APA 7 and Citation/Reference Acronyms

jmschweizer
Reading previous discussions on this topic, it seems they are older and for previous version with the workarounds no longer working.

As per APA 7, reference acronyms as in abbreviating organization names (e.g., ACA for American Counseling Association) are no longer allowed. Instead, the acronym should be introduced at the first in-text citation.

Example:

First in-text citation:
American Counseling Association (ACA, 2014)
(American Counseling Association [ACA], 2014)

Subsequent in-text citations:
ACA (2014)
(ACA, 2014)

Reference:
American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2014-code-of-ethics-finaladdress.pdf

Is there a way to have Zotero 6

1. automatically produce the above or
2. use the acronym for the in-text citation and the full name for the reference?

If #2 is possible, can the first in-text citation be manually changed without being overwritten later?

Any ideas are very much appreciated. Thank you.
  • adamsmith
    Can't be done exactly as APA requires. Generally planned, but won't be any time soon. I'd suggest just using the acronym as the author and the full name as publisher/institution -- that'll give you clear citations.
  • jmschweizer
    Thanks. I tried that, but I can't find the item type that would do that correctly in the references. I tried book, conference page, document, standard, thesis, web page (other would remove the publisher information). Any suggestions?
  • bwiernik
    You should enter the item you show above as a Report. Make “ACA” the author and “American Counseling Association” the Institution. That won’t follow APA’s rules exactly, but it is clearly understandable and concise. I’ve done that when submitting to APA journals and had papers published with that format.
  • jmschweizer
    Thanks, bwiernik. That is interesting to know that APA journals would accept the citation as you suggested. I doubt my committee will be as lenient. :-)
  • bwiernik
    I wouldn’t be surprised if your committee didn’t notice at all. If they do insist, you can use the format I suggest above and then manually change the first citation as a final editing step at the end of your writing process.
  • jmschweizer
    Just to clarify. Doing as you suggested produces the following:

    (ACA, 2014)

    ACA. (2014). ACA 2014 code of ethics. American Counseling Association. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2014-code-of-ethics-finaladdress.pdf

    Whereas what I would need at least to be able to fix the first citation is:

    (ACA, 2014)

    American Counseling Association. (2014). ACA 2014 code of ethics. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2014-code-of-ethics-finaladdress.pdf

    Am I doing something wrong?
  • bwiernik
    As we have said a few times, Zotero cannot do the exact requirements APA asks for.

    The format I suggest is extremely widely used in journals and theses—indeed I have encountered many professors and copy editors who actually think this format is correct according to the manual.

    If you use my suggested format and add “American Counseling Association” as a prefix on the first citation (in the same window where the Omit Author checkbox is), you can manually type the the square brackets and tweak the reference list entry when you are finished writing. There isn’t a way to get the exact APA formatting with this without small manual tweaks.

    I think you are worrying too much about this requirement. If you submitted the slightly incorrect format I suggest, I would be surprised if your committee members noticed.
  • jmschweizer
    Thanks for the clarification.
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