It is designed to accompany (not replace) the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2010).
Exception: When citing from a secondary source, list only the secondary source in which you found the original information, and do not list the primary source in the reference list.
Exception: Place of publication is not required for journal, magazine or newspaper articles.
Exception: Publishers are not required for journal, magazine or newspaper articles.
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Citations in Text & Reference list
Citations in text
To cite works of others, APA style uses an author-date citation method. Citations in text are acknowledged with (Author, Date) or Author (Date).Direct quotation
Use quotation marks and include page
numbers.
Samovar and Porter (1997) point out that
"language involves attaching meaning to symbols" (p. 188) or
"Language involves attaching meaning to symbols" (Samovar & Porter, 1997, p. 188).
"Language involves attaching meaning to symbols" (Samovar & Porter, 1997, p. 188).
A long quotation
A quotation of 40 or more words should be formatted as a freestanding, indented block of text without quotation marks. Note the location of the final full stop.
Weston (1948) argues that:
One of the most important phases of
our special guests was to get information that would throw light on
degeneration of the facial pattern that occurs so often in our modern
civilization. This has its expression in the narrowing and lengthening
of the face and the development of crooked teeth. (p. 174)
A quotation with no page numbers
If you quote from online material and there are no page numbers (e.g. HTML based document), use the paragraph number (para.) instead.
"Prevalence rates of antenatal major and
minor depression have been estimated in community-based
studies to range from 7% to 15% of all pregnancies" (Grote, Swartz,
Geibel
& Zuckoff, 2009, para. 2).
Indirect quotation / Paraphrasing
Page numbers are optional when paraphrasing,
although authors are encouraged to include them, especially
when it assists the reader to locate the reference in long pieces of
text (Publication Manual, p. 171).
Giving meaning to specific symbols such as sounds and marks is
considered to be the origin of written language (Samovar &
Porter, 1997, p. 188).
A citation from a secondary source
When you find a quote (e.g. Arnett) within in a work that
you have read (e.g. Claiborne & Drewery) and you wish to refer to
the original quote (Arnett), this is called citing from a secondary
source.
- For graduates: Use secondary citations sparingly and locate the original source where possible (Publication Manual, p. 178).
In text citation:
Arnett (2000, as cited in Claiborne & Drewery, 2010) suggests there is an emerging adult stage in the lifespan of humans, covering young people between the ages of 18 and 25 years.- In-text, name the original work as well as the work you have read.
- Use the phrase 'as cited in' to signify the secondary source.
In reference list:
Claiborne, L., & Drewery, W. (2010). Human development: Family, place, culture. North Ryde, NSW, Australia: McGraw-Hill.
- List Claiborne & Drewery in your reference list, not Arnett.
Reference list
At the end of your assignment, you are required to provide the full bibliographic information for each source cited in text. References must be listed in alphabetical order by author, and then chronologically.Exception: When citing from a secondary source, list only the secondary source in which you found the original information, and do not list the primary source in the reference list.
- Start the list of references on a new page at the end of your assignment.
- Do not use footnotes for referencing (Publication Manual, p.37)
- References should use the hanging indent format.
Key Points to Format References
Basic formats
Each reference type (e.g. Book, Journal) has a standardised format. See also Formatting elements section for detailed information on how to format authors/date/title/publication information.Book and book chapter
Each reference should include four elements: (1)
Author/Editor/Producer (2) Date (3) Title of the work and (4)
Publication Information.
Author, A., & Author,
B.
(Year). Title of the
work. Place name: Publisher.
Electronic books
If the item is available online, a retrieval statement or DOI is required after (3) Title. Exclude (4) Publication Information.
Author, A., & Author,
B.
(Year). Title of the
work. Retrieved from http://...
Author, A., & Author, B. (Year). Title of the work. doi: xx-xxxxxxx
Author, A., & Author, B. (Year). Title of the work. doi: xx-xxxxxxx
- DOI is a Digital Object Identifier (DOI).
A chapter in a book
When a book consists of many chapters written by different authors, reference each chapter you used.
Author, A., & Author,
B.
(Year). Chapter title. In A. Editor, B. Editor, & C. Editor
(Eds.), Title of the
book (pp.xx-xx). Place name: Publisher.
Author, A., & Author,
B.
(Year). Chapter title. In A. Editor, B. Editor, & C. Editor
(Eds.), Title of the
book (pp.xx-xx). Retrieved from http://...
Author, A., & Author, B. (Year). Chapter title. In A. Editor,
B. Editor, & C. Editor (Eds.), Title of the book (pp.xx-xx). doi: xx-xxxxxxx
Periodicals
Items
published on a regular basis, such as journals,
magazines and newspapers, are known as serials or
periodicals. Include the same elements as for a book, but exclude the
publication information and add the volume, issue and page number(s)
instead.
Each reference should include following elements: (1) Author (2) Date (3) Title of article (4) Title of Periodical (5) Volume, Issue and Page numbers.
Each reference should include following elements: (1) Author (2) Date (3) Title of article (4) Title of Periodical (5) Volume, Issue and Page numbers.
Author, A., & Author, B.
(Year). Article title. Title
of Periodical, x(x),
pp-pp
A journal article available online
Author, A., & Author, B.
(Year). Article title. Title
of Periodical, x(x),
pp-pp. doi:xxx-xxxxx
Author,
A., & Author, B. (Year). Article title. Title of Periodical, x(x),
pp-pp. Retrieved from http://...
