Catch APA 7th edition formatting errors before your committee does. Check citations, headings, and style in under 60 seconds.
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Small formatting mistakes create big problems. Committees notice every missing year, every incorrect citation, every heading error. These issues often require multiple revision cycles to fully resolve.
Missing years, wrong et al. usage, and format inconsistencies are the most common committee flags
Each round of formatting revisions can add weeks to your timeline — catching issues early saves time
Upload your document and get a detailed report of APA issues in under a minute
These are real errors that cause revision requests
According to Smith, the research shows...
According to Smith (2023), the research shows...
Smith, doc_s3, Williams, and Brown (2023) found...
Smith et al. (2023) found...
The results were significant. (Smith, 2023).
The results were significant (Smith, 2023).
Our checker validates your dissertation against APA 7th edition requirements
Detects in-text citations without the required year
Identifies incorrect author-date formatting (commas, parentheses)
Flags multi-citation parentheticals that use commas or 'and' instead of semicolons (APA §8.12)
Flags multiple citations inside parentheses that aren't ordered alphabetically by surname (APA §8.12)
Checks proper use of et al. for multiple authors
Flags incorrect use of & vs. 'and' in citations
Catches periods placed before parenthetical citations instead of after
Validates APA heading levels (1-5) are used correctly
Identifies single-sentence paragraphs that need development
Flags sections that jump into content without an introductory overview
Catches headings with no content between them
Flags appendix letters first referenced out of alphabetical order (APA §2.14)
Flags numerals 1-9 that should be spelled out per APA rules (with exceptions for ages, measurements, statistics, numbered series, and research questions)
Identifies over-hedged or insufficiently hedged claims
Suggests concise alternatives for verbose academic phrasing
Flags assertions that need citation support
Detects inconsistent author name spelling across citations
Flags singular/plural mismatches on data, criteria, phenomena, media, analyses, hypotheses, etc. (APA §4.12)
Catches homophone pairs spell-check misses: perspective/prospective, less/fewer, then/than, its/it's, principle/principal, and more
Flags mixed US/UK spellings (analyze/analyse, behavior/behaviour) within one document (APA §4.16)
Catches accidental repeated words ('the the', 'and and')
Flags article errors based on sound, not letter ('a hour' → 'an hour', 'an MRI', 'a university')
Flags decade plurals with apostrophes (1990's → 1990s)
Flags informal contractions (don't, can't, isn't) — APA, MLA, and Chicago all advise against in scholarly prose
Drag and drop your .docx file. Works with any dissertation chapter.
Our tool scans for APA formatting issues across citations, structure, and style in under 60 seconds.
Get specific issues with exact locations. Fix them and verify with another check.
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