Skip to Main Content

APA 6th Referencing Style Guide

This guide introduces the APA referencing style with examples of citation styles for different types of resources.

Law and APA

  • APA is not specifically designed for referencing New Zealand legal materials
  • Law students at AUT should use the New Zealand Law Style Guide for referencing law materials, NOT APA.

Law students

Use the AUT Library Law subject guide, which contains Legal Referencing & Citation Tools and the New Zealand Law Style Guide.

Non-law students

  • Students studying other disciplines can use APA to cite the occasional Act or case
  • The guidelines in the APA manual relate to American legislation and are inappropriate for New Zealand.
  • The APA Referencing Style Guide here gives AUT interpretations on APA for New Zealand legal resources.

Acts (Statutes)

Acts (Statutes)

  • An Act (also called a Statute) is a written law passed by a legislative body
  • The date is part of the title of the Act and does not need parentheses or comma's to differentiate it

Reference format for an Act:

Title of the Act.

Reference list entry:

Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994.

Health Practitioners Competency Assurance Act 1983.

Immigration Act 2009.

Privacy Act 1993.

In-text citation:

Recent legislation (Immigration Act 2009) has seen significant changes in .....

 

Section of an Act

  • Acts have section numbers
  • Use the abbreviation s for a section or ss for sections
  • Section numbers are not included in the reference list

In text citation:

....employees who are not members of a union .... (Employment Relations Act 2000, s 63).
... section 63 of the Employment Relations Act 2000..

Bills

Bills

  • A Bill is a draft of a proposed law presented to parliament for discussion
  • The Bill number is part of the title of the Bill and doesn't need a comma
  • The date is part of the title of the Bill and does not need parentheses or comma's to differentiate it

Reference format for a Bill:

Title of the Bill.

Reference list entry:

Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill 2012.

Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Bill 2016.

Health and Disability Commissioner (Code of Health and Disability Services Consumer's Rights) Regulations 1996.

In-text citation:

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei urged all parties to address child poverty by voting for the Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill 2012...

Citing clauses of a Bill

  • Bills have clauses rather than sections
  • Use the abbreviation cl for a clause or cls for clauses
  • Clause numbers are not included in the reference list

In-text citation:

...The Green Party proposed that boards of decile 1 and 2 schools must provide free breakfasts and lunches for every child enrolled on every day the school is open (Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill 2012, cl 10B(1)).

... clause 10C(2) of the Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill 2012 stated that food in school programmes must follow government nutritional guidelines...

Right 7(6) of the Health and Disability Commissioner (Code of Health and Disability Services Consumer's Rights) Regulations 1996 states that informed consent for a health care procedure is required and must be given in writing by patients...

Regulations (legislative instruments)

Regulations

  • A Regulation is a legislative instrument made by the Governor-General, ministers of the crown, and certain other bodies under powers conferred by an Act of parliament
  • The date is part of the title of the Regulation and does not need parentheses or comma's to differentiate it

Reference format for a Regulation:

Title of the Regulation.

Reference list entry:

Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2016.

Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1977.

In-text citation:

The Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1977 specify the restrictions on controlled drug prescribing...

 

Citing clauses and regulations of a Regulation

  • Regulations have clauses rather than sections
  • Use the abbreviation cl for a clause or cls for clauses. Use the abbreviation reg for a regulation or regs for regulations.
  • Clause numbers are not included in the reference list

In-text citation:

Pharmacists are required to keep a separate record of every prescription dispensed (including any repeated prescription) that contains any portion of a controlled drug (Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1977, cl 37(3))...

Regs 3-4 of the Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2016 state that...

Cases - Reported cases

Reported cases

  • Reported cases are court and tribunal decisions that have been reported or published in a report series
  • The New Zealand Law Reports are the official (government authorised) report series for New Zealand
  • Other law report series are published in New Zealand. These are unofficial reporting series and contain significant cases. Examples: the New Zealand Family Law Reports and the New Zealand Employment Law Reports
  • Use the same reference format for cases published in official and unofficial report series
  • If a case is not published in a report series, it is 'unreported'. See Cases - Unreported cases for the correct referencing style

Reference format for reported cases:

Party name v Party name [Year] Volume number Report abbreviation Starting page of case.

Reference list entry:

Hunt v Muollo [2003] 2 NZLR 322.

Kennedy v Police [1982] 1 NZLR 689.

In-text citation:

The case Hunt v Muollo [2003] 2 NZLR 322 shows...

In the case Kennedy v Police [1982] 1NZLR 689 the court decided that a practitioner of acupuncture is not a "medical practitioner" as defined in the context of the Medical Practitioners Act 1968...

