The American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style is used predominantly in Social Science subject areas.
Within the citation it displays much like Harvard, utilising the 'Author-Date' standard format.
The information detailed within this webpage is based on the Books:
Your list of references links with your in-text citations and enables the reader to trace the sources cited within your work. It is a list of the documents from which any direct quotations or examples have been taken.
Nota Bene: A bibliography (where you give credit to sources that were used for background reading, but were not quoted within the body of the text), is not usually required. However, you should always check this with your tutor first.
Your list of references (and bibliography if you choose to provide one) should be arranged alphabetically by author and then, where necessary, by year of publication.
Different types of publication require different amounts of information. The APA system lays down standards for the amount of information required for each document type; these are detailed below.
Adapted and reproduced from the seventh edition of the APA Publication Manual, © 2019 https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references
...where they elucidate the change of environment (Binfield, 2008)....
Binfield (2008) elucidates the change of environment (Binfield, 2008)....
Parenthetical citation: (Ouellette, 2019)Binfield, P. (2008, September 9). At PLoS ONE we're batty about bats [Web log message]. Retrieved from https://www.plos.org/cms/trackback/398
Ouellette, J. (2019, November 15). Physicists capture first footage of quantum knots unraveling in superfluid. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/study-you-can-tie-a-quantum-knot-in-a-superfluid-but-it-will-soon-untie-itself/
Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books.
Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000
Also note that print and electronic references are largely the same. For example, to cite both print books and ebooks, use the books and reference works category and then choose the appropriate type of work (see above)
Aron, L., Botella, M., & Lubart, T. (2019). Culinary arts: Talent and their development. In R. F. Subotnik, P. Olszewski-Kubilius, & F. C. Worrell (Eds.), The psychology of high performance: Developing human potential into domain-specific talent (pp. 345–359). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000120-016
Dillard, J. P. (2020). Currents in the study of persuasion. In M. B. Oliver, A. A. Raney, & J. Bryant (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (4th ed., pp. 115–129). Routledge.
Duckworth, A. L., Quirk, A., Gallop, R., Hoyle, R. H., Kelly, D. R., & Matthews, M. D. (2019). Cognitive and noncognitive predictors of success. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 116(47), 23499–23504. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1910510116
Kushilevitz, E., & Malkin, T. (Eds.). (2016). Lecture notes in computer science: Vol. 9562. Theory of cryptography. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-49096-9
Parenthetical citation: (Kushilevitz & Malkin, 2016)NB: Conference proceedings published as a whole book follow the same reference format as whole edited books.
Bedenel, A.-L., Jourdan, L., & Biernacki, C. (2019). Probability estimation by an adapted genetic algorithm in web insurance. In R. Battiti, M. Brunato, I. Kotsireas, & P. Pardalos (Eds.), Lecture notes in computer science: Vol. 11353. Learning and intelligent optimization (pp. 225–240). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05348-2_21
Parenthetical citation: (Bedenel et al., 2019)NB: The format for conference proceedings published as an edited book chapter is the same as for edited book chapters.
Kesharwani, P. (Ed.). (2020). Nanotechnology based approaches for tuberculosis treatment. Academic Press.
Torino, G. C., Rivera, D. P., Capodilupo, C. M., Nadal, K. L., & Sue, D. W. (Eds.). (2019). Microaggression theory: Influence and implications. John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119466642
When selecting a category, use the webpages and websites category only when a work does not fit better within another category. For example, a report from a government website would use the reports category, whereas a page on a government website that is not a report or other work would use the webpages and websites category.
National Cancer Institute. (2019). Taking time: Support for people with cancer (NIH Publication No. 18-2059). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/patient-education/takingtime.pdf
With published interviews, you should cite and reference them in the format you used them. If you read an article or watched a documentary then you should present it in that format..
NB: For interviews and oral histories recorded in an archive, list the interviewee as the author. Include the interviewer’s name in the description.
Iannucci (2017) thinks that we’re still figuring out people like Trump is because he sort of satirises himself.
Parenthetical citation: (Smith, 1989)
Narrative citation: Smith (1989)
Iannucci, A. (2017, April 19). Armando Iannucci: 'You're on a highway to nowhere if you think jokes are going to stop Donald Trump'. Interview with Armando Ianucci. Interviewed by Daniel Dylan Wray for The Independent, p69.
Smith, M. B. (1989, August 12). Interview by C. A. Kiesler [Tape recording]. President’s Oral History Project, American Psychological Association, APA Archives, Washington, DC, United States.
