A reference is the bibliographic information of a work cited. In APA, a reference includes four core elements.
Who | When | What | Where | ||
Author/s. Editor/s. Group author/s. |
(Year/date). |
Title of a book. Title of a chapter of an edited book. Title of a journal article. |
Publisher of this book. Title of the edited book. Journal Name, volume(issue), pp–pp. |
DOI or URL |
Insert one space after full stops in a reference list.
Use an en dash, not a hyphen, for page ranges, e.g. 21–27. An en dash (–) is wider than a hyphen (-). Do not insert a space before or after the en dash.
To add an en dash in Microsoft Word if you are using a full PC keyboard, hold the Control key and type the minus sign on the numeric keypad. Ctrl and -
In a reference the author refers to the person(s) or group responsible for the work.
Variation | Format |
One author | Author, A. A. |
Two authors | Author, A. A. & Author, B. B. |
3 to 20 authors | Include all 20 authors' name, use "&" before the final author's name. |
21 or more authors | 21 or more authors: the first 19 authors, ...the final author's name. |
Group author | Name of Group. |
More than one group author | Name of Group & Name of Group. |
Editor | Editor, E. E. (Ed.). |
Editors | Editor, E. E., & Editor, F. F. (Eds.). |
Auckland University of Technology Library. (n.d.). Oral presentations. https://library.aut.ac.nz/doing-assignments/oral-presentations |
Jackson, S. L. (2015). Research methods: A modular approach (3rd ed.). Cengage. |
Easton, B. (2008). Does poverty affect health? In K. Dew & A. Matheson (Eds.), Understanding health inequalities in Aotearoa New Zealand (pp. 97–106). Otago University Press. |
Lopesi, L. (2018a). Beyond essentialism: Contemporary Moana art from Aotearoa New Zealand. Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context and Enquiry, 46, 106–115. https://doi.org/10.1086/700252 Lopesi, L. (2018b). False divides. Bridget Williams Books. |
Lew, A. A., & Cheer, J. M. (Eds.). (2018). Tourism resilience and adaptation to environmental change: Definitions and frameworks. Routledge. |
Li, S., & Seale, C. (2007). Learning to do qualitative data analysis: An observational study of doctoral work. Qualitative Health Research, 17(10), 1442-1452. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732307306924 |
Szczȩsna, A., Nowak, A., Grabiec, P., Paszkuta, M., Tajstra, M., & Wojciechowska, M. (2017). Survey of wearable multi-modal vital parameters measurement systems. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 526. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47154-9_37 |
List all author up to and including the 20th author in the order they appear. Use an ampersand ("&") before the final author.
Ioannidis, N. M., Rothstein, J.H., Pejaver, V., Middha, S., McDonnell, S.K., Baheti, S., Musolf, A., Li, Q., Holzinger, E., Karyadi, D., Cannon-Albright, L.A., Teerlink, C.C., Stanford, J. L., Isaacs, W. B., Xu, J., Cooney, K. A., Lange, E.M., Schleutker, J., Carpten, J. D., ... Weiva, S. (2016). Revel: An ensemble method for predicting the pathogenicity of rare missense variants. American Journal of Human Genetics, 99(4), 877–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.08.016 eunet.2015.09.011 |
The CORE Team. (2017). The economy: Economics for a changing world. Oxford University Press. |
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In a reference the date refers to the date of publication.
