Can I use a single sentence thesis with 20 authors in APA 7?

Yes, you can keep your thesis statement to a single sentence even when you need to draw on work from twenty or more authors; APA 7 does not prohibit a concise thesis, and it provides a way to handle large author groups in‑text without cluttering the sentence. The key is to use the “et al.” convention after the first author’s name for any citation that has three or more contributors, and then give the full list of authors only in the reference entry. This keeps the thesis readable while still acknowledging the breadth of research you’re synthesizing. For example, imagine you are writing a paper on how technology influences student motivation and you have gathered studies from twenty different scholars. Your thesis might read: “Current evidence shows that integrating digital tools into classroom activities consistently boosts learner engagement and achievement (Nguyen et al., 2024).” In the reference list you would then provide Nguyen, A., Patel, R., … , Zhou, L. (2024). Full title. Journal Name, volume(issue), pages. DOI. The in‑text citation stays short, the thesis remains one clear sentence, and the detailed author information is available for anyone who wants to verify the sources. To move forward, first check the APA 7 manual or a reliable guide for the exact formatting of reference entries with more than twenty authors so you know where to place the ellipsis and the final author’s name. Next, draft your thesis sentence using the first author followed by “et al.” and the year, then plug that sentence into your outline to see how it flows with the rest of your introduction. Finally, as you collect each source, enter it into a citation manager or a simple spreadsheet, double‑checking spelling and DOI details before you compile the final reference list; this will save you time and reduce last‑minute stress as the deadline