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Referencing and Citation Styles: APA 7th

Official APA 7th referencing manual

The official published manual for APA 7th is:

Alternative guides when the published manual is not available:

References in the body of your essay

The APA in text reference is in the format (author, date). When directly quoting from a text you must include a page number in the citation as given in the examples below. Including page numbers in all other circumstances is not required however, it is best practice to do so when referring to part of a work (e.g. a paragraph or chapter in a book). When referring to an entire work that covers a single topic (e.g. a journal article) it is not required.

Referencing an idea
  • Anxiety and depression have been identified as more commonly in children and adolescents with long-term physical conditions (Dantzer, 2003; Pinquart & Shen, 2011).

OR

  • Dantzer (2003), Pinquart and Shen (2011) all state that anxiety and depression has been identified as more commonly in children and adolescents with long-term physical conditions.
Referencing a quotation
  • Indeed, one researcher commented that “technological innovations have saved or extended the lives of many patients” (Lumby, 2001, p. 44).
Citing a source within a source

Where your source quotes or refers to another source, for example Unsworth refers to previous work by Halliday on linguistics, the citation might read thus:

  • (Halliday, 1987, as cited in Unsworth, 2004, p. 15)

Only Unsworth will appear in the Reference list at the end of your assignment

Reference List

Your reference list should be ordered alphabetically by author and then chronologically by year of publication. The APA 7th style requires the references to be indented as illustrated below in the examples.

For instances of multiple articles with the same authors and years of publication, please check the APA publication manual or Academic Writer. If you have the DOI for the journal article, you should include it in the reference, otherwise, it is not necessary.

Book
  • De Vaus, D. A. (2014). Surveys in social research. Allen & Unwin.
Book chapter
  • McKenzie, H., Boughton, M., Hayes, L., & Forsyth, S. (2008). Explaining the complexities and value of nursing practice and knowledge. In I. Morley & M. Crouch (Eds.), Knowledge as value: Illumination through critical prisms (pp. 209-224). Rodopi.
Journal article
  • Cheung, J. M. Y., Bartlett, D. J., Armour, C. L., Laba, T. L., & Saini, B. (2018). To drug or not to drug: A qualitative study of patients’ decision-making processes for managing insomnia. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 16(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2016.1163702

  • Note: Remove library ezproxy link from the URL of any references you've sourced via the library i.e. .ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au​

Webpage with an author and no exact date of publication

World Health Organization. (2018). Climate change and health. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health

Webpage with no author, and with an exact date of publication
$250m funding boost for malaria vaccine. (2003, September 22). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2003-09-22/250m-funding-boost-for-malaria-vaccine/1482220
Webpage with organisational author and content that changes frequently
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (n.d.). Population Clock and Pyramid. Retrieved October 3, 2023, from https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/population-clock-pyramid
Newspaper article

  • Johanson, S. (2019, November 13). World’s most sustainable shopping centre takes roots. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/world-s-most-sustainable-shopping-centre-takes-root-in-the-suburbs-20191112-p539rf.html

Government publication

  • Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2019). Hospitals at a glance 2017-18. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/hospitals/hospitals-at-a-glance-2017-18/report-editions

Company and Industry Reports

  • Vuong, B. (2018, November). Coffee shops in Australia: IBISWorld industry report (OD5381). IBISWorld. http://www.ibisworld.com

More Resources

Best of Academic Writer

Academic Writer is APA's tool fully integrated with Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).

Learn - see quick guides and video tutorials which help you master academic writing in APA Style. 

Learn -- Sample References - find examples of references such as, books, book chapters, journal articles, technical or research reports, conference proceedings, audiovisual materials, web resources, etc. 

FAQs answered on Academic Writer

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