The referencing style sheet is to be used in conjunction with the Library’s General guide to citing and referencing. The information here is based on the current edition of the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association and was correct at the time of writing. The manual and the APA Style Blog are the authoritative sources of advice about APA Style: the Library’s APA referencing style sheet is not. If you cannot find the answer to your referencing question in the manual or the blog, you should contact the APA Style experts at StyleExpert@apa.org.
The Library holds lending copies of the current manual on Level 3 at shelf mark 808.06615 AME and we also provide you with access to the e-version of the manual.
There are standard reference formats for most types of document. Below are examples of the most common types of document you might want to reference. Each of the following gives a suggested standard format for the reference followed by examples for the different document types.
Author’s surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Title (xx ed. if not the first). Place of publication: Publisher.
Tseris, E. (2019). Trauma, women's mental health, and social justice: Pitfalls and possibilities. Routledge.
Title. (Year of publication). (xx ed. if not the first). Publisher.
Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (11th ed.). (2003). Merriam-Webster.
Group author. (Year of publication). Title (xx ed. if not the first). Publisher.
British Broadcasting Corporation. (2005). Review of the BBC's royal charter: BBC response to a strong BBC, independent of government.
NB: When the author and publisher are the same, it is not necessary to add the publisher.
Editor’s surname, Initials. (Ed.). (Year of publication). Title (xx ed. if not the first). Publisher.
Palmer, S. (Ed.). (2011). Social work in mental health and substance abuse. CRC Press.
Authors’ surnames, initials. (Year of publication). Title. (xx ed. if not the first). Publisher.
Rutter, L., & Brown, K. (2020). Critical thinking and professional judgement for social work (5th ed). Learning Matters.
Author of chapter’s surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In: Initials of the first editor, Surname of first editor & Initials of the second editor, Surname of the second editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xx-xx). Publisher.
Martin, A. (2006). Literacies for the digital age. In A. Martin & D. Madigan (Eds.), Digital literacies for learning (pp. 3-25). Facet.
Author’s surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Title of article . Title of Journal, Volume number(issue number), page numbers xx-xx. http//doi.org/xxxx
Oncul, O. (2016). Crime and delinquency. International Journal of Psychology, 51(S1), 295-303. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12305
Author surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume number(issue number), page numbers xx-xx. URL
Marion, T., Reese, V., & Wagner, R. F. (2018). Dermatologic features in good film characters who turn evil: The transformation. Dermatology Online Journal, 24(9), Article 4. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1666h4z5
Author surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Title (xx ed. if not the first). Publisher. URL.
Moore, A. (2012). Teaching and learning: Pedagogy, curriculum and culture (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://bath-ac-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1fg2g9q/44BAT_ALMA_DS5145800530002761
Author surname, Initials. (Year of release in electronic format). Title. Publisher. URL (Original year work was published).
Hooke, R. (2005). Micrographia: Or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses with observations and inquiries thereupon. Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15491/15491-h/15491-h.htm (Original work published 1664).
Name of government departments. (Date of publication). Title of report. Publisher [If different from the group author].
Public Health England. (2020) Stay at home: Guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection.
Author surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume number(issue number), pages xx -xx.
Nevin, A. (1990). The changing of teacher education special education. Teacher Education and Special Education: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children, 13(4), 147-148.
Author’s surname, Initials. (Year of publication, Month of publication, Day of publication). Title of the article. Title of Newspaper, pp. xx-xx.
Bowcott, O. (2020, September 24). Investigation launched after black barrister is mistaken for the defendant three times in a day. The Guardian, pp.20-21.
Writer’s surname, Initials. (Writer), & Director’s surname, Initials. (Director). (Year, Month Day). Title of episode (Season x, Episode y) [TV series episode]. In Executive Producer’s Initial. Executive Producer’s surname (Executive Producer), Title of TV series. Broadcasting company.
Kripke, E. (Writer), & Trachtenberg, D. (Director). (2020, July 26). The Name of the Game (Season 1, Episode 1) [TV series episode]. In H. Gorenstein (Executive Producer), The Boys. Sony Pictures Television; Kripke Enterprises; Point Grey Pictures; Original Film; Kickstart Entertainment; Amazon Studios.
The APA makes a distinction between theses/dissertations available in print form only (‘unpublished’) and those available online (‘published’), and it makes further distinctions according to the type of online publisher. The APA also uses American terminology to describe a thesis/dissertation: 'doctoral dissertation’ and ‘master’s thesis’. Please refer to the Publication Manual for detailed guidance. The example below is for Doctoral dissertation published online, but not in a database.
Author Surname, Initials. (Year of the award). Title of dissertation (Level of the award, Awarding institution). Archive name. URL
Confait, M. F. (2018). Maximising the contributions of PhD graduates to national development: The case of the Seychelles [Doctoral dissertation, Edith Cowan University]. Edith Cowan Online Repository. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2060
Author's surname, Initials. (Year, Month Day site/document was published online: be as specific as is possible). Title. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL.
Note: If there is no individual author, you can use an organisation or corporate body name as the group author (organisation), e.g. British Broadcasting Corporation. If neither is available, move the title to the author position, before a full stop and the date of publication.
National Health Service. (2020, October 16). Check if you or your child has coronavirus symptoms. Retrieved October 20, 2020, from https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/
Do not include retrieval dates unless the source material may change over time (e.g. wikis, web pages...)
The American Psychological Association uses an author-date style of referencing with details entered in round brackets. For example:
The traditional approach to human cognition is over-simplified in assuming that processing is typically serial (Eysenck & Keane, 2010).
Treatment of multiple authors:
When a work has two authors, cite both authors every time.
When a work has three or more authors, include only the surname of the first author only, followed by et al., and date of publishing in every citation, including the first. For example:
Kisangua et al. (2007) found that … [first and subsequent citations]
Formatting the reference list in APA style:
Begin the reference list on a new page at the end of your assignment.
Apply a hanging indent to each reference list entry. This means that the first line of each entry is left-aligned, while the second and subsequent lines are indented (the Publication Manual recommends 0.5" or 1.27cm).
To create a hanging indent in Microsoft Word: Highlight your reference entry, right-click, select 'Paragraph' from the list, a box will open and select 'Hanging' from the drop-down menu labelled 'Special'.
The Publication Manual also recommends double-line spacing within and between reference list entries, but check your tutor or department's preferences. See examples:
British Broadcasting Corporation. (2005). Review of the BBC's royal charter: BBC response to a strong BBC, independent of government.
Martin, A. (2006). Literacies for the digital age. In A. Martin & D. Madigan (Eds.), Digital literacies for learning (pp. 3-25). Facet.
Oncul, O. (2016). Crime and delinquency. International Journal of Psychology, 51(S1), 295-303. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12305
The reference list should contain full details of all the sources mentioned in the text, arranged alphabetically by surname of the first author.
Treatment of multiple authors within the reference list:
For sources with 21 or more authors, include the first 19 authors’ names, insert an ellipsis (…) and then add the final author’s name. Do not place an ampersand (&) before the final author's name. See:
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition is the official source for APA Style.
Shelf mark: 808.06615 AME
The Concise Guide to APA Style, Seventh Edition is the official APA Style resource for students. Designed specifically for undergraduate writing.
Shelf mark: 808.06615 AME
The APA Style website and blog will provide information about the seventh edition style only, with a very useful Q&A section. Note: on the blog, you can find an post on Citing and referencing ChatGPT and other AI tools.