Notes:

  • Parties (people or organisations involved – sometimes substituted by a letter eg. X if a name is suppressed), separated by the letter v
  • Year (year the case was reported). Brackets: follow the example used in your case title.
  • Abbreviation (of the law report where the case is published or the court where the case was heard). Search Legal Citations of Aotearoa New Zealand for the correct abbreviation
  • Volume and page number (or case number for unreported cases).  A volume number is not always available.
  • Court identifier (for reported cases only - court name is found on the first page of the case you are using)

Cases - Unreported cases

Unreported cases

  • Unreported cases are court or tribunal decisions that have not been published in a law report series
  • Unreported cases may be downloaded from the AUT law databases (LexisNexisNZ, WestlawNZ), or from the court, tribunal or commission who issued the decision
  • Use the New Zealand Law Foundation's abbreviations for courts and tribunals
  • Use the official neutral citation if available. Neutral citations are provided on the original copy of the case. See: Neutral citation
  • If a neutral citation is not provided, use the case file number. See: No neutral citation

 

Reference format for an unreported case (with neutral citation):

Party name(s) [Year] Report abbreviation Decision number.

Reference list entry:

Department of Corrections v Wayne Thomas Patterson [2016] NZDC 14672.

New Health New Zealand v South Taranaki District Council [2014] NZHC 395.

Wilson Parking New Zealand Limited and Tournament Parking Limited [2015] NZCC 30.

In-text citation:

In Department of Corrections v Wayne Thomas Patterson [2016] NZDC 14672, special conditions were imposed on the defendant's parole due to the very high risk of reoffending...

The addition of fluoride to drinking water does not breach the right to refuse to undergo medical treatment as provided by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (New Health New Zealand v South Taranaki District Council [2014] NZHC 395)...

In Wilson Parking New Zealand Limited and Tournament Parking Limited [2015] NZCC 30 the Commerce Commission gave clearance for Wilson Parking New Zealand Limited to acquire leases of 10 car parks in Auckland and Wellington from Tournament Parking Limited...

 

Reference format for an unreported case (no neutral citation):

Party name v Party name Court abbreviation Registry (court location) File number, date of judgment.

Note:

  • Only include the registry information for a court or tribunal with multiple registries. For example, New Zealand has 58 district courts and 19 high courts. 

 

Reference list entry:

Mason HPDT 465/Mid12/204P, 25 June 2012.

Monk v Accident Compensation Corporation HC Wellington CIV-2011-485-997, 18 November 2011.

In-text citation:

In Monk v Accident Compensation Corporation (2011), the court found that the patient did not have cover as the mental injury needed to result from a physical injury, and the breaking of the skin by the spinal needle did not amount to a physical injury because it was a necessary part of treatment...

In Mason (2012), heard before the NZ Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, the midwife was charged with acting unprofessionally...

Commentary on legislation and cases

Commentary

  • Legal commentaries provide up-to-date, detailed information on a particular subject area. Texts, journal articles and legal encyclopedias are examples of commentaries.
  • Commentaries are available through the AUT law databases
  • If you cannot locate the general editor or author, omit this information
  • If you cannot locate a date of publication for commentary found in the AUT databases, use n.d. (no date) in your reference list and in-text citation. See the examples below.

Title [Database online version]. (year). Retrieved Month day, year, from http://xxxx

Reference list entry:

Gault on commercial law [WestlawNZ online version]. (n.d.). Retrieved January 16, 2017, from http://www.westlaw.co.nz

Mazengarb's employment law [LexisNexisNZ online version]. (n.d.). Retrieved January 16, 2017, from http://www.lexisnexis.com

In-text citation:

A PCBU includes individuals and bodies corporate, including companies under the Companies Act (Gault on commercial law, n.d.).

As a result of the Royal Commission report on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy, new health and safety legislation was introduced and passed (Mazengarb’s employment law, n.d.).

 

New Zealand Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)

Reference format for printed New Zealand Parliamentary Debates

SpeakerSurname, SpeakerInitial. (Year). Debate Title. New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, Volume, Page number(s).

Reference list entry:

 

Mahuta, N. (2006). Local Government Law Reform Bill. New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, 631, 3640–3660.

In-text citation:

...mandatory microchipping of all dangerous or menacing dogs would benefit public safety (Mahuta, 2006).

 

Reference format for electronic New Zealand Parliamentary Debates

Knowledge Basket (AUT database)

 

SpeakerSurname, SpeakerInitial. (Year). Debate Title. New Zealand Parliamentary Debates . Retrieved Month day, year, from http://xxxx

Reference list entry:

 

Mahuta, N. (2006). Local Government Law Reform Bill - Second reading. New Zealand Parliamentary Debates. Retrieved January 16, 2017, from www.knowledge-basket.co.nz

In-text citation:

...mandatory microchipping of all dangerous or menacing dogs would benefit public safety (Mahuta, 2006).

 

New Zealand Parliament website

SpeakerSurname, SpeakerInitial. (Year). Debate title. Retrieved Month day, year, from http://xxxx

Reference list entry:

 

Mahuta, N. (2006). Local Government Law Reform Bill - Second reading. Retrieved January 16, 2017, from
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/document/48HansS_20060615_00000834/mahuta-nanaia-local-government-law-reform-bill-second

In-text citation:

...mandatory microchipping of all dangerous or menacing dogs would benefit public safety (Mahuta, 2006).