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APA Referencing

(Adapted from : http://library.curtin.edu.au/referencing/apa.pdf)


What is referencing?
Why reference?
Steps involved in referencing
How to cite references within the text of an assignment
How to create a reference list
Examples of types of printed references
Articles/Chapters in a book
Book
Bulletin
Journal Article
ERIC Document (microfiche)
Personal Communication and E-mail
Examples of types of electronic references
Journal Article
CD-ROM
World Wide Web
Discussion List
Videorecording

Note: this document is only an introduction to the APA (American Psychological Association) referencing system. For a
comprehensive guide please refer to:

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.).
Washington DC: APA.

What is Referencing?
Referencing is a standardised method of acknowledging sources of information and ideas that you have used in your
assignment in a way that uniquely identifies their source. Direct quotations, facts and figures, as well as ideas and
theories, from both published and unpublished works must be referenced. There are many acceptable forms of
referencing. This document provides a brief guide to the APA referencing style. In this system the author's name is given
first, followed by the publication date within the text of the assignment. A reference list at the end of the assignment
contains full details of all the in-text citations.

Why Reference?
Referencing is necessary to avoid plagiarism; to enable the reader to verify quotations; and to enable readers to follow-
up and read more fully the cited author's arguments.

Steps Involved in Referencing


• Note down the full bibliographical details including the page number(s) from which the information is taken.
In the case of a book, "bibliographical details" refers to:
author/editor
year of publication
title
edition
volume number
place of publication and
publisher
(Not all of these details will necessarily be applicable).

In the case of a journal article it refers to:


author of article
year of publication
title of article
journal title
volume number
issue number and
page numbers on which the article appears.

In the case of electronic information they are:


author/editor
year of publication
article title
journal title
the type of medium (e.g. CD-ROM, motion-picture,
etc.)
pages or length (e.g. 6-14, 7 pp., 25
paragraphs, 30 ff. as given)
"Retrieved" statement (e.g. WWW address,
supplier and name of electronic database,
Email address, etc.) and access date
(Not all of these details will necessarily be applicable or even available.)
• Insert the citation at the appropriate place within the text of the document (see examples below).
• Provide a reference list at the end of the document (see examples below).
How to Cite References Within the Text of an Assignment

When citing references within the text of an assignment use only the name of the author, followed by the year of
publication.

Knight (1969) recommended that psychosurgery be used for curing various psychiatric problems...

OR

It has been recommended that psychosurgery be used for curing various psychiatric problems, including depression
(Knight, 1969).

When directly quoting from another source, the relevant page number(s) must also be given.

Brown, Wienckowski and Bivens (1977, p. 257) stated that "...the answers to the issues of psychosurgery will depend
heavily upon specific advances...".

If no page numbers are given, as in some electronic sources, you can use paragraph numbers if they are given. Use the ¶
symbol or the abbreviation para. If there are no page numbers or paragraph numbers, just provide the year.

Works with no author: When a work has no author (including legal materials) or the author is anonymous, cite in-text
the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use double quotation marks around the title
of an article or chapter, and italicize the title of a journal, book, brochure or report.

On free care ("Study Finds," 1982)

OR

The book College Bound Seniors (1979)

Multiple authors: When multiple author citations occur as part of the text, the names are joined by the word and. When
multiple author citations occur within parentheses, the names are joined by an ampersand (&).
When the work cited has 2 authors, include both names each time the reference is cited within the text, with the year of
publication.

When the work cited has 3, 4 or 5 authors, cite all names in the first occurrence of the reference.

Thereafter, include only the surname of the first mentioned author followed by et al. Also include the year if it is the first
occurrence of the reference within a paragraph.

When the work cited has 6 or more authors, cite only the surname of the first mentioned author followed by et al., and
the year of publication.

Citing an entire Web site: In order to cite an entire web site in-text give the address in brackets.

MetaCrawler (http://www.metacrawler.com) is a meta search tool used for conducting basic searches and quickly locating
documents on the World Wide Web.

When your statement does not refer to any specific page or part of that site, an entry in your list of references will not be
required.

A statement specific to an individual document or page requires that you follow the author/date conventions presented in
this guide, and to provide a record in your list of references. (Examples are provided below.)

Citing secondary sources: Within the text, name the original source and provide a citation for the secondary source.
Johnson and Peters' study (as cited in Wagner, 1982)...

In the Reference List include the secondary source only. See APA Publication Manual, section 4.16, p, 247, example 22.

How to Create a Reference List

A Reference List contains all the references cited in the assignment. In contrast, a bibliography cites work for background
and further reading.

The Reference List is arranged alphabetically by author. Where an item has no author it is cited by its title, and ordered in
the reference list or bibliography in sequence by the first significant word of the title.

The APA style requires the second and subsequent lines of the reference to be indented as shown below.

Examples of Types of Printed References:


Articles/Chapters in a Book
Bibliographic details are arranged in the sequence:
author of chapter
year of publication
chapter title
editor(s) of book
title of book
article or chapter pages
place of publication
publisher

Article in an Encyclopaedia
Bergmann, P.G. (1993). Relativity. In The new encyclopaedia Britannica (Vol. 26, pp. 501-508). Chicago: Encyclopaedia
Britannica.

Article or Chapter in a Book


Piaget, J. (1970). The stages of the intellectual development of the child. In P.H. Mussen, J.J. Congor J. Kagan (Eds.),
Readings in child development and personality (pp. 291-302). New York: Harper & Row.

