APA (American Psychological Association) Style is an author date system. It
consists of:
•An 'in-text' statement - sources you are referring to may be paraphrased
or quoted directly in your essay. The work is identified by author or editor,
followed by year of publication.
•A reference list - appears at the end of your essay and includes full details
of each information source used in-text.
Examples of a
Reference List
APA basics - referencing examples for commonly used sources
In a reference list
In-text citation
1. Book with one author
Hale, P. (2009). Teamwork that works.
Auckland: Freewheel Press.
"The crux of a team is its leader" (Hale,
Note: The first letter of the first word of the 2009, p. 45).
main title, subtitle and all proper nouns
have capital letters.
2. Book with two to five authors
Mill, H., Chan, L., & Tamahere, M. (2007).
Skills for success. London: Pearson
Education.
Referencing is accepted as the key to
Note: If there are six or seven authors, cite academic success (Mill, Chan & Tamahere,
only the first author followed by et al. If
2007).
there are eight or more authors, list the
first six, then three elipses (…) and finish
with the last author.
3. Print book or report by a corporate
author
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
(2011). Converting potential into
prosperity: New Zealand's commitment to
the Pacific. Wellington, N.Z.: Author.
Note: When the author and the publisher
are the same, use Author in the publisher
field.
4. Chapter in edited book
Brookes, W. (2008). New Zealand leaders.
In J. Wilson (Ed.), Making a difference to
New Zealand (pp. 236-243). Auckland:
Pedal Press.
New Zealand's role in the Pacific is
changing rapidly (Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and Trade, 2011).
“Today's business students are tomorrow's
leaders” (Brookes, 2008, p. 240).
5. Electronic book - from library database. For
more on ebooks see 3
Parker, G. M. (2008). Team players and team
work: New strategies for developing successful
The essence of teamwork is
collaboration (2nd ed.). Retrieved from Ebsco
communication (Parker, 2008).
eBook collection database.
Note: Rather than entering the Location:
Publisher details a statement is added to indicate
the database you accessed the ebook from.
6. Webpage
Statistics New Zealand. (2009). New Zealand in
profile 2009. Retrieved from http://stats.govt.nz
(Statistics New Zealand, 2009).
Note: Key fields to include with a webpage are
author (often an organisation), date (where
available - otherwise put n.d.), title and url.
7. Journal article - academic scholarly (retrieved
from a database) with a DOI (for more on DOIs
Survey results indicate an increase in
see 1.4)
the number of managers in
Ruth, D. (2007). Management development in
companies in New Zealand (Ruth,
New Zealand. Journal of European Industrial
2007).
Training, 31(1), 52-67.
doi:10.1108/03090590710721736
8. Journal article - academic scholarly (retrieved
"companies are discovering that a
from a database) with no DOI
distinctive management model can
Birkinshaw, J., & Goddard, J. (2009). What is your
itself be a key driver of its
management model? MIT Sloan Management
competitiveness" (Birkinshaw and
Review, 50(2), 81-90. Retrieved from ABI/INFORM
Goddard, 2009, p.82).
Global.
9. Journal article - academic scholarly (print
version)
King claims that conflict in teams is
King, J. (2005). Conflict in teams. Journal of
inevitable (2005).
Management Studies, 40(3), 26-28.
10. Journal article - academic scholarly (internet
only - no print version)
Hsing, Y., Baraya, A., & Budden, M. (2005).
Macroeconomic policies and economic growth:
(Hsing, Baraya & Budden, 2005).
The case of Costa Rica. Journal of Applied Business
Research, 21(2), 105–112. Retrieved from
http://www.cluteinstitute.com/journals/JABR.html
11. Magazine article - popular/general interest (
in print)
(Wane, 2012).
Wane, J. (2012, February). Band of brothers. North
& South, 311, 56-64
12. Magazine article - popular/general interest
(from database)
Wane, J. (2012, February). Band of brothers. North (Wane, 2012).
& South, 311, 56-64. Retrieved from Australia/New
Zealand Reference Centre database.
13. Newspaper article (from website)
Fonterra will be the third largest player
Hembry, O. (2008, June 25). Fonterra boosts Aussie
in the yoghurt and dairy dessert
presence. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from
business in Australia (Hembry, 2008).
www.nzherald.co.nz
14. Newspaper article (from database)
Donovan, B. (2008, August 7). New childcare laws
(Donovan, 2008).
threaten gym creches. New Zealand Herald, p. A03.
Retrieved from Newztext Plus database.
15. Newspaper article (print version)
Cumming, G. (2004, April 5). Investment and risk. The
New Zealand Herald, p. B5.
Note: Include p. or pp. before the page number. This is
(Cumming, 2004).
used for newspapers only, not magazines or journals.
p. = one page, pp. more than one page.
If page numbers are discontinous, separate page
numbers with a comma. e.g. pp. A1, A4-5.
