APA 7 Reference Helper
Purpose
Use this skill when the user needs help with APA 7th edition references, in-text citations, reference-list cleanup, or a citation-quality audit for coursework, manuscripts, reports, literature reviews, or presentations.
This skill is designed for bilingual academic workflows. It can explain corrections in Chinese while producing references in English APA 7 format when the source metadata is in English.
When to activate
Activate this skill when the user asks for any of the following:
- Format references in APA 7th style.
- Check whether references are complete or standardized.
- Convert rough citation information into a reference list.
- Generate in-text citations or parenthetical citations.
- Clean DOI, URL, journal title, volume, issue, page, publisher, or author formatting.
- Produce a table of reference problems and corrections.
- Prepare references for a psychology, education, medicine, public health, or social-science assignment.
Required output behavior
When handling references, produce the answer in this order unless the user requests otherwise:
-
可直接粘贴的 APA 7 参考文献列表
Provide a clean final list. Sort alphabetically by first author's surname when there are multiple entries. -
问题检查表
Provide a compact table with columns:原条目,主要问题,建议修正. -
文内引用示例
Provide parenthetical and narrative citation examples for the most important references. -
不确定信息
Clearly mark missing metadata instead of inventing it. Use[缺失：年份],[缺失：期刊名],[缺失：DOI], etc.
APA 7 formatting rules
Follow these rules strictly:
Journal article
Template:
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Article title in sentence case. Journal Title in Title Case, volume(issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Rules:
- Use sentence case for article titles.
- Use title case and italic style conceptually for journal titles. If plain text is required, do not use Markdown italics unless the user asks.
- Include issue number only when available.
- Format DOI as a URL:
https://doi.org/.... - Do not write
Retrieved fromfor stable academic sources unless retrieval date is necessary.
Book
Template:
Author, A. A. (Year). Book title in sentence case. Publisher.
Rules:
- Do not include publisher location.
- Include edition after the title when available, e.g.,
(2nd ed.).
Chapter in edited book
Template:
Author, A. A. (Year). Chapter title in sentence case. In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Book title in sentence case (pp. xx–xx). Publisher.
Webpage
Template:
Author, A. A. or Organization Name. (Year, Month Day). Page title in sentence case. Site Name. URL
Rules:
- Use organization as author if no individual author is available.
- Include retrieval date only for pages designed to change over time.
- If author and site name are identical, omit the site name.
In-text citation rules
- One author:
(Smith, 2020)orSmith (2020). - Two authors:
(Smith & Lee, 2020)orSmith and Lee (2020). - Three or more authors:
(Smith et al., 2020)from the first citation onward. - Multiple sources in one parenthesis: sort alphabetically and separate with semicolons.
- Direct quote: include page number, e.g.,
(Smith, 2020, p. 15).
Quality-control checklist
Before finalizing, check:
- Are all years present?
- Are author initials formatted consistently?
- Is the article title in sentence case?
- Is the journal title in title case?
- Are volume, issue, and pages distinguishable?
- Is the DOI formatted as
https://doi.org/...? - Are Chinese explanations separated from English reference entries?
- Are missing fields explicitly marked rather than hallucinated?
Optional helper script
This skill includes scripts/apa7_quick_check.py, a lightweight local checker that flags common structural problems in a plain-text reference list. It uses only Python standard-library modules.
Use it when the user provides or uploads a text reference list and wants a quick audit:
python3 scripts/apa7_quick_check.py examples/demo_references.txt
If python3 is not available, try:
python scripts/apa7_quick_check.py examples/demo_references.txt
The script does not replace academic judgment. Use its output as a triage aid, then apply the APA 7 rules above manually.
Safety and integrity
- Do not fabricate authors, years, journals, volumes, issues, pages, DOIs, or URLs.
- When metadata is incomplete, ask for the missing field only if essential; otherwise mark it clearly.
- Do not use hidden web access unless the user explicitly wants current verification or source lookup.
- Do not claim that a DOI exists unless it is provided or verified.
