APA

A QUICK GUIDE
TO REFERENCING

USEFUL TIPS

REFERENCING IS NECESSARY TO AVOID PLAGIARISM, TO

VERIFY QUOTATIONS AND TO ENABLE READERS TO IDENTIFY
AND CONSULT ANY ITEM TO FOLLOW-UP A CITED AUTHORS
ARGUMENTS

A PA is an Authors Name and Date of Publication System. It

consists of in-text citations and a reference list at the end of
your document
The most important principle in referencing is to be consistent
A ll sources used in assignments, essays, reports and theses
must be acknowledged in the text of your document (these are
called in-text citations)
F or direct quotations of less than 40 words, use double
quotation marks to enclose quotations in text
Q uotations of 40 words or more are indented and
commence on a new line (quotation marks are not required)
Page or paragraph numbers must be given for all direct
quotations
Creating a reference list:
- T he reference list includes all books, articles, audiovisual
items and websites that are cited in the text
- T he reference list is arranged alphabetically by author
- W
 here an item has no author it is cited by its title, and
ordered in the reference list alphabetically by the first
significant word of the title
- Each reference in the list must have a hanging indent
- The reference list should be double-spaced

This guide is an introduction to the APA (American Psychological

Association) referencing system. For a more comprehensive
guide please refer to:
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual
of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington,
DC: Author.

PLEASE NOTE
Before you write your reference list, check with your
lecturer/tutor for the referencing style they prefer you to use
and refer to the instructions included with your assignment.
The information in this guide is intended to provide you with
guidance on using the APA referencing style, for more detailed
information, please refer to the style manual above.

The details, order and punctuation required for a reference list entry in its basic form are outlined below:

BOOK (PRINT)
The details required, in order, are: name of author(s), editor(s), or the institution responsible; publication year; title (italicised, capitalise the first
word of the title, subtitle and proper nouns); edition; place of publication and publisher. Not all of these details will be required for each reference.
AUTHOR YEAR OF PUBLICATION TITLE (Italics)

PLACE OF PUBLICATION

PUBLISHER

Griggs, R. A. (2006). Psychology: A concise introduction. New York, NY: Worth.

JOURNAL ARTICLE (PRINT)

The details required, in order, are: name of author(s); publication year; title of the article; title of the journal (italicised); volume number
(italicised); issue number (where required) and page numbers.
AUTHOR YEAR OF PUBLICATION TITLE OF ARTICLE TITLE OF JOURNAL (Italics) PAGE NUMBERS

Aranda, S. (2008). Designing nursing interventions. Collegian, 15(1), 19-25.

Volume (Italics)

www.vu.edu.au/library

ISSUE

APA A QUICK GUIDE TO REFERENCING

IN-TEXT EXAMPLE

REFERENCE LIST EXAMPLE

Book single author

.. issues for the elderly (Arnott, 2005)

OR
According to Arnott (2005)

Arnott, G. D. (2005). Working in aged care and

disability services. Croydon, Victoria: Tertiary Press.

Book two authors

Edition

Sinclair and Dangerfield (1998) discuss

OR
(Sinclair & Dangerfield, 1998)
Cite both authors each time the reference occurs.

Sinclair, D., & Dangerfield P. (1998). Human growth

after birth (6th ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford
University Press.
An edition number is placed after the title of the
work.

Book 3, 4 or 5 authors

(Broyles, Reiss, & Evans, 2007)

Cite all of the authors the first time the reference occurs.
In subsequent citations include only the surname of the
first author followed by et al. and the year.
(Broyles et al., 2007)

Broyles, B. E., Reiss, B. S., & Evans, M. E. (2007).

Pharmacological aspects of nursing care (7th ed.).
Albany, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.
Include all of the authors in the reference list.

Book 6 or more authors

(Mussen et al., 1973)

Cite only the surname of the first author followed by et al.
and the year for first and subsequent citations.

Mussen, P., Rosenzweig, M. R., Aronson, E., Elkind, D.,

Feshbach, S., & Geiwitz, P. J. (1973). Psychology: An
introduction. Lexington, MA: Heath.
Provide surnames and initials up-to and including
seven authors.

Book - 8 or more authors

(Hutchings et al., 2009)

Cite only the surname of the first author followed by et al.
and the year for first and subsequent citations.

Hutchings, D., Poliness, S., Leggat, I. K., Nemeth, T., West,

A., Ngo, A., . . . Mascilongo, J. (2009). How to use a
library. St. Albans, Melbourne: Victoria University Press.
Include the first six authors' names, followed by
three dots (. . .), then add the last author's name.

Book no author

(The CCH Macquarie dictionary of business, 1993)

OR
As defined in The CCH Macquarie dictionary of business (1993).

The CCH Macquarie dictionary of business. (1993). North

Ryde, New South Wales: CCH Australia.
The title is used in the author position if there are no
named authors or editors.

Book editor(s)

(Healey, 2006)

Healey, J. E. (Ed.). (2006). Australian identity and

values. Thirroul, New South Wales: Spinney Press.
Use (Eds.) for multiple editors.

Chapter in an edited book

(Bauman, 2005)
In the in-text citation name the author of the chapter.

Bauman, Z. (2005). Time and class. In P. Leistyna

(Ed.), Cultural studies: From theory to action (pp. 56 67). Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.

E-Book - No DOI assigned

(Towl, 2007)

Towl, G. (2007). Psychology in prisons. Retrieved

from http://www.eblib.com
If no DOI (digital object identifier) is available for
E-Books freely available on the internet, include the
URL of the E-Book.
For E-Books accessed via the Library databases (and
when there is no DOI available), use the URL of the
publishers homepage.