Variation | Format |
Books use the copyright year shown on the book's copyright page | (Year). |
If a "last updated" date for a work on a website, use that Do not use the copyright date in the website footer as it may not indicate when the content was published |
(Year, Month Day). |
Some works include the month, day and/or season (for example, articles from magazines or newspapers) |
(Year, Month Day). eg. (2020, January 21). or (2020, Spring/Summer). |
Articles in press or not yet published | (in press). |
Work where publication date is unknown | (n.d.). |
Date retrieved from a source that is likely to change | Retrieved Month Date, Year, from https://xxxx |
Dilkes-Frayne, E., Savic, M., Carter, A., Kakanovic, R & Lubman, D. I. (2019). Going online: The affordances of online counseling for families affected by alcohol and other drug issues. Qualitative Health Research, 29(14), 2010–2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732319838231 |
Moodie, K. (2019, November 21). Almost half of sunscreens tested don't live up to label claims in Consumer NZ report. New Zealand Herald. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12286981 |
Ruiza, L. A., Serranoa, L., Españab, P. P., Martinez-Indartc, L., Gómeza, A., Urangab, A., Castroa, S., Artarazb, A., & Zalacaina, R. (in press). Factors influencing long-term survival after hospitalization with pneumococcal pneumonia. Journal of Infection. |
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Variation | Format |
Book, report, thesis, film, webpage, website
|
Title: Subtitle. Title (edition, volume number, report number). |
A chapter from an edited book
|
Title: Subtitle. |
An article
|
Title: Subtitle. |
No title
|
[A description of the work]. |
Koda, H., & Bolton, A. (2007). Poiret. Metropolitan Museum of Art; Yale University Press. |
Chiswell, S. & Grant, B. (2019). New Zealand coastal sea surface temperature (Report no. CR388). National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research. https://www.mfe.govt.nz/sites/default/files/media/Marine/nz-coastal-sea-surface-temperature.PDF |
Sparks, D. (2019, November 21). Women's wellness: Lifestyle strategies ease some bladder control problems. Mayo Clinic. https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/womens-wellness-lifestyle-strategies-ease-some-bladder-control-problems/ |
Miller, T. (2019). Enhancing readiness: An exploration of the New Zealand Qualified Firefighter Programme [Master's thesis, Auckland University of Technology]. Tuwhera. https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/handle/10292/12338 |
Dayton, K. J. (2019). Tangled arms: Modernizing and unifying the arm-of-the-state doctrine. The University of Chicago Law Review, 86(6), 1497–1737. https://bit.ly/2SkWwcy |
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Source | Format |
Periodical (e.g. journal, magazine, newspaper, blog) |
Periodical, Volume(issue), page or a range of pages. DOI or URL |
Edited book chapters or a reference work (e.g. a dictionary) | In Editor, A. A. (Ed.), Title: Subtitle (pp. xx–xx). Publisher. |
Publishers | Name of the Publisher. |
Conferences | Conference Name, Location. DOI or URL |
Social media | Social media site name. URL |
Webpages or websites | Website name. URL or Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL |
Databases and archived sources: Only include the following databases or online archives in references:
|
Name of Database. DOI or URL Name of Archive. DOI or URL |
DOI URL |
https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdv045 https://xxxx or Retrieved Month Day, Year, from https://xxxx |
Ewert, E. W., Mitten, D. S., & Overholt, J. R. (2014). Natural environments and human health. CAB International. https://doi.org/10.1079/9781845939199.0000 |
McCrickard, M., Raymond, A., Raymond, F., & Song, H. (2018). The APLIA math assessment scores and introductory economics courses: An analysis. Journal of Business and Educational Leadership, 8(1), 4–18. |
Morey, M. C. (2019). Physical activity and exercise in older adults. UpToDate. Retrieved July 22, 2019, from https://www.uptodate.com/contents/physical-acticity-and-exercise-in-older-adults |
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Use Hyperlinks:
Use DOI: Always use the DOI if available (for print/online articles and books).
DOI or URL: If both DOI and URL are available, use only the DOI.
No full stop: Do not add a full stop after the DOI or URL because it may interfere with link functionality.
No DOI or URL: If the work is from a research database but does not have a DOI, do not include the database URL or name. Treat it as a print work.
DOI = digital object identifier
Find more examples of references with DOIs on the Articles page.
When a journal article or an ebook should Include a URL in the reference:
Long or complex DOIs or URLs can be shortened for your references.
Always check all short URLs in your reference list to ensue they link to their correct locations!