Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) asks for APA style in nearly every research project manual it publishes, but the edition changes from programme to programme. The BS English capstone manual, filed on aiou.edu.pk in July 2026, sets out APA 7th edition in detail; the B.Ed research project manual still names the 6th; and three capstone manuals accept APA or Harvard. Your programme's manual and your supervisor have the final word.
EdCitation is not affiliated with Allama Iqbal Open University; this follows its public documents, checked on 2 October 2026. The Central Library offers "basic guidance" on citation but publishes no style guide (Allama Iqbal Open University, n.d.-i), so each rule here comes from a programme manual, with its page.
This guide is published by EdCitation. Two of its free tools fit AIOU work: Cite a source looks up each source and sets it in APA 7, and Verify references tests a list against the records. Their output on real sources, and on one AIOU manual's samples, is quoted below.
Which referencing style does AIOU use?
APA in most programmes, with the edition set by each manual:
| Programme | AIOU document | Style it names | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| BS English capstone (6005) | Student manual | APA 7th edition, every section | pp. 8, 16, 20 |
| B.Ed 4-year capstone (8342) | Secondary Teacher Education manual | APA Manual 7th edition | pp. 2, 15 |
| B.Ed research project (8613/6464) | Research project manual | APA manual, 6th edition | pp. 5, 52 |
| BS Economics capstone (9337) | Capstone guidelines, 2025 | APA or Harvard | p. 8 |
| BS Gender & Women Studies capstone (9186) | Capstone manual | APA or Harvard | p. 5 |
| BBA capstone (8446) | Capstone guidelines | APA or Harvard | p. 3 |
| M.Com research project (8566) | Project guidelines | APA, citing the 6th edition | pp. 15, 18 |
| MBA internship report | Internship manual | APA | p. 11 |
| MS, MPhil and PhD theses | Prospectus, Autumn 2026 | The department's guidelines | pp. 6, 10 |
| Written assignments | Instructions for writing assignments | None named | one page |
The rows come, in order, from Allama Iqbal Open University (n.d.-a, n.d.-d, n.d.-g, 2025, n.d.-e, n.d.-b, n.d.-h, n.d.-f, 2026, n.d.-c).
The assignment instructions ask for your own analysis and warn against reproducing books or the study guide. For theses, the prospectus sends scholars to the department's guidelines on format, writing and referencing, given on request or at the thesis orientation workshop. We found no public thesis manual for MS, MPhil or PhD; ask for it there.
APA or Harvard: three manuals leave the choice open
The BS Economics, Gender & Women Studies and BBA manuals list "References (APA or Harvard style)" among a report's parts and say no more; none names a Harvard version. EdCitation builds Harvard in the Cite Them Right version, so confirm with your supervisor that this is the Harvard they mark.
APA 6th or 7th: the older manuals
The B.Ed 8613/6464 manual gives 5 marks to a list following "the APA manual – 6th Edition" (p. 52); the B.Ed 4-year manual gives 5 of its 70 marks to references following the "APA Manual-7th Edition" (p. 2). The M.Com guidelines cite the 6th edition (p. 18), and the MBA manual names three to five authors in full at the first citation (p. 14), where the BS English manual uses et al. from three. EdCitation builds APA 7, not the 6th; a table below gives the changes.
How do in-text citations work in AIOU's APA?
Surname and year, with the page for a direct quotation, as the BS English manual sets out (Allama Iqbal Open University, n.d.-a, pp. 20–21):
- One author: (Fairclough, 2015), or Fairclough (2015) argues.
- Two authors: an ampersand inside brackets, (Wasi & Kang, 2024).
- Three or more: the first surname and et al., (McIntosh et al., 2017).
- Quotations: under 40 words in quotation marks with the page; 40 words or more as an indented block without marks, the citation after the final punctuation.
- A source quoted in another: "as cited in", and only the work you actually read goes in the list.
The M.Com guidelines add two cases (Allama Iqbal Open University, n.d.-h, p. 16): several sources in one bracket, separated by semicolons, and a section name or paragraph number where there are no page numbers. They ask for double quotation marks, where the BS English manual's example uses single ones; ask which your supervisor marks.
