Guide to Preparing Reference Lists in the APA Style

23 February 2010

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) is a style guide for writers and academics. Commonly referred to as the APA style, it is widely used by many universities and publishers in the USA and other countries around the world. The 6th edition of the publication manual was released in 2009, and full details of the style can be found on the APA website at www.apastyle.org. This article describes how to prepare a reference list or bibliography according to the APA 6th edition guidelines.

Our Reference Tracker application for Mac OS X can manage your citations and references for you and automatically create formatted reference lists in both the APA 5th and 6th edition styles. Download our free trial to try it out.

 

Books

Printed Books

The general format for a book reference in the APA style is:

Surname, initials (Year in brackets). Title in itallics. (Edition in brackets if not 1st). Place: Publisher.

For example:

Sterne, J. (2003). The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction. Durham: Duke University Press.

When a book has two or more authors you should list each in the order they appear in the book. For example:

Kaye, D. & LeBrecht, J. (2000). Sound and Music for the Theatre: The Art and Technique of Design (2nd ed.). Boston: Focal Press.

When you are referencing an edited book, you should use the name of the editor, followed by the abbreviation 'ed.' in brackets, for example:

Heath, T. L. (Ed.). (2009). The Works of Archimedes: Edited in Modern Notation with Introductory Chapters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 

Chapters in Books

When you are referencing a single chapter in an edited book or collection, the format differs form a the simple book above. The general format is:

Chapter author surname, initials (Year in brackets). Title of Chapter. In Editor initials. Surname (Ed.), Title of book in italics. (Page numbers in brackets). Place: Publisher.

For example:

Bourdieu, P. (1997). The Forms of Capital. In A. H. Halsey, H. Lauder, P. Brown & A. Stuart Wells (Eds.), Education: Culture, Economy and Society. (pp. 46-58). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 

EBooks

The reference format for an eBook (electronic book) is similar to that of a paper book with the addition of the information on the media type and download location. The general format is:

Surname, initials (Year in brackets). Title in itallics. [Media type in square brackets]. (Edition in brackets if not 1st). Place: Publisher. Retrieved date, from URL

They media type is the file format in which you have the eBook. Examples include PDF, ePUB, HTML, etc. The URL is the Internet address where the eBook can be found. As webpages and Internet resources can change regularly, it is important that you note the date on which you accessed the version of the eBook you are referencing. If the book is only available electronically, the publisher information may not be available or required.

An example eBook Reference:

Hooper, W. G. (2008). Aether and Gravitation. [PDF]. Salt Lake City: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 2 February 2010, from http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/24667

 

Articles

Article in Printed Journals

The general format for a journal article is:

Surname, initials (Year in brackets). Title of Article. Title of journal in italics, Volume number in italics(issue number in brackets), page numbers.

For example:

Degeorge, F. and Zeckhauser, R. (1993). The reverse LBO decision and firm performance: Theory and evidence. The Journal of Finance, 48(4), 1323-1348.

 

Article in Online Journal

If you are referencing an article that was published in an online journal, or an online version of a print journal, in your reference list you should add media type, internet address and date accessed information, just like when referencing an eBook. The general format is:

Surname, initials (Year in brackets). Title of Article. [Media type in square brackets]. Title of journal in italics, Volume number in italics(issue number in brackets). Retrieved date, from URL

For example:

Grim, K. D. and Wasko, C. A. (2009). Symmetrical bilateral Becker melanosis: A rare presentation [Webpage]. Dermatology Online Journal, 15(12).Retrieved 2 February 2010, from http://dermatology-s10.cdlib.org/1512/articles/becker/wasko.html

 

Article in Blog

The general format for a blog article is:

Surname, initials (Year in brackets). Title of Article. [Media type in square brackets]. Blog/Website name in italics, Day and Month of Publication. Retrieved date, from URL

For example:

Hammad, M. and Elhawary, M. (2010). A recent improvement for Arabic searches [Webpage]. The Official Google Blog, February 2nd. Retrieved 2 February 2010, from http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/recent-improvement-for-arabic-searches.html

 

Article in Newspaper

The general format for a newspaper article is:

Surname, initials (Year, month day in brackets). Article title. Newspaper name in italics, page numbers.

For example:

Leland, J. (2010, February 3rd). In Bagdad, it's time to talk. International Herald Tribune, pp.2.

 

Conferences

Conference Paper

If you are referencing a paper delivered at a conference and subsequently published in the conference proceedings, the general format is:

Surname, initials (Year of conference in brackets). Title of paper. In Editor initials. Surname (Ed.), Title of conference proceedings in italics, Date of conference, location of conference (Page numbers in brackets). Place of proceedings publication: Publisher.

