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Citation & Referencing Guide: APA (7th edition) Citation Style

Discusses citation and referencing styles and their importance in scholarly writing.

APA

The following rules apply when using APA referencing style:

  • All lines after the first line of each reference list should be indented half an inch from the left margin (hanging indentation). e.g.

Neville, C. (2010). Complete guide to referencing and

avoiding plagiarism. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Authors/Editors

  • Authors' and editors' names are inverted, (last name first).
  • Full stops are used after each author's initials.
  • For multiple authors, give all names up to seven with the last author name preceded by an ampersand (&). Where there are more than seven authors; list the first six then use an ellipsis (...) and list the name of the last author of the work (no ampersand is required). e.g.

Rose, P., Thomas, S.T., Mentee, L.R., Shadrack, P.,

Rubin, L.H., Stamos, A., ... Peters, L.P. (2015) Citation and referencing

Year of Publication

  • The year of publication should be put in brackets followed by a full stop.

Titles

  • The title should be italicized. e.g. How to write a master's thesis
  • For a book, the title should be written in sentence case, only the first letter of the first word of the title or sub-title and any proper nouns are capitalized.
  • For journal titles, each major word of the title is capitalized followed by a comma. e.g. Journal of Dairy Science

Editions

  • The abbreviation ed. is used for editions enclosed in brackets and a full stop after the brackets. e.g (10th ed.).

Issue Information (for periodicals)

  • Volume numbers should be italicized, but not the issue and page numbers.

Page numbers

  • For book chapters, these are given immediately after the title of the book enclosed in round brackets and before the publication details.

The Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., p. 180. prescribes a list of acceptable abbreviations that can be used.

Abbreviation

Book or Publication part
ed. edition
Rev. ed. Revised edition
2nd ed. Second edition
Trans. Translator (s)
n.d. no date
p. (pp)

page (pages)
Vol. Volume (as in vol. 4)
Vols. Volumes (as in vols. 1-4)
No. Number
Pt. Part
Tech. Rep. Technical Report
Suppl. Supplement

Citing with APA 7th Edition

Type of Citation Narrative citation Subsequent citations in text Parenthetical format, first citation in text Parenthetical format, subsequent citation in text
One work by one author Shadrack (2017) Shadrack (2017) (Shadrack, 2017) (Shadrack, 2017)
One work by two author Shadrack  and Rose (2000) Shadrack  and Rose (2000) (Shadrack  & Rose, 2000) (Shadrack  & Rose, 2000)
One work by three or more authors Rose et al. (1990) Rose et al. (1990) (Rose et al., 1990) (Rose et al., 1990)
Groups (readily identified through abbreviations) as authors Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN, 2019) BUAN (2019) (Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources [BUAN], 2019) (BUAN, 2019)
Groups (no abbreviations) as authors Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (2019) Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (2019) (Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2019) (Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2019)

When a work has no identified author, cite in text with the first words of the reference list entry usually the title and year. NB: Use double quotation marks around the title of an article, a chapter, or a web page and italicize the title of a periodical, a book, a brochure, or a report: e.g.

 on writing scientifically ("How to write,"1990)

the book Good Style (2011)

An indirect citation or secondary source refers to citing a source you have not read or accessed that is found in another source. It is advisable that you read and cite the original source (primary source) but if it is not possible to do so, the secondary source has to be cited as it appears in the original citing source.

e.g. (Gopolang, 2020, as cited in Dibeela, 2022) OR

Gopolang (2020, as cited in Dibeela, 2022) believes that...

At the reference list, include details of both the Primary and Secondary sources.

Recommended Literature

APA Citation & Referencing Examples

Citation: (Author, year) or Author (year)

Reference: Author, A.A. (year). Title of book. Publisher Name

Author, A.A. (year). Title of book. https://www.xxxxxx

Author, A.A. (year). Title of book. doi:xxxxx

Editor, A.A. (year). Title of book. Publisher Name.

  In Text Citation Reference List
No editor - Print book

.... citing sources (Miller, & De Boer, 2017)

or

Miller and De Boer (2017) argue that...
Miller, P. C. & De Boer, M. (2017). The Concise APA Handbook.
Charlotte. Information Age Publishing.
Edited print book

Williams (2015) discussed...

or

APA referencing style (Williams, 2015)

Williams, S.T. (Ed.). (2015). Referencing: A guide to citation rules (3rd ed.). My Publisher
ebook Inorganic chemistry involves.... (Valls, 2018) Valls, R. (2018). Inorganic chemistry. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Citation: (Author, year) or Author (year)

Reference: Author, A.A. (year). Title of chapter. In A.A. Editor (Ed), Book title (chapter page range pp. xx-xx) Location: Publisher

Author, A.A. (year). Title of chapter. In A.A. Editor (Ed), Book title (chapter page range pp. xx-xx) Retrieved from https://www.xxxxx

  In Text Citation Reference List
Edited ebook chapter

...citing a book with two authors (Troy, 2015)  

or

Troy (2015) opine that...

