Education dissertations repeat a short list of APA 7 errors. A single pass for these four items before each submission to your committee removes avoidable comments.
First, heading levels applied inconsistently across chapters. APA 7 specifies five levels, each with its own formatting, and the levels must nest in order. A dissertation drafted over several semesters often shifts from one convention to another between chapters.
Second, in-text citations for works with three or more authors that do not use "et al." from the first citation. In APA 7, the shortened form appears from the first citation, which differs from the sixth edition (American Psychological Association, 2020).
Third, reference entries that include publisher locations. APA 7 dropped them. Entries copied from earlier work or from reference managers set to an older style often retain them.
Fourth, DOIs formatted as plain numbers or as a "doi:" prefix instead of URLs. APA 7 presents DOIs as full URLs, such as https://doi.org/..., and retains them as live links where possible.
A short method: search the document for "et al." and check the first appearance of each multi-author work; search for city names in the reference list; search for "doi:" and for bare strings beginning "10."; and scroll through heading styles in the navigation pane. Each takes minutes.
Your program or university may add requirements to APA 7 for formatting, margins, and front matter. Where the two conflict, the university's dissertation guide governs.
Reference: American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).
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