Journal and Magazine Articles
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Electronic Journal Article with DOI
Entry in reference list
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Publication date). Title of article. Title of publication, volume number (issue number), pp-pp. doi:xxxxxxxxxx.
For example - reference list
Welch, J. B., & Venkateswaran, A. (2009). The dual sustainability of wind energy. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 13(5), 1121-1126. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2008.05.001
For example - in text citation
Welch and Venkateswaran (2009) found that…
OR
…environmental considerations (Welch & Venkateswaran, 2009).
OR
Welch and Venkateswaran (2009) highlight some of the environmental concerns associated with wind turbines such as "locations with the best wind currents sometimes coincide with migratory paths of birds" (p.4).
Style notes
- Article title: Capitalise only the first word of the title and of the subtitle, if any, and any proper nouns. Do not italicise the title or place quotation marks around it. Finish the element with a period.
- Journal title: Give the journal title in full, in uppercase and lowercase letters, e.g. 'Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews'. Italicise the name of the periodical.
- Publication information: Give the volume number after the journal title and italicise it. Do not use Vol. before the number.
- Include the journal issue number (if available) along with the volume number if the journal is paginated separately by issue. Give the issue number in parentheses immediately after the volume number. Do not italicize it. Give inclusive page numbers on which the cited material appears. Finish the element with a period.
- For information on citing articles with more than three authors, see the information on authors below for printed articles.
- No retrieval date is necessary when a DOI is available.
- DOI numbers are often located on the first page of an article near the copyright notice. If available, they are included in the references retrieved by Discovery.
- For supplementary material available online, include a description of the content in brackets after the title, e.g., [Letter to the editor], [Map], [Audio podcast].
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Electronic Journal Article without DOI
Entry in reference list
Author, A. A. (Publication date). Title of article. Title of publication, volume number (issue number), pp-pp. Retrieved from web address of journal.
For example - reference list
Thierstein, J. (2009). Education in the digital age. Educause Review, 44(1), 33-34. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/er
Parris, K. M., Velik-Lord, M., & North, J. M. A. (2009). Frogs call at a higher pitch in traffic noise. Ecology and Society, 14(1), 1-24. Retrieved from http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/
For example - in text citation
Thierstein (2009) identifies…
OR
…was identified (Thierstein, 2009).
OR
The research suggests that "...females may have difficulty locating mates, potentially leading to reduced breeding success and population declines over time" (Parris, Velik-Lord & North, 2009, p.16).
Style notes
- Article title: Capitalise only the first word of the title and of the subtitle, if any, and any proper nouns. Do not italicise the title or place quotation marks around it. Finish the element with a period.
- Journal title: Give the journal title in full, in uppercase and lowercase letters, e.g. 'Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews'. Italicise the name of the periodical.
- Publication information: Give the volume number after the journal title and italicise it. Do not use Vol. before the number.
- Include the journal issue number (if available) along with the volume number if the journal is paginated separately by issue. Give the issue number in parentheses immediately after the volume number. Do not italicize it. Give inclusive page numbers on which the cited material appears. Finish the element with a period.
- For information on citing articles with more than three authors, see the information on authors below for printed articles.
- When no DOI is available, provide the home page URL of the journal or of the book or report publisher, not the URL of the article as retrieved from a database search. Do not place a period after the URL.
- For both free resources and subscription resources, quote the web address (URL) of the journal’s home page, not the URL of the article or the database. For those supplied by the University of Melbourne through Discovery, you may need to do a quick search for the journal’s home page.
- For archival documents that cannot be found through their original publishing channels, provide the URL for the home page of the online archive, e.g., documents from such electronic databases as ERIC or JSTOR.
- The retrieval date need only be included if the content is likely to change, as with Wikis.
- To cite a pre-publication version of an article, add Advance online publication before Retrieved from web address.
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Printed Journal Article (one author)
Entry in reference list
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of article. Name of publication, Volume(Issue), pp-pp.
For example - reference list
Hanson, L. (2010). Global citizenship, global health, and the internationalization of curriculum: A study of transformative potential. Journal of Studies In International Education, 14(1), 70-88.
For example - in text citation
…was summarised (Hanson, 2010).
OR
Hanson (2010) summarised…
OR
Hanson (2010) asserts that "neither education nor institutions are ever neutral" (p.15).
Style notes
- Article title: Capitalise only the first word of the title and of the subtitle, if any, and any proper nouns. Do not italicise the title or place quotation marks around it. Finish the element with a period.
- Journal title: Give the journal title in full, in uppercase and lowercase letters, e.g. 'Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews'. Italicise the name of the periodical.
- Publication information: Give the volume number after the journal title and italicise it. Do not use Vol. before the number.
