Library Tutorial

APA Reference Style for

University Assignments
 Learning Outcomes
In the tutorial, you will
• Learn the basic rules using the APA reference
style for formatting citations.
• Be able to cite ideas from someone’s works
using the APA style in your essay.
• Be able to create a reference list of books,
journals & online documents (webpages) using
the APA style.
 Acknowledge Citations
• Once you find a useful idea to support your essay
argument, the source must be acknowledged.
• Whether paraphrasing or quoting an author
directly, you must credit the source.
• An essay without the acknowledgement of sources
will be considered as plagiarism.
• Your research paper will be complete when an
adequate reference list is attached!
 Today’s Contents
Introduction:
What is APA? Why APA style?
Step 1: Formatting text citations.
Step 2: Formatting bibliographic information for a
reference list.
Step 3: Referencing online resources in the APA style.
Step 4: Listing formatted references in your reference
list.
 What is the APA style?
• “APA” stands for “American Psychological
Association”.
• It is also known as an “Author-Date”
System, in contrast to a “Note System.”
The Author-Date Style: Citations in
the text refer to references in the
bibliography at the end of essay.
Note Style (the footnote citation style)
where numbers in the text refer to
references in the footer area.
 Why APA style?
• There are many Author-Date citation styles.
• In the Harvard style, a citation would be: (Woods:
2001: 45)
• In the APA style, it would be: (Woods, 2001, p. 45)
• APA is the most popular international author-date
reference style for Social Sciences & Management
journals.
 Why APA style?
• “APA” publishes an excellent user manual on
referencing & editorial style.
• The library has many copies of the manual in
many sections of the Library. Some copies can
be loaned.

This tutorial is based on

the APA Publication Manual
(BF11.A69 2001 – 5th edition)
 STEP 1:
Formatting Citations
in Your Essay with
APA style
 An Essay in APA style
Introduction:
Your thesis statement.
An outline of your essay.

The Body: Your arguments (Your answer to the question)

e.g. It is discussed that…. (Anderson, 2002, p.35)…

Conclusion: A parenthetical
The summary of your answer.
reference refers to
Reference List.

Reference List:
Anderson, S. (2002). Adventure tourism: An introduction.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 References within text
Example 1: Direct quotations
If your direct
“Language involves attaching meaning to world symbols” (Samovar
& Porter, 1997, p. 286). quotation is more
than 40 words,
According to Coakley (1994), the success of a professional
indent the sporting
quoted
event is no guaranteed as it requires “people in a society must have
time…” (pp. 303-304).
section without
quotation marks.
As Taylor (1983) points out,
All society establishes hierarchies, In few society… are they so
widespread or important as in Japan. For the Japanese, rank is
so finely determined that… (p. 42).
 References within text
When paraphrasing or referring to an idea
contained in another work, you don’t have to
provide a location reference (e.g. a page or
Example 2: Indirect
paragraphquotations
number). (paraphrasing
Nevertheless, / summarizing)
you are
He spends years cultivatingencouraged
his clients, building
to do long-term
so.
relationships based on reliability (Hall, 1983).

Lormax (1968) found that song and dance styles of a country were
If social
related to its level of an idea comes
cohesion and collectivism (pp.54-55).
from two different
As discussed above, electronic commerce is typically characterised by
sources, use a
disintermediation of supply chain. (Gould, 2001; New Zealand
semicolon (;).
Tourism, 2003, pp.34-37).
 References within text
Example 3: Citations from a secondary source
(e.g. from a text book)
According to Steinberg and McDonald’s study (as cited in McNeil,
Ballard, Atkins, & Hall, 1996), it is not always true.

