Skip to Main Content

APA 7th Referencing Style Guide

General Guidelines

Tables usually show numerical values or text, in columns and rows

  • Anything other than a table is a Figure
     

Table  Components:

  • Number: The table number (e.g. Table 1) appears above the table in bold (no italics, no period ending)
  • Title: The table title appears one double-spaced line below the table number, using non-bolded Italic Title Case (no period ending)
  • Headings: All tables should include column headings, including  a heading for the leftmost column (stub heading)
  • Body:  The table body includes all the rows and columns of a table.  The body may be single space, one and a half spaced, or double spaced, which ever is clearer. Limit the use of borders or lines in a table to those needed for clarity. Do not use vertical borders to separate data (see APA Manual, s. 7.17, pp. 205-206 for more details)
  • Note: A note can appear below the table to describe the contents of the table  that cannot be understood from the table title or body alone, (e.g. definitions of abbreviations, copyright attribution). Notes are double-spaced and flush left. Not all tables include table notes

General rules:

  • In the text, refer to every table by its number. For example, "As shown in Table 1, ..." (no italics, capital "T" for "Table")
  • There are two options for the placement of tables in a paper. The first option is to place all tables on separate pages after the reference list. The second option is to embed each table within the text
  • If you reprint or adapt a table from another source in your paper (e.g. a table from a published work), you must include a copyright attribution in the table note indicating the origin of the reprinted or adapted material in addition to a reference list entry for the work
  • Important notes: When reproducing or adapting copyrighted tables/data sets in your thesis or dissertation or other publications - you must get permission from the copyright holder/s for using the material in your thesis or dissertation or other publications. You may not need permission when a reprinted or adapted figure is obtained from the public domain. Works used Creative Commons licences should be cited accordingly. 

Check  the APA Style website for an illustration of the basic table  component and placement of tables in a text

More information & examples from the  APA Style Manual, s. 7.8-7.21, pp. 199–224224) 

From a book

Table reproduced in your text

Note format - for notes below the table
Note. Adapted/Reprinted fromTitle of Book(page number), by Author First Initial. Second Initial. Surname, Year, Publisher. Copyright Year by the Name of Copyright Holder. Reprinted with permission. [or Adapted with permission.] if permission is sought and obtained.
Example

 
If copyright permission was required (eg. reproduced in a thesis/dissertation/exegeses), the note would instead read:
Note. Reprinted from Employment Relations in New Zealand (2nd ed., p 98), by E. Rasmussen, 2009, Pearson. Copyright 2009 by Erling Rasmussen. Reprinted with permission.
In-text citation:
...as shown in Table 1, no compensation...

 

Table referred to, but not reproduced in text

If you simply refer to a table, format the in-text citation and the reference list entry as for books

In-text citation:
....fifty eight percentage received compensation (Rasmussen, 2009).
Reference list:
Rasmussen, E. J. (2009). Employment relations in New Zealand (2nd ed.). Pearson.

From an article

Table reproduced in the text

Note format - for notes below the table

Note. Adapted/Retrieved/Reprinted from "Title of  Article" by Author First Initial. Second Initial. Surname, Year, Journal TitleVolume(issue), page(s). Copyright Year by the Name of Copyright Holder. Reprinted with permission. [or Adapted with permission.] if permission is sought and obtained.
 
Example: 

Table 2

The Ratio of the Value of Newly Acquired Loans to Acquisition Target

Note. Reprinted from “When Salespeople Manage Customer

Relationships: Multidimensional Incentives and Private Information,”

by M. Kim, K. Sudhir, K. Uetake, and  R. Caneles, 2019, Journal of

Marketing, 56(5), p. 765. Copyright 2019 by the American Marketing Association.

 
In-text citation:

.. as shown in Table 4 

... the ratio of the value (see Table 4)   

 
Reference list:

Kim, M., Sudhir, K., Uetake, K., & Canales, R. (2019). When salespeople manage customer relationships: Multidimensional incentives and private information. Journal of Marketing Research, 56(5), 749–766. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022243719847661

 

Table referred to but not reproduced or included in the text

If you simply refer to a table, format the in-text citation and the reference list entry as for articles.

In-text citation:
.....(Kim et al., 2019)  
Reference list:

Kim, M., Sudhir, K., Uetake, K., & Canales, R. (2019). When salespeople manage customer relationships: Multidimensional incentives and private information. Journal of Marketing Research, 56(5), 749–766. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022243719847661

From a Library database

Table reproduced in your text

Note format - below the table

Note. General notes, including definitions of abbreviations. Title of the database. Copyright year by the Name of Copyright Holder.
Example:

Table 3

Percentage of Men and Women Who Have Bought Fruit and Vegetable Products in the Last Four Weeks

Note. wc = weighted count, shown in thousands; v% =vertical percentage,

showing which % of the column group also belongs to the row group;

h% = horizontal percentage. Roy Morgan Single Source

New Zealand. Copyright 2015 by Roy Morgan Single Source New Zealand. 

 

In-text citation:

.... as shown in Table 3

Reference list:

Roy Morgan New Zealand. (2015). Percentage of men and women who have bought fruit and vegetable products in the last four weeks, April- December, 2015 [Table]. Roy Morgan Single Source New Zealand.


Table referred to but not reproduced in the text

In-text citation:

... fewer men than women bought vegetables (Roy Morgan, New Zealand, 2010).

Reference list:

Roy Morgan New Zealand. (2010). Percentage of men and women who have bought fruit/vegetables in the last seven days, August 2009-July [Table]. Roy Morgan Single Source New Zealand.

From a website

Table reproduced in your text

Note format - for notes below the table
Note. Include the title of the document if the table title does not provide enough information. Adapted/Reprinted from Source website. Copyright Year by Name of copyright Holder.
Example:

Table 4

Percentage of New Zealand Population Who Have Never Worked by Age Group.

June 2016 quarter

Age group (years)

Never-worked group
(% of total age group)

15–19

 48.5

 20–24

 8.4

 25–29

 3.4

 30–34

 1.8

 35–39

 1.5


Note. Adapted from http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/income-and-work/employment_

and_unemployment/people-never-worked.aspx. Copyright 2016 by Statistics New Zealand. 

In-text citation:
... as shown in Table 2, young people make up most of the never-worked group ...  
Use the reference style for websites
 

Table referred to but not reproduced in the text

If you refer to a table but don’t provide a copy of it in your assessment, simply give an in-text citation as for websites.

In-text citation:

...twenty four year olds who never worked (Statistics New Zealand, 2016).

Reference list:

Statistics New Zealand. (2016). Percentage of New Zealand population who have never worked, June 2016 quarter [Table].  http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/income-and-work/employment_and_unemployment/people-never-worked.aspx

Citing your own table

If your table has been included in a formally published work reference the work. 

If your table is available on a website reference the webpage (see examples in the webpage section).

For your own tables in an assignment:

  • Include a title
  • Add a note explaining the content
  • You can, if you wish, add a statement that it is your own work.
  • You do not need to add an in-text citation or add it to your reference list.

An example of a table (not real data):

Table 1

Data from a survey of engineering students and staff

Note. Data collected by author on the 26th of October 2022.