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APA 6 Citation Rules at a Glance

In-text citations use author and year: (Smith, 2020, p. 43) for direct quotes.
List up to 7 authors in the reference list; for 8 or more, list the first 6, then an ellipsis, then the final author.
Use "et al." starting from the first in-text citation once a source has 3 to 5 authors (APA 7 changed this to 2).
DOIs are formatted with a "doi:" prefix (doi:10.1234/abcd) rather than a full URL, unlike APA 7.
A running head is required on every page, including the title page, for both student and professional papers.

Journal Article

Smith, J. A. (2020). Sleep deprivation and executive function. Journal of Cognitive Science, 12(3), 45–67. doi:10.1234/abcd

Book

Baker, A. (2019). The structure of scientific reasoning. New York, NY: Academic Press.

Yes. Many journals and some university departments have not yet updated their style requirements to APA 7, so APA 6 remains in active use.

Yes, unlike APA 7, APA 6 reference-list entries for books include the city (and state, if a U.S. city) before the publisher.

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