REFERENCING USING APA
What is referencing?
When you are writing as a student or a professional (eg in essays or reports), you will frequently be
expected to refer to the work of other writers / experts in your subject area (sources), and formally
acknowledge them by including their identifying details. This is called referencing, or citing. When
writers say that sources are cited in a text, they mean other people’s ideas have been referred to, often
to back up or develop a point being made.
It is essential to include the source’s details next to your citations / references. Failure to do this
is called plagiarism. Plagiarism is regarded as a very serious offence (see your programme’s Student
Handbook). Learning to reference correctly is your best protection against charges of plagiarism.
There are two ways you can reproduce the source’s ideas in your text and yet avoid plagiarism
PARAPHRASING : putting their ideas into your own words, including the author/s and date of
your source.
Eg from Janet Hunt’s 1998 biography of Hone Tuwhare (page 109): “The balance of
Tuwhare’s life was forever altered” becomes in your essay:
“Hunt (1998) sees his new ‘poet’ identity as a major change in Tuwhare’s life”.
: copying the exact words from the source text, with quotation marks before and
after them. The author and date may go before or after the quote (see below for details), and
you must also include the number of the page you have copied from.
QUOTING
Short quotations (note how the full stop goes after the brackets).
“Although he remained committed to his identity as a boiler-maker, his fame as a poet
meant that “the balance of Tuwhare’s life was forever altered” (Hunt, 1998, p.109).”
Long quotations (40 or more words)
These should be started on a new line, and all lines should be indented five spaces from
the left hand margin, creating a distinctly separate block of text. No quotation marks
are necessary. The format for the author, date and page number is the same as for short
quotations, except that instead of being part of the quote, they go at the end of it (after
its final full stop).
In addition, a list of all the sources you have referred to must be included as your last page.
LIST OF REFERENCES:
It is titled ‘References’ and includes author, title, and publication details for all of them. It is
sometimes called a Bibliography but the use of that word is not quite accurate. A bibliography
is a more comprehensive list of background reading on a subject, not just a list of those texts
specifically referred to.
There are a number of referencing systems used in different subject disciplines. They are very
detailed, and it is well worth learning how to reference properly using one system. Good quality
academic and professional writing is always referenced correctly.
What is APA?
The AUT Faculty of Arts uses the APA (American Psychological Association) system of referencing
for pre-degree and undergraduate degree programmes. It requires reference details to be included in
the text itself, not put into footnotes as some other systems do.
Other basic elements of APA referencing are given below. For information which is not covered here
you will need to consult the most recent edition of the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (Dewey 808.06615 PUB) which you will find in the High Demand or Non
Fiction sections of the university library.
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REFERENCING WITHIN THE BODY OF THE TEXT
When referring to another author’s ideas in your academic writing, you need to include their surname
and the year of the publication.
Use the following examples as models.
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When using the authors’ names as part of your sentence (note how the year goes in
brackets)
Devito, O’Rourke and O’Neill (2000) divide the process of perception into three stages.
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When not including the authors’ names as part of your sentence (note the use of ‘&’ to
replace ‘and’)
The process of perception can been divided into three stages (Devito, O’Rourke & O’Neill, 2000).
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When a number of different sources have said the same thing (note the semicolon
separating texts, and the alphabetical order of texts)
The process of perception has been divided into three stages (Adler & Towne, 1990; Devito, O’Rourke
& O’Neill, 2000; Littlejohn, 1996; Tubbs & Moss, 2000).
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When a text has two authors, both names are used every time the text is cited.
Tubbs and Moss (2000) say ... There are three stages to the perception process (Tubbs & Moss, 2000).
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When a source has three, four or five authors, all the authors’ names are included the
first time the source is cited. After that, the first author’s name and ‘et al.’ are used. (Note the
full stop after ‘et al.’) Also, if you cite the same source more than once within a single paragraph,
only the first one needs to include the date.)
Devito, O’Rourke and O’Neill (2000) describe …. Devito et al. also describe ...
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When the source text includes a reference to a further source which you want to include.
This is not encouraged, but is occasionally necessary. Usually you should only cite sources you’ve
actually read.
The symbolic nature of language has been considered by many authors. Humans are prone to “symbol
making, symbol using, and symbol misusing” according to one of them (Burke, 1986, p. 223 as cited in
Larson, 2001, p.85).
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When referring to a text with a corporate author, use the name of the organisation.
Harassment prevention policies are designed to minimise harm to all parties (Auckland University of
Technology, 2001).
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When referring to an Internet source, consult your List of References entry as a guide.
It depends on what information comes with the site. Use the first item on your List of References entry
(see below) for the source, whether it’s an author name, organization, or the title. Add a date, either of
publication or failing that, of retrieval. The URL will be in your List of References, so doesn’t need to
be in your text.
The Lonely Planet guides on the Internet (Lonely Planet, 2003) describe the South Pole as ….
REMEMBER TO BE SCEPTICAL ABOUT WHAT YOU FIND ON THE INTERNET; NOT EVERYTHING IS
RELIABLE. IT’S SAFEST TO USE UNIVERSITY SITES, AS THEY ARE MORE LIKELY TO HAVE
ACCURATE INFORMATION.
