New APA 6th output styles in RefWorks

The American Psychological Association (APA) released the 6th edition of their publication manual on July 1. RefWorks has now modified and released new APA output styles.

To select the new styles, Click on the tab marked Bibliography and next to the drop-down menu marked Output Style select Output Style Manager. Select APA 6th edition and Add to Favorites:



As usual, there are still a few things that need to be fixed. The following is an except from the release notes:

“APA 6th style is not a major change from APA 5th output style. The new version does not use the database name with the exception of ERIC documents (reports). We have removed the database field from all reference types with the exception of reports. The new edition of APA has changed the manner in which authors are to be listed in the text and in the reference list. The new reference list guidelines state that when there are seven or more authors there should only be seven authors presented. When there are more than seven authors the first six are to be listed, ellipses added after the sixth, and the last author added at the end. In order for RefWorks to adhere to these changes, we will need to make modifications to our current Output Style Editor which will require program development. In the short-term, our new APA style will list all authors and will require the user to manually remove the extra authors and add the ellipses.

The new guidelines allow for the inclusion of up to five authors in the first instance of an in-text citation and the use of the first author with ‘et al.’ in all subsequent citations of the same reference. This too, will require APA specific development in RefWorks.”