For example:

Prescott, N. and Nichols, L. M. (1998). International Comparison of Medical Savings Accounts. In N. Prescott (Ed.), Choices in Financing Health Care & Old Age Security, 8 November 1997, Singapore (pp. 19-32). Washington, D.C.: World Bank Publications.

If you are referencing a paper delivered at a conference which you attended, and the proceedings have not been published, provide as much detail as you can, in the general format:

Surname, initials (Year of conference in brackets). Title of paper in italics. Paper presented at Title of conference, date of conference, location of conference.

For example:

Matthews, K.E., Adams, P. and Gannaway, D. (2009). The impact of social learning spaces on student engagement. Paper presented at The First Year in Higher Education Conference 2009, 29 June, Brisbane, Australia.

 

Conference Proceedings

If your are referencing the published proceedings of a conference, but not a specific paper (for example the introduction or other editorial content), the general format is:

Surname, initials (Ed.), (Year in brackets). Title of proceedings. Proceedings of Title of conference in italics, date of conference, location of conference. Place of publication: Publisher.

For example:

Ochaita, C. E. L. and Malik, W. H. (Eds.), (2002). Furthering Judicial Education. Proceedings of The Conference of Judicial Schools in Latin America, 8 October 2001, Guatemala. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Publications

 

Internet and Audio/Visual Material

Websites and Webpages

The general format for referencing a webpage is:

Author (Year in brackets). Title of webpage in italics [Media type in sqaure brackets]. Retreived date, from URL.

It is not always clear who the actual author of a webpage is. If you cannot find the name of the author you should use the name of the organization owning the website, for example 'Google' for the website 'www.google.com'. Likewise it it can be difficult to locate the publication date of a particular webpage or website. Look for a 'Last updated on' item, often found at the very top or bottom of a webpage.

An example webpage reference:

Apple (2009). Xserve (2009) - Technical Specifications [Webpage]. Retrieved Wednesday, 3 February 2010, from http://support.apple.com/kb/SP511

 

Email, Newsgroup and Forum Messages

The general format for email and other personal electronic messages is:

Sender Surname, initials (email address in brackets if appropriate). Title of message in italics. [Media type in square brackets]. Message to Recipient Surname, initials. Sent on date. Retrieved date, from URL

For example:

Davies, F. (fdavies@example.com). Prelimanary findings from Hamilton Centre. [Email]. Message to Jacobs, A.. Sent on 2 February 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2010.

Jennings, E. (ejennings@example.com). 2010 ICDD Educational Training in XRF & XRD. [Newsgroup Message]. Sent on 14 January 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2010, from http://groups.google.com/group/sci.chem.analytical/browse_thread/thread/ffadd6ee13e1763a#

 

Television and Radio Broadcasts

The general format for broadcasts is:

Creator Surname, initials. (Creator's role in broadcast in brackets) (Year, month day in brackets). Programme title [Broadcast medium in square brackets]. In Series title in italics. Broadcaster or Station.

For example:

Smight, A. (Director) (2010, January 21). Long Ball [Television]. In CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. CBS.

Nelson, S. (Presenter) (2010, January 28). Dark Matter [Radio]. In Discovery. BBC World Service.

 

Audio and Video Recordings

The general format for recorded media is:

Creator Surname, initials. (Year in brackets). Title in italics [Media type in square brackets]. Place: Publisher. (Any additional details in brackets)

For example:

Attenborough D. (2003). Life of Mammals. [DVD]. London: BBC

Brahms, J. (1997). The Complete Symphonies. [Audio CD]. Decca (Performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan)

 

Academic Papers

The general format for academic papers, such as dissertations and theses, is:

Surname, Initial. (Year in brackets). Title in Italics. (Academic Level in brackets), University Name.

For example:

Williams, D. (2009). Managing Multimedia advertising in Asian Markets. (PhD), University of Glasgow.

 

Hopefully this guide will be useful to you if you have to prepare reference lists or bibliographies in the APA style for your studies or other writing. Always bear in mind that individual university departments may have special referencing requirements specific to their discipline, and you should always check with your faculty or librarian if you are not sure of the requirements.

 

Remember our Reference Tracker application for Mac OS X can take the pain out of managing and formatting citations and references. You can add publications and internet resources to Reference Tracker with a few clicks, add notes and other details, and with one click create a reference list formatted in the APA style. You can download a free 21 day trial of Reference Tracker and we provide discounts to students.