Student REFERENCING: APA STYLE

Learning (American Psychological Association)

Centre
Referencing is a standard convention used by academic and professional communities to inform readers
of the sources of information used in a piece of written work. There are many referencing formats (e.g.
Harvard, APA, MLA, Vancouver) and it is critical that you use the one prescribed by the people you are
writing for. Check what style your school / topic requires. This guide covers the APA system. For more
detailed information see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edn,
2010).

You must cite all your references in order to:

• acknowledge your sources
• allow the reader to verify the data / information
• allow the reader to consult your sources independently for their own purposes
• show the reader the depth and breadth of your reading.

References must be provided wherever you quote (use exact words), paraphrase (use other people's
ideas using your own words), summarise (use main points of someone else's opinions, theories or
data) or use other people’s data or figures. Your references may be sources of information such as
books, periodicals, websites, newspapers, government reports, legal cases, electronic recordings (CD,
DVD, television) or brochures. Note that some of these sources are considered more credible than
others.

The APA system of referencing consists of two components, both of which are required:

1) The In-text Citation: This is the short in-text reference to the source of the information e.g. Walker (1985).

2) The Reference List: This is a list at the end of the written text of all references cited within. In this case it
contains all the details of the reference rather than the short version used in the in-text citation. One item might look
like this:

Walker K.F. (1985). A review of the ecological effects of river regulation in Australia. Hydrobiologia 125, 111-129

1) IN-TEXT CITATIONS
The APA's in-text citations provide at least the author's family name and the date of publication. For
direct quotations and some paraphrases, a page number is given as well. The requirement for
identification of a page number within the source differs between disciplines and you should check
whether you need to include a page reference. The location of this reference depends on the form of
the citation – see the first example on the following page.
In-text citations can take one of two forms - they can be a necessary part of the sentence, or they can
stand separate from it. Depending on which way you are using the citation, there is a subtle change –
the placement of the brackets changes. If the citation is a necessary part of the sentence then the
brackets go around the year only. For example“ Smith (2003) emphasised the need for an
understanding of soil condition” . Alternatively, it could be written with the citation tacked on the end;
“There is a critical need to understand soil condition (Smith 2003).” . In this form the brackets go
around both the name and the year. There is no requirement to use only one of these formats in your
writing.
The following section shows how in-text citations are used under different circumstances.
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 1) IN-TEXT CITATION

Ordinarily, introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's family name
followed by the date of publication in parentheses. Put the page number (preceded by "p.") in
parentheses after the quotation.
Basic format
for a Hart (1996) wrote that some primatologists "wondered if apes had learned Language, with a capital L" (p. 109).
quotation If the signal phrase does not name the author, place the author's family name, the year, and the
page number in parentheses after the quotation. Use commas between items in the parentheses:
(Hart, 1996, p. 109).
Include the author's family name and the date either in a signal phrase introducing the material or
Basic format in parentheses following it.
for a
According to Hart (1996), researchers took Terrace's conclusions seriously, and funding for language experiments declined (p.
summary or
110).
a paraphrase
Researchers took Terrace's conclusions seriously, and funding for language experiments soon declined (Hart, 1996, p. 110).
Name both authors in the signal phrase or parentheses each time you cite the work. In the
parentheses, use "&" between the authors' names; in the signal phrase, use "and".
A work with
two authors Greenfield and Savage-Rumbaugh (1990) have acknowledged that…
Kanzi's linguistic development was slower than that of a human child (Greenfield & Savage-Rumbaugh, 1990, p. 567).
Identify all authors in the signal phrase or parentheses the first time you cite the source.
The chimpanzee Nim was raised by researchers who trained him in American Sign Language by moulding and guiding his hands
A work with (Terrace, Petitto, Sanders, & Bever, 1979).
three to five
authors In subsequent citations, use the first author's name followed by "et al." in either the signal phrase
or the parentheses.
Nim was able to string together as many as 16 signs, but their order appeared quite random (Terrace et al., 1979).