Online documents / Webpages
Include the same elements as for a book,
but exclude the
publication information and add a retrieval statement in its place: (1)
Author (2) Date (3) Title (4) Retrieval statement. Include
a retrieval date if the source material is likely to
change over time (Publication Manual, p. 192).
Author, A., & Author, B.
(Year). Title of the
webpage. Retrieved from http://...
Author, A., & Author, B.
(Year). Title of the
webpage. Retrieved from ...website: http://...
Author,
A., & Author, B. (Year, Month Day). Title of the webpage
[Description of form]. Retrieved Year, Month Day from http://...
Formatting elements
Each element (e.g. Author[s], Date, Title, Publication information) has a standardised format including punctuation and presentation style (e.g. capital letters and italics etc.).Author(s)
In text citation
Acknowledge a citation with author's last name and publication year.- For two or more works within the same in text parentheses, order the authors alphabetically as they would appear in the reference list. Separate them with semicolons.
- Separate two or more works by the same author with a comma (Publication Manual, p. 177).
On the other hand, much has been already discussed ... (Brown, 2003; Cunningham, 2001; Stewart, 1995, 1999, 2004).
- For authors with the same surname, include the author's initials in all in text citations, even if the year differs (Publication Manual, p. 176, section 6.14).
In the literature reviewed, A . B. Smith (2003) and C. Smith (2010) ...
In reference list
Invert the author(s) name(s), and use initial(s) of first name(s). Use the ampersand (&) between the last two authors' names (also note the full stop and comma after each author's name).| One author | Brown, W. P. |
| Two authors | Samovar, L. A., & Porter, R. E. |
| Three to five authors | Krause, K.-L., Bochner, S., & Duchesne, S. |
| Six or seven authors (NEW) | Shepherd, R., Barnett, J., Cooper, H., Coyle, A., Moran-Ellis, J., Senior, V., & Walton, C. |
| Eight or more authors (NEW) | Chiappini, E., Principi, N., Longhi, R., Tovo, P. A., Becherucci, P., Bonsignori, F., ... de Martino, M. |
| Corporate / group author | Ministry of Education. |
| No author | Use Anonymous only if this is used in the publication. |
- Eight or more authors: List first six authors, then insert three elipses (...), followed by the last author.
- Corporate / group author: i.e. an organisation, association or government department.
- If the author's first name is hyphenated, include the hyphen with a full stop after each initial.
Date
The year of publication goes in parentheses ( ) after the
author(s).
If an author has published more than one item in the same year, add lower case letters a, b, c etc. immediately after the year. The order is arranged alphabetically by title in the references list, but exclude 'A' or 'The' when it is the first word (Publication Manual, p. 182).
Lohan, L. (2009b). A new perspective on ... New Zealand Journal of Management...
| Books and academic journals | (1993) |
| Magazines and newspapers:
Monthly
Daily, weekly |
(1993, June) (1993, June 12) |
| No date | (n.d.) |
| In press | (in press) |
If an author has published more than one item in the same year, add lower case letters a, b, c etc. immediately after the year. The order is arranged alphabetically by title in the references list, but exclude 'A' or 'The' when it is the first word (Publication Manual, p. 182).
In text citation:
As discussed by Lohan (2009b), it is inevitable... Lohan (2009a) also suggested that...In reference list:
Lohan, L. (2009a). Managerial behaviour and... The Journal of Information and...Lohan, L. (2009b). A new perspective on ... New Zealand Journal of Management...
Title of the work
Titles of formally published materials (e.g. Books, Journals, DVDs) are italicised, with the first letter of the
first word of the main title and the subtitle in capital letters.
Proper nouns also begin with a capital letter.
Exception: Journal titles (including magazines and newspapers) are italicised and all key words in the journal title begin with a capital letter.
Exception: Journal titles (including magazines and newspapers) are italicised and all key words in the journal title begin with a capital letter.
- Do not italicise an article title in a journal or chapter title in an edited book.
Publication Information
Publication Place
Give the location (city) of the publisher - give the first city listed only.Exception: Place of publication is not required for journal, magazine or newspaper articles.
| American cities | Thousand Oaks, CA |
| Non-American cities | Hamilton, New Zealand London, England |
| Non-American cities with a state | Sydney, NSW, Australia |
- All publishing cities now require the state or province, if applicable, and country (Publication manual, pp. 186-187).
- For the United States, use the city name, then the 2-letter postal code instead of the United States.
Publishers
Use the first publisher listed if multiple publishers are given.Exception: Publishers are not required for journal, magazine or newspaper articles.
- Do not include words like Publishers, Co., or Inc. However, keep words like Books or Press.
- When the author is the publisher of the work, use the word 'Author' in the publisher field.
Additional information (e.g. Editions)
Information such as edition (excluding 1st edition) or report number goes in
parentheses ( ) immediately after the title (Publication Manual, p. 186).
A description of the work goes in square brackets [ ] after
the title.
e.g. [DVD], [Poster], [Kindle DX version], [Powerpoint slides], [Letter to the editor] etc.
Jespersen, N. D., Brady, J. E., & Hyslop, A. (2012). The molecular nature of matter (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
e.g. [DVD], [Poster], [Kindle DX version], [Powerpoint slides], [Letter to the editor] etc.
Christchurch Methodist Central
Mission. (1984). Durham
Street Church: 120 years anniversary brochure: 1864-1984 [Brochure]. Christchurch, New Zealand: Author.
Referencing and Citation Examples
- APA Referencing Example
- APA Quick Guide [208.4 kb]
