APA Referencing Guide (6th Edition)

APA Referencing Overview

While the majority of the formatting is highly similar to the Harvard Style, there are some crucial differences in APA style which will be discussed here.

Sources

1. Books
2. Articles
3. Online sources
4. Images/visual mediums
5. Other source types

Key things to remember

In an APA reference list, all listed sources should be indented from the second line onwards. In a reference list, sources are listed alphabetically by author's surname. Where there are multiple citations by the same author, these would be listed chronologically by year of publication.

You can cite a source directly (e.g. quoting verbatim from it) or indirectly (citing a source to show that you have used an author's ideas, but not quoted them). Examples of both are provided here:

There are two types of citation in APA referencing: in-text citations, which are found in the main body of the work and contain a fraction of the full bibliographical information, and reference lists, which are located at the end of the main work and list full information for all sources mentioned within the work. In APA, in-text citations should be rendered the same way as Harvard references, except:

For sources with three or more authors, all should be named on the first in-text citation. Subsequently, et al. can be used.

In the main body of the text, authors' names should be joined with the word 'and'. However, within parenthesis, an ampersand (&) should be used:

1. Books

Citations for books with one or two authors:

Last name, first initial. (Year). Title. Edition (if not the first edition of the book). City of publication: Publisher.

Citations for books with three or more authors:

If a book has three or more authors, the rules of in-text citation outlined previously apply: on first citation, all authors' names should be listed, and subsequently, only the first author's name should be listed in-text followed by 'et al.', meaning 'and others'. However, all authors should be listed in the reference list in the order they are credited in the original work.

Last name, first initial., Last name, first initial., and Last name, first initial. (Year). Title. City of publication: Publisher.

Citations for a chapter in an edited book:

When citing a single chapter in a larger book, it is important to ensure that you add the page range (pp.) that the chapter spans. When citing an individual chapter, you should also always include the edition of the book in the citation (you do not have to do this for other books unless it is notthe first edition).

Last name, first initial. (Year). Chapter title. In: Book Title. Edition. City of publication: Publisher.

Citations for multiple books by the same author:

In text, the author's texts can usually be differentiated by year. They should be listed in chronological order of publication. Where you are citing two works by the same author which were published in the same year, these should be labelled with 'a', 'b', 'c' and so on directly after the year.

Last name, first initial. (Year). Title. Edition (if not the first edition of the book). City of publication: Publisher.

Tools for creating APA Book references:

Reference a Book Reference a Book Chapter

2. Articles

Citations for Print Journals

The same rule applies here regarding number of authors as with books: if there are three or more, all authors' names should be listed on first citation, and subsequently, only the first author's name should be listed in-text followed by 'et al.' However, all authors should be listed in the reference list in the order they are credited in the original work, unless there are eight or more authors: in that case, they should be formatted as below and listed in full in the 'notes' section.

Last name, First initial. (Year). Article Title. Journal name, Volume (Issue), Page/s.

Last name, First initial, Last name, First initial, Last name, First initial, Last name, First initial, Last name, First initial, Last name, First initial, … Last name, First initial. (Year). Article Title. Journal name, Volume (Issue), Page/s.

Citations for Journal Articles accessed on a website or database

In-text citations for an online journal article remain unchanged from the way you would cite a print article. The citation in the reference list does have a few differences, however. The main difference is that in APA referencing, wherever possible you should supply the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the source you accessed. If no DOI is available, you should cite the URL of the source.

Last name, First initial. (Year). Article Title. Journal name, Volume (Issue), Page/s. DOI: DOI link

Last name, First initial. (Year). Article Title. Journal name, Volume (Issue), Page/s. Retrieved from: URL.

Citations for Newspaper and Magazine Articles – Print or Online:

Newspaper and magazine citations are rendered similarly to journal articles when they are found online; the same differences in formatting occur, as the example below illustrates.

Last name, first initial. (Year). Article title. Newspaper name, Page/s.

Last name, First initial. (Year). Article Title. Newspaper name, Page/s. Retrieved from:

Tools for creating APA Journal references:

Reference a Journal Article

3. Online sources

Citations for websites:

When citing a website, it is important to ascertain authorship of the website – if it's an article on website which is not a newspaper/magazine site or online journal, there may be an individual author; if not, the organisation or website name would be credited with authorship. If no date is available, supply 'n.d.' instead of the year.

Author/Source if no specific author (Year). Title of web document/page. Retrieved from: URL.

Citations for Social Media:

You should provide a retrieval date if the content you are citing is likely to change dramatically (e.g. a live feed). If the post has a set date, you do not need to do this.

Last name of author, First initial. (Year, Day Month). Title of page/ up to the first 40 words of post [Social media format]. Retrieved from: URL.

Tools for referencing online sources:

Reference a Website Reference a Wiki Reference a Blog

4. Images/visual mediums

Citations for films/videos/DVDs:

Director's last name, first initial (Director). (Year). Film/video/DVD title [format]. Country of origin: Film studio or maker.

Citations for YouTube videos:

Username of contributor. (Year, Day Month). Video Title, Series Title (if relevant). [type of medium]. Retrieved from: URL.

Citations for broadcasts:

Executive Producer's last name, first initial (Executive Producer). (Year, Day Month). Name of programme [Medium]. City of recording: Network.

Citations for images/photographs – Print or Online:

Last name of artist/photographer, first initial). (Year of production). Title of image. [type of medium] City where image original can be found: Place/institution where image can be found.

Last name of artist/photographer, first initial). (Year of production). Title of image. [type of medium]. Retrieved from: URL.

Citations for podcasts:

Broadcaster/author's name. (Year, Day Month). Programme title, series title (if relevant). [type of medium]. Retrieved from: URL.

5. Other source types

Citations for reports – Online or Print:

Organisation/author. (Year). Full title of report. Place of publication: Publisher.

Organisation/author. (Year). Full title of report. Retrieved from: URL.

Citations for dissertations:

Last name of author, first initial. (Year). Title of dissertation. Level. Official name of university.

Citations for government/official publications:

Organisation/author. (Year). Full title of report. Place of publication: Publisher.

Organisation/author. (Year). Full title of report. Retrieved from: URL.

Citations for presentations/lectures:

Last name of author, first initial. (Year). Presentation/lecture title [file format]. Retrieved from: URL (if accessed online).

Citations for music:

Performer/writer's last name, first initial. (Year). Recording title. [Medium]. City published: music label.

Citations for dictionaries:

Publisher. (Year). Full title of dictionary. Place of publication: Publisher.

Citations for computer programs/software:

Name of software/program. (Year). Company which made software (Version if applicable). [type of software]. Retrieved from: URL if applicable.

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