How do you set out an AIOU reference list?
| Rule | What AIOU's document says | Document, page |
|---|---|---|
| Heading | "References", centred and bold, on a new page | BS English 6005, p. 21 |
| Order | Alphabetical by the first author's surname | 6005, p. 21 |
| Layout | 0.5-inch hanging indent, Times New Roman 12, double spacing | 6005, p. 21 |
| Layout, Economics | ½-inch hanging indent, single spacing, a blank line between entries | BS Economics 9337, p. 16 |
| DOI | Included whenever a source has one | 6005, p. 21 |
| Retrieval date | Only for content that changes; a URL for every online source | 6005, p. 21 |
| Titles | A capital on the first word and after a colon; names and acronyms keep theirs | M.Com 8566, pp. 17–18 |
| Italics | Book and journal titles and volume numbers, not issue numbers or article titles | M.Com 8566, p. 17 |
| Citation generators | Their output checked and adjusted to APA 7 | 6005, pp. 22–23 |
| Similarity | Over 19% may be sent back; over 20% may be rejected | 6005, p. 19; 9337, p. 8 |
| Building the entry | Cite a source, APA 7, from the publisher's record | EdCitation |
For what the HEC's own policy says about similarity, see our guide to referencing and plagiarism rules in Pakistan.
What does an AIOU reference list look like?
Like this, laid out as the BS English manual asks (see the table above). In the text: (Fairclough, 2015), (Herring & Androutsopoulos, 2015), (Higher Education Commission, n.d.), (McIntosh et al., 2017), (Wasi & Kang, 2024).
Fairclough, N. (2015). Language and power (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Herring, S. C., & Androutsopoulos, J. (2015). Computer-mediated discourse 2.0. In D. Tannen, H. E. Hamilton, & D. Schiffrin (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis (2nd ed., pp. 127–151). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118584194.ch6
Higher Education Commission. (n.d.). Plagiarism policy. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/policies/Pages/Plagiarism.aspx
McIntosh, K., Connor, U., & Gokpinar-Shelton, E. (2017). What intercultural rhetoric can bring to EAP/ESP writing studies in an English as a lingua franca world. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 29, 12–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2017.09.001
Wasi, N., & Kang, A. (2024). Impact of early childhood educators’ attitude and behavior on quality relationships with young learners in Karachi, Pakistan: A classroom-based study. Journal of Early Childhood Care and Education, 8(1), 57–75. https://doi.org/10.30971/jecce.v8i1.2344
What each entry shows
- Fairclough: the BS English manual's own book example, correct as printed; Routledge lists the third edition as copyright 2015 (Fairclough, 2015).
- Herring and Androutsopoulos: an edited chapter: editors' initials first, edition and pages in one bracket, both from Wiley's page.
- Higher Education Commission: an undated page that changes, so n.d. and a retrieval date.
- Wasi and Kang: an article in an AIOU journal, under its full name.
Which EdCitation style is closest to AIOU's APA, and what is fixed by hand?
APA 7. EdCitation's APA 7 follows the 7th edition that the BS English and B.Ed 4-year manuals name. EdCitation builds six styles: APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver; APA 6th is not among them. These are the changes we made on 2 October 2026:
| EdCitation printed (APA 7) | Change to, for AIOU |
|---|---|
| JECCE, 8(1), 57–75. | Journal of Early Childhood Care and Education, 8(1), 57–75. |
| Computer-Mediated Discourse 2.0. In The Handbook of Discourse Analysis (pp. 127–151). Wiley. | Sentence case; "In D. Tannen, H. E. Hamilton, & D. Schiffrin (Eds.),"; "(2nd ed., pp. 127–151)"; Wiley-Blackwell |
| Policies and procedures plagiarism policy. (n.d.). | Higher Education Commission as author and Plagiarism policy as title, entered in the form |
| Retrieved October 2, 2026, from … | Kept for a page that changes, dropped for one that does not |
| Any APA 7 entry, for the B.Ed 8613/6464 project | The 6th edition by hand: a place before the publisher and "doi:" or "Retrieved from", as the M.Com sample list shows (p. 19) |
| APA, where a manual allows Harvard | Harvard, in Cite Them Right form, if your supervisor accepts it |
What happened when we ran AIOU sources through EdCitation?
