Guidance on How to Cite References
Please ensure that all submitted work complies with this guidance
The American Psychological Association Publications style should be used. This is also used by
the British Psychological Society’s Journals and the following guidance is taken from the BPS
web site http://www.bps.org.uk/publications/jAuthorGuide.cfm
To cite references in the text:
One author:


Rogers (1994) compared reaction times for...
In a recent study of reaction times (Rogers, 1994) notes...
Multiple authors: (for two authors, cite both names at each citation):


as Nightlinger and Littlewood (1993) demonstrated [use 'and' to separate authors in main
text]
as has been shown (Jöreskog & Sörbom, 1989) [use '&' for citations in parentheses]
(for three to five authors, cite all authors at first citation and first author + et al. for subsequent
citations; list all authors in reference list entry):


Wasserstein, Zapulla, Rosen, Gerstman, and Rock (1994) found...
Wasserstein et al. (1994) found...
(NB: for more than five authors, use first author + et al. throughout, but list all authors in
reference list entry)
Identify works by the same author (or group of authors) with the same publication date using a,
b, c and so on after the year, repeating the year each time:

(Johnson, 1991a, 1991b, in press) The suffixes a, b etc. are assigned in the reference list,
where references for the same year are ordered alphabetically by title.
If the use of et al. may lead to confusion between two groups of authors, e.g. Hunt, Hartley, and
Davies (1993) and Hunt, Davies, and Baker (1993), then cite all three authors at every mention
(or, for more than three authors, cite as many as are needed to differentiate between the two
references).
When two or more works are listed in parentheses, they should be cited in alphabetical order,
separated by semicolons. Multiple citations for the same author(s) should be cited in
chronological order, separated by commas:

Several studies (Balda, 1980, 1981; Kamil & Brown, 1998; Pepperburg et al., 1992a,
1992b)...
Quotations in the text
These should be enclosed with double quotation marks. The author, year and specific page
citation should be given, e.g. "the Circle of Friends intervention enjoys some success in
promoting the acceptance of the focus student by the classroom peer group" (Frederickson, &
Turner, 2003, p.243).
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Citing secondary sources
At postgraduate level primary sources should be read and cited where possible. The author of
the secondary source may have got it wrong! In any case you are expected to form your own
judgement and challenge or support the author of the secondary source as appropriate.
There is a place for secondary sources where the original source is difficult to access, for
example an unpublished source or an obscure / ancient publication (although in all these cases
the value of citing the source might be questioned).
If you must cite a secondary source, here is how to do it - Lewin's 1936 study (as cited in
Frederickson, & Turner, 2003). List the Frederickson and Turner reference in the reference list.
Reference lists should be prepared using the following style:
Periodicals:
Smith, A. B., & Clark, E. (1995). Unlimited thinking. Cognitive Psychology, 24, 9-15.
If in press then: Smith, A. B., & Clark, E. (in press). Unlimited thinking. Cognitive Psychology.
Books:
Berkowitz, L. (1980). A survey of social psychology (3rd ed.). New York: Holt.
If in press then: Berkowitz, L. (in press). A survey of social psychology (3rd ed.). New York: Holt.
Book chapter:
Jones, B., Brookes, C.-B., & Smith, A. L. (1992). Problem patients. In Psychotherapy Research
(Vol. 2, pp. 34-55). Springfield, IL: Erlbaum.
Edited book:
Wall, T. D. (Ed.) (1987). The human side of manufacturing technology. Chichester: Wiley.
Edited book chapter:
Petrie, K. (1981). Life stress and illness: Formulation of the issue. In B. S. Dohrenwend & B. P.
Dohrenwend (Eds.), Stressful life events and their context (Rev. ed., pp. 345-401). New York:
Wiley.
If in a separately titled volume in a multi-volume work then:
Auerbach, J. S. (in press). The origins of narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder: A
theoretical and empirical reformulation. In J. M. Masling & R. F. Bornstein (Eds.), Empirical
studies of psychoanalytic theories: Vol. 4. Psychoanalytic perspectives on psychopathology.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Reports:
Association of Chief Officers of Probation. (1997). Position statement on electronic monitoring.
London: HMSO.
Klaasen, C. (1996). Predicting aggression in psychiatric inpatients using ten historical risk
factors: Validating the 'H' in the HCR-20. Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada: Simon Fraser
University, Department of Psychology.
Unpublished theses/dissertations:
Beck, G. (1992). Bullying amongst incarcerated young offenders. Unpublished master's thesis,
Birkbeck College, University of London.
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Conference papers:
For a paper in a published proceedings:
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1991). A motivational approach to self: Integration in personality. In
R. Dienstbier (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Vol. 38. Perspectives on motivation
(pp. 237-288). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
If proceedings are published regularly, treat as a periodical reference:
Cynx, J., Williams, H., & Nottebohm, F. (1992). Hemispheric differences in avian song
discrimination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 89, 1372-1375.
For an unpublished paper presented at a meeting:
Lanktree, C., & Biere, J. (1991, January). Early data on the Trauma Symptom Checklist for
Children (TSC-C). Paper presented at the meeting of the American Professional Society on the
Abuse of Children, San Diego, CA.
Unpublished/submitted/in preparation papers:
Black, P. T. (1999). Educational level as a predictor of success. Unpublished manuscript.
Black, P. T. (1999). Educational level as a predictor of success. Manuscript submitted for
publication.
Black, P. T. (1999). Educational level as a predictor of success. Manuscript in preparation.
Referencing electronic formats
Email communications:
Authors are responsible for verifying the sources of email communication before citing them.
Email communications should be cited as personal communications therefore they can appear in
the text but not the reference list eg. J. Bloggs (personal communication, January 24, 2001).
Web sites:
To direct readers to an entire web site, please give the address of the site in the text eg.
The Society's web site is full of interesting facts (http://www.bps.org.uk).
No reference entry is needed.
Specific document on a web site:
All references should begin with the same information as for printed sources followed by a
retrieval statement. If no publication date is available, use 'n.d' (stands for 'no date') instead. It is
important to give the date of retrieval because documents on the Web may change or move. Eg.
Cramer, D. (2001). Why I study ... close relationships. The Psychologist, 14, 26-27. Retrieved
January 24, 2001, from http://www.bps.org.uk/thepsychologist.cfm
For further information please refer to pages 268 - 281 of the APA Publication Manual.
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