For unpublished works, e.g. an interview you conducted in which the interviewee agreed to be quoted, you can cite it as a personal communication.
The manager conceded the point that the value of 'water cooler moments' was vastly underrated (M. Phillips, personal communication, July 26, 2001).
Nota bene: You do not include this in your reference list as there is no copy available for the reader to view.
Parenthetical citation: (Grady et al., 2019)
Narrative citation: Grady et al. (2019)
Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185
Parenthetical citations: (Carey, 2019; Harlan, 2013; Stobbe, 2020)
Narrative citations: Carey (2019), Harlan (2013), and Stobbe (2020)
Carey, B. (2019, March 22). Can we get better at forgetting? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/health/memory-forgetting-psychology.html
Harlan, C. (2013, April 2). North Korea vows to restart shuttered nuclear reactor that can make bomb-grade plutonium. The Washington Post, A1, A4.
Stobbe, M. (2020, January 8). Cancer death rate in U.S. sees largest one-year drop ever. Chicago Tribune.
Parenthetical citation: (Harvard University, 2019)
Narrative citation: Harvard University (2019)
Harvard University. (2019, August 28). Soft robotic gripper for jellyfish [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guRoWTYfxMs
Parenthetical citations: (Cornish, 2017; Vogt & Goldman, 2019)
Narrative citations: Cornish (2017) and Vogt and Goldman (2019)
Cornish, A. (Host). (2017, May 17). This simple puzzle test sealed the fate of immigrants at Ellis Island [Audio podcast transcript]. In All things considered. NPR. http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=528813842
Vogt, P. J., & Goldman, A. (Hosts). (2019, June 27). Dark pattern (No. 144) [Audio podcast transcript]. In Reply all. Gimlet Media. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/6nhgol/144-dark-pattern
Parenthetical citation: (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2019)
Narrative citation: U.S. Food and Drug Administration (2019)
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2019, November 15). FDA approves first contact lens indicated to slow the progression of nearsightedness in children [Press release]. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-contact-lens-indicated-slow-progression-nearsightedness-children
Parenthetical citations: (Kabir, 2016; Miranda, 2019; Zambrano-Vazquez, 2016)
Narrative citations: Kabir (2016), Miranda (2019), and Zambrano-Vazquez (2016)
Parenthetical citation: (Harris, 2014)
Narrative citation: Harris (2014)
Kabir, J. M. (2016). Factors influencing customer satisfaction at a fast food hamburger chain: The relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Publication No. 10169573) [Doctoral dissertation, Wilmington University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
Miranda, C. (2019). Exploring the lived experiences of foster youth who obtained graduate level degrees: Self-efficacy, resilience, and the impact on identity development (Publication No. 27542827) [Doctoral dissertation, Pepperdine University]. PQDT Open. https://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/2309521814.html?FMT=AI
Zambrano-Vazquez, L. (2016). The interaction of state and trait worry on response monitoring in those with worry and obsessive-compulsive symptoms [Doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona]. UA Campus Repository. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/620615
Harris, L. (2014). Instructional leadership perceptions and practices of elementary school leaders [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Virginia.
Bologna, C. (2019, October 31). Why some people with anxiety love watching horror movies. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anxiety-love-watching-horror-movies_l_5d277587e4b02a5a5d57b59e
Woodyatt, A. (2019, September 10). Daytime naps once or twice a week may be linked to a healthy heart, researchers say. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/10/health/nap-heart-health-wellness-intl-scli/index.html
Do not create references or in-text citations for whole websites.
To mention a website in general, and not any particular information on that site, provide the name of the website in the text and include the URL in parentheses. For example, you might mention that you used a website to create a survey.
We created our survey using Qualtrics (https://www.qualtrics.com).
If you are writing online, you can link the name of the site directly so that the link has descriptive text.
We created our survey using Qualtrics.
To cite particular information on a website, determine the reference type (e.g., report, webpage) and then follow the appropriate format.
There are several ways in which you may want to utilise other people’s ideas in order to add substance to your work. The most common ways to accomplish this are to quote, paraphrase or summarise. (adapted from the sixth edition of the APA Publication Manual, © 2010)
For corporate or group authors, display the full title of the group author and use an abbreviated version thereafter.
Within your reference list, provide all authors up to seven. The seventh name should be preceded by an ampersand (&).
With more than seven, display the first six followed by ellipses (...).
The year in parenthesis followed by a full stop.
Example:
(2017).