However, it is always best to cite the original source,

If you want to use an idea from
especially if you are a graduate student.
an author cited by another
(1) References could be cited incorrectly.
author, use “as cited in”.
(2) That would be dishonest.
In the reference list, list only the
secondary source.
 STEP 2:
Formatting
Bibliographic Data for
List of References
with APA style
 List of References
• Once your references are cited in the text, you
need to append a reference list to acknowledge
cited materials.
• The reference list provides the information
necessary to identify and retrieve each source.
• “Our purpose of listing references is to enable
readers to retrieve and use the sources –
reference data must be correct and complete.”
 List of References
• All references cited in the text must appear in
the list.
• Conversely, each entry in the reference list
must be cited in the text.
• Make sure that the text citation and reference
list entries are identical.
List of References (Exception)
• Your lecturer’s comments in your lecture or personal email,
interviews must be acknowledged in the body of your
essay, but these do not need to be listed in a reference list.
e.g.
In his lecture for ‘Introduction to Sociology’ on 16 April
2002, Prof. Harris said that…
or
Thus, it was proved to be 3.7%. (P. Harris, personal
communications, April 16, 2002)
 The Components
• What is the minimum information to retrieve source
information?
• Basic bibliographic data that are usually included in
each citation are:
<1> Author’s Name
<2> Publication Date (& Access Date)
<3> Title of Item
<4> Publication Information It must be italicised
(or underlined)
 Listing Components
• A bibliographic reference should not be like:
Author: John W. Creswell (1994) Reference
Title: Research Design – Qualitative & List doesn’t
Quantitative
approaches. need library
Publisher: Sage Publication, London call numbers.
Call number: H62.C71 1994 <Level 3>
• But it should be like...
Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative &
quantitative approaches. London: Sage Publication.
 1. Author’s Name
• Invert all author’s name – give surnames and initials.
– White, R.
– Dryden, G., & Vos, J.
– Robbins, S. P., Bergman, R., & Stagg, I.
• For editors, use (Ed.) or (Eds.) after initials of
editor(s).
– Duncan, G. M. (Ed.).
– Samovar, L. A., & Porter, R. E. (Eds.).
 2. Publication Date
• Books, Journals & Audiovisual media need a
“Publication Year.”
– White, R. (1997).
– Knop, N., & Pope, C. (1998).
• Magazines & Newspapers etc. need “Year, Month,
Day.”
– Creswell, J. (1993, June). [Monthly]
– Smith, A. (1994, September 28). [daily & weekly]
– Pope, C. (n.d.). [Work with no date available]
 3. Title (Books)
Enclose additional information
after the title. (trans.)Additional
(press.) information
for authors such as
or [CD], [Motion Picture]
Examples: (Director), (Producer)
Samovar, L. A., & Porter, R. E. (Eds.) (1997). Intercultural
communication: A reader. (8th ed.). New York:
Wadsworth Publication Company.

Gannon, M. J. (1997). Irish conversations. In L. A.

Samovar, & R. E. Porter (Eds.), Intercultural
communication: A reader. (8th ed.). (pp. 125-133). New
York: Wadsworth Publication Company.
 3. Title (Periodicals)
Periodicals are journals, magazines etc.
Deutsche, F. (1993). Husbands at home: Predictors of paternal
participation in childcare and housework. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 65 (3), 1154-1166.

Henry, W. A. (1990, April 9). Beyond the melting pot. Time. 135,
28-31.

Gill, M. A. (2001, December 13). Ringing endorsement. Waikato

Times. Edition 2, p. 15.
 4. Publication Information
Publication Information is:
1: Publication Place: Publisher’s name (for Books, Audiovisual media
etc.)
Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative & quantitative
No Publisher’s
approaches. London: Sage Publication. name & Place of
Publication
2. Issue Number, Page Numbers (for periodicals).
Volume numbers are a part of Journal Titles
Zhang, Z. (1988). A discussion of communicative culture. Journal of
Chinese Language Teacher Association, 23 (2), 107-112.
4. Publication Information
Well-known publication places
such as Tokyo and New York do
not need states or country names.
Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative &
quantitative approaches. London: Sage Publication.

Robbins, S. P., Bergman, R., & Stagg, I. (1997).

Management. Maryborough, Victoria, Australia: Prentice
Hall.
If two or more publisher locations
are given, give the location listed
first in the book or the location of
the publisher’s home office.
 STEP 3:
Referencing Online
Resources in APA style.
No matter whether it is online or print,
your reference needs four basic elements:
(1) Author (2) Date (3) Title &
(4) Publication Information – URLs/Database’s name
 Access Date
• A reference of an electronic source needs all four
basic elements, and also “date of retrieval” before
publication information.

