APA 6th Referencing Style Guide

This guide introduces the APA referencing style with examples of citation styles for different types of resources.

• Referencing and APA style
  • APA referencing style
  • In-text citation
  • Reference list
  • Books
  • ebooks
  • Book compilations / custom publications
  • Notes on the Reference List
  • Secondary citations

  Books

  Reference format for print books

  Author, Initial. (Year). Book title. City of publication, Country/State: Publisher.

  No author

  Reference list entry:

  Collins concise New Zealand dictionary (7th ed.). (2008). London, England: Collins.

  In-text citations:

  . this definition from the Collins Concise New Zealand Dictionary (2008) shows.

  . highlights the debate around nuclear weapons ("Nuke Test Inquiry,"2009).

  • Use the first few words of the title, or the complete title if short, as listed in your reference list, and the date.
  • Format with:
    • double quotation marks for the title of an article or chapter or webpage;
    • italics for the title of a journal or book or brochure or report;
    • capitals for both.

    One author

    Reference list entry:

    Gambles, I. (2009). Making the business case: Proposals that succeed for projects that work. Farnham, England: Ashgate.

    In-text citations:

    Gambles (2009) states.

    . can lead to a more successful outcome (Gamble, 2009)

    Two - seven authors

    Reference list entry:

    Gazda, G. M., Balzer, F. J., Childers, W. C., Nealy, A. U., Phelps, R. E., & Walters, R. P. (2005). Human relations development: A manual for educators (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Educational.

    In-text citations - two authors

    Walker and Allen (2004) said.

    . stop smoking (Walker & Allen, 2004).

    • Use " and " between author names in a sentence
    • Use " & " between author names in an in-text citation
    • In the reference list use " & "
    • Always give both authors each time you cite the work​

    In-text citations - three, four or five authors

    First citation in text:

    . as the findings suggested (Alred, Brusaw, & Oliu, 2009)

    . in the same study (Alred et al., 2009).

    Alfred et al. (2009) found that .

    • Give all authors the first time you cite them
    • In subsequent citations, give only the first author and et al.
    • Include the year if this is the first citation of this reference in the paragraph

    In-text citations - six or more authors

    Kosslyn et al. (1996) found that .

    • Cite only the surname of the first author, et al. and the year (always give the year).

    Corporate author (organization)

    Reference list entry:

    New Zealand Health Information Service. (2003). Report on maternity: Maternal and newborn information. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health.

    In-text citations:

    . as research indicates (Inland Revenue Department [IRD], 2007)

    . suggested by recent statistics (IRD, 2010).

    • The first time you cite it in-text, write the corporate author in full with its abbreviation in square brackets "[. ]" plus date.
    • In subsequent citations use the abbreviation plus date.

    Unabbreviated corporate authors

    In-text citation:

    . on student retention (The University of Auckland, 2010).

    • Write the corporate author in full every time if it is not well known by abbreviation.

    Corporate author as publisher

    Reference list entry:

    New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit. (1988). Academic audit reports: Reports of the general academic audits of New Zealand universities. Wellington, New Zealand: Author.

    • In the reference list, where the author and publisher are the same, use the word Author in the publisher position.

    New edition of a book

    Reference list entry:

    Berk, L. E. (2004). Development through the lifespan (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

    Edited book

    Reference list entry:

    Sykes, P., & Potts, A. (Eds.). (2008). Researching education from the inside: Investigations from within. London, England: Routledge.

    Chapter from an edited book

    Reference list entry:

    Easton, B. (2008). Does poverty affect health? In K. Dew & A. Matheson (Eds.), Understanding health inequalities in Aotearoa New Zealand (pp. 97–106). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.

    • the author(s) of the chapter is the main entry in your reference list and in your in text citation

    Chapter from an edited book, newer edition

    Reference list entry:

    Root, J. (2007). Film noir. In P. Cook (Ed.), The cinema book (3rd ed., pp. 305–315). London, England: British Film Institute.

    Book with a volume number of a series

    Esposito, A. & Jain, L. C. (Eds.). (2016). Modeling emotions. In Toward robotic socially believable behaving systems series (Vol. 1). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31056-5

    Several volumes in a multivolume work

    Koch, S. (Ed.). (1959-1963). Psychology: A study of science (Vols. 1-6). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

    Reprints and translations

    Reference list entry:

    Freud, S. (1953). The method of interpreting dreams: An analysis of a specimen dream. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 4, pp. 96-121). Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books (Original work published 1900)

    • give the date of the version that you have read after the author; put the date of the original publication at the end
    • in text give both dates: (Freud, 1900/1953).

    Classical works

    Reference list entry:

    Plato. (1961). Meno (R. S. Bluck, Trans.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. (Original work published ca. 380 B.C.)

    • in text give both dates: (Plato, 380 B.C./1961)

    Wordless picture book

    Reference format:

    Creator (Illustrator), Initial. (Year). Book title. City of publication, Country/State: Publisher.

    Reference list entry :

    Lehman, B. (2011). The secret box. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

    Graphic novel where author and illustrator are given equal credit for authorship

    Reference format:

    Author, Initial. & Illustrator, Initial. (Year). Book title. City of publication, Country/State: Publisher.

