Are you studying at IU International University and need to cite sources according to the general citation guidelines? What at first glance looks like “just APA 7” actually has a few pitfalls in practice: IU deliberately deviates from the official APA style in several areas.
How does the IU style differ from APA 7?
The IU Citation Guide (as of 1 October 2025) is based on APA 7th Edition, but includes a number of special provisions. The most important ones are:
- Page references should also be included for indirect quotations. APA 7 requires the page number only for direct citations, and the IU requires it for both. This makes quotations easier to trace, but means that standard APA styles do not provide enough information.
- No comma before "&" in the author element, in accordance with the German comma rule.
- German terms instead of English ones: Hrsg. instead of Ed., Kap. instead of chapter, Aufl. instead of ed., Vorab-Onlinepublikation instead of Advance online publication, Hörbuch instead of Audiobook and so on.
- German-style date format (e.g. 11. Januar 2024 instead of 2024, January 11).
- No access date for internet sources. Never. APA 7 requires it in certain cases.
- Only the year of the current edition in the short citation for translations and reprints – without including the original year, as is the case with APA.
- Name extensions Words such as “von”, “van” and “de” may be treated as part of the surname (Goethe is listed under “v” rather than “G”).
- Figures and tables are labelled differently from those in APA style: with “Source:” and specific references such as Eigene Darstellung, Eigene Darstellung in Anlehnung an, Übernommen aus etc.
- Specific guidelines for German legal text types (laws, court rulings, commentaries), for which APA 7 provides no guidelines whatsoever.
Why the standard APA style isn't enough
Anyone using the built-in ‘APA 7th edition’ style in Zotero will end up with English terms, the wrong date format and a comma in places where the IU doesn’t want one. Every single citation then has to be edited manually – a process prone to errors and a real time-waster just before the deadline.
The solution: a ready-made IU citation style for Zotero
To help you focus on your work rather than on comma rules, we’ve created a ready-made Zotero style that follows the current IU citation guidelines to the letter:
👉 Citation style: IU International University
This allows you to simply select the style in Zotero, and all IU-specific adjustments (page references for indirect citations, German terms, correct date format, comma rule, ‘n.d.’ instead of ‘o. J.’, pre-print online publications, etc.) are taken care of.
If you're at IU but need a style for the law studies you'll find a style here:
This style takes into account the specific requirements of legal texts – such as legislation, court rulings and commentaries containing references to paragraph numbers – which are not covered by the general IU style.
Summary
The IU citation guide is based on APA 7, but with its own specific rules. If you want to cite sources accurately and without stress, you shouldn’t try to adjust every entry manually; instead, use a style guide designed specifically for IU. An hour less spent on formatting is an hour more you can devote to the content of your work.