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Spoken sources
Some information may come from interviews rather than from written material. The citation goes in
the text of your assignment, but should not be included in your list of references because no one else
can ‘refer’ to it independently; only you experienced it and it can’t be checked by anyone else.
Most civilian conscripts were eager to go to war in 1940, regarding it as a great adventure. (M. Milne,
personal communication, December 20, 1990).
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LIST OF REFERENCES
The last page of your text should be a list of the references you have used. Readers - assignment
markers in particular - often look at the reference list before beginning. It shows them the range of
your reading as well as giving them enough information to find your references or quotes for
themselves if they want to check them.
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Page layout
Title
Put ‘References’ as a title at the top of the page.
Order
List each reference in alphabetical order, beginning with the author/s’
surname/s.
Format
Use the ‘hanging indent’ option (under the ‘Format / Paragraph / Special’
function on Microsoft Word, for example). This means that the first line of the
entry for each source begins on the margin, and subsequent lines are indented.
It makes the author names stand out and helps the reader scan the list quickly.
Listing the references
There are many different types of source, and each has its specific format conventions under APA.
Some of the most common types of source are given below. If what you want is not here, you should
consult the APA manual (see above and the References list) or try the following web site:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html
Note that the basic entry for a book has four sections that finish with full stops, like sentences.
 The author/s. = Who
 (Date of publication). = When
 The title. = What
 The place of publication: the publisher’s name. = Where
Use the following examples as models.
Note that it is not customary to cite university lectures. They are unpublished, and are designed to be a
guide to your reading only.
Book with one or multiple authors (note the title is in italics, but only its first word has a capital letter.)
DeVito, J., O’Rourke, S., & O’Neill, L. (2000). Human communication (N.Z. ed.). Auckland: Longman.
Book compiled by editor or editors (note the full stop after Eds.)
King, P., & Devere, H. (Eds.). (2000). A challenge to friendship in modernity. London: Frank Cass.
Book with multiple editions
Eg Littlejohn, S. W. (1996). Theories of human communication (5th ed.). New York: Wadsworth Publishing
Company.
Contribution to a book
Ings, W. (2000). Portrait of an artist: Kevin Kilsby. In Peter Jansen (Ed.), Heroic garden (pp. 54-58).
Auckland: Reed.
Book by a corporate author
Department of Statistics & Ministry of Women’s Affairs. (1990). Women in New Zealand. Wellington:
Ministry of Women’s Affairs.
Signed article in magazine or periodical (note the capital letter after a colon)
Bedggood, J. (2000). Domestic purposes beneficiaries and the community wage: Her brilliant career. New
Zealand Sociology, 15, 75-100.
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Signed newspaper or magazine article
Johnson, R. (2000, August 3). Time to put a stop to advertiser-driven television. New Zealand Herald, p.A17.
Unsigned newspaper or magazine article (note how the headline / title comes first)
New Zealand gives pardon to war mutineer. (2000, April 16). The Sunday Times, p.12.
Unpublished thesis
Bitchener, J. (2000). The negotiation of meaning by advanced ESOL learners: The effects of individual
learner factors and task type. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Auckland, Auckland.
Electronic Sources
1. Journal article from database
Holt, R.F. (2000). The discourse ethics of sports print journalism. Culture, Sport, Society (UK) 25, 88-103.
Retrieved November 30, 2001, from Proquest database.
2. Abstract from a CD-ROM or on-line index
Holt, R.F. (2000). The discourse ethics of sports print journalism. Culture, Sport, Society (UK) 25, 88-103.
Abstract from: SilverPlatter File: SPORT Discus Item: S-666509.
Internet sources
Internet sources come in a variety of forms, and may miss some of the elements that paper publications have,
for example a named author or publication date.
You need at least the following
 A title or description of the document
 A date (of publication or, failing that, the date you retrieved it from the Internet)
 An Internet URL (address)
As for books, if there is no named personal author (eg Louise Matthews) the author is considered to be the
organisation which published the source (eg Auckland University of Technology). If there is no author of
either sort, begin with the title. If there is no date, write the entry as usual with (n.d.) in place of the year. You
should always include the URL (the http://www etc address) and the date you retrieved it (usually found at
the bottom of your paper print-out).
Example
Lun, Hoong (n.d.) Electronic access to languages materials. Retrieved December 2, 2001, from University of
Auckland Library web site:
http://www2.auckland.ac.nz/lbr/genlib/artsnewsletter/newsletter0800.htm#asian
For further information about how to write out your references to Internet material, go to this web site:
http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
References
American Psychological Association (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association,
(5th ed.). Washington: American Psychological Association.
Emerson, L. (Ed.). (2000). Writing guidelines for business students (2nd ed.). Palmerston North: Dunmore
Press.
compiled by Rosemary Brewer
School of Communication Studies
HINT:
Whenever you read or take notes or photocopies form any reference material, copy the full reference
information onto your copy immediately.
If you can’t reference it – you can’t use it.
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