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APA 7th referencing style

This is a guide to using the APA7 referencing style from the American Psychological Association. It is based on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

Using in-text references

  • No specific font type or size required. Recommendations include Calibri size 11, Arial size 11, Lucida size 10, Times New Roman size 12, Georgia size 11 or Computer Modern size 10 (LaTeX).
  • The last name of the author(s) and the year of publication are generally needed.
  • They can be included within parentheses or brackets (parenthetical) eg. (Thompson, 2018), or part of a sentence (narrative) eg. Thompson (2018) has argued that ".....". In rare cases, the author and date might both appear in the narrative. In this case, do not use parentheses eg. In 2018, Thomson argued that ...
  • They can appear within a sentence or at the end of a sentence before the full stop eg. .... this week (Johns, 2017).
  • A page number is included for a direct quote. Place a comma after the year and use p. for single page, pp. for multiple pages eg. (Harris, 2012, p. 164) or (Lewis, 2016, pp. 56-58).
  • When you paraphrase or refer to an idea from another work, a page number is not required. However, it can be useful to include.
  • If there is no date, the abbreviation n.d. may be used eg. (Harris, n.d.)
  • if work is not yet published, use in press eg. (Taylor, in press).

Works with authors with same last name

In-text reference

Format

(First author - first name initial. last name, Year)

First author - first name initial. last name  (Year)

(First author - first name initial. last name & second author - last name, Year)

First author - first name initial. last name and second author - last name (Year)
Example

(J. P. Lewis, 2007)

J. P. Lewis (2007) argues that….

(R. Lewis, 2007)

R. Lewis (2007) stated that...

(S. Lewis & Edwards, 2015) 

S. Lewis and Edwards (2015) found that .....

Include each first author’s initials in all citations. Do this for the first author only..

If the same author last name is found as second, third etc authors, initials are NOT used.

Initials of first author are included even if year of publication differs.

Works with same author(s) and same year

  • Place an a, b, c etc after the year 
  • The letters are allocated in the reference list where references with the same first author last names are organised alphabetically by title. The first reference listed uses "a", second uses "b" etc.
  • If "in press" is used for the year, place dash between "press" and relevant letter eg. in press-c
  • Use each time the references are included. This includes for a single reference within a parentheses or multiple works in same parentheses.

Examples:

(Jordan & Kendall, 2010a)

(Jordan & Kendall, 2010b)

(Jordan & Kendall, in press-c)

(Jordan & Kendall, 2010a; Harris, 2018)

Work with no author(s) or editor(s)

In-text reference

Format

("First words of article, chapter title" - in title case, Year)

"First words of article, chapter title - in title case" (Year)

(Title of book, journal - in title case, Year)

Title of book, journal - in title case (Year)
Example

("Social Media", 2013)

"Social Media" (2013)

(Social Media Security, 2014)

Social Media Security (2014)

Use double quotation marks "....." and title case (capitalise each word) for title of article, chapter or web page with no author.

Italicise title of journal, book, brochure or report with no author. Use title case.

Use title case for in-text references only. 

Multiple works within same reference

Two or more works by different authors

  • List works alphabetically (as they appear in the reference list)
  • Separate references with a semicolon ;

Example:

(Noble et al., 2015; Walker, 2011)

Two or more works by the same author 

  • Order references by year of publication
  • Put n.d. (no date) references first
  • Put "in press" references last
  • Only use the author last name or groups name once then list the years

Examples:

(Lewis, n.d., 2012, 2015, 2016, in press)

(Education Queensland, 2011, 2013)

(Education Queensland, 2011; Lewis, 2012, 2015, 2016, in press)

Two or more works by the same author published in the same year 

  • Place an a, b, c etc after the year 
  • The letters are allocated in the reference list where references with the same first author last names are organised alphabetically by title.
  • Repeat each year with each letter used eg. 2018a, 2018b, 2018c
  • If "in press" is used, place dash between "press" and relevant letter eg. in press-c
  • Use this format each time the references are used in-text. 

Examples:

(Jordan & Kendall, 2010a)

(Jordan & Kendall, 2010a, 2010b, in press-c)

(Jordan & Kendall, 2010a, 2010b; Mitchell & Clarke, 2004; Tourism Queensland, 2009)

Works that are reissued, reprinted, republished or translated

  • Both the original year and the reissued, reprinted, republished or translated year of the work needs to be included.
  • The years are separated by a forward slash /.
  • The original year is listed first.

Example:

(Austen, 1813/2015)

Austen (1813/2015)