Referencing – a brief guide to APA 6
It is important to acknowledge sources used in researching your subject – so that you can:
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show familiarity with the literature
help the reader to follow up your sources
avoid any accusations of plagiarism (i.e. of directly lifting pieces of other people’s work, which can be a
disciplinary offence)
References should be:
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Correct : note the full reference whenever you use information from a book or an article and double check
every detail
Complete : never omit page numbers (especially when making a direct quotation), volume numbers, or
date. Remember you are guiding your reader to the source you used
Consistent : stick to the same style punctiliously throughout
There are two steps in referencing – referring to the sources you’ve used in the body of your assignment, and
bringing those sources together in a complete alphabetical Reference List at the end. Only include sources you
have cited in the text in your Reference List – some tutors welcome a separate bibliography of works consulted,
but you would need to check.
More information on referencing styles and bibliographic management software is available in our referencing
LibGuide: http://guides.lib.strath.ac.uk/referencing_guide
General principles
Reference list – in your Reference List, all references should be arranged alphabetically by author’s surname.
Authors in the Reference list One author - Surname, followed by initials, e.g. Green, A.T.
Two authors – Surname, initials. Separate author’s names with a comma and link with ampersand, rather than
‘and’, e.g. Jones, J., & Smith, C.A.
Three to six authors – List all authors. Separate authors’ names with a comma. Use an ampersand, rather than
‘and’ before the final author, e.g. Thoburn, J., Chand, A., & Procter, J.
Seven or more authors – List first six authors, separating authors’ names with a comma. After the sixth, use
three ellipses and then include the final author, e.g. Brown, A., Smith, B., Black, C., Jones, D., White, E., Bryce,
F. … & Green, G.
YOUR
LIBRARY
YOUR
LEARNING…
Citing within the text
In your text, cite the author and date of publication as follows:
Murray (2011) gives an overview of the problems of thesis writing.
Or
In 2011, Murray demonstrated that …
Or
Writing should be aimed at different types of readers: “Writers should have a range of audiences, including
readers who understand and are sympathetic with their struggle” (Murray, 2011, p.88).
If quoting an author directly (rather than summarising), be sure to use quotation marks and exact page reference,
as above. For a long passage (40 words or more), indent the whole extract slightly to the right and omit quotation
marks.
Audience and purpose are the key in any act of communication: everything you say – and do not say – is
shaped by your analysis of the audience, or reader, and your purpose in communicating with them. For a
thesis writer, audience and purpose are, literally, complex, i.e. there appears to be more than one
audience. (Murray, 2011, p.88)
If you shorten a quote, indicate the removed section by substituting a sequence of three dots “…”
“Writing can be shared as a gift …” (Murray, 2011, p.88).
“There may be response to questions such as ‘What do you hear me saying?’ … but no evaluations are
necessary” (Murray, 2011, p.88).
Citing more than one author within the text
Two authors – Cite both each time a reference is made within the text, e.g. Jones and Smith (2010) stated
that…
Three to five authors – Cite all authors the first time that an item is referenced. For subsequent mentions, use
the first author followed by et al.
First citation – Thoburn, Chand and Procter (2005) stated …
Second and subsequent citations – Thoburn et al. (2005) stated…
Six or more authors – use first author followed by et al. Stewart et al. (2009) found that …
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Publication date – if no publication date is given, write n.d. in parentheses, e.g. Smith, J. (n.d.).
Pagination – convention is to precede page numbers for book chapters and newspaper articles with p. (for
one page) and pp. (for more than one) but to omit this for journal articles.
Italicisation – italicise book titles and journal titles, but NOT chapter titles or article titles. For journals, italicise
volume number, but NOT part number, hence 13(1).
Punctuation – look at the following list of examples to follow punctuation rules, e.g. full stops after date, at
end of title and after publisher etc.
Capitalisation – In the reference list, for titles of books and articles, only capitalise the first word, or the first
word after a colon or dash and also proper nouns.
Grigsby, D.G. (2012). Colossal: Engineering the Suez Canal, Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, Panama Canal:
Transcontinental ambition in France and the United States during the long nineteenth century. Pittsburgh,
PA: Periscope.
