Writing Rules

REFERENCE STYLE RULES (APA 7 – EFFECTIVE FROM DECEMBER 2025 ISSUE)

As of the December 2025 issue, Interdisciplinary Studies in Language and Culture will adopt the APA 7th edition (American Psychological Association, 7th ed.) citation and reference style. All submissions must strictly adhere to the guidelines outlined below for both in-text citations and the reference list.

1. General Formatting

  • Font: Times New Roman

  • Font size: 10 pt

  • Paragraph settings: Before: 6 nk, After: 6 nk

  • Line spacing: 1.15

  • Alignment: Justified

  • Hanging indent: The first line is aligned left; subsequent lines are indented 1 cm.

  • References must be listed in alphabetical order by the surname of the first author.

2. Sample Reference Entries

a. Book:
Gee, J. P. (2014). An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method (4th ed.). Routledge.

b. Journal Article:
Smith, J. A., & Thomas, R. B. (2020). Language acquisition in multilingual contexts. Journal of Language Studies, 12(3), 45–59. https://doi.org/10.1234/jls.2020.0032

c. Book Chapter:
Inoue, M. (2006). Language and gender in an age of neoliberalism. In B. A. Babcock & J. W. Du Bois (Eds.), Gendered communication (pp. 65–88). Sage.

d. Web Page:
World Health Organization. (2021, March 25). COVID-19 global situation report. https://www.who.int/publications/covid-situation

e. E-book with DOI:
Brown, D. H. (2018). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (4th ed.). Pearson. https://doi.org/10.4324/abc.1234567

3. In-Text Citation Rules

  • Single author:
    (Yılmaz, 2022)
    Yılmaz (2022) states that…

  • Two authors:
    (Arslan & Kaya, 2023)

  • Three or more authors:
    (Demir et al., 2021)
    (APA 7 allows use of "et al." from the first citation.)

4. DOI and URL Format

  • DOIs must appear in the format: https://doi.org/xxx

  • Do not use “doi:” or “Retrieved from” before URLs.

5. Publisher Location

  • APA 7 does not require city names in book references.
    Example: Cambridge University Press → ✅
    New York, NY: Cambridge University Press → ❌

6. Title Formatting

  • Italicize book titles and journal names.

  • Article and chapter titles should be in sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns capitalized).

7. Journal Issue and Volume

  • Journal name and volume in italics,

  • Issue number in parentheses, not italicized:
    Journal of Language Studies, 12(3), 45–59

Manuscripts that do not comply with these rules may be excluded from the editorial evaluation process. Authors are strongly encouraged to format their submissions according to APA 7 prior to submission.