Terrill, R. E. (1993). Put on a happy face: Batman as schizophrenic savior. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 79(3), 319-335.
The abbreviation for edition is ed. enclosed in brackets with a full stop. (8th ed.).
Example:
Pears, R., & Shields, Graham J. (2010). Cite them right : The essential referencing guide (8th ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
When detailing the place of publication, you should list the city and state (USA). The city should be spelled out and the two letter abbreviation of the state.
Examples:
Burger, J. (1994). Before and after an oil spill : The Arthur Kill. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.
Reininghaus, F., & Langer, Liesel. (1980). Schubert und das Wirtshaus : Musik unter Metternich (2. Aufl. ed., Bücherei Oberbaum ; 1012). Berlin, Germany: Oberbaumverlag.
Internet resources should be indicated by providing either a Digital Object Identifier (doi) or an URL. This should be in the form of doi: or Retrieved from http...
Examples:
Boyd, H., & Murnen, S. K. (2017). Thin and sexy vs. muscular and dominant: Prevalence of gendered body ideals in popular dolls and action figures. Body Image, 21, 90-96. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2017.03.003
Curry, L., (2016). Beating the Workplace Bully: A Tactical Guide to Taking Charge [Kindle version] Retrieved from https://www.amazon.co.uk
When a primary source is not available, you need to cite the primary source within the text and the secondary source within round brackets.
Example:
The wanton destruction of a hidden universe, Franks (as cited in Anderton, 2002, p.27) presumes the decay of a pathetic fallacy...
All lines after the first line of a reference are indented... often described as a hanging indentation.
Example:
Clayton, N. S., & Emery, N. J. (2009). What do jays know about other minds and other times? In A. Berthoz & Y. Christen (Eds.), Neurobiology of Umwelt: How Living Beings Perceive the World (pp. 109-123). Berlin: Springer-Verlag Berlin.
Here is a list of acceptable abbreviations you can use in APA.
Element |
Abbreviation |
---|---|
edition | ed. |
Revised edition | Rev. ed. |
second edition | 2nd ed. |
Editors (Editors) | Ed. (Eds.) |
Translator(s) | Trans. |
no date | n.d. |
page(s) | p. (pp.) |
Volume(s) | Vol. (Vols) |
Number | No. |
Part | Pt. |
Technical Report | Tech. Rep. |
Supplement | Suppl. |
Your list of references links with your in-text citations and enables the reader to trace the sources cited within your work. It is a list of the documents from which any direct quotations or examples have been taken.
Nota Bene: A bibliography (where you give credit to sources that were used for background reading, but were not quoted within the body of the text), is not usually required. However, you should always check this with your tutor first.
Your list of references (and bibliography if you choose to provide one) should be arranged alphabetically by author and then, where necessary, by year of publication.
Different types of publication require different amounts of information. The APA system lays down standards for the amount of information required for each document type; these are detailed below. (adapted from the sixth edition of the APA Publication Manual, © 2010)
...where he elucidates the change of environment (Binfield, 2008)....
Binfield, P. (2008, September 9). At PLoS ONE we're batty about bats [Web log message]. Retrieved from https://www.plos.org/cms/trackback/398
The author places the origins of the cube design in the context of the social history of tea drinking (Anderson & Atterbury, 2004).
Book
Anderson, A., & Atterbury, P. (1999). The cube teapot: the story of the patent teapot. Ilminster, England: Richard Dennis.
Book - Electronic version
Pepperberg, I. M. (2009). Alex & me: How a scientist and a parrot discovered a hidden world of animal intelligence — and formed a deep bond in the process Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Alex-scientist-discovered-intelligence-ebook/dp/B00APOWOXC/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1363823581&sr=1-2&keywords=alex+%26+me
...discovered a hidden world (Pepperberg, 2009)...
Pepperberg, I. M. (2009). Alex & me: How a scientist and a parrot discovered a hidden world of animal intelligence — and formed a deep bond in the process Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Alex-scientist-discovered-intelligence-ebook/dp/B00APOWOXC/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1363823581&sr=1-2&keywords=alex+%26+me
Crop rotation in the fourteenth century was considerably more widespread (Clayton & Emery, 2009)...
Clayton, N. S., & Emery, N. J. (2009). What do jays know about other minds and other times? In A. Berthoz & Y. Christen (Eds.), Neurobiology of Umwelt: How Living Beings Perceive the World (2nd ed., pp. 109-123). Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag Berlin.
