In this APA Guide...
PLEASE NOTE
Before you write your reference list or bibliography, check with your lecturer/tutor which style they prefer you to use and refer to the instructions included with your assignment.
This guide is an introduction to the APA (American Psychological Association) referencing system.
It is based on, and gives credit to the information given in the APA's offical style guide:
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
More advice on APA style can be found on the Official APA Style website: http://www.apastyle.org/
Contents
- APA Key examples PDF
- Getting Started
- In-text References
- Sample Reference List
- Quotes
- Citing Tables, Graphs & Photos
- Referencing Info Someone Else has Referenced
- 1, 2 or More Authors
- No Author
- Editor
- Author and Editor
- Chapters in Books
- Translator and Author
- Organisation as Author
- E-book with DOI
- Kindle Book
- Multiple Works Same Author
- Classical or Religious Text
- Secondary Sources
- 1, 2 or More Authors
- Online with DOI
- No Author
- Online, No Page Numbers
- Secondary Sources
- Website
- Database
- No Author
- Newspaper Section
- Media Release
- Web Document
- No Date
- No Author
- Government as Author
- Organisation as Author
- Website
- Blog Post
- Video Blog Post
- Podcast: Web
- Podcast: Radio show
- Podcast: TV show
- Computer Software
- WebCT/BlackBoard
- Unpublished
- Published
- Institutional Repository
- Commercial Database
- Web
- Acts/Bills Print
- Acts/Bills Online
- Cases
- Online
- Interview
- Letter
- Telephone Call
- Letters
- Interviews
- Unpublished Papers and Notes
- Photographs in Archives
- Video Recording
- Online and Streaming Video
- DVD
- Radio Show
- Television Show from a Series
- Sound Recording
- Microform
- Image
- Map
- Online
- Financial Data
- Electronic Database
- A table of examples in all formats for quick reference
APA - Useful Library Resources
APA Key Examples PDF
Getting Started in APA Referencing
There are two components to referencing: in-text references that accompany other peoples quotes or ideas that you use in your work and the reference list at the end of your paper.
The in-text reference:
APA is an 'author/date' system, so your in-text reference for all formats (book, journal article, web document) consists of the author(s) surname and year of publication.
The basics of an in-text reference in APA:
If you quote directly from an author you need to include the page or paragraph number of the quote in your in-text reference. See the 'Quotes' section below for more advice on adding quotes into your work.
The reference list:
All in-text references should be listed in the reference list at the end of your document. The purpose of the reference list entry is to contain all the information that a reader of your work needs to follow-up on your sources. An important principle in referencing is to be consistent.
When compiling your APA reference list, you should:
- list references on a new page with a centred heading titled: References
- include all your references, regardless of format, e.g. books, journal articles, online sources, in one alphabetical listing from A - Z
- order entries alphabetically by surname of author(s)
- list works with no author under the first significant word of the title
- indent second and subsequent lines of each entry (5-7 spaces)
- use double spacing.
The basics of a reference list entry for a journal in APA:
The basics of a reference list entry for a book in APA:
Quotes in APA
For direct quotes of less than 40 words, incorporate them into the text and enclose the quote with double quotation marks, e.g.
Interpreting these results, Robbins et al. (2003, p. 541) suggested that the "therapists in dropout cases may have inadvertently validated parental negativity about the adolescent without adequately responding to the adolescent's needs or concerns", contributing to an overall climate of negativity.
For direct quotes of 40 or more words start a new papragraph that is indented from the left. The entire quote should be double-spaced. Quotation marks are not required e.g.
Others have contradicted this view:
Co-presence does not ensure intimate interaction among all group members. Consider large-scale social gatherings in which hundreds or thousands of people gather in a location to perform a ritual or clebrate an event.
In these instances, participants are able to see the visible manifestation of the group, the physical gathering, yet their ability to make direct, intimate connections with those around them is limited by the sheer magnitude of the assembly. (Purcell, 1997, pp. 111-112)
Note: Use papragraph numbers if no page numbers are available.
APA: How to cite photos, tables, graphs and other illustrations in your work.
If you refer to a figure such as a table, graph, chart, map, drawing, photograph, or image in your work, there are three ways to give credit to the original source:
1. Follow a discussion of the figure with an in-text citation for the published source then cite the source in full in your reference list:
... evaluating the credibility of a source is shown as the interaction between one's defined need, specific attributes of the source, and rules of thumb which have worked previously when evaluating sources (Cunningham, 2008, p. 35, fig. 3).
Cunningham, D. (2008). Evaluation techniques. Annals of Psychiatry, 36(2), 24-45.
2. If you reproduce a copy of a figure to illustrate your work, credit the original source in full at the bottom of the reproduction and cite the source in full in your reference list:
Figure 3. A credibility judgment is arrived at within the larger context of one's background, prior knowledge, assumptions and biases, as one performs a series of iterative assessments based on one's defined need, specific attributes of the source and rules of thumb that have worked successfully in the past. From "Evaluation techniques," by D. Cunningham, 2008, Annals of Psychiatry, 36, p. 35. Copyright 2008 by David Cunningham. Reprinted with permission.
Cunningham, D. (2008). Evaluation techniques. Annals of Psychiatry, 36(2), 24-45.
3. If you adapt a figure to illustrate your work, credit the original source in full at the bottom of the figure but add the words 'Adapted from' to indicate it has been changed by you, and cite the source in full in your reference list:
Figure 3. A credibility judgment is arrived at within the larger context of one's background, prior knowledge, assumptions and biases, as one makes interim decisions based on one's defined need, specific attributes of the source and rules of thumb that have worked successfully in the past. Adapted from "Evaluation techniques," by D. Cunningham, 2008, Annals of Psychiatry 36, p. 35. Copyright 2008 by David Cunningham.
Cunningham, D. (2008). Evaluation techniques. Annals of Psychiatry, 36(2), 24-45.
APA: What if I want to reference some information that someone else has referenced?
If you read an article or book which references some information that you also want to reference, always refer to the source where you found the information, not the original source. For example:
Sue reads an article by Alex Byrne in the Australian Library Journal in which he cites or refers to statements made by Tim O'Reilly on his website at http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html Sue wants to refer to O'Reilly's statement in her assignment.
Sue would acknowledge O'Reilly in her text but her reference is to the source where she saw the information. Sue might write as her in-text reference:
(O'Reilly, 2005, as cited in Byrne, 2008)
OR
O'Reilly (2005) (as cited in Bryne, 2008) states ...
In her reference list Sue would write a reference for Byrne's article because that's where she sourced the information. The entry in her References would be:
Byrne, A. (2008). Web 2.0 strategies in libraries and information services. The Australian Library Journal, 57(4), 365-376.
APA: What is a DOI?
A DOI, or digital object identifier, is a unique, permanent identification number that will take you straight to a document no matter where it is located on the Internet. You can find out more more about DOIs in the 6th edition of the APA Publication Manual (pp. 188–192). DOIs figure prominently in the APA 6th edition reference style, so you need to be aware of when to include them in your references.
(Adapted from: Lee, C. (2009, September 21). APA Style Blog: A DOI primer [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2009/09/a-doi-primer.html)
Note that a DOI will usually link to a record on a publisher's website, and may not always include full text, even though the Library may have full text access. It's always worthwhile checking the Library catalogue or databases & e-journals page to see if full text is available.
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