Within the body of a paper, capitalise major words in the titles of books and articles. Do not capitalise
conjunctions or articles, e.g. the, a, in, of, or.
In his book Flesh in the Age of Reason
In her critique of the article “Sensory Impairment in Older Adults”
Indentation – indent second and subsequent lines of a reference.
Secondary citation
To cite something you have not seen directly, but have read about, you must cite the text you have actually seen,
not the one that someone else has mentioned, e.g.
There is evidence that parenting styles have a profound effect on children’s development (Baumrind, as cited
by Cole & Cole, 2001).
In other words, you have read a work by Cole and Cole, who are quoting from another work by Baumrind,
therefore you would cite Cole and Cole rather than Baumrind. However, be sparing with this type of indirect
citation – if carried to extremes, e.g. quoting a government report from a newspaper description, this can look
merely as if you lacked motivation to get hold of the original.
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EXAMPLES
Books
In the Reference List, cite a book as follows: Author (surname first, followed by initials), Date of publication in
brackets, Title of book in italics, Edition (if one is given), Place of publication and then Publisher.
Author
Title
Edition
Publisher
Murray, R. (2011). How to write a thesis (3rd ed.). Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Publication date
Place of publication
Chapters in edited books
Cite, in your text, the author of the chapter; in the Reference List: Author of the chapter, Date of publication, Title
of the chapter in normal font, Editor(s) of the book, Title of the book in italics; Page numbers of the chapter, Place
of Publication and Publisher.
Publication date
Book editors
Chapter author
Chapter title
Book title
authoraauthor
uthor
Moorhouse, H.F. (1994). From zines like these? In G. Jarvie & G. Walker (Eds.), Scottish sport in the
making of the nation (pp. 173-194). Leicester: Leicester U.P.
Page nos.
Place of publication
Publisher
Citing different chapters by different authors from the same book requires separate entries under each chapter
author in the Reference List.
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Articles in journals and newspapers
In the Reference List use the formula: Author of article, Date of publication, Title of the article in normal font, Title
of the journal or newspaper in italics, Volume in italics, Part number in brackets in normal font, and finally Page
numbers.
Journal article
Authors
Publication date
Article title
Journal title
Sutton, L., & Stack, N. (2013). Hearing quiet voices: Biological children's experiences of fostering. British
Journal of Social Work, 43(3), 596-612.
Volume & part
Indent 2nd line
Page nos.
Newspaper article
Author
Article title
Newspaper title
Denholm, A. (2013, April 25). Literacy drop-off between primary and secondary. The Herald, p. 3.
Publication date – Year, month, day
Page no.
For an anonymous newspaper article, in the Reference List, put under title.
Watchdog bans stutter ‘cure’ advert. (2009, December 9). The Herald, p. 7.
In your text, in the absence of an author, use a short form of the title if the full form is unwieldy e.g. (“Watchdog,”
2009).
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Electronic sources
In your text, the same principles apply as for printed documents although page numbers may need to be
replaced by paragraph numbers or by subheadings, if these are available.
In the Reference List, the format is much the same as for a printed source, but add the web address (URL), and
ignore the place of publication and publisher. With edition 6 of APA, it is no longer necessary to put the date that
a document was retrieved.
Web documents
Queens University, Stauffer Humanities & Social Sciences Library. (2011). Evaluating web sources.
Retrieved from http://library.queensu.ca/inforef/tutorials/qcat/evalint.htm
[NB – do not add punctuation after a URL (e.g. do not terminate it with a full stop) in case this is wrongly
construed as an integral part of the address.]
Weaver, B., & NcNeill, F. (n.d.). Giving up crime: Directions for policy. Retrieved from the Scottish
Consortium for Crime and Criminal Justice websiteScottish Consortium for Crime and Criminal
http://www.scccj.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/SCCCJ-giving-up-crime-content.pdf
[NB – it can be useful to spell out the institutional affiliation of the author if this is not otherwise clear.]
Discussion list
Batty, S., & Jackson, K. (2006, December 15). Faint speech amplifier for use in vehicle [Online forum
comment]. Retrieved from https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=SLT-LIST-UK;10b1e19.06
[NB – some lists do not archive material – in such cases referencing services little purpose. If there is a
message number give it after the thread title.]
