In-text referencing

APA is an 'author/date' system, so your in-text reference for all formats (book, journal article, web document) consists of the
author(s) surname and year of publication.
The basics of an in-text reference in APA:

 Include author or authors and year of publication.

 Use round brackets.

Example: (Smith & Bruce, 2018)

If you quote directly from an author you need to include the page or paragraph number of the quote in your in-text reference. See
the 'Quotes' section below for more advice on adding quotes into your work.

 Include author or authors, year of publication and page or paragraph number of your quote.
 Use round brackets.

Example: (Smith & Bruce, 2018, pp. 25-26)

The Reference List

All in-text references should be listed in the reference list at the end of your document. The purpose of the reference list entry is to
contain all the information that a reader of your work needs to follow-up on your sources. An important principle in referencing is to
be consistent.
When compiling your APA Reference List, you should:

 List references on a new page with a centred heading titled: References.

 Include all your references, regardless of format, e.g. books, journal articles, online sources, in one alphabetical listing
from A - Z.
 Order entries alphabetically by surname of author(s).
 List works with no author under the first significant word of the title.
 Indent second and subsequent lines of each entry (5-7 spaces).
 Use double spacing.
 Note that all references in APA end with a full stop except when the reference ends with a URL or a doi.

Journal article
A basic reference list entry for a journal article in APA must include:

 Author or authors. The surname is followed by first initials.

 Year of publication of the article (in round brackets).
 Article title.
 Journal title (in italics).
  Volume of journal (in italics).
 Issue of journal (no italics).
 Page range of article.
 DOI.
 The first line of each citation is left adjusted. Every subsequent line is indented 5-7 spaces.

Example: Ruxton, C. (2016). Tea: Hydration and other health benefits. Primary Health Care, 26(8),
34-42. doi:10.7748/phc.2016.e1162

Book
A basic reference list entry for a book (print version) in APA must include:

 Author or authors. The surname is followed by first initials.

 Year of publication of the book (in round brackets).
 Book title (in italics).
 Edition (in round brackets), if other than first edition.
 Place of publication.
 Publisher.
 The first line of each citation is left adjusted. Every subsequent line is indented 5-7 spaces.

Example: Arnott, G. D. (2017). The disability support worker (2nd ed.). South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning.

Quotes in APA
For direct quotes of less than 40 words, incorporate them into the text and enclose the quote with double quotation marks, e.g.

Webber (2018, p. 82) concludes that “addressing the issue of school dropout not only affects the education system, but may
also serve as a prevention effort for the welfare, mental health, and corrections systems”.

For direct quotes of 40 or more words start a new paragraph that is indented from the left. The entire quote should be double-
spaced. Quotation marks are not required e.g.:
Others have contradicted this view, suggesting:
These overload issues can reach across the lifespan and affect individuals in many ways. As related issues continue to emerge,
counselors will need to be aware of potential mental health problems stemming from technology overload and continue to research
and develop the skills needed for effective interventions. In the digital age, these capabilities will be crucial in helping clients regain
and maintain a healthy balance of life, work, and technology. (Scott, Valley & Simecka, 2017, p. 605)
Note: Use paragraph numbers if no page numbers are available.

Citing tables and figures

 Tables are numerical values or text displayed in rows and columns.

 Figures include graphs, charts, maps, drawings and photographs.

When including tables or figures in your work, please note:

 All tables and figures must be referred to in the main body of the text.
 Number all tables and figures in the order they first appear in the text.
 Refer to them in the text by their number. For example:

As shown in Table 2...

OR
As illustrated in Figure 3...

 Each table or figure should be accompanied by a concise description of the contents, presented directly below the figure.
 When reproducing a table or figure from another source you must also include a citation with the caption, as well as in the
Reference list. You may need to obtain written permission from the copyright holder. The copyright permission statement
should be included at the end of the caption.
 Note that you should use the wording "Reprinted [or Adapted] with permission" only when permission has been sought
and granted.

Examples:

1. If you reproduce a figure, credit the original source in full at the bottom of the reproduction. Cite the source in full in your
reference list:
Figure 1. A credibility judgment is arrived at within the larger context of one's background, prior knowledge,
assumptions and biases, as one performs a series of iterative assessments based on one's defined need, specific
attributes of the source and rules of thumb that have worked successfully in the past. From "Evaluation techniques,"
by D. Cunningham, 2008, Annals of Psychiatry, 36, p. 35. Copyright 2008 by David Cunningham. Reprinted with
permission.
Reference List
Cunningham, D. (2008). Evaluation techniques. Annals of Psychiatry, 36(2), 24-45.

2. If you adapt a figure, credit the original source in full at the bottom of the figure but add the words 'Adapted from' to
indicate it has been changed by you, and cite the source in full in your reference list:
Figure 1. A credibility judgment is arrived at within the larger context of one's background, prior knowledge,
assumptions and biases, as one makes interim decisions based on one's defined need, specific attributes of the
source and rules of thumb that have worked successfully in the past. Adapted from "Evaluation techniques," by D.
Cunningham, 2008, Annals of Psychiatry 36, p. 35. Copyright 2008 by David Cunningham. Adapted with permission.
Reference List
Cunningham, D. (2008). Evaluation techniques. Annals of Psychiatry, 36(2), 24-45.

