APA Referencing

 

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Cowan University uses APA (6th edition) referencing style in most of its courses unless otherwise stated in the Unit Plan. One exception is the Bachelor of Laws course. This guide has been developed to assist undergraduate students with using APA 6th referencing style and contains examples of commonly referenced materials. For more detail, please refer to our comprehensive online Referencing Library Guide, where you will also find a link to the APA Style Central database. 

If you are unsure that APA is the correct style to use for your work, please consult your Unit Plan or contact your lecturer or unit coordinator. 

Why should I reference? Referencing is an essential part of writing at university. It is necessary to reference the information sources you have used in your work to: 

• acknowledge the work of other writers; 

• enable other researchers to trace your sources; 

• demonstrate the depth of your research; and 

• support your arguments or opinions put forward in your work. 

By acknowledging the work of others, you avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct and is taken very seriously at university. Plagiarism is where you either intentionally, or unintentionally, fail to acknowledge other writers’ words, ideas, or concepts, and/or claim the words, ideas, and concepts as your own. However, the use of common knowledge in your discussion is not considered to be plagiarism (i.e. the sky is blue, or the chemical formula for water is H20). 

What is APA Referencing? APA is the referencing style set by the American Psychological Association. It is an (author, date) style of referencing that consists of two parts: 

1. In-text Citation – a short reference (author, date) contained within the text of your assignment AND 2. End-text Reference – the full citation details of each in-text citation used in the text of your assignment. 

In-text Citations In-text citations include the details of the author/s (usually just the surname or organisation name), and the year of publication in the (author, date) format. You must always include an in-text citation when you: 

• Quote another author (word for word) 

o Note: you must also include a page number for direct quotes (author, date, page number). 

e.g. (Wheelen & Hunger, 2008, p.23) For electronic sources where there are no page numbers, use the paragraph number to identify the location of the quoted material. Abbreviate paragraph as para. e.g. (Basu & Jones, 2007, para. 4) 

• Paraphrase, summarise or synthesise another author’s work in your own words 

o In-text citations, when paraphrasing, can take a number of forms, depending on how you choose to 

structure your sentence. For example, 

▪ Kessler (2014) found that among epidemiological samples . . . 

▪ Early onset results in a more persistent and severe course (Kessler, 2014) showed . . . 

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▪ In 2014, Kessler’s study of epidemiological samples showed that . . . 

• Support your own work with another author’s work (either to provide an example or to provide evidence for an argument). 

End-text References Every in-text citation should have a corresponding citation in the end-text reference list. Every work in the end-text reference list should have a corresponding in-text citation. Personal Communications are an exception to this rule. 

The end-text reference list provides full citation details of a work based on the following four elements: 

1. Who: who produced the work (i.e. details of the author) 2. When: when was the work produced (i.e. date of publication) 3. What: what is the work we are referring to (i.e. title of the work) 4. Where: where did this work come from (i.e. publisher or online source) 

This means that all end-text reference list citations have the following format as their underlying structure: Author, A. A. (year). Title. Source. 

General Notes It is important to take note of the following general rules: 

Direct Quotations 

• All direct quotations from a work should be reproduced word for word, keeping the original spelling and internal punctuation (even where it is incorrect). 

• Short quotations of fewer than 40 words are incorporated within the text of your work, and are enclosed with “double quotation marks”. 

• Long quotations of 40 words or more are displayed in block format without quotation marks. Block format means that the quote should start on a new line and be indented from the left margin. 

• Quotations must include a reference to the page number or specific location of the quote in the original work in addition to the citation. 

• If you are adding information to a quote, adding emphasis, correcting errors, or clarifying ambiguous place names, identify this by using square brackets [ ]. 

• If you are omitting parts of a quote, use an ellipsis (. . .) to indicate that you have removed material. Use the ellipsis (. . .) at the beginning or end of a quotation if you are not quoting a complete sentence. 

Authors 

• Authors can be individual people or a group (such as corporations, associations, government agencies). 

• For individual people, the information you provide in a citation about an author depends upon the number of authors. 

o Single author: When citing a single author in an in-text citation, insert the surname of the author. o Two authors: Where there are two authors, both surnames should be used: 

▪ Davidson and Porter (2012) demonstrated that . . . 

