If you learned APA referencing under the 6th edition, writing in APA 7 style can seem easy. On the surface, it looks familiar enough. The basics haven\u2019t changed: you still cite author and year in the text, then give full source details in the reference list.<\/p>\n
But that familiarity is exactly what makes the two versions easy to mix up. They are similar enough to lull writers into using old habits, old templates, and old reference manager outputs – often without even realising.<\/p>\n
The hardest part of APA 7 referencing is not learning the new rules; it’s unlearning the ones you already knew from APA 6. Although the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association was released in October 2019, older guidance and outdated examples are still widely circulated. Many students and researchers are still working from rules that no longer apply. Recite detects a variety of APA Style issues – you can see how these errors appear in real documents in our APA demo paper<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is one of the clearest APA 6 hangovers.<\/p>\n Under APA 7, if a work has three or more authors, you use the first author’s surname followed by et al. from the first citation. The official APA Style guidance is clear: “include the name of only the first author plus ‘et al.’ in every citation.”<\/p>\n Many postgraduates still cite the way they learned under APA 6, listing multiple names the first time and only shortening later citations (APA 6, Page 175). This is the kind of slip Recite can flag quickly.<\/p>\n However, there’s a specific edge case here when two sources collapse into the same shortened et al. form. In the case of same lead author, same year, both APA 6 and 7 require you to distinguish between them by adding back further author names. That’s the sort of detail people remember in theory but can miss in practice. Recite flags this as an ambiguous et al. citation<\/a>, surfacing both possible matches so you can resolve the ambiguity before submission.<\/p>\n APA 7 simplified DOI and URL formatting, but older habits can still prevail.<\/p>\n APA 7 guidance also makes another useful point: do not write “Retrieved from” before a DOI or URL in standard references.<\/p>\n This matters because a broken DOI makes a source harder to verify. At this level, source retrievability is part of reference quality. Recite checks and verifies DOIs in your reference list; you can see how that works in the free vs paid guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n APA 7 expanded how many author names should appear in the reference list.<\/p>\n The APA 7 rule is: for works with up to 20 authors, include all author names. When there are 21 or more, include the first 19 authors’ names, insert an ellipsis (but no ampersand), and then add the final author’s name.<\/p>\n That’s a major shift from APA 6, which allowed you to go up to and including 7 authors in total per reference. If there were 8 or more, you would include the first 6 authors’ names, insert an ellipsis, then add the final author (APA 6, pg. 184).<\/p>\n If you are still shortening author lists too early because of old habits or old software outputs, you can end up with references that look polished but are no longer accurate for APA 7. Recite’s integration with Crossref<\/a> allows you to easily verify this.<\/p>\n APA 7 removed publisher location from book references. That means older book formats that include city\/state information are now outdated. This is one area where manual checking still matters – Recite focuses on author\/date matching and DOI verification rather than full formatting of book entries, so it’s worth reviewing these by hand against current APA 7 guidance.<\/p>\n For most students and researchers, APA 7th edition becomes much more manageable the moment they realise they do not need to learn everything from scratch.<\/p>\n In summary, the most common mistakes can be avoided if you:<\/p>\n For a deeper look at how APA 7 reference lists should be ordered, including the alphabetisation rules that trip people up, see our guide to getting your references in order<\/a>. <\/p>\n Recite helps with the part of APA 7 referencing that gets hardest as the document evolves: final-stage verification. Knowing the rules is one thing; checking a 15,000-word dissertation chapter still follows them after multiple revisions is another. See the product tour<\/a> to watch it in action.<\/p>\n Used before submission and checked against APA 6 or 7 style rules, Recite can help you:<\/p>\n The user interface guide<\/a> walks through each of these outputs in detail, including how colour coding works and how to filter results by author or year. For working across a long manuscript, the split screen view<\/a> is particularly useful. It lets you compare in-text citations and the reference list side by side without scrolling back and forth.<\/p>\n For dissertation support staff, writing centres, and library teams<\/strong>, Recite can be a helpful reinforcement tool – one that encourages independent learning, highlights areas for correction, and helps students build confidence through repeated use. Rather than replacing academic judgement, it provides a structured way to review whether references align with the chosen style, while keeping the student in control of the reference list.<\/p>\n “They’re not trying to do something wrong. It’s just that they throw something in the reference section and forget to go cite it up in their paper itself. And it tends to be a longer paper in these dissertations and theses, so it can be really difficult. I think that’s the biggest help – for students – I do think it’s building that muscle memory.”<\/em><\/p>\n Jennifer Patrick PhD, Talent Development Leader<\/span>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You can get started with Recite for free. If you’re wondering what’s included in the free tier versus a paid plan, the free vs paid guide<\/a> sets it all out clearly.<\/p>\n The difficulty with APA 7 is that older examples remain easy to find, and not all tools or guidance have fully caught up with the current standard. This can leave students relying on conventions that were once correct but no longer reflect APA 7 requirements. Once the key changes are understood, the style feels more consistent and manageable.<\/p>\n Recite can support students to review APA references more efficiently, while reinforcing confidence in the accuracy of their reference list. Our FAQ<\/a> covers the most common questions about how the tool works, including what to do if Recite isn’t detecting your reference list correctly.<\/p>\n Before a dissertation, thesis, or final paper is submitted, even small APA 6 vs 7 mix-ups can create avoidable errors in the reference list. Upload your document to Recite<\/a> for a quick check on inconsistencies, missing citations, DOI errors, and formatting issues – and give your references one last check with an extra pair of scholarly eyes.<\/p>\n APA 6 vs APA 7: Mistakes postgraduates still make If you learned APA referencing under the 6th edition, writing in APA 7 style can seem easy. On the surface, it looks familiar enough. The basics haven\u2019t changed: you still cite author and year in the text, then give full source details in the reference list. … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-writing","category-apa-referencing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reciteworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reciteworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reciteworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reciteworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reciteworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/reciteworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":382,"href":"https:\/\/reciteworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions\/382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reciteworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reciteworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reciteworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reciteworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The most common APA 7 mistakes postgraduates still make<\/h2>\n
1. Using APA 6 rules for three or more authors<\/h3>\n
2. Using outdated DOI formatting or unnecessary “Retrieved from” language<\/h3>\n
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doi:10.1037\/arc0000014<\/code> (APA 6, pg. 199)<\/li>\nhttps:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/arc0000014<\/code><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n3. Truncating long author lists too early<\/h3>\n
4. Still including publisher location in book references<\/h3>\n
APA 7 is easier once you stop using APA 6 habits<\/h2>\n
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doi:<\/code> format and stop adding “Retrieved from” before every URL<\/li>\nWhere Recite fits in a realistic APA 7 workflow<\/h2>\n
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Key takeaways for anyone switching from APA 6 to APA 7<\/h2>\n
Catch APA 6 and 7 mix-ups before they cost marks<\/h2>\n
References<\/h2>\n
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