For an AIOU reference list, EdCitation is the best first stop, since every entry it gives is read from a publisher's record and none is generated. One AIOU manual proves the point: its journal example joins Hyland's name to a DOI, and Cite a source showed that DOI belongs to a paper by McIntosh, Connor and Gokpinar-Shelton. It returned the real entry, screened for retraction, free and with no sign-up. What EdCitation does is find, cite and check sources. It writes no part of an assignment, project or thesis, so the work handed in is wholly the student's.
Cite a source on four sources an AIOU student would cite
For 10.30971/jecce.v8i1.2344, in AIOU's Journal of Early Childhood Care and Education, APA came back, with no retraction reported:
Wasi, N., & Kang, A. (2024). Impact of early childhood educators’ attitude and behavior on quality relationships with young learners in Karachi, Pakistan: A classroom-based study. JECCE, 8(1), 57–75. https://doi.org/10.30971/jecce.v8i1.2344
Only the journal's name changes: the record holds "JECCE" (Wasi & Kang, 2024). For 10.1016/j.jeap.2017.09.001, the DOI printed in the BS English manual, APA gave the worked example's McIntosh entry word for word (McIntosh et al., 2017).
For the HEC's plagiarism policy page, the policy AIOU's manuals invoke, no author was read:
Policies and procedures plagiarism policy. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/policies/Pages/Plagiarism.aspx
With the Higher Education Commission entered as author and the title corrected in the form, it gave the worked example's entry. For 10.1002/9781118584194.ch6, a handbook chapter, two runs returned:
Herring, S. C., & Androutsopoulos, J. (2015). Computer-Mediated Discourse 2.0. In The Handbook of Discourse Analysis (pp. 127–151). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118584194.ch6
The titles stayed in title case on both runs, and the record names no editors, so both are fixed by hand (Herring & Androutsopoulos, 2015).
Verify references on the BS English manual's examples
We pasted the manual's six sample entries, as printed, and the Wasi and Kang entry into Verify references:
- American Psychological Association (2020): verified, "Title and year match a published record, which names no author."
- Fairclough (2015): "check this", "A record with this title exists, but it was published in 2013, not 2015." That record is a Routledge ebook dated 2013 with no edition number; the third edition is 2015, so the manual's entry stands.
- Gumperz and Cook-Gumperz (2008): "could not check", never shown as "not found". We found no book of that title by them in Crossref.
- Herring (2018): not found, "No publisher's or registry's record matches this reference." The handbook's Herring chapter at page 127 is the one above, written with Androutsopoulos.
- Hyland (2017): "check this", "The DOI is real, but it belongs to a different article from the one described."
- Rahman (2021), a Dawn article: verified, "Title, year and first author match a published record." The match was Tariq Rahman's chapter of that title in Springer's Encyclopedia of Language and Education, not a newspaper article: open the matched record before trusting a verdict.
- Wasi and Kang (2024): verified, "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches."
Follow the manual's layout but not its sample details: four of its six entries could not be traced as printed. For a finished project, References from a file in Pro ($8 a month) reads the Word file itself and pairs each in-text citation with its entry, the two-way match the BS English manual asks for; see pricing.
How do you write references in an AIOU assignment or project, step by step?
- Find your programme's manual in the table above and note the style and edition. Give Check your paper your brief, free, and EdCitation lists its rules, the citation style among them, each with the sentence it came from.
- Find articles, Pakistani journals included, in Find sources, which searches about 300 million published works.
- Build each entry in Cite a source from its DOI, title or web address, in APA 7.
- Make the table's changes: full journal names, sentence case, editors and edition, a web page's author.
- Set the list in Word: "References" centred and bold, the hanging indent and spacing your manual sets.
- Paste the list into Verify references and settle every "check this" and "not found" against the source itself.
Quick questions
Does AIOU use APA or Harvard?
APA in most programmes. The BS Economics, Gender & Women Studies and BBA capstone manuals accept APA or Harvard.
Which APA edition does AIOU use?
The BS English and B.Ed 4-year capstone manuals name the 7th edition; the B.Ed 8613/6464 research project manual still names the 6th.