A work with Use only the first author's name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or the parentheses.
six or more The ape language studies have shed light on the language development of children with linguistic handicaps (Savage-Rumbaugh
authors et al., 1993).
If the author is a government agency or other corporate organisation, name the organisation in
the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation.
According to the Language Research Centre (2000), linguistic research with apes has led to new methods of treating humans with
Organisation
learning disabilities such as autism and dyslexia.
as author
If the organisation has a familiar abbreviation, you may include it in brackets the first time you
cite the source (National Health and Medical Research Council, 2001) and use the abbreviation
alone in later citations (NHMRC, 2001).
When your parenthetical citation names two or more works, put them in the same order that they
Two or more appear in the reference list (i.e. alphabetically), separated by semicolons.
works in the
same Researchers argued that the apes in the early language experiments were merely responding to cues (Sebeok & Umiker-Sebeok,
parentheses 1979; Terrace, 1979).

Chapters
written by Some books are put together by an editor or editors and consist of chapters written by different authors. In this
different case,cite the author(s) of the chapter, not of the book. So if you used a particular chapter which was written by Facelli
authors which was part of a book edited by Conran and Duckhouse in 2015, the reference would be Facelli (2015).

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 Interviews, letters, e-mail, and other person-to-person communications should be cited as
follows:
Personal One of Patterson's former aides, who worked with the gorilla Michael, believes that he was capable of joking and lying in sign
communication language (E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2000).

Note: personal communication is not included in the reference list.

When possible, cite an electronic document as you would any other document (using the APA style)
Fouts and Fouts (1999) have explained one benefit of ape language research. It has shown us how to teach children with linguistic
An electronic disabilities.
document
Electronic sources may lack authors' names or dates. In addition, they may lack page numbers
(required in some citations). Here are APA's guidelines for handling sources without authors'
names, dates, or page numbers.

If the author is unknown, mention the work's title in the signal phrase or give the first word or two
of the title in the parenthetical citation. Titles of articles and chapters are put in double quotation
marks; titles of books and reports are italicised.
Unknown
author / Chimpanzees in separate areas of Africa differ in a range of behaviors. An international team of researchers has concluded that
Anonymous many of the differing behaviors are cultural, not just responses to varying environmental factors ("Chimps," 1999).

In the rare case when "Anonymous" is specified as the author, treat it as if it were a real name:
(Anonymous, 2001). In the list of references, also use the name Anonymous as author.

When the date is unknown, APA recommends using the abbreviation "n.d." (for "no date").
Unknown date
Attempts to return sign-language-using apes to the wild have had mixed results (Smith, n.d.).

APA ordinarily requires page numbers for direct quotations, and it recommends them for long
summaries or paraphrases. When an electronic source lacks stable numbered pages, your
citation should include (if possible) information that will help readers locate the particular passage
being cited.

When an electronic document has numbered paragraphs, use the paragraph number preceded
by the symbol¶ or by the abbreviation "para.":

No page (Hall, 2001, ¶5) or (Hall, 2001, para. 5).

numbers
If neither a page nor a paragraph number is given and the document contains headings, cite the
appropriate heading and indicate which paragraph under that heading you are referring to:
According to Kirby (1999), some critics have accused activists in the Great Ape Project of "exaggerating the supposed similarities
of the apes [to humans] to stop their use in experiments" (Shared Path section, para. 6).

Electronic files using portable document format (PDF) often have stable page numbers. For such
sources, give the page number in the parenthetical citation.

If you use a source that was cited in another source (a secondary source), name the original
source in your signal phrase. List the secondary source in your reference list and include it in
Secondary your parenthetical citation, preceded by the words "as cited in". In the following example, Booth is
the secondary source (i.e. the source that you have direct access to):
sources
Linguist Noam Chomsky has dismissed the studies on Kanzi with a flippant analogy: "To maintain that Kanzi has language ability is
like saying a man can fly because he can jump in the air" (as cited in Booth, 1990, p. A3).

Two or more When your list of references includes more than one work by the same author in the same year,
works by the use lowercase letters ("a", "b" and so on) with the year to order the entries in the reference list.
same author Use those same letters with the year in the citation:
in the same
year Research by Kennedy (2000b) has yielded new findings concerning…

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 2) THE REFERENCE LIST

In APA style, the alphabetical list of works cited, which appears at the end of the paper, is titled "References
“ .
Every work cited in the text must be listed. Each entry usually contains four main elements: author(s), year of
publication, title, and publishing data, in this order. The publishing data for a book or monograph consists of the
location and name of the publishing company, for a journal article it consists of the volume and issue numbers,
page numbers, and Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) or Uniform Resource Locator (URL) if applicable.
Observe all details: capitalisation, punctuation, use of italics, and so on. Keep the list in alphabetical order by
authors' family names; if a work has no author, alphabetise it by its title. The first element of each entry is
important because citations in the text of the paper refer to it and readers will be looking for it in the alphabetised
list. The date of publication appears immediately after the first element of the entry.

