Why APA 7th Edition Matters for Malaysian Thesis Students
The American Psychological Association released the 7th edition of its Publication Manual in 2019, introducing changes significant enough that Malaysian students familiar with the 6th edition cannot assume their formatting knowledge remains current. Universities across Malaysia — including UM, UTM, UKM, UPM, and USM — have progressively updated their thesis guidelines to reflect the 7th edition, and examiners conducting IPS technical reviews are increasingly flagging 6th edition formatting as an error requiring correction.
The consequences of APA formatting errors extend beyond technical corrections. Consistent formatting errors throughout a reference list signal to examiners that the candidate lacks attention to scholarly convention — a concern that tends to compound other assessment concerns. Conversely, a flawlessly formatted reference list demonstrates that the candidate understands the scholarly ecosystem their work inhabits.
Key Changes Between APA 6th and 7th Edition
If you have previously written academic work using APA 6th edition, the following changes in the 7th edition are the most important to internalise:
Number of authors before et al. In APA 6th edition, in-text citations with six or more authors used et al. from the first citation. In APA 7th edition, in-text citations with three or more authors use et al. from the first citation — a significant change that affects many multi-author papers.
DOI format. APA 7th edition requires DOIs to be presented as hyperlinks in the format https://doi.org/xxxxx. The older DOI: prefix format used in the 6th edition is no longer correct.
Location of publisher no longer required for books. In APA 6th edition, the city and country of the publisher was required. In APA 7th edition, this information is omitted — only the publisher name is included.
Three to twenty authors in reference list entries. APA 7th edition now requires listing all authors up to 20 in the reference list. For works with 21 or more authors, list the first 19, insert an ellipsis, and add the last author.
Journal Articles: The Most Common Reference Type
The standard format for a journal article in APA 7th edition is:
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article in sentence case. Journal Title in Title Case and Italics, Volume(Issue), Page–Page. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Critical details to note:
- Article titles use sentence case (only first word, first word after a colon, and proper nouns capitalised)
- Journal names use title case and are italicised
- The volume number is italicised; the issue number in parentheses is not italicised
- En dashes are used for page ranges, not hyphens
- DOI is included whenever available
For Malaysian journals — such as the Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, Asian Social Science, or Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities — the same format applies. Malaysian journal names should be italicised and presented in their official English-language form.
Books and Book Chapters
For a complete book:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book in sentence case and italics. Publisher Name.
Note that the publisher’s location is no longer included in APA 7th edition — a change from the 6th edition.
For a chapter in an edited book:
Chapter Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter in sentence case. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. first–last). Publisher Name. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Malaysian postgraduate students frequently err on the position of the Eds. designation (it comes after the editors’ names), the abbreviation (Eds. for multiple editors, Ed. for a single editor), and the page number format (pp. for chapters, not p.).
Theses and Dissertations
This reference type is particularly relevant for Malaysian postgraduate students who cite the theses of earlier researchers.
For a thesis from a database:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of thesis [Doctoral dissertation, University Name]. Database Name. URL
For a thesis from an institutional repository:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of thesis [Master’s thesis, University Name]. Repository Name. URL
Note the capitalisation in the brackets: Doctoral dissertation (not PhD dissertation) and Master’s thesis (not Masters thesis).
Government Reports and Official Documents
Malaysian postgraduate research frequently cites government reports from agencies such as the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), the Ministry of Education Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia, or the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research.
The format for a government report is:
Organisation Name. (Year). Title of report. Agency Name. URL
When the author and publisher are the same organisation, list the organisation only in the author position and omit it from the publisher position to avoid repetition. For example: Department of Statistics Malaysia. (2023). Population and housing census of Malaysia 2020: Key findings. https://www.dosm.gov.my/…
Websites and Online Sources
Website references follow this format:
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of webpage. Site Name. URL
For websites where no individual author is identified, use the organisation name as the author. For websites with no publication date, use (n.d.) in place of the year. For Malaysian government websites that frequently lack clear publication dates, using (n.d.) and the organisation name as author is appropriate.
Malay-Language Sources
Malaysian postgraduate theses frequently cite sources in Bahasa Melayu. The standard practice is to provide the reference in the original language, followed by a bracketed translation of the title in English if the audience includes non-Bahasa Melayu readers.
For example: Ahmad Fauzi, A. H. (2020). Pendidikan Islam di Malaysia: Sejarah dan perkembangan [Islamic education in Malaysia: History and development]. Penerbit Universiti Malaya.
Check your university’s specific thesis guidelines for their preferred approach to Malay-language citations, as conventions vary between institutions.
In-Text Citation Formatting
APA 7th edition in-text citations follow a consistent author-date format:
Parenthetical citation: (Author, Year) — used when the author’s name is not part of the sentence text.
Narrative citation: Author (Year) — used when the author’s name is integrated into the sentence.
Three or more authors: Use et al. from the first citation. Note the period after al — this is standard APA formatting reflecting the Latin abbreviation.
Direct quotations: Include page numbers: (Smith, 2022, p. 45).
Secondary sources: Use the format (Original Author, Original Year, as cited in Secondary Author, Year). However, using secondary sources should be minimised. Locate and read the original source whenever possible.
Conclusion
Accurate APA 7th edition formatting is a demonstration of scholarly precision and familiarity with the conventions of your academic community. Investing time in getting your reference list right before IPS submission eliminates one of the most common and easily avoidable sources of corrections in Malaysian thesis examinations.
When in doubt, consult the APA Style website (apastyle.apa.org) directly. It is regularly updated and provides authoritative guidance for edge cases. Your university library may also offer APA citation workshops specifically calibrated to Malaysian thesis formatting requirements.
