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APA (American Psychological Association) 7th is an author-date referencing style where you have an in-text citation and a related entry in a reference list at the end of your document.

APA 7th - webpage

If there is no year of publication use the abbreviation (n.d.) for no date.

Note: For reports, articles, electronic books or chapters accessed online see the relevant section for how to cite them. They are not referenced as a webpage. 


Reference list

Add a reference list entitled References at the end of your essay, citing all sources used in the body of your writing, except for personal communications.

The reference list should be in alphabetical order by the first author's surname (last name).

The first line of each reference should be aligned with the left margin. Second and subsequent lines should be indented seven spaces (1.27cm).

Personal author

Group as author

In-text citation

When you use another person’s ideas or words in your text include the author’s name and publication date in brackets (Parenthetical Citation).

If you use the author’s name as part of a sentence, include the date of publication in brackets (Narriative Citation).

If there is no year of publication use the abbreviation (n.d.) for no date.

Personal author

Group as author

Quoting

Direct quotes of less than 40 words require quotation marks and the page number/s.

For direct quotations, where page numbers are not available, use a paragraph number, or if a large document use a section heading followed by the paragraph number.

Paragraph numbers

Note: If there are no paragraph numbers, count the paragraphs. Use para. in front of the number

  • ... “I had to learn that, because of the crash, both life and limb would never be the same” (Morrow, 2017, para. 3).

  • Maltin (2015) reported that young viewers thought “that the men who made it must have been stoned” (para. 2). 

Section headings

Note: Add the word section after the heading. If it is a long heading shorten it and put quotation marks around the heading

  • … “product and services exports are a valuable addition to New Zealand's food and fibre exports” (New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, n.d., Agribusiness section, para. 2).

  • How to obtain additional support for yourself or the person you’re “looking after would help you to juggle work and care” (Carers UK, n.d., “Getting support for you" section, para. 1).

 

 See also: more on quoting, including long quotes ...


This material is based on the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (2020). For further information, please consult the manual directly.

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