APA Reference Style APA Reference Style for University for University Assignments Assignments

Library Tutorial

Learning OutcomesLearning OutcomesIn the tutorial, you will• Learn the basic rules using the APA

reference style for formatting citations. • Be able to cite ideas from someone’s

works using the APA style in your essay.• Be able to create a reference list of

books, journals & online documents (webpages) using the APA style.

Acknowledge Acknowledge CitationsCitations

• Once you find a useful idea to support your essay argument, the source must be acknowledged.

• Whether paraphrasing or quoting an author directly, you must credit the source.

• An essay without the acknowledgement of sources will be considered as plagiarism.

• Your research paper will be complete when an adequate reference list is attached!

Today’s ContentsToday’s ContentsIntroduction:

What is APA? Why APA style?Step 1: Formatting text citations.Step 2: Formatting bibliographic information

for a reference list.Step 3: Referencing online resources in the

APA style.Step 4: Listing formatted references in your

reference list.

What is the APA What is the APA style?style?

• “APA” stands for “American Psychological Association”.

• It is also known as an “Author-Date” System, in contrast to a “Note System.”

The Author-Date Style: Citations in the text refer to

references in the bibliography at the end of essay.

Note Style (the footnote citation style) where numbers in the text refer to references in the footer

area.

Why APA style?Why APA style?• There are many Author-Date citation styles.• In the Harvard style, a citation would be:

(Woods: 2001: 45)• In the APA style, it would be:

(Woods, 2001, p. 45)• APA is the most popular international author-date

reference style for Social Sciences & Management journals.

Why APA style?Why APA style?• “APA” publishes an excellent user

manual on referencing & editorial style. • The library has many copies of the

manual in many sections of the Library. Some copies can be loaned.

This tutorial is based on the APA Publication Manual

(BF11.A69 2001 – 5th edition)

STEP 1:STEP 1: Formatting Formatting Citations Citations

in Your Essay with in Your Essay with APA styleAPA style

An Essay in APA styleAn Essay in APA styleIntroduction:

Your thesis statement.An outline of your essay.

The Body: Your arguments (Your answer to the question)

e.g. It is discussed that…. (Anderson, 2002, p.35)…

Conclusion:The summary of your answer.

Reference List: Anderson, S. (2002). Adventure tourism: An introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

A parenthetical reference refers to

Reference List.

References within References within texttext

Example 1: Direct quotations “Language involves attaching meaning to world symbols” (Samovar & Porter, 1997, p. 286).

According to Coakley (1994), the success of a professional sporting event is no guaranteed as it requires “people in a society must have time…” (pp. 303-304).

As Taylor (1983) points out, All society establishes hierarchies, In few society… are they so widespread or important as in Japan. For the

Japanese, rank is so finely determined that… (p. 42).

If your direct quotation is

more than 40 words, indent

the quoted section without

quotation marks.

References within References within texttext

Example 2: Indirect quotations (paraphrasing / summarizing)He spends years cultivating his clients, building long-term relationships based on reliability (Hall, 1983).

Lormax (1968) found that song and dance styles of a country were related to its level of social cohesion and collectivism (pp.54-55).

As discussed above, electronic commerce is typically characterised by disintermediation of supply chain. (Gould, 2001; New Zealand Tourism, 2003, pp.34-37).

When paraphrasing or referring to an idea contained in another work, you

don’t have to provide a location reference (e.g. a page or paragraph

number). Nevertheless, you are encouraged to do so.

If an idea comes from two different

sources, use a semicolon (;).

References within References within texttext

Example 3: Citations from a secondary source (e.g. from a text book)

According to Steinberg and McDonald’s study (as cited in McNeil, Ballard, Atkins, & Hall, 1996), it is not always true.

However, it is always best to cite the original source, especially if you are a graduate student. (1) References could be cited incorrectly.(2) That would be dishonest.

If you want to use an idea from an author cited by another author, use “as

cited in”.In the reference list, list only

the secondary source.

STEP 2:STEP 2: Formatting Formatting

Bibliographic Data Bibliographic Data for List of Referencesfor List of References

with APA stylewith APA style

List of ReferencesList of References• Once your references are cited in the text, you

need to append a reference list to acknowledge cited materials.

• The reference list provides the information necessary to identify and retrieve each source.

• “Our purpose of listing references is to enable readers to retrieve and use the sources – reference data must be correct and complete.”

List of ReferencesList of References• All references cited in the text must

appear in the list.• Conversely, each entry in the reference

list must be cited in the text.• Make sure that the text citation and

reference list entries are identical.

