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APA (American Psychological Association) Referencing Guidelines: Reference List

Reference List

American Psychological Association (APA) Referencing Guidelines - Reference List

The Reference List 

 

Points to note include the following: 

  • Start your reference list on a new page, centre the reference list heading. 
  • Use double spacing. 
  • Indent second and subsequent lines of each reference (0.5 inches). 
  • For edited book chapters and journal article titles  o do not italicise chapter titles/subtitles or journal article titles  o capitalise chapter titles/subtitles and journal article titles using sentence  case.    
  • For authored books, reports, web pages 
    • italicise titles 
    • capitalise titles and subtitles using sentence case    
  • For journal titles o italicise titles 
    • capitalise titles using title case   
  • Include a DOI or URL at the end of the reference for any work that has one. For books, do not include a URL or database information for sources from databases. Include a URL for ebooks from other websites. Do not insert a full stop after the DOI or URL.   
  • Most references do not include retrieval dates.   
  • Most references include only the year of publication.  However, additional detail is added for particular types of references such as web page/site content.   
  • Reference formats are determined by document type; only use the webpage format when no other format is appropriate.    

Example references are provided in the APA’s Common Reference Examples Guide.

 

  

 

Book with one author:

Author surname, INITIALS. (Date). Title of the book (edition if not the first). Publisher.  DOI or URL (if available)   
 

Note - Separate initials with a full stop between each initial 

 

Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2020). Abnormal psychology (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill.  

 

In-text citation: 

(Nolen-Hoeksema, 2020)  

OR 

Nolen-Hoeksema (2020)  

 

Books with two authors:

Author surname, INITIALS, & Author surname, INITIALS. (Date). Title of the book  (edition if not the first). Publisher. DOI or URL (if available) 

 

Note - Separate initials with a full stop between each initial 

 

Sutton, R., & Douglas, K. (2020). Social psychology (2nd ed.). Macmillan Education.   

 

In-text citation: 

(Sutton & Douglas, 2020)  

OR 

Sutton and Douglas (2020)  

 

Books with two authors and available DOI:

 

Tanskanen, A. O., & Danielsbacka, M. (2018). Intergenerational family relations: An evolutionary social science approach. Routledge.  https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315107806  

 

In-text citation: 

(Tanskanen & Danielsbacka, 2018)           

OR 

Tanskanen and Danielsbacka (2018) 

 

Book with three or more authors up to 20:

Author surname, INITIALS., Author surname, INITIALS., & Author surname, 

INITIALS. (Date). Title of the book (edition if not the first). Publisher. DOI or URL (if available) 

 

Note - Separate initials with a full stop between each initial 

 

Lox, C.L., Martin Ginis, K.A., Gainforth, H.L., & Petruzzello, S.J. (2020). The psychology of exercise: Integrating theory and practice (5th ed.). Taylor & Francis.  

  

In-text citation:  

(Lox et al., 2020)  

OR  

Lox et al. (2020)  

Edited book chapter:

Chapter author surname, INITIALS., & Chapter author surname, INITIALS. (Date). 

Title of the book chapter. In INITIALS. book editor surname (Ed.), Title of the book (2nd ed., pp. n–n). Publisher. DOI or URL (if available) 

 

Note - Separate initials with a full stop between each initial 

 

Gibbons, J.L., & Poelker, K.E. (2019). Adolescent development in a cross-cultural perspective. In K.D. Keith (Ed.), Cross cultural psychology: Contemporary themes and perspectives (2nd ed., pp.190-215). John Wiley & Sons.   

 

In-text citation: 

(Gibbons & Poelker, 2019)  

OR 

Gibbons and Poelker (2019)  

 

Journal article:

Author Surname, INITIALS. (Date) Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue or part number, if present), page numbers of the article. DOI (if available) 

 

Please note: 

  • Italicise name of journal, NOT title of article 
  • Italicise volume number 
  • Article title are capitalised using sentence case 
  • Journal names are capitalised using title case 

  

Sutherland, C.A.M., Rhodes, G., Burton, N.S., & Young, A.W. (2020). Do facial first impressions reflect a shared social reality? British Journal of Psychology, 111(2), 215-232. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12390  

 

In-text citation: 

 

(Sutherland et al., 2020)  

OR 

Sutherland et al. (2020)  

Journal article with 21 or more authors:

Where there are 21 or more authors, include the first 19 authors’ names, insert an ellipsis (three full stops) and then add the final author’s name. 

 

Viana, M.C., Lim, C.C.W., Pereira, F.G., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Alonso, J., Bruffaerts,  

R., de Jonge, P., Caldas-de-Almeida, J.M., O’Neill, S., Stein, D.J., Al-Hamzawi, A.,  Benjet, C., Cardoso, G., Florescu, S., de Girolamo, G., Haro, J.M., Hu, C.,  KovessMasfety, V.,  Levinson, D.,… Scott, K.M. (2018). Previous mental disorders and subsequent onset of chronic back or neck pain: Findings from 19 countries. The Journal of Pain, 19(1), 99-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2017.08.011  

  

In-text citation: 

(Viana et al., 2018)  

OR 

Viana et al. (2018)  

Report with corporate author:

Note – Always enter the corporate author name followed by a full stop. 

 

British Psychological Society. (2020). Emotionally regulate before we educate:  Focussing on psychological wellbeing in the approach to a new school day. https://www.bps.org.uk/sites/www.bps.org.uk/files/Policy/Policy%20-

%20Files/Psychological%20wellbeing%20in%20the%20approach%20to%20a%20ne w%20school%20day%20%28DECP%20NI%29.pdf  

 

First in-text citation: 

Parenthetical citation - (British Psychological Society [BPS], 2020)  OR 

Narrative citation - British Psychological Society (BPS, 2020).  

 

For subsequent in-text citations, use the abbreviation and year only: 

Parenthetical citation - (BPS, 2020)  

OR 

Narrative citation - BPS (2020)  

 

Webpage with an individual author:

Peterson, L.A. (2017, March 23).  Decrease stress by using your breath. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/indepth/decreasestress-by-using-your-breath/art-20267197   

 

In-text citation 

Parenthetical citation - (Peterson, 2017)  

OR 

Narrative citation - Peterson (2017)  

 

Webpage with a corporate author:

Note – Always enter the corporate author name followed by a full stop. 

  

Age UK. (2020, July 21).  Loneliness and digital inclusion. https://www.ageuk.org.uk/our-impact/policy-research/loneliness-researchandresources/loneliness-and-digital-inclusion/  

 

In-text citation: 

Parenthetical citation - (Age UK, 2020)  

OR 

Narrative citation - Age UK (2020)  

 

Sources where no author details are provided:

Where no author can be identified use the source’s title instead. For example: 

 

Referencing and Refworks for psychology students (2020). https://guides.library.ulster.ac.uk/ld.php?content_id=32724756  

  

The harms of lockdown for young people (2020, July 9). The Psychologist.  https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/harms-lockdown-young-people