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APA 7.0 Complete Guide for Chinese Citations

A Chinese APA 7.0 citation format guide based on Taiwan academic conventions. This guide is a Chinese-language extension of apa7_extended_guide.md, used by citation_compliance_agent, draft_writer_agent, and formatter_agent.

Chinese Journal Articles

Basic Format

Author1, Author2 (Year). Article title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Pages. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Examples

Single author:

Wang, Da-Ming (2024). The impact of declining birthrate on private university management strategies. Journal of Higher Education, 15(2), 45-68. https://doi.org/10.6152/jhe.2024.0502.03

Two authors:

Wang, Da-Ming, & Li, Xiao-Hua (2024). The evolution and prospects of Taiwan's higher education quality assurance system. Bulletin of Educational Research, 70(1), 1-32. https://doi.org/10.3966/102887082024037001001

Three or more authors:

Wang, Da-Ming, Li, Xiao-Hua, Zhang, San-Feng, Chen, Si-Hai, & Lin, Wu-Zhou (2023). A meta-analysis of blended learning models on university student learning outcomes. Bulletin of Educational Psychology, 55(2), 201-228. https://doi.org/10.6251/BEP.202312_55(2).0002

In-text citations (Chinese names):

• Single author: 許雅雯（2024）指出…… / ……（許雅雯，2024）。
• Two authors: 許雅雯與周怡君（2024）…… / ……（許雅雯、周怡君，2024）。
• Three or more, including first use: 許雅雯等（2024）…… / ……（許雅雯等，2024）；「等人」 is also used when required by the venue. Explicitly flag a full 3+ author list in an in-text citation when this shortening rule applies.
• Disambiguation exception: if same-year works share the shortened citation, retain enough names to distinguish them. If only the final author differs, list all authors; never shorten into an ambiguous citation.
• This abbreviation rule does not apply to the reference-list author field: APA 7 lists all authors up to 20 there, using its separate 21+ author rule beyond that.

The examples above preserve Chinese names rather than treating an English transliteration as the Chinese citation format. Latin-script citations retain et al. and their applicable connectors.

Chinese Books

Basic Format

Author (Year). Book title. Publisher.

Examples

Single author:

Zhang, San (2023). A history of Taiwan's higher education development. Wu-Nan Books.

Edited book:

Wang, Wu (Ed.) (2023). Higher education quality management: Theory and practice. Higher Education Publishing.

Multiple editions:

Lin, Liu (2024). Educational research methods (5th ed.). Psychological Publishing.

Translated book:

Creswell, J. W. (2023). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (F.-F. Zhang, Trans.; 5th ed.). Scholarly Cultural Enterprise. (Original work published 2018)

In-text citations:

• Zhang (2023) mentions in his work...
• ...(Zhang, 2023, p. 45-48)
• Translated book: Creswell (2018/2023)...

Chinese Book Chapters

Basic Format

Chapter author (Year). Chapter title. In Editor name (Ed.), Book title (pp. Pages). Publisher.

Examples

Li, Si (2023). The evolution of quality assurance systems. In W. Wang (Ed.), Higher education quality management: Theory and practice (pp. 45-78). Higher Education Publishing.

Chen, Mei-Ling (2024). The practice of university social responsibility. In Z.-C. Lin & S.-L. Huang (Eds.), New trends in Taiwan's university governance (pp. 112-145). Wu-Nan Books.

Chinese Theses and Dissertations

Basic Format

Author (Year). Thesis title (Unpublished master's/doctoral dissertation). University name.

Examples

Unpublished thesis/dissertation:

Chen, Liu (2024). The impact of AI-assisted instruction on student learning outcomes: A case study of National Taiwan University (Unpublished master's thesis). National Taiwan University.

Published (with DOI or database):

Huang, Qi (2023). A case study of private university transformation strategies (Doctoral dissertation, National Chengchi University). National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan. https://hdl.handle.net/11296/xxxxx

In-text citations:

• Chen (2024) found in their study...
• ...(Chen, 2024)

Government Publications

Basic Format

Organization name (Year). Publication title. https://url

Examples

Government report:

Ministry of Education (2024). Academic Year 113 higher education institution transparency platform statistics. https://udb.moe.edu.tw/

Legislation:

Ministry of Education (2023). University Act (amended June 28, 2023). Laws and Regulations Database of the Republic of China. https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=H0030001

Accreditation report:

Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (2024). Third-cycle institutional accreditation implementation plan (Academic Years 112-114). https://www.heeact.edu.tw/

In-text citations:

• Ministry of Education (2024) statistics show...
• ...(Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan, 2024)

Conference Papers

Basic Format

Author (Year, Month). Paper title [Conference paper]. Conference name, Location.

Examples

Lin, Ba (2024, November). The impact of generative AI on higher education teaching [Conference paper]. 2024 Taiwan Education Academic Conference, Taipei, Taiwan.