Blogs
Orkney Library and Archive. (2016, May 7). Orkney at war - Stanley Cursiter at the Somme [Web log
message]. Retrieved from http://orkneyarchive.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/orkney-at-war-stanley-cursiter-atsomme.html
Emails
Personal emails should only be cited in the text and not in the Reference list, as the information cannot be
accessed by anyone else. Include name of sender and date sent.
Blogs are a good way of keeping up-to-date with developments. (J. Smith, personal communication, 9th
September 2010).
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Website generally
Try to avoid citing a whole site, but if you must do this, give it in the text only (not also in the Reference List).
Date is not required.
Biz/ed is a useful source of teaching materials (http://www.bized.co.uk/)
Print or electronic?
We suggest that if you cite a facsimile of a paper original, e.g. a journal article or Act of Parliament, (usually in
PDF format), you cite it as if it was the printed original.
Other aspects of reference layout
Reference works – no obvious author
Chambers biographical dictionary. (1984). Edinburgh: Chambers.
Government/organisation reports – no obvious personal author
Scottish Executive. (2003). Research strategy for health and healthcare. Edinburgh: Author.
Shelter. (1992). The Shelter-MORI housing poll. London: Author.
[NB – if the author is also the publisher, use Author to indicate the publisher.]
Committee on Alternatives to Prosecution. (1993). Keeping offenders out of court. London: HMSO.
Acts of Parliament
Education (Scotland) Act 1996, ch.43.
Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007, asp 4.
NB – the title of the Act alone is sufficient, without further publication details, except that the convention is then to
add, for Westminster legislation, the chapter number, e.g.1996, ch.43 (which indicates the 43rd Act of 1996) ; or
the asp number (Acts of the Scottish Parliament) for Scottish legislation.
Conference proceedings
Webb, N.L. (1993). Mathematics education reform in California. In R. Andrews (Ed.), Science and
mathematics education in the United States: Eight innovations: Proceedings of a conference, Paris, 1991
(pp. 143-156). Paris: OECD.
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Theses
Logan, J.L. (1974). The training of teachers for further education in Scotland. Unpublished M.Ed. thesis,
University of Glasgow.
Unpublished work
Do not include in the Reference List (unless publicly available, for example, in an archive); in the text put, e.g.
John Brown (personal communication, January 30, 2007) stated that …
Lecture notes
Opinion varies on the advisability of citing lectures you have attended as part of your course; it is probably a good
idea to avoid this wherever possible. As the data is not published in the accepted sense, it should not be included
in the Reference List – in the text put e.g.
There is a widespread belief in the voluntary sector (Gordon Mackie , BACE2 lecture, University of
Strathclyde, October 14, 2010) that …
Putting your references in order
References should be arranged alphabetically by surname, but if there is more than one reference by an
author in one year, distinguish by adding “a, b, or c” to the date, e.g. in the text Wragg (1999a) found …
In the Reference List this would appear as:
Wragg, E.C. (1999a). Class management in the primary school. London: Routledge.
Wragg, E.C. (1999b). Class management in the secondary school. London: Routledge.
For several titles by the same author, list by publication date (earliest first).
Wragg, E.C. (1999a). Class management in the primary school. London: Routledge.
Wragg, E.C. (1999b). Class management in the secondary school. London: Routledge.
Wragg, E.C. (2001). Assessment and learning in the primary school. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Wragg, E.C. (2003). Education, education, education. London: Kogan Page.
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Joint authorship. Put works where author is sole author before publications with joint authorship, so …
Wragg, E.C. (2001). Assessment and learning in the primary school. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Wragg, E.C. (2003). Education education education. London: Kogan Page.
Wragg, E.C. & Brown, G. (2001). Explaining in the primary school. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Wragg, E.C. & Kerry, T. (1979). Classroom interaction research. Nottingham: Nottingham University.
Further guidance
For further guidance, consult the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (D 820-4(09)
PUB) – or the site at http://www.docstyles.com/apaguide.html may be useful.
Alternatively e-mail help@strath.ac.uk
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