EXAMPLES OF REFERENCE FORMAT FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOURCE

BOOKS

Basic format for a book Highmore, B. (2001). Everyday life and cultural theory. New York: Routledge.

Duncan, G. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.). (1997). Consequences of growing up poor. New York: Russell Sage
Edited book
Foundation.

Edited book with author Plath, S. (2000). The unabridged journals (K. V. Kukil, Ed.). New York: Anchor.

Singer, I. B. (1998). Shadows on the Hudson (J. Sherman, Trans.). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (Original
Translation
work published 1957)

Helfer, M. E., Keme, R. S., & Drugman, R. D. (1997). The battered child (5th ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago
Edition other than the first
Press.

Article or chapter in an Meskell, L. (2001). Archaeologies of identity. In I. Hodder (Ed.), Archaeological theory today (pp. 187-213).
edited book Cambridge, England: Polity Press.
Womersley, H.B.S. (1984-2003.). (1973). The marine benthic flora of South Australia (Vols.1-3d. Adelaide: South
Multivolume work
Australian Government Printing Division.

PERIODICALS (Paper copies)

Journal paginated by Boehm, J. K., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). Does happiness promote career success? Journal of Career Assessment,
volume 16, 101-116.

Journal paginated by
Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(3), 5-13.
issue

Magazine article Raloff, J. (2001, May 12). Lead therapy won't help most kids. Science News, 159, 292.

Newspaper article Haney, D. Q. (1998, February 20). Finding eats at mystery of appetite. The Oregonian, pp. A1, A17.

Letter to the editor Carter, R. (2000, July). Shot in the dark? [Letter to the editor]. Scientific American, 238(1), 8.

Gleick, E. (2000, December 14). The burdens of genius [Review of the book The Last Samurai by H. DeWitt]. Time,
Review
156, 171.

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ELECTRONIC SOURCES

Article from an
Aldwin, C., & Greenberger, E. (1987). Cultural differences in the predictors of depression. American Journal of Community
online periodical
Psychology, 15, 789-813. doi:10.1007/BF00919803
(DOI available)
Article from an
Ashe, D. D., & McCutcheon, L. E. (2001). Shyness, loneliness, and attitude toward celebrities. Current Research in Social
online periodical
Psychology, 6(9). Retrieved from http://www.uiowa.edu/~grpproc/crisp/crisp.6.9.htm
(DOI not available)

Non-periodical Web Cain, A., & Burris, M. (1999, April). Investigation of the use of mobile phones while driving. Retrieved from
document http://www.cutr.eng.usf.edu/its/mobile_phone_text.htm

Non-periodical Web Evolutionary psychology: A primer. (n.d.). Retrieved July 5, 2001, from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Center for
document (no author) Evolutionary Psychology Web site: http://www.psych.ucsb.edu/research/cep/primer.html

Chapter or section Heuer, R. J., Jr. (1999). Keeping an open mind. In Psychology of intelligence analysis (chap. 6). Retrieved from
in a Web document http://www.cia.gov/csi/books/19104/art9.html

Online posting Eaton, S. (2001, June 12). Online transactions [Msg 2]. Message posted to news://sci.psychology.psychotherapy.moderated.

Computer program Kaufmann, W. J., III, & Comins, N. F. (1998). Discovering the universe (Version 4.1) [Computer software]. New York: Freeman.
(specialised) N.B. Standard programs such as Word, SPSS, Photoshop, do not require a reference

Shelton, C. (2015, June 4). What is critical thinking? [Video file]. Retrieved from
Online video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6gaUNYK5pc

OTHER SOURCES

Yoshida, Y. (2001). Essays in urban transportation (Doctoral dissertation, Boston College, 2001). Dissertation Abstracts
Dissertation abstract
International, 62, 7741A.

