APA 6th Edition Referencing: FAQs

See APA Manual, p. 176, section 6.15 or http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/web-page-no-author.aspx

1. If there is a DOI, use this in your reference.

2. If there is no DOI, use the name of the database the article comes from. This will be the specific database, and it is often named in the detailed record, e.g. in the example below, the retrieval statement would be: Retrieved from SocINDEX database.

3. If there is no DOI and no database is named, use the URL of the publisher. You may be able to find this using Google, or another search engine.

Citing a long quote is similar to citing a short quote, except the formatting is slightly different. You need to:

• miss a line
• do not change the line spacing
• indent left and right
• do not use quotation marks,
• put a full-stop before the in-text citation
• leave a line at the end.

Look at the example below:

This is called giving a citation from a secondary source.  Often an author quotes someone else.  For example, you are reading a book by Partridge and he uses a quote from a source by Crane. If you use the quote (or paraphrase it), your in-text citation will look like this:

In the reference list, you would only include the details of the book by Partridge, as that was the source that you looked at. If you think the in-text citation is too long (for example, when you are writing an assignment with a low word count), then you can look for Crane’s source and use that information in-text and in the reference list

Putting an in-text citation after every sentence from one source is distracting. Instead, introduce the source early, then refer to the author by name or pronoun. If you use the author’s name as part of the narrative, you only need to put the year in parentheses once, at the start.  However, the year always needs to be included when the author’s name is in parentheses. For example:

See APA Manual, p. 174, section 6.11

Where there is more than one source being referred to, list them alphabetically by the first author’s surname. Separate the citations with semi-colons. For example:

For APA referencing, the reference list at the end of your assignment needs to be single-spaced. Each reference needs to have a hanging indent with a single line spacing between each reference, as shown below:

Steps to format your reference list

1. Enter your APA references and organise them alphabetically.                  
2. Highlight them with your mouse.
3. In Word, click the arrow in the bottom right hand corner of the Paragraph box
   
   

4. This opens up an options box. Select Hanging from the drop-down box under Indentation – Special.

5. Select Single from the drop-down box under Line spacing.
   Note: Check with your tutor what line spacing they prefer.
   
   

6. Click OK.

7. Alternatively, you can highlight your whole reference list and then press [Ctrl] + [t] (Windows) / [Command] + [t] (Mac) and this should create a hanging indent for you.

These eBooks are freely available on the Internet. They should be referenced as follows:

An example from ProQuest eBook Central looks like this on the catalogue:

Clicking on the link takes you through to the following page:

Once you have opened the eBook, you will see in the ProQuest eBook Central logo in the top left hand corner. This indicates the collection this eBook comes from. This is only accessible by Wintec staff and students via login. A URL is therefore not given and the reference would be as follows:

Similarly, if it comes from the EBSCOhost eBook collection (in which case you wouldn’t see the ProQuest logo and it would say EBSCO on the catalogue or eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) when you click on the title in OneSearch), you would follow the same format but change the database name as follows:

The example below shows a link. When you click on the link you will be taken directly to to the book on the internet.

The reference is as follows:

You cite the database that the full-text is retrieved from, not the one originally searched.

For example, if you were searching EBSCOhost, and were directed through to ScienceDirect for the full- text, you would say Retrieved from ScienceDirect.

An appendix contains detailed, supporting information that would distract the reader and clutter the text if it were included in the body of the essay. Appendices contain material such as long lists, detailed descriptions, detailed statistics, transcripts of interviews, specification or data sheets and demographic data. Appendices appear at the end of the paper, after the reference list and figures and tables (if used).

• If there is only one appendix, it is called an Appendix. If there are several appendices, they are referred to as Appendix A, Appendix B, and so on. The first appendix referred to in your text will be named Appendix A, the second Appendix B, etc.
• Each Appendix should begin on a separate page, deal with a different topic, and have a title reflecting the content.
• The page numbering continues on from the last page of the text.

Formatting:

In the centre of the top of the page write the label, e.g. Appendix A and the title. The text of the appendix follows - see example below. Note: The APA manual suggests paragraph 2 and all subsequent paragraphs should be indented, as this is the custom in the United States. In New Zealand we tend not to indent paragraphs, but write in block style. Check with your tutor as to which style you should use.

In text citation:

In text citation:
You are allowed to state what kind of information the Appendix contains, if it provides clarification, e.g.

If you refer to another author’s Appendix in your essay, it is also included in your reference list as follows:

Reference list:

In text citation:

These are portions of a book that are separate to the main chapters, and are often written by someone different from the main author(s) of the book, as in the examples below: 

Preface, etc. from an edited book

Reference list

In-text citation

Preface, etc. from a book with author(s)

Reference list

In-text citation

If the introduction/preface/foreword is written by the same person who wrote the rest of the book, reference it exactly as you would any other part of the book, e.g.

Preface, etc. from a book with author(s)

Reference list

In-text citation

In cases where a book has one copyright date and has been reprinted since, use the original copyright date as the material has not changed.

Claudia Orange’s The story of a treaty was originally published in 1989, and has been reprinted numerous times since (1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005). The material has not changed, so you would use the original copyright date as below:

Note: If the book says it has been revised or updated, it is a new edition and you must use the date it was revised or updated. You should also include the information in the edition statement e.g. (Rev. ed.).

These are often listed at the beginning of each chapter, such as in Jarvis' Physical examination & health assessment, and Kozier and Erb's fundamentals of nursing.

However, they may not appear in the chapters themselves, but may be listed in the contents page of the book. In Understanding pathophysiology, the authors listed on the title page are not in fact responsible for all the chapters in the book. In the contents pages, under each chapter title, the authors responsible for writing that chapter are listed. For example:

Another way authors may be listed is in the list of contributors. In Pillitteri's child and family health nursing in Australia and New Zealand, no authors are listed at the beginning of the chapters, or in the contents list, but there is a list of contributors, and under each it lists the chapter(s) they have written.

Sometimes contributors are listed with no attributed chapters. These do not need to be listed in the reference.

Refer to this table to see the rules that apply:

See APA Manual, p. 182

Yes, you can after the first citation. For example:

See APA Manual, p. 177

It’s not necessary to put the abbreviation after the corporate author’s name in the reference list; simply list it in full.

​You will need to use the URL of an online journal's publisher if:​

• You are publishing your work
• You are working at Post Graduate level
• You are an OT student
• There is no DOI or database listed

To do so, you need to go into the 'Detailed record' for the article from OneSearch.  You can do this by either clicking on the main title of the article in OneSearch, or clicking on "Detailed record" in the top left-hand corner if you are in the PDF version of the article.

​Main title 

or

From within the PDF 

Once you are in the detailed record you need to go down to where it says "Source" and click on the link.

Then copy and past the URL next to "Publisher URL" into your reference.

Inventor, A. (Issue date). U.S. Patent No. 123,456. Location: Patent Issuer (usually U.S. Patent and Trademark Office). 

In-text citations
Use the patent number and issue date.

See also: APA blog or section A7.07 of APA Publication Manual.