List of References List of References (Exception)(Exception)

• Your lecturer’s comments in your lecture or personal email, interviews must be acknowledged in the body of your essay, but these do not need to be listed in a reference list.

e.g. In his lecture for ‘Introduction to Sociology’ on 16 April 2002, Prof. Harris said that…

or Thus, it was proved to be 3.7%. (P. Harris, personal communications, April 16, 2002)

The Components The Components • What is the minimum information to retrieve

source information?• Basic bibliographic data that are usually

included in each citation are:<1> Author’s Name

<2> Publication Date (& Access Date)<3> Title of Item <4> Publication Information

It must be italicised (or underlined)

Listing ComponentsListing Components• A bibliographic reference should not be like:

Author: John W. Creswell (1994)

Title: Research Design – Qualitative & Quantitative approaches.

Publisher: Sage Publication, LondonCall number: H62.C71 1994 <Level 3>

• But it should be like...Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative & quantitative approaches. London: Sage Publication.

Reference List doesn’t need library

call numbers.

1. Author’s Name1. Author’s Name• Invert all author’s name – give surnames and

initials.– White, R.– Dryden, G., & Vos, J.– Robbins, S. P., Bergman, R., & Stagg, I.

• For editors, use (Ed.) or (Eds.) after initials of editor(s).– Duncan, G. M. (Ed.).– Samovar, L. A., & Porter, R. E. (Eds.).

2. Publication Date2. Publication Date• Books, Journals & Audiovisual media need a

“Publication Year.”– White, R. (1997).– Knop, N., & Pope, C. (1998).

• Magazines & Newspapers etc. need “Year, Month, Day.” – Creswell, J. (1993, June). [Monthly]

– Smith, A. (1994, September 28). [daily & weekly]

– Pope, C. (n.d.). [Work with no date available]

3. Title (Books) 3. Title (Books)

Examples:

Samovar, L. A., & Porter, R. E. (Eds.) (1997). Intercultural communication: A reader. (8th ed.). New York: Wadsworth Publication Company.

Gannon, M. J. (1997). Irish conversations. In L. A. Samovar, & R. E. Porter (Eds.), Intercultural communication: A reader. (8th ed.). (pp. 125-133). New York: Wadsworth Publication Company.

Enclose additional information

after the title. (trans.) (press.) or [CD], [Motion

Picture]

Additional information for authors such as

(Director), (Producer)

3. Title (Periodicals)3. Title (Periodicals)Periodicals are journals, magazines etc.

Deutsche, F. (1993). Husbands at home: Predictors of paternal participation in childcare and housework. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65 (3), 1154-1166.

Henry, W. A. (1990, April 9). Beyond the melting pot. Time. 135, 28-31.

Gill, M. A. (2001, December 13). Ringing endorsement. Waikato Times. Edition 2, p. 15.

4. Publication 4. Publication InformationInformation

Publication Information is: 1: Publication Place: Publisher’s name (for Books, Audiovisual

media etc.)Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative &

quantitative approaches. London: Sage Publication.

2. Issue Number, Page Numbers (for periodicals). Volume numbers are a part of Journal Titles

Zhang, Z. (1988). A discussion of communicative culture. Journal of Chinese Language Teacher Association, 23 (2), 107-112.

No Publisher’s name & Place of Publication

4. Publication 4. Publication InformationInformation

Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative & quantitative approaches. London: Sage Publication.

Robbins, S. P., Bergman, R., & Stagg, I. (1997). Management. Maryborough, Victoria, Australia: Prentice Hall.

Well-known publication places such as Tokyo and New York do not need states or country

names.

If two or more publisher locations are given, give the

location listed first in the book or the location of the

publisher’s home office.

STEP 3:STEP 3: Referencing Online Referencing Online Resources in APA Resources in APA

style. style. No matter whether it is online or print, your reference needs four basic elements:

(1) Author (2) Date (3) Title &(4) Publication Information – URLs/Database’s

name

Access DateAccess Date• A reference of an electronic source needs all

four basic elements, and also “date of retrieval” before publication information.

Palmquist, S. (2004) Kant on the web. Retrieved October 6, 2004, from http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/Kant.html

AuthorAuthor• Wherever possible, identify the authors of

documents. Be mindful of the quality of online documents (of unknown authorship!)

• On the other hand, you might find more than one author’s name – the host organisation and webpage author(s) are not the same…

• Suppose you want to use a webpage about “Hamilton Zoo” as a reference for your essay…

• What are four reference elements?

