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APA 7th Edition Referencing Guide1

A Wintec Library guide to referencing in APA 7th edition style


Quick links


How to find the date for a website

Quite often the date will be near the top of the page and is easy to find.

If you can't find a date in this location, it may be at the bottom of the webpage.

Use:

  • Date "Last modified"
  • Date "Last updated"

Do not use:

  • The date of copyright
  • Date "Last reviewed"

If there is only a copyright date or "Page last reviewed", use n.d. in place of the date. See here for more on using no date.


Referencing a webpage with an individual author

When referencing a webpage, use the most specific date possible (the full date if known). A website could have:

  • no date = (n.d.).
  • a full date = (Year, Month day).
  • a year and a month = (Year, Month).
  • a year only = (Year).

Italicise the title of the individual webpage and, if the webpage has an individual (rather than corporate/group) author, include the name of the website (not in italics) before the URL.

Author Surname, A. (Year, Month day). Title of webpage in italic sentence case. Name of Website in Title Case. URL

Horovitz, B. (2021, October 19). Are you ready to move your aging parent into your home?  AARP. https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/home-care/info-2021/caregiving-questions.html

 

Note
URLs must be written exactly as they are displayed in your Internet browser (https://...). If Word autoformats the URL to the main words of the webpage title, you must change it. See here for how to do this. 

Examples

Reference list entry

Schaeffer, K. (2021, October 1). What we know about online learning and the homework gap amid the pandemic. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/10/01/what-we-know-about-online-learning-and-the-homework-gap-amid-the-pandemic/

In-text citations

Page/paragraph numbers are optional for paraphrased information.

Narrative
Schaeffer (2021) suggests... (para. 2).

Parenthetical
... (Schaeffer, 2021, para. 2).


Referencing a webpage with a corporate/group author

When referencing a webpage that doesn't have an individual author, it is considered a corporate author (which is the name of the website). Omit the name of the website between the title of the webpage and the URL (if the same as the corporate author).

Give as much date information as is given. A website could have:

  • no date = (n.d.).
  • a full date = (Year, Month day).
  • a year and a month = (Year, Month).
  • a year only = (Year).

Corporate/Group Author. (Year, Month day). Title of webpage in italic sentence case. URL

StatsNZ. (2019, October 17). Conservation status of indigenous marine species. 
https://www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/conservation-status-of-indigenous-marine-species

 

Note
URLs must be written exactly as they are displayed in your Internet browser (https://...). If Word autoformats the URL to the main words of the webpage title, you must change it. See here for how to do this. 

Examples

Reference list entry

StatsNZ. (2019, October 17). Conservation status of indigenous marine species
https://www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/conservation-status-of-indigenous-marine-species

In-text citations

Page/paragraph numbers are optional for paraphrased information.

Narrative
StatsNZ (2019) provides evidence of ... (para. 2).

Parenthetical
... (StatsNZ, 2019, para. 2).

 

Note
For a corporate author with an abbreviated name, use the full name of the corporate author in your first in-text citation, followed by the abbreviation in square brackets. See the Department of Conservation example below for website with no date. 
For subsequent in-text citations, you can use just the abbreviated version of the corporate author. E.g., (DoC, 2020).

Referencing a webpage with no date

Webpages with no date or no date clearly attributable to the material on the webpage (e.g. a modified/last updated date) should be referenced with (n.d.). The example below shows how to reference a webpage with no date and indicates the elements required.

Author Surname, A. or Corporate/Group Author. (n.d.). Title of webpage in italic sentence case. URL

Department of Conservation. (n.d.). New Zealand's marine biodiversity
https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/habitats/marine/new-zealands-marine-environment/ 

 

Note
URLs must be written exactly as they are displayed in your Internet browser (https://...). If Word autoformats the URL to the main words of the webpage title, you must change it. See here for how to do this. 

Examples

Reference list entry

Department of Conservation. (n.d.). Our marine environment
https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/habitats/marine/new-zealands-marine-environment/

In-text citations

Page/paragraph numbers are optional for paraphrased information.

Narrative
The Department of Conservation (DoC, n.d.) suggests ... (para. 2).

Parenthetical
... (Department of Conservation [DoC], n.d., para. 2).


Referencing tricky government websites

Most government websites will be a straight forward reference, because the name of the website is the name of the ministry that published it. The ministry therefore becomes a corporate author.

Name of Ministry. (Date). Title of webpage in italic sentence case. URL

However, some websites that are published by the government have a name that is not a ministry. Below are some government websites that can be tricky to reference because of this.


NZHistory

Reference list entry

Ministry for Culture and Heritage. (2020, October 13). Labour government cancels Springbok tour: 10 April 1973. NZHistory. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/labour-government-postpones-springbok-tour 

In-text citations

Page/paragraph numbers are optional for paraphrased information.

Narrative
Ministry for Culture and Heritage (2020) suggests ... (para. 2).

Parenthetical
... (Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 2020, para. 2).


Waitangi Tribunal

Reference list entry

Waitangi Tribunal. (2023, September 4). About the Waitangi Tribunal. Ministry of Justice. https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/about/

In-text citations

Page/paragraph numbers are optional for paraphrased information.

Narrative
Waitangi Tribunal (2023) suggests ... (para. 3).

Parenthetical
... (Waitangi Tribunal, 2023, para. 3).


Justice.govt.nz

Reference list entry

Ministry of Justice. (2023, February 9). Going to court: Legal aidhttps://www.justice.govt.nz/courts/going-to-court/legal-aid/

In-text citations

Page/paragraph numbers are optional for paraphrased information.

Narrative
Ministry of Justice (2023) suggests ... (para. 5).

Parenthetical
... (Ministry of Justice, 2023, para. 5).


Are You OK?

Reference list entry

Are You OK. (n.d.). Understanding unsafe relationships. https://www.areyouok.org.nz/understanding-unsafe-relationships/

In-text citations

Page/paragraph numbers are optional for paraphrased information.

Narrative
Are You OK (n.d.) suggests ... (para. 3).

Parenthetical
... (Are You OK, n.d., para. 3).


Referencing software (including generative AI)

The example below shows how to reference software.

Surname, initial of first name/Corporate Author. (Year). Title in italic sentence case: Subtitle in italic sentence case (Version number) [Format]. Publisher/App Store. URL

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

 

Note
As your results in the feed are irretrievable, provide a link to the homepage of the generative model.

In-text citations for written content created with generative AI

Best practice is to incorporate your prompt and the output into your assignment to make it clear how you have used the AI model.

When prompted with "Give me 10 ideas for research on small businesses in New Zealand", the idea I was most interested in from the ChatGPT-generated text was "Investigate the extent to which small businesses in New Zealand are implementing sustainable practices, such as eco-friendly packaging, and analyze the impact on their competitiveness and brand image" (OpenAI, 2024).

If the prompt or output is long you may include full transcripts in an appendix:

When provided with the follow-up prompt "Give me some more ideas on sustainable practices I could investigate, the ChatGPT-generated text included points like "circular economy implementation" and "green supply chain management" (OpenAI, 2024; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Note: If you are unsure about the most appropriate way to incorporate prompts or outputs into your assignment, talk to your tutor.

 

In-text citations for images created with generative AI 

For written assignments, use a figure number and include your prompt as a note beneath the in-text citation. See the example below.

Figure 1

Example of an AI-generated Image

(Midjourney, 2022)

Note. Image generated using the prompt "poster green forests words mindfulness birdsong and a New Zealand tui songbird"

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