Palmquist, S. (2004) Kant on the web. Retrieved

October 6, 2004, from
http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/Kant.html
 Author
• Wherever possible, identify the authors of
documents. Be mindful of the quality of online
documents (of unknown authorship!)
• On the other hand, you might find more than one
author’s name – the host organisation and webpage
author(s) are not the same…
 Let’s practice
• Suppose you want to use a webpage about
“Hamilton Zoo” as a reference for your
essay…
• What are four reference elements?
 Webpage’s title is
always on the top
bar of your browser.
The URL (Publication
Information) is in
the address bar.
If you cannot find the
author’s name or
publication date, scroll
down the browser.
Otherwise, go to the homepage
of the website and/or find link to
‘About me’. Or ‘About Us’

At the bottom of the

webpage, you normally find
the copyright information
(Author & Publication Date).
 Write it in order…
• We identified all four basic elements:
Acknowledge
– Author: Hamilton City Council (&website’s
Hamiltonauthor
Zoo).before
– Date: 2001 the URL if it’s different from the
website’s host (e.g. Government
– Title: Hamilton Zoo
Agency, University department)
– Pub.Info: URL & Date of Access
• This webpage will be referenced as:
– Hamilton City Council. (2001). Hamilton Zoo. Retrieved
October 7, 2004, from the Hamilton Zoo Website:
http://www.hamiltonzoo.co.nz/

No underline
 Websites/Webpages
1. A webpage (A document in an Internet
only journal)
New Zealand’s Information Network. (n.d.).
Hamilton Visitor's Guide & Visitor Information -
Hamilton City, Waikato, New Zealand. Retrieved
October 11, 2004, from
http://www.newzealandnz.co.nz/hamilton/
 Websites/Webpages
2. A website (multiple documents)
When Internet documents comprises multople
pages (it has different URLs), acknowledge its
homepage:

American Psychological Association. (2003). APA style;

Electronic References. Retrieved October 7, 2004, from
http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
 Online Articles
1. An online article based on a print source (The same
journal is available on the WWW: i.e. PDF version)
Adderly, B. (2001). Mother nature’s medicine chest [Electronic
version]. Better Nutrition, 63 (8), 30-32.
2. An Articles in a Library Database (A HTML
document)
Adderly, B. (2001). Mother nature’s medicine chest. Better Nutrition,
63 (8), 30-32. Retrieved September 30, 2004, from Academic
Research Library database.
 How to quote it?
1. Use PDF version if possible.
PDF is a scanned printed article. Page numbers should be available
as printed articles.
2. Online Article in the HTML version.
There will no page numbers. If paragraph numbers are visible, use them in
place of page numbers.
Use the ¶ symbol or the abbreviation para.

(Adderly, 2001, para. 5) or (Adderly, 2001,. ¶ 5).

 How to quote it?
3. Online Article in the HTML version.
If there are headings in the document, use the heading and the
paragraph number.

“Privacy has long been defined as the night of an individual to be

left alone and to be able to control the flow of information about
him or herself” (Liu & Armett, 2002, Influence on E-commerce,
para. 1)

“The current system of managed care and the current approach…

are shortsighted” (Beutler, 2000, Conclusion section, para. 1).
 STEP 4:
Listing Bibliographic
References in Your
Reference List with
APA style
 Listing Entries
• The list should be placed after the body of
your essay.
• List all reference entries alphabetically.
• If no author is known, the entry should start
with its title (ignore ‘the’ or ‘a’ ‘an’).
• Some webpages & many newspaper articles
do not have author’s name.
 Listing Entries
e.g.
Drivers reject fuel prices driven by war threat. (2003,
March 7). THE TIMARU HERALD. p.1.
• In the text, use a short title (or the full title if
it is short) for the parenthetical citation.
e.g. (“Drivers reject fuel,” 2003)
 Listing Entries
• If there are two or more references by the same
author in the same year, add alphabet after the
publication year.
e.g.
Statistics New Zealand (2002a). The annual report.
Wellington, New Zealand: Author.

Statistics New Zealand (2002b). The New

Zealand Official Year Book. Auckland, New
Zealand: Author.
Use “Author” if Author and
Publisher are identical.
 Listing Entries
In the text…
According to Statistics New Zealand (2002b, pp.
306-310), international tourism’s contribution to NZ
economy is tremendous.
 Final Check!
• When you have completed your reference list, make sure
that:
– each entry has four basic elements.
– each entry referenced appears in both the text and the list.
– the text citation and reference list entry are identical in spelling
and year.
• Always check with the APA manual if you are not sure -
use “indexes.”
 Conclusion
You have learned:
• How to format citations in text using the APA reference
style.
• How to make a reference list using the APA reference style.
• How to use the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (Call Number: BF11.A69).
Enjoy Essay Writing!