▪ It has been demonstrated that . . . (Davidson & Porter, 2012). o Three, four, or five authors: Where there are three, four, or five authors, all surnames should be 

used the first time the in-text reference appears in the document. For all subsequent citations, include only the surname of the first author followed by “et al.” 

▪ First mention: 

• Smith, Grierson, Malthus, and Nicholson (2015) found . . . 

• According to evidence . . . (Smith, Grierson, Malthus, & Nicholson, 2015). 

▪ Subsequent mention: 

• Smith et al. (2015) suggest . . . 

• The study concluded . . . (Smith et al., 2015). o Six or seven authors: Where there are six or seven authors, use the first surname only followed by 

et al. 

• According to Abercrombe et al. (2008) . . . 

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• It was shown that . . . (Abercrombe et al., 2008). o Eight or more authors: Where there are eight or more authors, use the first surname only followed 

by et al. in the in-text reference. For the End-text reference, include the first six authors, followed by and ellipsis ( . . . ) then the last author’s name. 

• In-text: 

o According to Owen et al. (2014) . . . o It was shown that . . . (Owen et al., 2014). 

• End Text: 

o Owen, A., Dufes, C., Moscatelli, D., Mayes, E., Lovell, J., Katti, K., . . . Stone, 

V. (2014). The application of nanotechnology in medicine: Treatment and diagnostics. Nanomedicine, 9(9), 1291-1294. doi:10.2217/NNM.14.93 

• Corporate author: for a group, the name of the group is written in full the first time they occur in an in-text citation. 

o If you wish to abbreviate names, write the name in full the first time that it occurs, and place the 

abbreviated form in brackets. In subsequent citations, you can then just use the abbreviation. 

▪ First mention: 

• (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2014). 

▪ Subsequent mentions: 

• (ABS, 2014). 

• If there is more than one work by the same author, the end-text references are to be listed in date order. If the author has more than one work in the one year, use lower case letters of the alphabet. 

▪ (Jones, 2016a), (Jones, 2016b) 

Place of Publication For books published within the United States, follow the name of the city with the two official US postal service abbreviations. For all other publications, follow the name of the city with the name of the country. End with the name of the publisher. For example: 

• New York, NY: Harper & Row. 

• Washington, DC: Author. 

• Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 

• London, England: Wildwood House. 

• Melbourne, Australia: Puffin. 

• Cambridge, England: Author. 

Sample References 

Source In-text Citation End-text Reference & Notes 

Journal article 

In-text Citation End-text Reference & Notes 

With doi (digital object identifier) 

(Stahl, 2016) OR Stahl (2016) 

Stahl, C. (2016). Experimental psychology: A call for confirmatory 

research. Experimental Psychology, 63(1), 1-2. doi:10.1027/1618-3169/a000317 

No doi (online) 

(Bultas, Hassler, Ercole, & Rea, 2016) OR Bultas, Hassler, Ercole and Rea (2016) 

Bultas, M. W., Hassler, M., Ercole, P. M., & Rea, G. (2014). 

Effectiveness of high-fidelity simulation for pediatric staff nurse education. Pediatric Nursing, 40(1), 27-42. Retrieved from https://www.pediatricnursing.net 

Note: use journal homepage URL for retrieval statement Print (Woolston, 2016) 

OR 

Woolston, C. (2016). Psychology: Faking it. Nature, 529(7587), 555- 

557. 

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Source In-text Citation End-text Reference & Notes 

Woolston (2016) 3-5 authors (Timms, DeVelle, & Lay, 2016) Subsequent mention (Timms et al., 2016) 

Timms, M., DeVelle, S., & Lay, D. (2016). Towards a model of how 

learners process feedback: A deeper look at learning. Australian Journal of Education, 60(2), 128-145. doi:10.1177/0004944116652912 

6-7 authors (McGuire et al., 2014) McGuire, J. A., Witt, C. C., Remsen, J. V., Corl, A., Rabosky, D. L., 

Altshuler, D. L., & Dudley, R. (2014). Molecular phylogenetics and the diversification of hummingbirds. Current Biology, 24(8), 910–916. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.016 

8 or more authors 

(Owen et al., 2014) Owen, A., Dufes, C., Moscatelli, D., Mayes, E., Lovell, J., Katti, K., . . . 

