APA 6

TH
ED
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL
ASSOCIATION (APA)
• to acknowledge someone else’s ideas or words you have used.
• paraphrasing information you have researched and read. - -
• Paraphrasing means re-wording something you have read in to your
own words.
• If you use someone else’s words or work and fail to acknowledge
them – you may be accused of plagiarism and infringing copyright.
 Referencing correctly enables the marker or reader of your
assignment to locate the source of the information. They can
verify the information or read further on the topic.
 Referencing also allows for you to retrace your steps and locate
information you have used
 By referencing clearly and correctly, it demonstrates you have
undertaken research on the assignment
THERE ARE TWO MAIN PARTS TO REFERENCING:

1. citing in text, in text citations or text citations

• indicated within your paper/research the sources of the information
you have used to write your paper/research.
• This demonstrates support for your ideas, arguments and views.
2. reference list or Literature Cited
• shows the complete details of everything you cited and appears in an
alphabetical list on a separate page, at the end of your assignment.
HOW TO REFERENCE
1. IN TEXT CITATIONS
• When citing in text, use the author/s (or editor/s) last name followed by the year of
publication.

• Water is a necessary part of every person’s diet and of all the nutrients a body needs to
function, it requires more water each day than any other nutrient (Whitney & Rolfes, 2011).
or
• Whitney and Rolfes (2011) state the body requires many nutrients to function but highlight
that water is of greater importance than any other nutrient.
or
• Water is an essential element of anyone’s diet and Whitney and Rolfes (2011) emphasize it
is more important than any other nutrient.
• Reference list entry:

Whitney, E., & Rolfes, S. (2011). Understanding nutrition (12th ed.).

Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

• Note: This book did not have a city for place of publication, just a country. Extra note: This
book has an edition. This information is included straight after the title.
THREE, FOUR OR FIVE AUTHORS
• cite all authors the first time and from then on include only the last name of the first author
followed by the words et al. (‘et al.’ is Latin for ‘and others’)
 SIX OR SEVEN AUTHORS
• cite only the last name of the first author followed by et al. each time you refer to this work.
 GROUPS AS AUTHORS
• names of groups that serve as authors (e.g., corporations, associations, government agencies) are
usually written in full each time they appear in a text citation. The names of some group authors
(e.g., associations, government agencies) are spelled out in the first citation and abbreviated
thereafter
 SIMILAR INFORMATION REFERRED TO
BY MORE THAN ONE AUTHOR
• list the sources in alphabetical order within the brackets, separated by a semi-
colon
 SAME AUTHOR AND SAME DATE
• differentiate between them by assigning lowercase letters a, b, c, etc. They are listed in the
reference list alphabetically by title (excluding A or The).
 CITING A SECONDARY SOURCE
• acknowledge the source you have read, showing it is a secondary source.
This demonstrates you have not read the original source but read about it in a
secondary source. Within the text citation, use the words “as cited in” to
indicate this is a secondary source. In the reference list, include the author and
details of the source you actually read.
 CITING A SECONDARY SOURCE
• acknowledge the source you have read, showing it is a secondary source.
This demonstrates you have not read the original source but read about it in a
secondary source. Within the text citation, use the words “as cited in” to
indicate this is a secondary source. In the reference list, include the author and
details of the source you actually read.
2. THE REFERENCE LIST
• All references or information sources cited in any written work
(i.e. essays, reports, research papers, etc.) need to be listed in a
reference list on a separate page at the end of your
paper/research
BASIC RULES
1. The reference list is arranged in alphabetical order of the authors’ last
names.
2. If there is more than one work by the same author, order them by
publication date – oldest to newest (therefore a 2004 publication would
appear before a 2008 publication).
3. If there is no author the title moves to that position and the entry is
alphabetised by the first significant word, excluding words such as “A”
or “The”. If the title is long, it may be shortened when citing in text.
4. Use “&” instead of “and” when listing multiple authors of a source.
BASIC RULES CONT…
5. The first line of the reference list entry is left-hand justified, while all
subsequent lines are consistently indented.
6. Capitalise only the first word of the title and of the subtitle, if there is
one, plus any proper names – i. e. only those words that would
normally be capitalised.
7. Italicise the title of the book, the title of the journal/serial and the title
of the web document.
8. Do not create separate lists for each type of information source. Books,
articles, web documents, brochures, etc. are all arranged
alphabetically in one list.
 BOOKS
1. Author/s or Editor/s last name (surname) appears first, followed by initials (Bloggs, J.).
2. Year of publication in brackets (2010).
3. Full title of the book. Capitalise only the first word of the title and the subtitle. Italicise
the title. Use a colon (:) between the title and subtitle.
4. Include the edition number, if applicable, in brackets after the title or subtitle (3rd ed.) or
(Rev. ed.).
5. Place of publication. Always include the city and 2-letter state code when published
inside the USA, and the city & country, if published outside the USA (Fort Bragg, CA or
Auckland, New Zealand or Benalla, Australia or Weybridge, England). If there are two or
more places included in the source, then use the first one listed.
6. Publisher’s name. Provide this as briefly as possible. Do not use terms such as
Publishers, Co., or Inc. but include the words Books & Press. When the author and the
publisher are the same, use the word Author as the name of the publisher.
BOOK – ONE AUTHOR
 BOOK – PLACE OF PUBLICATION
• Note: always include the city and 2-letter state code when published inside the USA, and
city & country if published outside the USA.
BOOK – EDITOR
CHAPTER IN AN EDITED BOOK
 SERIAL/JOURNAL ARTICLES
1. Author/s last name (surname) first, followed by initials.
2. Year of publication in brackets. (2012)
3. Title of article. Capitalise only the first word of the title and the
subtitle, if any, and proper names. Use a colon (:) between the
title and subtitle.
4. Title of the serial/journal in full in italics.
5. Volume number, in italics. Do not use “Vol.” before the number.
6. Issue number. This is bracketed immediately after the volume
number but not italicised.
7. Month, season or other designation of publication if there is
no volume or issue number.
8. Include all page numbers.
9. Include any Digital Object Identifiers [DOI].
SERIAL / JOURNAL ARTICLE – MORE
THAN ONE AUTHOR (PRINT)
 SERIAL / JOURNAL ARTICLE (ONLINE
FROM A DATABASE
• The database name and retrieval date are no longer required. Include
the home page of the journal.
 SERIAL / JOURNAL – MORE THAN ONE
AUTHOR (ONLINE– DOI)
• Many publishers, databases and online journals use DOIs. They are alpha-numeric
codes that usually appear on the first page of the article. Copy the DOI exactly as it
appears.
 INTERNET SOURCES
• add the electronic retrieval information required for people to locate the material you
cited
INTERNET – ORGANISATION /
CORPORATE AUTHOR
DICTIONARY (PRINT)
DICTIONARY (ONLINE)
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE (NO AUTHOR)

NEWSPAPER (ONLINE)
THESIS (PRINT)

THESIS (PRINT)