Article or Chapter in a Book (no author)


Antiviral drugs. (1989). In Van Nostrand's scientific encyclopedia (7th ed., Vol. 1, p. 202). New York: Van Nostrand
Reinhold.

Book
Bibliographic details are arranged in the sequence:
author/ editor(s)
year of publication
title of book
edition of book (if needed)
place of publication
publisher

Book with a Single Author


Goddard, C. R. (1996). Child abuse and child protection: A guide for health, education and welfare workers. South
Melbourne: Churchill Livingstone.

Book with 2 Authors


Koskoff, V. D., & Goldhurst, R. (1968). The dark side of the house. New York: Dial Press.

Book Other than First Edition


Strunk, W., & White, E. B. (1978). The elements of style (3rd ed.). London: Macmillan.

Bulletin (corporate author)

Australian Bureau of Statistics Bulletin


Australian Bureau of Statistics. (1985). Domestic travel and tourism survey, Australia, 1973 (Catalogue No. 9216.0).
Canberra: Author.

Journal Article
Bibliographic details are arranged in the following sequence:
author of journal article
year of publication
article title
title of journal
volume of journal
issue number of journal (if available)
article pages

Journal article
Wharton, N. (1996). Health and safety in outdoor activity centres. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor
Leadership, 12(4), 8-9.

Journal Article (no author)


Anorexia nervosa. (1969). British Medical Journal, 1, 529-530.
Magazine Article
Posner, M. I. (1993, October 29). Seeing the mind. Science, 262, 673-674.

Newspaper Article
Summers, A. (1975, December 22-27). How women live. National Times, 12-14.

More than One Item by the Same Author Published in the Same Year
Thorne, B. M. (1972a). Brain lesions and effective behaviour in primates: A selected review. Journal of General
Psychology, 86, 153-162.
Thorne B. M. (1972b). The red nucleus and olfactory discrimination in the rat. Journal of General Psychology, 86, 225-
229.

ERIC Document (microfiche)


Davis, R. K., & Lombardi, T. P. (1996). The quality of life of rural high school special education graduates: A follow-up
study. In Rural goals 2000: Building programs that work [Microfiche]. (ERIC Document No. ED394765)

Personal Communication and E-mail


Personal communication includes letters, memos, conversations and electronic mail. An entry is not added to your
reference list, but an in-text citation is still required. You must include the initials and surname of the communicator as
well as the date:

D. Smith stipulated on one occasion that the air conditioning system was maintained far too "periodically" (personal
communication, April 19, 1998).

OR

The company's policy on refunds was contrary to that of State law (L. Noel, personal communication, May 2, 2000).

Examples of Types of Electronic References:


Journal Article
Bibliographic details are arranged in the following sequence:
author of journal article
year of publication
article title
title of journal
volume of journal
issue number of journal (if available)
article pages or indication of length
access date
"retrieved" statement: supplier/database
name/identifier or URL

Internet Article Based on a Print Source


VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., & Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection of resources by psychology
undergraduates [Electronic version]. Journal of Bibliographic Research, 5, 117-123.

Full Text Journal Article from CD-ROM (BPO)


La Rosa, S.M. (1992). Marketing slays the downsizing dragon. Information Today 9(3), 58-59. Retrieved January 15,
1999, from UMI/Business Periodicals Ondisc.

Full Text Journal Article from Electronic Database


Borman, W.C., Hanson, M.A., Oppler, S.H., Pulakos, E.D., & White, L.A. (1993). Role of early supervisory experience in
supervisor performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 443-449. Retrieved October 23, 2000, from PsychARTICLES
database.

Full Text Journal Article from an Internet-only Journal


Fredrickson, B.L. (2000, March 7). Cultivating positive emotions to optimize health and well-being. Prevention &
Treatment, 3, Article 0001a. Retrieved November 20, 2000, from
http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume3/pre0030001a.html

Article from Curtin Electronic Reserve


Avgerou, C., Siemer, J., & Bj 鴕 n-Anderson, N. (1999). The academic field of information systems in Europe. European
Journal of Information Systems, 8, 136-153. Retrieved February 2, 2001, from Curtin Library and Information Service E-
Reserve/dc60005019.

CD-ROM (Stand-Alone Multimedia Disc)


A.D.A.M.: Animated dissection of anatomy for medicine. (1995). Retrieved January 10, 1999, from A.D.A.M. Software.

World Wide Web


World Wide Web page
Beckleheimer, J. (1994). How do you cite URL's in a bibliography? Retrieved December 13, 1995,
from http://www.nrlssc.navy.mil/meta/bibliography.html

World Wide Web page (no author)


Educating America for the 21st century: Developing a strategic plan for educational leadership for Columbia University-
1993-2000 (Initial workshop draft). (1994). Retrieved May 16, 1995, from
http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/CONF/EdPlan.html

World Wide Web page (no publication date)


Prizker, T. J. (n.d.). An early fragment from central Nepal. Retrieved December 12, 1996, from
http://www.ingress.com/~astanart/pritker/pritzker.html
World Wide Web Homepage
Curtin University of Technology Homepage. (1999, February 9). Retrieved February 11, 1999,
from http://www.curtin.edu.au

Discussion List
Simons, D. J. (2000, July 14). New resources for visual cognition [Msg 31]. Message posted to
http://groups.yahoo.com.au/group/visualcognition/message/31

Videorecording
Young, T. (Director), & McClory, K. (Producer). (1965). Thunderball [Motion picture]. USA: Warner Home Video.

You will need to provide the names of principle contributors, with their function in round brackets; indicate the medium in
square brackets after the title; and write the location and name of the distributor.

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