Troy, B.N. (2015). APA citation rules. In S.T, Williams (Ed.). A guide to citation rules (2nd ed., pp. 50-                       

95). https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/reference-manager
Edited book chapter

...citing a book with two authors (Troy, 2015)  

or

Troy (2015) opine that...

Troy, B.N. (2015). APA citation rules. In S.T, Williams (Ed.). A guide to citation rules (2nd ed., pp. 50-95). NY: Publishers.

Citation: (Author, year) or Author (year)

Reference: Presenter. A.A. (Year, Month) Title of the presentation, Conference title, Location

 

In text Citation

 Reference list
Conference paper

Astuti et al. (2019) stated that...

or 

It has been found that...(Astuti, Manin, Adriani, Bahtera, & Adawiyah, 2019)

Astuti, R., Manin, F., Adriani, A., Bahtera, N., & Adawiyah, C. (2019, May 10-12). The agricultural extension services to stock farmers

through utilizing the Probio_Fm in improving the productivity of beef cattle in central bangka, indonesia. Medan: European Alliance for Innovation (EAI). doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.4108/eai.26-1-2019.2283322

 Citation: (Author, year) or Author (year)

Reference: Author, A.A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (year). Title of article. Journal Title,x(x), pp-pp. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx

  In Text Citation Reference List
e-journal

Mitchell (2017) stated that...

or 

It has been found that...(Mitchell, 2017)

Mitchell, J.A. (2017). Citation: Why is it so important. Mendeley Journal, 67(2), 81-95.  https://www.mendeley.com/reference-

management/reference-manager
Print journal

Mitchell (2017) stated that...

or 

It has been found that...(Mitchell, 2017)

Mitchell, J.A. (2017). Citation: Why is it so important. Mendeley Journal, 67(2), 81-95

Citation: (Author, year) or Author (year)

Reference (Newspaper article): Author, A.A. (year, Month day). Title of the article. Newspaper Title. pp. xx-xx

Online newspaper article: Author, A.A. (year, Month day). Title of the article. Newspaper Title. https://www.xxxxxx

Reference (Magazine article): Author, A.A. (year, Month). Title of the article. Magazine Title, vol(iss), pp. xx-xx

Online Magazine article: Author, A.A. (year, Month). Title of the article. Magazine Title, vol(iss). https://www.xxxxxx

  In Text Citation Reference List
Magazine

Mhlongo (2019) identifies.. or....     to file a death claim (Mhlongo, 2019).

Mhlongo, S. (2019, September). Death benefit claim. Bona, pp. 58-59
Newspaper Gopolang (2019) stated that... or....the engineered apple (Gopolang, 2019).

Gopolang, L. (2019). Citation formats on another level. The BUAN news, Library News, pp.9.  

https://www.buan.ac.bw/index.php/buan-news/

Citation: (Author, year) or Author (year)

Reference (unpublished dissertation or theses): Author, A.A. (year). Title of doctoral dissertation or masters thesis. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation or masters thesis] Name of Institution Awarding the Degree.

Reference (available in a database): Author, A.A. (year). Title of doctoral dissertation or masters thesis. [Doctoral dissertation or masters thesis] Name of database or Archive name. (Accession or Order no.). https://xxxxxx

  In Text Citation Reference List
Dissertations/Theses (unpublished)

Baeletsi (2019) argues….

Another approach (Baeletsi, 2019) argues….

Baeletsi, K. (2019). The use of instructural technology in academic universities in Botswana [Unpublished

masters thesis]. University of Botswana.
Dissertations/Theses (published)

Baeletsi (2019) argues….

Another approach (Baeletsi, 2019) argues….

Baeletsi, K. (2019). The use of instructural technology in academic universities in Botswana (Publication

No.123456) [Masters thesis, University of Botswana]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.

 

Citation: (Author, year) or Author (year)

Reference: Author(s) Last name, Initial(s). (Year). Title of lecture [format, e.g. PowerPoint, Prezi, PDF etc.]. URL 

  In Text Citation Reference List
Lectures or presentations

Mazwiduma (2015) explained the presentation of farm implements...

....a tractor is popularly used (Mazwiduma, 2015).

Mazwiduma, S. (2015). Modern farm implements. [PowerPoint slides]. 

https://www.buan.ac.bw

Citation: (Author, year) or Author (year) 

Reference (Page on a website): Author(s) Last name, Initials. (Year, month day; n.d. to indicate no date). Title of article. Title of web site. URL

Reference (Page on a website): Title of webpage. (Year, month day). URL.

  In Text Citation Reference List
Web pages with individual authors

Mentee (2012) provided information for the visit.

Mentee, T. (2012). How and when to reference. Online Library

https://www.howandwhentoreference.com.
Web pages with organizations as authors Ministry of Agriculture (2015) issued a press statement.

Ministry of Agriculture (2015) . Swine flu outbreak. Ministry of

Agriculture. https://www.moa.gov.bw
Web pages with no authors

The webpage “Literacy basics” (2013) provides help….

There is help completing research from the UCD Library (“Literacy basics” 2013).

Literacy basics. (2013). https://literacybasics.ca/

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