Hotchkiss, S.L. (2000). Life history strategies of three species of Cystophora (Phaeophyta, Fucales) from a shallow subtidal
Thesis community in South Australia. (Doctoral thesis, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia). Retrieved from
http://hdl.handle.net/2440/19529
Government
document
U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). Statistical abstract of the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Report from a private American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Practice guidelines for the treatment of patients with eating disorders (2nd ed.).
organisation Washington, DC: Author.

Conference paper Schnase, J. L., & Cunnius, E. L. (Eds.). (1995). Proceedings of CSCL'95: The first international conference on computer support
(published in proceedings) for collaborative learning. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Conference paper Melanti, B.G. (1982). Programmers' attitudes toward computer crime: The case in Hong Kong. Paper presented to 10th World
(unpublished) Congress of Computer Technology. Kathmandu, 16-21 August.

Motion picture Soderbergh, S. (Director). (2000). Traffic [Motion picture]. United States: Gramercy Pictures.

Television program Pratt, C. (Executive Producer). (2001, December 2). Face the nation [Television broadcast]. Washington, DC: CBS News.

Television series Janows, J. (Executive Producer). (2000). Culture shock [Television series]. Boston: WGBH.

School of Humanities, Flinders University (2003). Professional English course book, semester 2. [ENGL 1001]. Adelaide:
Course book
Flinders University.

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 EXAMPLES OF FORMAT FOR DIFFERENT TYPES AND NUMBERS OF AUTHORS
The format of the“ author” part of the reference is dependent on a variety of factors. The examples below help
identify these differences. Note that the full reference is not given here for the sake of brevity– only the author and
date.
Single author Conran, J. (2001).

List up to seven authors by family names followed by initials. Use an ampersand (&) instead of
"and".
Walker, J. R., & Taylor, T. (1998).
Multiple Sloan, F. A., Stout, E. M., Whetten-Goldstein, K., & Liang, L. (2000).
authors
If there are more than seven authors, list the first six, insert three ellipsis points (… ) and add the
final author’s name.
Gilbert, D. G., McClernon, F. J., Rabinovitch, B. A., Sugai, C., Plath, L. C., Asgaard, M.S., … Botros, N. (2004).

Organisation When the author is an organisation, begin with the name of the organisation.
as author American Psychiatric Association (2000).

Begin with the work's title. Titles of books are italicised. Titles of articles are neither italicised nor
Unknown put in quotation marks.
author
Oxford essential world atlas (1996).

Two or more
Use the author's family name for all entries. List the entries by year, the earliest first.
works by the Schlechty, P. C. (1997).
same author Schlechty, P. C. (2001).

Two or more List the works alphabetically by title. In the parentheses, following the year, add "a", "b" and so on.
works by the Use these same letters when giving the year in the in-text citation.“ a ” is the one first cited.
same author
in the same Kennedy, C. (2000a). Group dynamics.
year Kennedy, C. (2000b). Share-taking in small groups.

In general, it is no longer necessary to include database information, because this can change
Journal
over time, and database aggregators further confuse the issue. However, some archival
articles from
documents can only be found in certain electronic databases, such as ERIC or JSTOR. If the
online
document is difficult to locate through its primary publisher, give the URL for the home page of the
databases
database.

If you use a source you have found online, you must include information that will enable the
reader to locate the same source. Until recently, this was done by stating the URL. Recently, DOIs
(Digital Object Identifiers) have been introduced. These are attached to each document and stay with
it, even if the URL of the document changes. All DOIs start with the number 10, followed by a dot,
a four digit number, a slash, and then an alphanumeric string. Note that a full stop is not used
after the DOI.

Online Example: 10.1080/14622200410001676305

Sources and
the use of If you have a DOI and you want to find the document, you can either go to http://www.crossref.org/
DOIs and enter it in the search box, or add the entire DOI string after http://dx.doi.org/. If a document
has a DOI, you should use this in your reference list (see examples, below). If a DOI is used, no
further retrieval information is needed.
If the document does not have a DOI, you should state the complete URL of the home page of the
journal or the publisher of the book or report. Make certain that this works.
Do not include retrieval dates unless the source material may change over time (such as with
wikis).

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