Some Major/Minor Differences Between APA 6 and 7

I’m currently working on editing two dissertations. One is to be in APA 6, and the other (different university) is to be in APA 7. Of course I had gotten used to/comfortable with APA 6 over the last decade, so am referring to the new manual a lot now! I’m also having to refer to APA 6 more, too, so I don’t get confused. The fact that the author of the dissertation that belongs in APA 7 was drafted in 6 is teaching me a lot!

Here’s the lesson I learned last night: HEADINGS. There are subtle, but real differences.

To review:

APA 6:

APA 7:

The big differences are Levels 3 and 4. The other change is that every heading is bold. Every Heading is Title Case. Also, the first heading in the paper, and the heading for the References, are also bold, which they weren’t in APA 6.

As I said to the author of the dissertation that is being moved to APA 7 – A lot of this work is tedious, almost mindless. But I am actually liking the bold and title case for everything since it makes the headings easier to read – easier to see the “road map” for the paper.