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<\/a>First, The 7th<\/sup> edition acknowledges the difference between preparing a professional paper for publication and a student paper for a course. In Chapter 2, they provide a sample professional paper and a sample student paper<\/a> (p. 1). In 2.18, they note different page header elements for the professional paper and the student paper (professionals: page number and running head; students: page number only). (Yay! Finally, we\u2019re getting real\u2014no running heads for student papers!) In 2.3, they describe a title page for a student paper v. a professional paper\u2014also reflecting the reality of the classroom (why do you need an author\u2019s note for your unpublished class assignment?). These changes come as a relief to many instructors who have spent years struggling to modify the professional guidelines to suit the classroom: Finally, it\u2019s been done for you!<\/p>\n Second, I was thrilled to see in Chapter 4, on writing style and grammar, that APA has endorsed the singular use of \u201cthey,\u201d explained in this blog post<\/a> on the APA style blog. You can safely banish the awkward \u201che or she\u201d and the dreaded \u201cs\/he\u201d from your writing. With APA\u2019s blessing, you can use \u201cthey\u201d in those instances, as this pronoun is inclusive of all people and helps to avoid making assumptions about gender. When to use \u201cthey\u201d as a singular pronoun? Chelsea Lee (2019) explains that \u201cWriters should use the singular \u201cthey\u201d in two main cases: (a) when referring to a generic person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant to the context and (b) when referring to a specific, known person who uses \u201cthey\u201d as their pronoun.\u201d<\/p>\n Third, all of the old-school \u201ctwo spaces after a period\u201d folks who started their typing life on typewriters (including me) can embrace the new rule: \u201cUse one space after a period (or other punctuation) at the end of a sentence\u201d (p. 4) (from Chapter 6, Mechanics of Style).<\/p>\n Fourth, Chapter 8 has some guidance about how to cite recorded or unrecorded Traditional Knowledge and Oral Traditions of Indigenous Peoples (see Section 8.9). This guidance is a much needed addition to the style guide, as post-secondary libraries decolonize and researchers draw on Indigenous knowledge. \u00a0Also in this chapter is new guidance on how to format quotations from research participants (see Section 8.36). \u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve worked with so many students doing qualitative research using some form of narrative inquiry\u2014now there are guidelines about how to work with the rich data from their participants\u2019 voices.<\/p>\n And finally, I am delighted to see that the font-mantra\u2014”you must use Times New Roman 12\u201d\u2014has been relaxed with this edition, with an emphasis on accessibility<\/em> rather than homogeneity<\/em>: \u201cFont guidelines are more flexible. This revised section notes that \u2018APA Style papers should be written in a font that is accessible to all users.\u2019 Section 2.19 provides the following font recommendations: a sans serif font such as 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, or 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode or a serif font such as 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, or normal (10-point) Computer Modern (the latter is the default font for LaTeX)\u201d (p. 2). According to Wikipedia<\/a> (I know, not a definitive source), for the first time, APA Style\u2019s team worked with accessibility experts to ensure accessibility in APA writing\/reading (shortened in-text citations are another change).<\/p>\n These are just a few of the exciting transformations the APA Style Manual has undergone to keep pace with our rapidly changing world. I am looking forward to owning my own copy of the 7th edition. (And no, I\u2019m not kidding.)<\/p>\n Finally, if you don\u2019t have a copy of the manual yet or don\u2019t plan on buying one, the APA style blog continues to be a great resource for answering your APA questions:<\/p>\n Archived sixth edition blog<\/a><\/p>\n Current blog<\/a><\/p>\n References<\/p>\n Lee, Chelsea. (2019, October 31). \u201cWelcome, singular \u2018they.\u2019\u201d [Blog post]. Retrieved from https:\/\/apastyle.apa.org\/blog\/singular-they<\/a><\/p>\n Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (2020)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Madeline Walker Are you a graduate student in Business or the Social\u00a0Sciences, such as\u00a0Psychology, Linguistics, Sociology, or Economics? Have you bought your new edition of the APA Style Manual? No? Well, to be honest, neither have I. Officially published earlier this year, the entrance of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association\u2019s Seventh … Continue reading Getting Excited about APA Style is not an oxymoron<\/span>