’s students and professionals?
Ayubi: Effective communication is integral to success in most careers, disciplines, and majors. The Publication Manual and Concise Guide help students learn and apply foundational principles of APA Style, such as ensuring bias-free language, avoiding plagiarism and self-plagiarism, and citing reliable sources, that are critical for advancing scholarly communication and critical thinking skills.
In addition to these and other topics, the Publication Manual also provides guidance for professional authors, researchers, and editors on research reporting standards, ethical and legal compliance, research data considerations, and manuscript publication. For students obtaining graduate degrees and/or for those in STEM disciplines, it is an essential resource that will help them gain valuable scientific writing and publishing skills that will serve them throughout their academic and career pursuits. For undergraduates and others outside of STEM disciplines, the Concise Guide covers their APA Style and scholarly writing needs.
Both titles are designed to be used as textbooks and/or reference texts. Our expectation is not for readers, at any educational level, to memorize our guidelines but rather for them to understand and apply our guiding principles of clarity, precision, and inclusion in their writing or editorial work and to be able to navigate a reference work to find answers to their questions. Considering how often these titles are consulted over time and that they are required or recommended in tens of thousands of courses, purchasing one of these titles will cost-effectively serve a given reader both academically and professionally over the span of many years, as compared with traditional textbooks that are significantly more expensive and may only be used or remain relevant for a short period of time.
How do the guides help to demystify some of the more nuanced aspects of APA style for writers?
McAdoo: Our aim is for APA Style guidelines to be clear and consistent. When preparing the seventh edition of the Publication Manual, we had the benefit of many years of collected questions and feedback from students, researchers, instructors, librarians, copyeditors, and others. With those frequently asked questions in mind, we created short, numbered sections within each chapter so that people can easily find an answer to their specific questions. Throughout the manual we provided more examples than in previous editions. And we choose those examples carefully to reflect a diversity of situations and possibilities. Our approach is to provide guidelines for the typical and best-case scenarios but to allow flexibility for authors who encounter new situations or who have reasons to vary from the guidelines.
We also made sure to break issues into their component parts. For example, in Chapter 9, we outlined the four elements of APA Style references: author, date, title, and source. For each of those elements, a reader can find sections in Chapter 9 that answer questions big and small that arise when creating each element of a reference. Those guidelines in Chapter 9 form the foundation for the example references in Chapter 10. In this way, although readers can use the templates and examples in Chapter 10 as a point of comparison, they don’t have to simply infer the guidelines; instead, the examples cross-reference sections of Chapter 9 that give specific guidance. Based on reader feedback, we also created a chapter just for legal references, because guidelines for those references differ from other types of references.
What considerations go into each new edition of the Publication Manual and Concise Guide, and how are changes incorporated?
Ayubi: For the seventh edition, our global community of scholars provided valuable insights into the benefits and challenges of writing in APA Style and inspired us to enhance the utility and accessibility of our guidelines for many disciplines, international audiences, and multiple educational levels. As a result of this diverse and inclusive community-driven input, we published our most innovative edition yet that reflects best practices in science and language use.
McAdoo: We sometimes see trends in the questions we receive from users, and we realize we can clarify a guideline by simply giving a few additional examples on our website or by writing more about the topic on our blog. The blog, in particular, allows us to explain some of the “why” behind the guidelines. Instructors have told us that understanding the rationale behind the guidelines helps them teach the guidelines and helps students learn and apply them in their writing.
We are active on social media, sharing tips and resources but also answering questions about APA Style. These questions help us understand how people are using APA Style and what new challenges they are facing. We track the suggestions and questions and frequently assess them to determine what clarifications we can make in the short-term—by updating or adding to the APA Style website—and what topics we should consider for future APA Style products.
For something like how to cite ChatGPT, for example, people were looking for an immediate answer, and after soliciting and listening to user feedback, we drafted guidance that we posted on the APA Style blog. But we also added this topic to our running list of items we’ll consider for future editions and other APA Style products. Before creating any new guideline or changing an existing guideline, we consult with experts, researchers, journal editors, and others as needed to ensure that we’re understanding the full scope and impact that a guideline may have.
And, to keep APA Style current with publishing standards, we follow the lead of APA Journals and the standards that APA Journals editors are adopting. For example, we recently added a page on the APA Style site about how APA Style supports open science, with some information from the Publication Manual and some from the more recently published APA Journals open science page.
Can you talk about how the manuals address bias-free language guidelines?
Ayubi: APA has long been a thought leader in bias-free language, with inclusive writing forming an integral part of APA Style’s legacy since 1977. Our bias-free language guidelines and inclusive writing standards also directly support APA’s core values of equity, diversity, inclusion, and the promotion of human rights.
For the seventh edition, we dedicated a full chapter to elevate its significance in ethical scholarly communication. The “Bias-Free Language Guidelines” chapter in the Publication Manual (Chapter 5) and the Concise Guide (Chapter 3) covers respectful and affirming language regarding age, disability, gender, racial and ethnic identity, sexual orientation, participation in research, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality.
We collaborated with committees of experts representing each major bias-free language topic, advocacy organizations (e.g., Human Rights Campaign, American Geriatrics Society), and community members to ensure full representation and reflect timely updates to these hallmark guidelines. As a result of this work, we unequivocally endorse and celebrate use of the singular they, including for people who use they as their pronoun and in cases where gender is unknown or irrelevant. We continue to support person-first perspectives in inclusive language but also endorse identity-first perspectives, which is especially critical in the disability community. These guidelines are available in full on the APA Style website.
To complement and augment these guidelines, APA published supplemental inclusive language guidelines in 2021, with a revision and expansion planned for later this year.
Inclusion and accessibility were at the heart of our decision-making about seventh edition APA Style. We want to be sure that all readers feel included and that research and scholarship accurately represent the human experience.
What can you share about the launch of your merch store?
Ayubi: Over the years, we’ve received numerous images from APA Style users who have fashioned their own APA Style clothing and accessories. It’s been so gratifying experiencing that user-driven solidarity from all around the world that we were inspired to create official APA Style merchandise to contribute to that sense of universal belonging and community. APA Style is user-centered at its core, so our community plays a prominent role in how APA Style and its offerings are shaped.
Our official APA Style apparel and accessories are also designed to be gender- and size-inclusive to reflect our guiding principle of inclusion. Unlike with conventional clothing options, consumers do not have to select their gender (often a binary selection, which is exclusionary and runs counter to our core values) to find an official APA Style apparel item in their size. Our merchandise logos were also created in house by an APA Style team member who understands how inclusivity is infused into everything we do, including branding and design.
We expect to expand our offerings now that our merchandise store has launched and, as always, we'll be paying close attention to feedback from our users and what else we can do to support them. We encourage and celebrate everyone who shows their, their loved ones’, and their pets’ (APA) Style!
McAdoo: When the seventh edition was first published, people began posting to social media their selfies with the Publication Manual—or pictures of their pets with the manual—and we were delighted! It was great to see how happy and excited they were about the seventh edition. Some people have even made their own art, tattoos, and more, taking inspiration from the colors of the Publication Manual and the Concise Guide covers and the APA Style leaf—we’ve been thrilled to share some of those on Instagram and in our monthly newsletter. And over the years, we have had the occasional request for official merchandise as well, so we’re excited to see how readers like the new merch store, and we hope people will continue to share with us on our various social media channels.