    Reference list entry :

    Moore, A., & Gibbons, D. (1986). Watchmen. New York, NY: DC Comics.

    ebooks

    Always use the DOI (digital object identifier) for an e-book if it is available.

    ebook - with DOI:

    Reference list entry:

    Schiraldi, G. R. (2001). The post-traumatic stress disorder sourcebook: A guide to healing, recovery, and growth. https://doi.org/10.1036/0071393722

    ebook - Kindle:

    Reference list entry:

    Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com

    ebook - free online, no DOI:

    Reference list entry:

    Austen, J. (1853). Pride and prejudice: A novel. Retrieved from http://books.google.co.nz/books?printsec=frontcover&dq=austen#v=onepage&q=&f=false.

    • include the full URL or the site's homepage URL, whichever takes you to the source more reliably

    ebook - via the AUT Library, no DOI:

    Reference list entry:

    Knox, P. L., & Mayer, H. (2009). Small town sustainability: economic, social, and environmental innovation. Retrieved from http://www.ebookcentral.proquest.com

    • Replace the URL of the database with the homepage of the publisher.

    Replace the database URL for the reference above,

    with the Proquest homepage URL:

    Chapter in an edited ebook - with DOI:

    Reference list entry:

    Helmig, B., & Thaler, J. (2010). Nonprofit marketing. In R. Taylor (Ed.), Third sector research (pp.151–169). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5707-8_12

    Chapter in an edited ebook - not from AUT Library:

    Reference list entry:

    Anderson, E. (2005). Dewey's moral philosophy. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Fall, 2008 ed.). Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dewey-moral/

    • If the date of the most recent change or update is not clear from the website entry, include the retrieval date

    Online dictionary definition:

    Reference list entry:

    Light. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary (11th ed.). Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/light

    Book compilations / custom publications

    • Treat a book that is a compilation of chapters from other books and published specifically for AUT (or another organisation) as an edited book
    • Include the name and centre for which it is published, if that is stated with the other publishing details in the first few pages of the book

    Book - where the organisation for which the book is compiled is not named:

    Reference list entry:

    Mpofu, C. (Ed.). (2010). Psychology and lifespan development: An introductory text for health professionals [Custo m textbook] . North Shore, New Zealand: Pearson Custom Publication.

    Book - where the organisation is named:

    Reference list entry:

    Krägeloh, C. (Ed.). (2008). Research methods and statistics in the health sciences [Custom textbook]. North Ryde, Australia: McGraw-Hill Custom Publication for Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology.

    Chong, S. & Werner, M. (Ed.). (2016). ACCT 601 accounting practice & systems for AUT University [Custo m textbook] . Melbourne, Australia: Cengage Learning. Custom publication for Faculty of Business and Law, Auckland University of Technology.

    Book chapter:

    Reference list entry:

    Bordens, K., & Abbott, B. (2008). Explaining behavior. In C. Krägeloh (Ed.), Research methods and statistics in the health sciences [Custom textbook] (pp. 3–30). North Ryde, Australia: McGraw-Hill Custom Publication for Facultyof Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology.

    Notes on the Reference List

    A reference list only lists the sources you have referred to in your writing.

    The purpose of the reference list is to allow your sources to be be found by your reader. It also gives credit to authors whose work and ideas you have considered. All references cited in the text must appear in the reference list, except for personal communications (such as conversations or emails) which cannot be retrieved.

    A bibliography is different from a reference list as it lists all the sources used during your research and background reading, not just the ones you refer to in your writing.

    Reference list example

    References

    Alred, G. J., Brusaw, C. T., & Oliu, W. E. (2009). The business writer’s handbook. New York, NY: St Martin's Press.

    Best, A. (2004). International history of the twentieth century. Retrieved from http://www.netlibrary.com

    Easton, B. (2008). Does poverty affect health? In K. Dew & A. Matheson (Eds.), Understanding health inequalities in Aotearoa New Zealand (pp. 97–106). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.

    Flesch, R. (n.d.). How to write plain English. Retrieved April 12, 2009, from http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/writing_guide /writing/flesch.shtml

    ​Global warming. (2009, June 1). Retrieved June 4, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

    Li, S., & Seale, C. (2007). Learning to do qualitative data analysis: An observational study of doctoral work. Qualitative Health Research, 17, 1442–1452. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732307306924

    Radio New Zealand. (2008). Annual report 2007-2008. Retrieved from http://static.radionz.net.nz/assets /pdf_file/0010/179676/Radio_NZ_Annual_Report_2008.pdf

    Read, E. (2007, November 1). Myth-busting gen Y. New Zealand Management. Retrieved from http://www.management.co.nz

    Journal title - use headline style; i.e. capitalise all the words, except articles and prepositions

    Book title or article title (in a journal, magazine or newspaper) - use sentence style; i.e. capitalise the first word of the title, and subtitle (after the colon), and any proper names

    USA publishers give the city in full and the abbreviation for the state.
    New York, NY
    Springfield, MA

    Publishers outside the USA: Give the city in full and the country in full
    London, England
    Auckland, New Zealand

    If format, medium or description information is important for a resource to be retrieved or identified, use square brackets after the title to include this detail:

    Scorsese, M. (Producer), & Lonergan, K. (Writer/Director). (2000). You can
    count on me [Motion picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures.