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American Psychological Association (APA) Style Guide

American Psychological Association style guide with examples.

Knowing how to reference is an essential skill for all students and researchers as it demonstrates academic integrity. You can use referencing to strengthen your arguments and assertions, demonstrate that you have used credible sources, avoid plagiarism by acknowledging your information sources, and make details of source books and articles easily available to interested readers.

The American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style has two parts:

• in-text citations that appear in the body of your work
• a reference list that appears at the end.


Always check with your lecturer that this is the citation style required for your unit.


APA 7th Edition

The latest version of the APA referencing style is the 7th edition. We’ve compiled some handy resources to help you with this referencing style:

APA 7th edition formatting and style guide: in-text citations

In Text Citation Guideline

Download a printable PDF containing details on how to present referencing in parenthetical and narrative citations.


• Find out more about inserting in-text citations.


APA 7th edition formatting and style guide: reference lists

Textual (documented) work

Download a printable PDF containing an example on how to cite journal, magazine, newspaper, books, reports, conference proceedings, presentations, theses, reviews, unpublished works and etc.


Data Sets, Software and Test

Download a printable PDF containing an example on how to cite data set, computer software, mobile apps, equipment, test, manual and etc.


Audiovisual Media

Download a printable PDF containing an example examples on how to cite films, TV shows, YouTube videos, music, speech recordings, powerpoint slides, slides, infographic, map, photographs, podcasts, webinars, maps and etc.


Online Media

Download a printable PDF containing an example on how to cite social media, webpages, websites and etc.


Generative AI tools

Download a printable PDF containing an example on how to cite artificial intelligence (AI) models and software such as ChatGPT, Google Bard, QuillBot and etc.


APA 7th Edition reference guide for journal articles, books and edited book chapters

Download a printable PDF containing instructions on how to cite three different resource types in American Psychological Association (APA) 7th edition style.


APA 7th Edition common reference examples guide

Download a printable PDF with examples of the 30 most common reference types formatted in American Psychological Association (APA) 7th edition style.


• Find out more about creating reference lists.


APA 7th edition formatting and style guide: Formatting your APA paper

Formatting APA Paper guideline

Download a printable PDF containing provides details steps-by-step instructions for formatting your APA paper, how to do ‘hanging indent in Word’, format ‘Painter Tool’ in Word and Google Docs also how to access ‘Academic Writer Tool’ in library website .


Heading Levels Template: Student Paper

Download a printable PDF.


Sample Students Paper

Download a printable PDF.


• Find out more about creating reference lists.


Additional APA 7th edition referencing guidelines

Australian legal resources

Act

In-text citation

Short title of the legislation (in italics), year (in italics), jurisdiction (abbreviated), subdivision number (if relevant). Specify the jurisdiction in the first citation but it is not required in subsequent citations.

For example:
In the Victorian mental health system advance statements can be made to document an individual’s treatment preferences in the event they become a patient (Mental Health Act 2014 (Vic), s. 28).

Reference list

Short title of the act (in italics), year (in italics), jurisdiction (abbreviated), URL (if retrieved from a website)

For example:
Mental Health Act 2014 (Vic)

Bill

Bills are treated as unpublished works and the title is not italicised.

In-text citation

Short title of the bill, year, jurisdiction (abbreviated), subdivision number (if relevant)

For example:
As outlined in the Liability for Climate Change Commonwealth Bill (2020, s. 15).

Reference list

Short title of the bill, year, jurisdiction (abbreviated), subdivision number (if relevant), URL (if retrieved from a website)

For example:
Liability for Climate Change Bill 2020 (Cth). https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2020B00019

Legal Case

Law reports can be organised by volume number or by year. Round brackets enclose the year of reports organised by volume numbers. Square brackets enclose the year of reports organised by year. Check the source you used to ensure your brackets match.

In-text citation

Title of the case (in italics), year (in brackets). Specify the year in the first citation but it is not required in subsequent citations.

For example:
Furthermore, in the case of Breen v Williams (1995), this was disputed.

Reference list

Title of the case (in italics), year (in brackets), volume number, law report abbreviation, URL (if retrieved from a website)

For example:
Breen v Williams (1999) 186 CLR

Images

Image reproduces in a document

According to APA style, when any kind of visual display (other than a table) is reproduced in a work, it should be treated as a figure. This includes photographs, drawings, bar graphs, infographics and other illustrations. The reference details are displayed with the figure and also included in the reference list.
Please note:

1. Authors intending to publish their work (including theses) must, before publication, obtain permission from the copyright owner or comply with any stated licensing conditions (such as a Creative Commons license).

2. Students using images in assignments submitted as part of their course do not need to ask permission from the copyright owner under Fair Dealing for Research or Study in Australian copyright law. However, “fair dealing” does not apply if the images are made available to anyone outside the course of study. This includes sharing your work (if the images are included) online or with potential employers. Otherwise you will need to obtain the copyright owner’s permission or omit the images.

For example:

Figure 1 shows the highly ornate…

Figure 1
Springthorpe Memorial



Note. From Cemetery Architecture of Australia by D. Eade, 2020, p.18. Copyright by Art Architecture Books.

This is an example of how to reference an image when permission to reproduce it has been obtained from the copyright holder.

For example:

The ceiling of the Springthorpe Memorial, as seen in Figure 2, provides a colourful contrast to the sober, neoclassical elements of the building.

Figure 2
Stained glass ceiling, Springthorpe Memorial


Note. Reprinted from “Stained Glass Ceilings in Australian Architecture,” by A. B. Light, 2018, (http://ahas.org.au/stainedglassceilings_image1).
Copyright 2020 by Australian Historic Architecture Society.
Reprinted with permission

Image not reproduced in your work

When you refer to an image without including a copy of it in your work, include it in the reference list and insert an in-text citation.

In-text citation

Images of Cathy Freeman’s distinctive, green and gold, running suit (Munday 2000), worn at the Sydney Olympics in 2000…

Reference list

Munday, S. (2000). [Photograph of Cathy Freeman at the Olympic Games Sydney 2000]. International Olympic Committee. https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Images/OlympicOrg/News/2018/08/15/2018-08-15-Freeman-thumbnail.jpg

For further examples, or check out APA’s webpage, Audiovisual media.

Swinburne Design students

In some Design units the preference is for the figure number and reference details to be displayed below the figure and also in the reference list.
For example:

As demonstrated in Figure 1, cemetery architecture at that time…




Figure 1. Syme Memorial. Reprinted from “Edwardian Melbourne and Cemetery Architecture,” by J. J. Lintel, A. Corbel, and P. T. Rafter, 2019, Cemetery Art and Architecture, 20(1), p.5 (https://doi.org/10.1030/yho0000359). Copyright 2019 by Doodle, Quiff & Co.


• Need more help? Try the APA Style blog. 

Academic Writer

With 100 per cent coverage of the official APA 7th edition style manual, this tool provides many examples of correct referencing for a wide variety of reference types. It can also enable you to save and store references, and help you to write documents in APA format. To quickly find referencing help in Academic Writer, select the Learn Centre and click Sample References.

Try it now .



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