Online Resources

Basic Format

Author or organization (Year). Webpage title. Website name. https://url

Examples

National Development Council (2024). Population projections (2024 to 2070). https://pop-proj.ndc.gov.tw/

University TW (2024, March 15). Analysis of Academic Year 113 university admission quotas. University TW website. https://www.unews.com.tw/

Mixed Chinese-English Citation Rules

Reference List Ordering

Apply a supplied journal or author style requirement first. With a request for Taiwan APA 7 and no more specific rule:

• Check Chinese entries by the first author's surname stroke count, and Latin-script entries alphabetically by surname, within each script group.
• Chinese-first and English-first group placement are venue-dependent choices; group placement alone is not a format error without a specified rule.
• Do not romanize Chinese names or switch a stroke-ordered list to pinyin order without an explicit venue requirement. If romanization is required, use the supplied/verified romanized names and that venue's ordering rule.
• Before flagging a stroke-order error, identify an adjacent inversion and support it with verified counts or an authoritative collation source. Do not guess stroke counts, tie-breaks, or say a list "looks wrong." When the relevant counts or tie-break cannot be verified, leave the order unchanged and state that the ordering check is unresolved.

Primary style references: NTNU journal writing instructions for Chinese surname stroke ordering and three-author abbreviation, and Journal of Research in Education Sciences APA 7 guide for the same-year disambiguation exception. These are Taiwan venue conventions, not a claim that every APA journal requires the same Chinese/English grouping.

In-Text Citation Format Differences

Mixed Citation Example (In-Text)

In recent years, the impact of declining birthrates on Taiwan's higher education has received widespread attention (Wang, 2024; Chen & Wang, 2023).
Smith et al. (2024) and Wang et al. (2023) both indicated that private universities face particularly severe enrollment pressure.

Mixed Reference List Example (Chinese-first venue)

References

I. Chinese References

Wang, Da-Ming (2024). The impact of declining birthrate on private university management strategies. Journal of Higher Education, 15(2), 45-68.
    https://doi.org/10.6152/jhe.2024.0502.03
Li, Xiao-Hua, & Zhang, San-Feng (2023). The evolution of Taiwan's higher education quality assurance system. Educational Policy Forum, 26(3), 1-30.
Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (2024). Third-cycle institutional accreditation implementation plan.
    https://www.heeact.edu.tw/
Ministry of Education (2024). Academic Year 113 higher education institution transparency platform statistics. https://udb.moe.edu.tw/

II. English References

Chen, L., & Wang, T. (2023). Quality assurance in East Asian higher education: A
    comparative study. Higher Education, 85(3), 567-589.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01012-4
Smith, J. A., Jones, B. C., & Brown, D. E. (2024). The impact of declining birth
    rates on private university sustainability. Studies in Higher Education, 49(2),
    234-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2024.2301234

TSSCI Journal-Specific Conventions

Some Taiwan Social Sciences Citation Index (TSSCI) journals have their own citation format requirements.

Common Education Journal Format Comparison

Submission Notes

1. Always check the target journal's submission guidelines — the above are general conventions only
2. Some journals require English translations appended to Chinese references (in square brackets)
3. Some journals require romanized transliteration for all Chinese references
4. DOI format varies slightly by journal (some require https://doi.org/, others only doi:)

Common Chinese Citation Errors

1. Author Name Format

2. Year Format

3. Punctuation

4. Book Publication Information

5. Translated Book Citations

Special Situation Handling

Same Author, Multiple Works in the Same Year

In-text: Wang (2024a)... Wang (2024b)...

References:
Wang (2024a). First paper title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Pages.
Wang (2024b). Second paper title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Pages.

Institutional Authors

In-text: Ministry of Education (2024)... / ...(Ministry of Education, 2024)
First mention: Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan [HEEACT] (2024)...
Subsequent: HEEACT (2024)...

Secondary Citations (Indirect Citations)

In-text: Wang's research (as cited in Li, 2024) indicates...
References: Only list Li (2024); do not list Wang's original work

Citing AI-Generated Content

OpenAI (2024). ChatGPT (Version GPT-4) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com

Anthropic (2024). Claude (Version 3.5 Sonnet) [Large language model]. https://claude.ai

Quick Checklist

After completing the reference list, check each item:

• All in-text citations have corresponding reference list entries
• All reference list entries have in-text citations
• Chinese uses full-width punctuation; English uses half-width punctuation
• Authors are connected with enumeration comma (Chinese) or & symbol (English)
• Years consistently use CE years
• No period at the end of DOI/URL
• Chinese and English reference ordering is correct (stroke count / alphabetical)
• Translated books include original publication year
• Institutional authors use full names (abbreviation may be appended on first mention)
• Book format complies with APA 7 (no publication location)