16. Press release from news aggregator site such as
stuff.co.nz
University of Auckland. (2009, October 8). Auckland
still in top100 [press release]. Retrieved from
http://www.scoop.co.nz
Auckland retains its ranking in the top
100 universities (University of
Auckland, 2009).
17. Personal communication (emails, conversations,
interviews)
Note: These are not included in the reference list,
although you can include them in your text as a
personal communication
Capital gains tax is certain to be
introduced within the next four years
(T. Franks, personal communication,
May 10, 2009).
18. Course handouts or lecture slides
Plester, B. (2011). Lecture 3: Mgmt 211, Semester 2
(Plester, 2011).
[Powerpoint slides]. Auckland, New Zealand: University
of Auckland
19. Conference paper
Smithson, D. (2011, November). Invisibility in
(Smithson, 2011).
organisations: The role of extraversion and
introversion. Paper presented at the Australian
Conference for Research in Organisations, Sydney.
Retrieved from
http://www.rmit.edu.au/2011/conf/smithson.txt
Note: A capital letter is used for all key words in the
conference name. Give the month of the conference if
the paper has not been formally published
Conference paper - in published proceedings
To cite published proceedings from a book, use the
same format as for a book or book chapter.
Reference Page
Most citations should
contain the following
basic information:
• Author’s name
• Title of work
• Publication information
References: Some Examples
• Book
Shay, J. (1994). Achilles in Vietnam:
Combat trauma and the undoing of
character. New York: Touchstone.
• Article in a Magazine
Klein, J. (1998, October 5). Dizzy days.
Yorker, 40-45.
The New
References: Some Examples
• Web page
Poland, D. (1998, October 26). The hot
button.
Roughcut. Retrieved October 28, 1998 from
http://www.roughcut.com
References: Some Examples
• A newspaper article
Tommasini, A. (1998, October 27). Master
teachers whose artistry glows in private.
New York Times, p. B2.
• A source with no known author
Cigarette sales fall 30% as California tax
rises. (1999, September 14). New York
Times, p. A17.
Reference Page
What other types of sources
might you need to list on your
reference page?
Study the basics of APA citation
format. When something odd
comes up, don’t guess. Look it
up!
When Should You Use Parenthetical Citations?
• When quoting any words
that are not your own
• Quoting means to repeat
another source word for
word, using quotation
marks
When Should You Use Parenthetical Citations?
• When summarizing facts and ideas from
a source
• Summarizing means to take ideas from a
large passage of another source and
condense them, using your own words
• When paraphrasing a source
• Paraphrasing means to use the ideas from
another source but change the phrasing
into your own words
Keys to Parenthetical Citations
Readability
• Keep references brief
• Give only information
needed to identify the
source on your reference
page
• Do not repeat unnecessary
information
Handling Quotes in Your Text
• Author’s last name, publication year, and page
number(s) of quote must appear in the text
Caruth (1996) states that a traumatic response
frequently entails a “delayed, uncontrolled
repetitive appearance of hallucinations and
other intrusive phenomena” (p.11).
A traumatic response frequently entails a
“delayed, uncontrolled repetitive appearance of
hallucinations and other intrusive phenomena”
(Caruth, 1996, p.11).
Handling Parenthetical Citations
Sometimes additional information is necessary . . .
• More than one author with the same last name
(H. James, 1878); (W. James, 1880)
• Two or more works in the same parentheses
(Caruth, 1996; Fussell, 1975; Showalter, 1997)
• Work with six or more authors
(Smith et al, 1998)
• Specific part of a source
(Jones, 1995, chap. 2)
Handling Parenthetical Citations
• If the source has no known
author, then use an abbreviated
version of the title:
Full Title: “California Cigarette Tax
Deters Smokers”
Citation: (“California,” 1999)
Handling Parenthetical Citations
• A reference to a personal communication:
Source: email message from
C.
Everett Koop
Citation: (C. E. Koop, personal
communication, May 16, 1998)
• A general reference to a web site
Source: Beirut Arab University web site
Citation: (http://www.BAU.edu.lb)
Handling Parenthetical Citations
Recently, the history of warfare has been significantly revised by Higonnet et al
(1987), Marcus (1989), and Raitt and Tate (1997) to include women’s personal and
cultural responses to battle and its resultant traumatic effects. Feminist researchers
now concur that “It is no longer true to claim that women's responses to the war have
been ignored” (Raitt & Tate, p. 2). Though these studies focus solely on women's
experiences, they err by collectively perpetuating the masculine-centered impressions
originating in Fussell (1975) and Bergonzi (1996).
However, Tylee (1990) further criticizes Fussell, arguing that his study “treated
memory and culture as if they belonged to a sphere beyond the existence of
individuals or the control of institutions” (p. 6).
Handling Quotes in Your Text
There are many different
combinations and variations
within APA citation format.
If you run into something
unusual, look it up!