APA Referencing Guide

APA Referencing Guide

• Books
• Articles
• Online sources
• Images/visual mediums
• Other source types

APA Referencing Style- An Overview

APA is an acronym for American Psychological Association. It is one of the referencing styles used while writing academic papers. It was revised according to the 6th edition of APA manual. There are over 100 styles depending upon the format used by different colleges and universities. But it is important to understand and follow the specific one that goes well with your assignment so that you don’t mix it with others. Consistency is the key to score top-grades.

The information that every reference list must contain is mentioned below:

• Name of the author(s)
• Year published
• Title
• City published
• Publisher
• Pages used

Basic Rules to be Followed in APA

• Begin reference list on a new page with the heading ‘References’.
• Arrange all the entries in alphabetical order of the authors’ last name.
• In case more than one work by an author is cited, then arrange them in order of publication date i.e., oldest to newest.  
• If there is no author, then the title replaces its position and listed alphabetically according to the first significant word. If the title begins with number, then spell it out.  
• Write the title of the book, the journal, the web document, etc in italics.

1. Book

Remember the following points while citing a book in APA format.

A) Citing a book in print

Author, A. (Year of Publication). Title of work. Publisher City, State: Publisher.

B) Citing an e-book

E-book stands for “electronic book.” It is a digital book that can be read on a computer, or other electronic device.

Author, A. (Year of Publication). Title of work [E-Reader Version]. Retrieved from http://xxxx or DOI:xxxx

C) Citing a database book

Author, A. (Year of Publication). Title of work. Retrieved from http://xxxx or DOI:xxxx

Tools for creating Vancouver Book references:

• Reference a Book
• Reference a Book Chapter

2. Articles/Journals

A) Print Journals

The rules are same as books- in case of three or more authors, names should be mentioned on first citation, and the first author's name should be cited in-text followed by 'et al.' And all authors should be named in the order of the credit in the original work. In case of eight or more authors, they should be formatted as below:

Last name, First initial. (Year). Article Title. Journal name, Volume (Issue), Page/s.

Articles with Eight or More Authors

Last name, First initial, Last name, First initial, Last name, First initial, Last name, First initial, Last name, First initial, Last name, First initial, … Last name, First initial. (Year). Article Title. Journal name, Volume (Issue), Page/s.