APA 7th referencing style

The “APA style” is an author-date style for citing and referencing information in assignments and publications. This guide is based on the "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association" 7th edition (2019).

See the APA Style's official Common Reference Examples Guide for a quick overview of how to format some of the most common reference types students may need to use.

 Always check with your lecturer or tutor about the referencing style preferred by the School. There may be differences.

It is important to understand the basics of referencing and why it is important. 

A referencing style is a set of rules on how to acknowledge the thoughts, ideas and works of others in a particular way. Different types of sources eg. books, articles, each have a specific format, determined by the referencing style you are using.

Referencing is a crucial part of successful academic writing, avoiding plagiarism and maintaining academic integrity in your assignments and research.

Watch Introduction to referencing (YouTube 3m43s) to learn about the basics of referencing.

Many types of publication examples have been provided in this guide. If you cannot find the example you need, you can:

• consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) or APA Style
• view the reference lists of articles in publications that use APA such American Psychological Association journals (check which APA edition used) 
• consult the Instructions to authors, if writing for a journal
• type the title of the item into Library Search to see if it has a suggested citation
• adapt the rules of a similar publication type to the item
• consult other institutions’ style guides or with your tutor or course coordinator.

This short quiz will:

• allow you to check your understanding and avoid some common mistakes when using APA 7th referencing style
• take about 5 to 10 minutes to complete
• open in a pop-up window. You may need to enable pop-ups in your browser settings.

 
Contact us if you have any questions or need assistance with the quiz.