LibGuides: Business: APA referencing

APA referencing

What is referencing?

Referencing is a method of recording and acknowledging your sources—i.e., where you got your information from.
At Wintec we use the APA (American Psychological Association, 6th edition) referencing style.

Why is it important?

To avoid plagiarism.
To distinguish your ideas from those of others.
To show you have researched thoroughly.
To allow readers/your teachers to find the source of your information.
To lend credibility to your assignments by supporting your ideas with existing research/information from experts.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is using the words or ideas of others without proper acknowledgement.
It means misrepresenting those words or ideas as your own.
Plagiarism is a serious academic offence and can have severe consequences. One of the ways you can avoid plagiarism is by referencing your sources accurately.

The parts of referencing

APA referencing has two parts...

Part 1—In-text citations

In the body of your assignment.
Usually consist of author, year, and page/paragraph number in parentheses.
Correspond to a detailed reference list entry.

Example—in-text citation

According to Macfarlane (2004), classroom management begins by forming a positive relationship with the students (p. 90).

Classroom management begins by forming a positive relationship with the students (MacFarlane, 2004, p. 90).

Part 2—Reference list

At the end of your assignment.
Detailed entries for each of the sources from which you took information.

Example—reference list entry

MacFarlane, A. (2004). Kia hiwa ra: Listen to culture: Maori students' plea to educators. Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

See the Wintec Library APA guide for full referencing details.

Wintec APA guide

For help with referencing, check out the Wintec Library APA referencing guide.

A helpful tip

Start your referencing when you start your assignment. Create a reference list list entry for each resource you have used as you go. That way, you will be able to locate the resource again should you need to refer back to it, or to find additional information you might need for your reference list entry/in-text citations.

Reference managers

These tools can help you compile reference lists and insert citations.

We recommend that you check references generated by these tools against a full APA manual, or the Wintec Library APA guide, as these tools do not always format in accurate APA style.