E-Book - with DOI assigned

(Hill, 2001)

Hill, C. E. (Ed.). (2001). Helping skills: the empirical

foundation. Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association. doi: 10.1037/10412-000

BOOKS

APA A QUICK GUIDE TO REFERENCING

IN-TEXT EXAMPLE

REFERENCE LIST EXAMPLE

Journal article single author

(Aranda, 2008)

Aranda, S. (2008). Designing nursing interventions.

Collegian, 15(1), 19-25.

Journal article
3, 4 or 5 authors

(Aoun, Kristjanson, Oldham, & Currow, 2008)

Cite all of the authors the first time the reference occurs.
In subsequent citations include only the surname of the first
author followed by et al. and the year.
(Aoun et al., 2008)

Aoun, S., Kristjanson, L., Oldham, L., & Currow, D.

(2008). A qualitative investigation of the palliative
care needs of terminally ill people who live alone.
Collegian, 15(1), 3-9.
Include all of the authors in the reference list.

Electronic journal article

with DOI (digital object
identifier) assigned
3, 4 or 5 authors

(Stice, Marti, Spoor, Presnell, & Shaw, 2008)

Cite all of the authors the first time the reference occurs.
In subsequent citations include only the surname of the first
author followed by et al. and the year:
(Stice et al., 2008)

Stice, E., Marti, C., Spoor, S., Presnell, K., & Shaw,
H. (2008). Dissonance and healthy weight eating
disorder prevention programs: Long-term effects from
a randomized efficacy trial. Journal of Consulting and
Clinical Psychology, 76, 329-340. doi:10.1037/0022006X.76.2.329
If a DOI is available it is included at the end of the
citation. The database name and URL are not required.
No retrieval date is included as the content of the article
is not likely to be changed or updated.
If no page numbers are displayed, paragraph or section
numbers may be used.

journals

NOTE: FOR MORE DETAILS ON HOW TO CITE MULTIPLE AUTHORS, REFER TO EXAMPLES IN BOOKS SECTION ON THE PREVIOUS PAGE OF THIS GUIDE.
Electronic journal article
No DOI assigned

(Bowen, 2008)
OR
Bowen (2008) concludes.

Bowen, S. (2008). Beyond self-assessment - assessing

organizational cultural responsiveness. Journal of
Cultural Diversity, 15, 7-15. Retrieved from
http://www.tuckerpub.com/jcd.htm
If no DOI is available include the URL of the journal
homepage.
If no page numbers are displayed, paragraph or section
numbers may be used.

SECONDARY SOURCES
When you are referring to the
ideas or words of an author
who has been cited in another
author's work

Benner describes intuition (as cited in Miller and Babcock,

1996)

Miller, M. A., & Babcock, D. E. (1996). Critical thinking

applied to nursing. St. Louis, MO: Mosby.

Name the original work in the text of your paper and give a
citation for the secondary source.

Provide a reference for the book or article that you

actually read.

APA A QUICK GUIDE TO REFERENCING

IN-TEXT EXAMPLE

REFERENCE LIST EXAMPLE

OTHER ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

Newspaper article online

(Davidson, 2008)

Davidson, K. (2008, November 10). Time to spend big

on infrastructure. The Age. Retrieved from
http://www.theage.com.au

Internet document
organisation as author

(The Australian Psychological Society, 2008)

The Australian Psychological Society. (2008). Understanding

and managing anxiety. Retrieved November 5, 2008
from http://www.psychology.org.au/publications/
tip_sheets/anxiety
Include the date an electronic source was retrieved if
the content is likely to be changed or updated.

Internet document -
government department as
author

(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008)

Organisational names may be abbreviated in subsequent
citations where the abbreviation is familiar or readily
understood.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2008).

Australia's health 2008. Retrieved from
http://www.aihw.gov.au/

(AIHW, 2008)
Internet document no author
no date

(What is holistic medicine?, n.d.)

If the author is not identified use the title of the resource.

What is holistic medicine? (n.d.). Retrieved September

20, 2006 from http://www.holisticmed.com/whatis.
html
Use n.d. (no date) when a publication date is not
available.
Include the date an electronic source was retrieved if
the content is likely to be changed or updated.

Document on Victoria University

E-Reserve

(Clancy, 2006)

Clancy, D. (2006). Education in Australia: Week

3 lecture notes. Retrieved from Victoria University
E-Reserve Web site: http://library.vu.edu.au/
search/r?SEARCH=Ass1013

Internet document A.B.S. as

author

(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007)

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2007). National survey

of mental health and wellbeing (No. 4326.0).
Canberra, ACT: Author. Retrieved from http://www.
abs.gov.au
Author is used in place of a publisher name where
the author is also the publisher.

Image on the internet

(Stanford Prison Experiment, 2007)

Stanford Prison Experiment [Image] (2007). Retrieved

October 16, 2009 from http://www.flickr.com/
photos/futursimple/2435590398/
Include the retrieval date only if the image is likely
to be changed or updated.

Photograph on the internet

(Caire, 1880)

Caire, N.J. (1880). Western entrance to Melbourne

International Exhibition [Photograph ID: AB713-18710]. Retrieved from http://catalogue.slv.vic.gov.
au/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=1719334
Include the retrieval date only if the image is likely to
be changed or updated.

Video blog post

(For example, youtube)

(Hall, 2007)

Last revised September 2010

Hall, A. (2007, December 20). Studying at Oxford

University [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=vxAU88LxLis

LibrarySA 626.09.10