Stone, V. (2014). The application of nanotechnology in medicine: Treatment and diagnostics. Nanomedicine, 9(9), 1291-1294. doi:10.2217/NNM.14.93 

If there are eight or more authors, include the first six authors, followed by an ellipsis ( . . . ) then the last author's name. Magazine (Patel, 2017) Patel, P. (2017, February). Bots in your bloodstream. Scientific 

American, 316(2), 15. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0217- 15 

eBook In-text Citation End-text Reference & Notes 2 authors, edition 

(e.g. ProQuest eBook collection) 

(Sennewald & Baillie, 2016) 

Sennewald, C. A., & Baillie, C. (2016). Effective security management (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com 

If you are citing an electronic version of a book from an eBook collection, include the publisher location and name and the URL of the home page of the eBook collection. Book In-text Citation End-text Reference & Notes Print book (Brown, 2014) Brown, W. H. (2014). Introduction to organic chemistry. Hoboken, 

NJ: Wiley. 

Edited book (Guzys & Petrie, 2014) Guzys, D., & Petrie, E. (Eds.). (2014). An introduction to community 

and primary health care. Port Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press. 

Chapter of a book 

(Ryan, 2005) Ryan, M. J. (2005). Evolution of behaviour. In J. Bolhuis & L. 

Giraldeau (Eds.), The behaviour of animals (pp. 294-314). Oxford, England: Blackwell. 

Reference Works 

In-Text Citation End-text Reference & Notes 

Print Dictionary 

(Park & Allaby, 2013) Park, C., & Allaby, M. (2013). A dictionary of environment and 

conservation. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 

Entry in an Online Dictionary (no author, no date) 

(“Major Depressive Disorder,” n.d.) 

Major depressive disorder. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster’s online 

dictionary (11th ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster. Retrieved from https://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/major+depressive+disorder 

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Source In-text Citation End-text Reference & Notes 

Entry in an online Encyclopaedia 

(Jensen, 2015) Jensen, R. (2015). Advocacy journalism. In W. Donsbach (Ed.), The 

concise encyclopedia of communication (pp. 94-95). Malden, MA : Wiley Blackwell. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com 

Newspaper In-text Citation End-text Reference & Notes Newspaper article 

(Harlan, 2013) Harlan, C. (2013, April 2). North Korea vows to restart shuttered 

nuclear reactor that can make bomb-grade plutonium. The Washington Post, pp. A1, A4. 

Newspaper article online 

(Cater, 2016) Cater, N. (2016, December 27). Since Davos, only the climate remains unchanged. The Australian. Retrieved from http://www.theaustralian.com.au 

Conference Paper 

In-Text Citation End-text Reference & Notes 

IEEE (Published as a chapter of a book) 

(Smith, 2003) Smith, C. L. (2003). Understanding concepts in the defence in depth 

strategy. In Proceedings of the IEEE 37th Annual 2003 International Carnahan Conference on Security Technology (pp. 8-16). doi:10.1109/CCST.2003.1297528 

Report In-Text Citation End-text Reference & Notes Australian Bureau of Statistics 

(Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2016) 

Subsequent mention: (ABS, 2016) 

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2016). Land management and 

farming in Australia, 2014-15 (Cat. No. 4627.0). Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au 

Authored Report 

(Stewart, Hedwards, Richards, Willis, & Higgins, 2014) 

Stewart, J., Hedwards, B., Richards, K., Willis, M., & Higgins, D. (2014). Indigenous youth justice programs evaluation. Retrieved from Australian Institute of Criminology website: http://www.aic.gov.au 

Online report: Include the name of the publishing organisation in the retrieval information when the publisher is not identified as the author. Australian Curriculum 

(Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2014) 

Subsequent mention: (ACARA, 2014) 

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2014). 

Foundation to year 10 curriculum: Language for interaction (ACELA1428). Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/english/curriculum /f-10?layout=1#cdcode=ACELA1428&level=F 

Technical Report - Standard 

(Standards Australia, 2009) 

Standards Australia. (2009). Risk management: Principles and 

guidelines (AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009). Retrieved from http://standards.org.au/ 

Website In-Text Citation End-text Reference & Notes Webpage (British Society for 

Nanomedicine, 2012) 

British Society for Nanomedicine. (2012). What is nanotechnology 

and what is nanomedicine? Retrieved from https://www.britishsocietynanomedicine.org/what-is- nanomedicine/ 

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Source In-text Citation End-text Reference & Notes 

Website KidsPsych is an 

interactive website for children (http://www.kidspsych.or g) 

When citing an entire website, and not a particular document on that website, it is sufficient to give the address of the site in the text (no reference list entry is needed). 