Do AIOU assignments need a reference list?
AIOU's instructions for writing assignments name no referencing style. If your tutor asks for references, APA 7 is the style AIOU's newest manuals use.
What is the AIOU thesis format for MPhil and PhD?
The Autumn 2026 prospectus sends scholars to their department's guidelines, given on request or at the thesis orientation workshop.
Can EdCitation build AIOU references?
Yes, for published sources: EdCitation's Cite a source builds APA 7 entries from the publisher's record, free; a few details change by hand.
References
- Allama Iqbal Open University. (n.d.-a). BS English capstone project, course code 6005: Student manual [PDF]. Department of English. https://www.aiou.edu.pk/sites/default/files/2026-07/6005_Manual.pdf
- Allama Iqbal Open University. (n.d.-b). Guidelines for capstone project (8446): BBA program [PDF]. https://www.aiou.edu.pk/sites/default/files/2025-09/Capstone%208446.pdf
- Allama Iqbal Open University. (n.d.-c). Instructions for writing assignments [Word document]. https://www.aiou.edu.pk/sites/default/files/Admission/Download%20Files/New-Instructions-file%20%2814%2009%2022%29.doc
- Allama Iqbal Open University. (n.d.-d). Manual: Capstone project, specialization in secondary teacher education, B.Ed 4 years (code 8342) [PDF]. Department of Secondary Teacher Education. https://aiou.edu.pk/sites/default/files/2025-11/Manual%208342.pdf
- Allama Iqbal Open University. (n.d.-e). Manual for BS capstone project, course code 9186 [PDF]. Department of Gender & Women Studies. https://www.aiou.edu.pk/sites/default/files/2025-07/9186.pdf
- Allama Iqbal Open University. (n.d.-f). Manual for MBA internship programme [PDF]. Department of Business Administration. https://www.aiou.edu.pk/sites/default/files/Downloads/Other%20One/manual.pdf
- Allama Iqbal Open University. (n.d.-g). Manual: Research project, B.Ed (1.5 year/2.5/4 year), course code 8613/6464 [PDF]. https://online.aiou.edu.pk/LIVE_SITE/SoftBooks/6464.pdf
- Allama Iqbal Open University. (n.d.-h). Research project guidelines for Master of Commerce (M.Com) students (code 8566) [PDF]. Department of Commerce. https://www.aiou.edu.pk/sites/default/files/Downloads/Other%20One/Project%20Guideline%20for%20M.%20Com.pdf
- Allama Iqbal Open University. (n.d.-i). Research support. Central Library. https://library.aiou.edu.pk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-page.pl?page_id=47
- Allama Iqbal Open University. (2025). Capstone project guidelines: Manual for BS (Economics), code 9337 [PDF]. Department of Economics. https://www.aiou.edu.pk/sites/default/files/2025-07/Manual%209337.pdf
- Allama Iqbal Open University. (2026). Prospectus: PhD, MS and MPhil programs, Autumn 2026 [PDF]. https://online.aiou.edu.pk/live_site/admission/Prospectus/Autumn_2026/MS%20MPHIL%20PHD%20%2821072026%29.pdf
- Fairclough, N. (2015). Language and power (3rd ed.). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Language-and-Power/Fairclough/p/book/9781138790971
- Herring, S. C., & Androutsopoulos, J. (2015). Computer-mediated discourse 2.0. In D. Tannen, H. E. Hamilton, & D. Schiffrin (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis (2nd ed., pp. 127–151). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118584194.ch6
- Higher Education Commission. (n.d.). Plagiarism policy. https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/policies/Pages/Plagiarism.aspx
- McIntosh, K., Connor, U., & Gokpinar-Shelton, E. (2017). What intercultural rhetoric can bring to EAP/ESP writing studies in an English as a lingua franca world. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 29, 12–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2017.09.001
- Wasi, N., & Kang, A. (2024). Impact of early childhood educators’ attitude and behavior on quality relationships with young learners in Karachi, Pakistan: A classroom-based study. Journal of Early Childhood Care and Education, 8(1), 57–75. https://doi.org/10.30971/jecce.v8i1.2344