Updates and Additions to APA Style

APA Style promotes consistency in writing, and the APA Style team values the same in developing APA Style guidelines. Consistency of style helps authors learn and apply the guidelines correctly over time. However, we do occasionally update or add to APA Style guidance to reflect changing standards and new developments in research, writing, publishing, and more.

We also welcome feedback! We are always interested to hear how students, instructors, researchers, writers, editors, and others are using APA Style. You can send feedback, questions, or suggestions for changes to help us develop APA Style resources that better fit the needs of all our users. We carefully consider user feedback and expert advice before updating APA Style guidelines.

APA Style endorses APA’s inclusive language guidelines for authors writing any type of work, from student papers and professional manuscripts to business documents and personal or informal works. These guidelines “aim to raise awareness, guide learning, and support the use of culturally sensitive terms and phrases that center the voices and perspectives of those who are often marginalized or stereotyped” (p. iii). They also “explain the origins for problematic terms and phrases and offer suitable alternatives or more contemporary replacements” (p. iii).

The inclusive language guidelines draw directly from the bias-free language guidelines in Chapter 5 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition and should be used in conjunction with those guidelines.

In this post on the APA Style blog, Dr. Maysa Akbar, APA’s chief diversity officer, outlines three key things to know about APA’s inclusive language guidelines.