Let’s practiceLet’s practice

The URL (Publication

Information) is in the address bar.

Webpage’s title is always on the top

bar of your browser.

If you cannot find the author’s name or publication date, scroll down the

browser.

At the bottom of the webpage, you normally

find the copyright information (Author &

Publication Date).

Otherwise, go to the homepage of the website and/or find link to ‘About

me’. Or ‘About Us’

Write it in order…Write it in order…• We identified all four basic elements:

– Author: Hamilton City Council (& Hamilton Zoo).– Date: 2001– Title: Hamilton Zoo– Pub.Info: URL & Date of Access

• This webpage will be referenced as:– Hamilton City Council. (2001). Hamilton Zoo.

Retrieved October 7, 2004, from the Hamilton Zoo Website: http://www.hamiltonzoo.co.nz/

No underline

Acknowledge website’s author before the URL if it’s different from the website’s host (e.g.

Government Agency, University department)

Websites/Webpages Websites/Webpages 1. A webpage (A document in an

Internet only journal)New Zealand’s Information Network. (n.d.). Hamilton Visitor's Guide & Visitor Information - Hamilton City, Waikato, New Zealand. Retrieved October 11, 2004, from http://www.newzealandnz.co.nz/hamilton/

Websites/Webpages Websites/Webpages 2. A website (multiple documents)

When Internet documents comprises multople pages (it has different URLs), acknowledge its homepage:

American Psychological Association. (2003). APA style; Electronic References. Retrieved October 7, 2004, from http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html

Online Articles Online Articles 1. An online article based on a print source (The

same journal is available on the WWW: i.e. PDF version)Adderly, B. (2001). Mother nature’s medicine chest [Electronic version]. Better Nutrition, 63 (8), 30-32.

2. An Articles in a Library Database (A HTML document)Adderly, B. (2001). Mother nature’s medicine chest. Better

Nutrition, 63 (8), 30-32. Retrieved September 30, 2004, from Academic Research Library database.

How to quote it?How to quote it?1. Use PDF version if possible.

PDF is a scanned printed article. Page numbers should be available as printed articles.

2. Online Article in the HTML version.There will no page numbers. If paragraph numbers are visible, use them in place of page numbers. Use the ¶ symbol or the abbreviation para.

(Adderly, 2001, para. 5) or (Adderly, 2001,. ¶ 5).

How to quote it?How to quote it?3. Online Article in the HTML version.

If there are headings in the document, use the heading and the paragraph number.

“Privacy has long been defined as the night of an individual to be left alone and to be able to control the flow of information about him or herself” (Liu & Armett, 2002, Influence on E-commerce, para. 1)

“The current system of managed care and the current approach… are shortsighted” (Beutler, 2000, Conclusion section, para. 1).

STEP 4:STEP 4: Listing Listing

Bibliographic Bibliographic References in Your References in Your Reference List with Reference List with

APA styleAPA style

Listing EntriesListing Entries• The list should be placed after the body of

your essay.• List all reference entries alphabetically.• If no author is known, the entry should start

with its title (ignore ‘the’ or ‘a’ ‘an’).• Some webpages & many newspaper articles

do not have author’s name.

Listing EntriesListing Entriese.g.

Drivers reject fuel prices driven by war threat. (2003, March 7). THE TIMARU HERALD. p.1.

• In the text, use a short title (or the full title if it is short) for the parenthetical citation.

e.g. (“Drivers reject fuel,” 2003)

Listing EntriesListing Entries• If there are two or more references by the

same author in the same year, add alphabet after the publication year.

e.g.Statistics New Zealand (2002a). The annual

report. Wellington, New Zealand: Author.

Statistics New Zealand (2002b). The New Zealand Official Year Book. Auckland,

New Zealand: Author. Use “Author” if Author and Publisher are

identical.

Listing EntriesListing EntriesIn the text…

According to Statistics New Zealand (2002b, pp. 306-310), international tourism’s contribution to NZ economy is tremendous.

Final Check!Final Check!• When you have completed your reference list, make

sure that:– each entry has four basic elements. – each entry referenced appears in both the text and the list.– the text citation and reference list entry are identical in

spelling and year.

• Always check with the APA manual if you are not sure - use “indexes.”

ConclusionConclusionYou have learned:• How to format citations in text using the APA

reference style.• How to make a reference list using the APA

reference style.• How to use the Publication Manual of the American

Psychological Association (Call Number: BF11.A69).

Enjoy Essay Writing!Enjoy Essay Writing!