3. Follow a discussion of a figure viewed in another source (but not reproduced) with an in-text citation for the published
source. Include the figure number as it appears in the published source. Cite the source in full in your reference list:

... evaluating the credibility of a source is shown as the interaction between one's defined need, specific attributes of
the source, and rules of thumb which have worked previously when evaluating sources (Cunningham, 2008, p. 35,
fig. 3).
Reference List
Cunningham, D. (2008). Evaluation techniques. Annals of Psychiatry, 36(2), 24-45.

Secondary sources
APA discourages the use of secondary sources unless the original work is unavailable. If you read an article or book which
references some information that you also want to reference and you have been unable to locate the original source, cite the
source you have read in the Reference list; in text, name the original work and give the citation for the source where you found the
information. For example:
Sue reads an article by Chris Brown in the Journal of Library Administration in which he cites or refers to statements made
by Ulrich Boser in his book ‘Learn better’. Sue wants to refer to Boser’s statement in her assignment.

Sue would acknowledge Boser in her text but her reference is to the source where she saw the information. Sue might write as her
in-text reference:
 ... (Boser as cited in Brown, 2018)
OR
Boser (as cited in Brown, 2018) states ...

In her reference list Sue would write a reference for Brown's article because that's where she sourced the information. The entry in
her References would be:
Brown, C. (2018). Creating better learners through learning science: A sample of methods. Journal of Library
Administration, 58(4), 375-

381. doi:10.1080/01930826.2018.1448652

Citations and References

Documenting your Sources

In your lab reports you will typically use information from sources such as your textbook, lab manual, a
reference book, and articles published in a science or engineering journal. When you use information
from sources, you need to tell the readers where the information came from and where the readers can
locate the sources. This is what citations and references are for.

A citation tells the readers where the information came from. In your writing, you cite or refer to the
source of information.

A reference gives the readers details about the source so that they have a good understanding of what
kind of source it is and could find the source themselves if necessary. The references are typically listed
at the end of the lab report.

There are many different forms of documentation (systems of citation and reference), varying across
academic fields. You may be familiar with MLA (Modern Language Association) used in English or CBE
(Council of Biological Editors) used in the life sciences. But even within academic fields there are
different forms because different scholarly journals specify a system to be used in those journals.

Smart Advice: Find out what form of documentation is appropriate to use in your class before you write
your first report. The best place to look is the lab manual. If you don't see the form of documentation
given there, then ask the lab instructor or the professor of the lecture section.

More smart advice: If you can't find out from the lab manual or the teacher what form of
documentation you should use, or if you are told to choose one on your own, find out what scholarly
journal is appropriate to the field you are studying and use it as a guide to documentation. Find a recent
copy of journal in the library or online. It will say what form that it uses (in the "guide to authors"). But
you can also determine what to do by looking at how the citations and references are done in an article
in the journal.

Generally speaking, there are three basic systems of documentation in science and engineering:
the name-and-year system, the alphabet-number system, and the citation-order system. If your
teacher says to use one of these systems, you can use the following brief descriptions to guide you in
documenting sources:

The name-and-year system.

Citations: When you cite the source of information in the report, you give the names of the authors and
the date of publication.

Jenkins and Busher (1979) report that beavers eat several kinds of herbaceous plants as well as the
leaves, twigs, and bark of most species of woody plants that grow near water.

Beavers have been shown to be discriminate eaters of hardwoods (Crawford, Hooper, and Harlow 1976).

References: The sources are listed at the end of the report in alphabetical order according to the last
name of the first author, as in the following book and article.

Crawford, H.S., R.G. Hooper, and R.F Harlow. 1976. Woody Plants Selected by Beavers in the
Appalachian and Valley Province. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Jenkins, S.H., and P.E. Busher. 1979. Castor canadensis. Mammalian Species. 120:1-8.

The alphabet-number system.

Citations: When you cite the source of information in the report, you give a number in parentheses that
corresponds to the number of the source in the alphabetical listing in the "References."

Jenkins and Busher report that beavers eat several kinds of herbaceous plants as well as the leaves,
twigs, and bark of most species of woody plants that grow near water (4).

Beavers have been shown to be discriminate eaters of hardwoods (3).

References: The sources are listed in alphabetical order and numbered accordingly, as in the following
book and article.

3. Crawford, H.S., R.G. Hooper, and R.F Harlow. 1976. Woody Plants Selected by
Beavers in the Appalachian and Valley Province. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department
of Agriculture.

4. Jenkins, S.H., and P.E. Busher. 1979. Castor canadensis. Mammalian Species. 120:1-
8.

The Citation-Order System (typically used in engineering--IEEE

documentation).

Citations: When you cite the sources of information in the report, you give a number in brackets that
corresponds to the number of the source listed in the order in which they appear in the report, the
source listed first as [1], the next source [2], etc.

Jenkins and Busher report that beavers eat several kinds of herbaceous plants as well as the leaves,
twigs, and bark of most species of woody plants that grow near water [1].

Beavers have been shown to be discriminate eaters of hardwoods [2].

References: The sources are listed in the order in which they are cited in the report, as in the following
book and article.

[1] S.H. Jenkins and P.E. Busher, "Castor canadensis,"Mammalian Species. Vol. 20,
Jan. 1979.

[2] H.S. Crawford, R.G. Hooper, and R.F Harlow, Woody Plants Selected by Beavers in
the Appalachian and Valley Province. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, 1976.

Documentation on the Internet:

Help for using the documentation system of the Council of Biological Editors (for life sciences). The
source is the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin.

Help for using the documentation system of the American Chemical Society (for chemistry classes). The
source is the Lehigh University Library.