Blog (Laden, 2011) Laden, G. (2011, May 8). A history of childbirth and misconceptions 

about life expectancy [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://scienceblogs.com/ gregladen/2011/05/a_history_of_childbirth_and_mi.php 

Blog comment (MiddleKid, 2007) MiddleKid. (2007, January 22). Re: The unfortunate prerequisites 

and consequences of partitioning your mind [Blog comment]. Retrieved from http://scienceblogs. com/pharyngula/2007/01/the_unfortunate_ prerequisites.php 

Audio Visual Materials 

In-Text Citation End-text Reference & Notes 

Video (Williams & Bell, 1998) Williams, S. (Producer), & Bell, A. J. W. (Director). (1998). Lost for 

words [Video file]. England: Yorkshire Television. 

YouTube Video 

(McDonnell, 2011) McDonnell, C. [charlieissocoollike]. (2011, May 17). Stop 

procrastinating [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/charlie#p/u/4/qjIsdbBsE8g 

Streaming Video 

(Page, 2015) Page, S. (Artistic Director). (2015). Spear [Video file]. Retrieved from 

https://www.kanopy.com 

Motion picture 

(Deeley, York, & Scott, 1984) 

Deeley, M., & York, B. (Producers), & Scott, R. (Director). (1984). 

Bladerunner [Motion picture]. United States: Warner Brothers. 

Other In-Text Citation End-text Reference & Notes Thesis / Dissertation 

(Kershaw, 2016) Kershaw, L. H. (2016). Journeys towards expertise in technology- 

supported teaching (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1776 

Photographs / Images 

(Bredel, 2013) Bredel, M. (2013). Storm ahead [Photograph]. Retrieved from 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/marvinok/9053229662/ 

Images: Provide a reference to the source (e.g., journal article, internet document, website, blog post, book, etc.) where the image can be retrieved (the same is true for tables, figures, and appendices). 

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Reference List Example 

References 

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2016). Land management and farming in Australia, 2014-15 (Cat. No. 4627.0). 

Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au 

Contento, I. R. (2011). Nutrition education: Linking research, theory, and practice (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and 

Bartlett. 

Deeley, M., & York, B. (Producers), & Scott, R. (Director). (1984). Bladerunner [Motion picture]. United States: 

Warner Brothers. 

Jones, C. (2010). Dictionary of fire protection engineering. Dunbeath, Scotland: Whittles Publishing. 

Jones, C. (2016). Lignites: Their occurrence, production and utilisation. Dunbeath, Scotland: Whittles Publishing. 

Larrañaga, M. D., Lewis, R. J., Sr., Lewis, R. A., & Hawley, G. G. (2016). Hawley's condensed chemical dictionary (16th 

ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. 

Lugsdin, J., & Hook, C. (2016). Climate change and health. The Lancet, 387(10017), 431-432. doi:10.1016/S0140- 

6736(16)00172-0 

Patel, P. (2017, February). Bots in your bloodstream. Scientific American, 316(2), 15. 

doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0217-15 

Stamatis, D. H. (2012). 10 Essentials for high performance quality in the 21st century. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. 

Standards Australia. (2009). Risk management: Principles and guidelines (AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009). Retrieved from 

http://standards.org.au/ 

Timms, M., DeVelle, S., & Lay, D. (2016). Towards a model of how learners process feedback: A deeper look at 

learning. Australian Journal of Education, 60(2), 128-145. doi:10117/0004944116652912 

Each entry is in alphabetical order according to the last name of the author or editor. If there is no author, list according to the first main word of the title. Each entry begins flush 

The reference list is with the left hand 

double spaced. Check margin. 

with your lecturer to Use a hanging indent for 

confirm this is required subsequent lines. 

for your assignment. 

APA Style rules are designed for ease of reading in manuscript form. Published work often takes a different form 

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in accordance with professional design standards.