APA (6th edition) referencing style sheet
This referencing style sheet is to be used in conjunction with the Library’s Guide to Citing & Referencing. The information is based on the APA 6th edition Publication Manual.
- American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
This manual is available in the Library.
See also www.apastyle.org
CITATIONS
The American Psychological Association uses an author-date style of referencing with details entered in round brackets, for example:
The traditional approach to human cognition is over-simplified in assuming that processing is typically serial (Eysenck & Keane, 2010).
Treatment of multiple authors:
When a work has two authors, cite both authors every time.
When a work has three, four or five authors, cite all authors the first time a reference occurs. In subsequent citations, include only the surname of the first author followed by et al. See:
Kisangau, Lyaruu, Hosea, and Joseph (2007) found that … [first time cited]
Kisangua et al. (2007) found that … [subsequent citations]
When a work has six or more authors, cite only the surname of the first author followed by et al. and the year of publication for the first and subsequent citations.
REFERENCE LIST
The reference list should contain full details of all the sources mentioned in the text, arranged alphabetically by surname of first author.
REFERENCE EXAMPLES
Below are some examples of the more common types of document you might want to reference. Each gives the APA 6th ed. format for the reference, followed by an example.
Treatment of multiple authors within reference list:
When authors number eight or more, include the first six authors’ names then insert three ellipses and add the last author’s name. See:
- Kisangau, A., Lyaruu, B., Hosea, C., Joseph, D., Rogers, T., Tylee, C., . . . Humphreys, L. J. (2007). Psychology. Birmingham: ABC Press
Author’s surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Title (xx ed. if not the first). Place of publication: Publisher.
- Cowen, R. (2005). History of life (4th ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.
Book with two authors / editors
Authors’ names. (Year of publication). Title (xx ed. if not the first). Place of publication: Publisher.
- Fahy, J., & Jobber, D. (2012). Foundations of marketing (4th ed.). London: McGraw-Hill.
Book with editor(s) instead of author(s)
Editor’s surname, Initials. (Ed.). (Year of publication). Title (xx ed. if not the first). Place of publication: Publisher.
- Morgan, W. J. (Ed.). (2007). Ethics in sport (2nd ed.). Leeds: Human Kinetics.
Corporate author. (Year of publication). Title (xx ed. if not the first). Place of publication: Author.
- The Open University. (2007). Understanding cardiovascular diseases. Milton Keynes: Author.
NB When the author and publisher are the same, use the word Author as the name of the publisher.
Book usually known by its title
Title. (Year of publication). (xx ed. if not the first). Place of publication: Publisher.
- Collins English dictionary. (2005). (7th ed.). Glasgow: HarperCollins.
One chapter / paper from a collection in a book
Author of chapter’s surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In: Initials of first editor, Surname of first editor & Initials of second editor, Surname of second editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xx-xx). Place of publication: Publisher.
- Worobec, C. D. (2012). Russian peasant women’s culture : Three voices. In W. Rosslyn & A. Tosi (Eds.), Women in nineteenth-century Russia: Lives and culture (pp. 41-62). Cambridge: Open Book.
Author’s surname, Initials. (Year of publication, Month of publication Day of publication). Title of article. Title of newspaper, pp. xx-xx.
- Gentleman, A. (2012, March 31). The rules for mums and dads. The Guardian, pp. 48-49.
Thesis / dissertation – from a university outside the US
APA uses American terminology so please refer to Publication Manual for detailed guidance. The example below is for a doctoral thesis found on a Swedish institutional repository:
Author surname, Initials. (Year of award). Title of thesis (Level of award, Awarding institution). Retrieved from URL
- Calborm, P.(2000). Carbody and passengers in rail vehicle dynamics (Doctoral thesis, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden). Retrieved from http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-3029
Corporate author. (Date of publication). Title of report. Place of publication: Author.
- Drinking Water Inspectorate. (2011). Drinking water 2010: Private water supplies in England. London: Author.
Writer’s surname, Initials. (Writer), & Director’s surname, Initials. (Director). (Year of broadcast). Title of episode [Television series episode]. In Executive Producer’s Initial. Executive Producer’s surname (Executive producer), Title of TV series. Country of origin (or US State): Broadcasting company.
- Egan, D. (Writer), & Alexander, J. (Director). (2005). Failure to communicate [Television series episode]. In D. Shore (Executive producer), House. New York, NY: Fox Broadcasting.
Electronic version of a print book
Author surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Title. Retrieved from URL.
- Hopkins, D. (2008). A teacher's guide to classroom research. Retrieved from http://lib.myilibrary.com/Open.aspx?id=195309
Electronic version of a republished book
Author surname, Initials. (Year of release in electronic format). Title. Retrieved from URL (Original year work was published)
- Hooke, R. (2005). Micrographia. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15491/15491-h/15491-h.htm (Original work published 1664)
Author surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Article title. Journal title, Volume number(part), page numbers.
- McFall, L. (2011). A ‘good, average man’: Calculation and the limits of statistics in enrolling insurance customers. Sociological review, 59(4), 661-684.
Electronic journal article without DOI
Author surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Article title. Journal title, Volume number(part), page numbers. Retrieved from URL
- Rojas, J. C., & Gonzales-Lima, F. (2011). Low-level light therapy of the eye and brain. Eye and Brain, 3(1), 49-67. Retrieved from http://www.dovepress.com/low-level-light-therapy-of-the-eye-and-brain-peer-reviewed-article-EB
Electronic journal article with DOI
Author’s surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Article title. Title of journal, Volume number(part), page numbers xx-xx. doi:
- McFall, L. (2011). A ‘good, average man’: Calculation and the limits of statistics in enrolling insurance customers. Sociological Review, 59(4), 661-684. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-954X.2011.02033.x
Author's surname, Initials. (Year site/document was published online). Title. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from web address.
Note: if there is no individual author you can use an organisation or coroporate body name. If neither is available, use the title for author. If there is no publication date available, use no date instead i.e. (n.d.).
- US ISBN Agency. (2004). The digital world and the ongoing development of ISBN. Retrieved February 20, 2010, from http://isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/digitalworld.asp.
This is the basic template. See examples for specific online documents above and in the APA's official manual and website.
CT/TR Aug 2012