An adaptation of this affect was presented at the same conference (Hagino, Hiryu, Fujioka, Riquimaroux, & Watanabe, 2007)
Hagino, T., Hiryu, S., Fujioka, S., Riquimaroux, H., & Watanabe, Y. (2007, APR 17-20). Adaptive SONAR sounds by echolocating bats. Paper presented at the 5th International Symposium on Underwater Technology, Tokyo, Japan.
Hagino, T., Hiryu, S., Fujioka, S., Riquimaroux, H., & Watanabe, Y. (2007, APR 17-20). Adaptive SONAR sounds by echolocating bats. Paper presented at the 5th International Symposium on Underwater Technology, Tokyo, Japan. doi: 10.1109/UT.2007.370829
...thus resulting in a change in psychology (Vonk & Shackelford, 2012)
Vonk, J., & Shackelford, T. K. (Eds.). (2012). The Oxford handbook of comparative evolutionary psychology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
... changing environment. (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 2009)
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. (2009). Guidelines for conducting bird and bat studies at commercial wind energy projects. Albany, NY. Retrieved from https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/windguidelines.pdf.
With published interviews, you should cite and reference them in the format you used them. If you read an article or watched a documentary then you should present it in that format.
Iannucci (2017) thinks that we’re still figuring out people like Trump is because he sort of satirises himself.
Iannucci, A. (2017, April 19). Armando Iannucci: 'You're on a highway to nowhere if you think jokes are going to stop Donald Trump'. Interview with Armando Ianucci. Interviewed by Daniel Dylan Wray for The Independent, p69.
For unpublished works, e.g. an interview you conducted in which the interviewee agreed to be quoted, you can cite it as a personal communication.
The manager conceded the point that the value of 'water cooler moments' was vastly underrated (M. Phillips, personal communication, July 26, 2001).
Nota bene: You do not include this in your reference list as there is no copy available for the reader to view.
"In our opinion, 'insight' can never be a satisfactory explanation for an animal's innovative performance." (von Bayern, Heathcote, Rutz, & Kacelnik, 2009)
von Bayern, A. M. P., Heathcote, R. J. P., Rutz, C., & Kacelnik, A. (2009). The role of experience in problem solving and innovative tool use in crows. Current Biology, 19(22), 1965-1968. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2009.10.037
"When Stan Lee created the Spiderman comic he probably did not imagine that one day it would inspire unaccountable government programs that would limit the mobility of immigrants within the United States." (Koulish, 2015, p.84)
Koulish, R. (2015). Spiderman’s Web and the Governmentality of Electronic Immigrant Detention. Law, Culture and the Humanities, 11(1), 83-108.
Fritz (2017, July 11). describes the emergence of TV as the death of the feature film as an ascribed definition.
Fritz, B. (2017, Jul 11). The end of the feature film; analysis: In the age of netflix movies, HBO TV shows and marvel big-screen series, the 120-year-old definition of a feature film is defunct. Wall Street Journal (Online) Retrieved from https://manchester.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1917726822?accountid=1225
"Criminology is about understanding crime and criminal nature". (Yeti Creative, 2017)
Yeti Creative. (2017, January 05). The University of Manchester - Criminology. [Online Video] Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/198200931
...(The Alex Foundation, 2007)
The Alex Foundation. (2007). Alex the African grey parrot and subject of landmark studies of bird intelligence dies at 31 [Press release]. Retrieved from https://www.alexfoundation.org/press_release.html
(Seftel & Sweet, 2011)
Seftel, J. & Sweet, J. (Producers). (2011, June 24). Profile: Irene Pepperberg & Alex [Video podcast].
Retrieved from https://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/rss/media/nsn_v_pod_PepperbergProfile_110624.m4
Research by Naude (1992) suggested that buying behaviour by organisations…
Naude, P. (1992). Modelling organisational buying behaviour incorporating judgemental methods. (Unpublished PhD thesis). Manchester Business School, Manchester, UK.
A clinical brain is used by nurses to organize their patient care (Fagan, 2019).
Fagan, J. (2019, March 25). Nursing clinical brain. OER Commons. Retrieved September 17, 2019, from https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/53029-nursing-clinical-brain/view
The University of Manchester Library website is a great place to start to find information to support your studies (www.manchester.ac.uk/library).
(adapted from the sixth edition of the APA Publication Manual, © 2010)
Not required.
The information contained within these pages is intended as a general referencing guideline.
Please check with your supervisor to ensure that you are following the specific guidelines required by your school.