- Include the journal issue number (if available) along with the volume number if the journal is paginated separately by issue. Give the issue number in parentheses immediately after the volume number. Do not italicize it. Give inclusive page numbers on which the cited material appears. Finish the element with a period.
- If a journal or newsletter does not use volume numbers, include the month or season, or other designation with the year, e.g., (2008, May).
- Include both article title and subtitle, regardless of length.
- For supplementary material, include a description of the content in brackets after the title, e.g., [Special issue], [Special section].
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Printed Journal Article (two authors)
Entry in reference list
Authors, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of article. Name of publication, Volume(Issue), pp-pp.
For example - reference list
Pegg, J., & Panizzon, D. (2011). Collaborative innovations with rural and regional secondary teachers: Enhancing student learning in mathematics. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 23(2), 149-167.
For example - in text citation
Pegg and Panizzon (2011) state that…
OR
…was stated (Pegg & Panizzon, 2011).
OR
Pegg and Panizzon (2011) reported that when "the ownership of the individuals is reduced ... teachers can report in these circumstances that there is a sense of something being done to them, as opposed to with them" (pp.165-166).
Style notes
- Use an ampersand (&) to join author names in the Reference List or in brackets, not and (but use and when two authors are mentioned in the narrative).
- Italicise the name of the journal/publication and volume number.
- Capitalise the first and all major words of the publication's name. Give the publication name in full. e.g., Journal of Immunology not J Immunol
- Capitalise the article title as follows: first word of title and subtitle, and proper names and proper adjectives, e.g., Still moving: Between cinema and photography.
- Give the volume number of journals, magazines and newsletters. When each journal issue starts on page one, include the issue number in parentheses immediately (no space) after the volume number.
- If a journal or newsletter does not use volume numbers, include the month or season, or other designation with the year.
- Give inclusive page numbers.
- Include both article title and subtitle, regardless of length.
- For supplementary material, include a description of the content in brackets after the title, e.g., [Special issue], [Special section].
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Printed Journal Article (three or more authors)
Entry in reference list
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C., & Author, D. D. (Year of publication). Title of article. Name of Publication, Volume(issue), Page numbers.
For example - reference list
Lindgren, K., Inkinen, M., & Widmalm, S. (2009). Who knows best what the people want: Women or men? Comparative Political Studies, 42(2), 31-55.
For eight or more authors:
Dotsch, S., Wigboldus, R. J., van Knippenberg, Z., Ackermannered, L., Griskevicius, B., Li, N. P., … Botros, N. (2011). Post-traumatic stress disorder: Can hypnotherapy help? Journal of New Therapies, 22(3), 17-34.
For example - in text citation
First use up to 5 authors:
Lindgren, Inkinen and Widmalm (2009) discuss that…
OR
…was discussed (Lindgren, Inkinen, & Widmalm, 2009).
Subsequent use:
Lindgren et al. (2009) mention that…
OR
…was mentioned (Lindgren et al., 2009).
OR
Lindgren et al. (2009) assert that "more equal gender representation will increase policy congruence" (p. 3).
First and subsequent use 6 or more authors:
Dotsch et al. (2011) found that…
OR
…many such incidents have been reported (Dotsch et al., 2011).
Style notes
- In the text, cite up to five authors the first time the reference appears; then for subsequent references, use only the surname of the first author followed by et al. and the year (the year only needed if the reference has not already appeared in the same paragraph).
- In the text, for a work with six or more authors, record only the surname of the first, followed by et al. and the year for first and subsequent citations.
- In the reference list, give names and initials for up to seven authors.
- In the reference list, if there are eight or more authors, give the names of the first six, insert three ellipses, and then add the last name.
- Use an ampersand (&) to join the last authors’ names in the reference list or in brackets, not and (but use and in the narrative text).
- Italicise the name of the journal/publication and volume number.
- Capitalise the first and all major words of the publication name. Give the publication name in full, e.g., Journal of Immunology, not J Immunol.
- Capitalise the article title as follows: first word of title and subtitle, and proper names and proper adjectives, e.g., Still moving: Between cinema and photography.
- Give the volume number of journals, magazines and newsletters.
- When each journal issue starts on page 1, include the issue number in parentheses immediately (no space) after the volume number.
- If a journal or newsletter does not use volume numbers, include the month or season, or other designation, with the year, e.g., (2008, May).
- Give inclusive page numbers.
- Include both article title and subtitle, regardless of length.
- For supplementary material, include a description of the content in brackets after the title, e.g., [Special issue], [Special section].
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Magazine Article
Entry in reference list
Author, A. A. (Year of publication, Month day). Title of article. Name of Publication, xx, pp-pp.
For example - reference list
Claburn, T. (2008, May 5). Swarm of patent suits bites Apple. Electronic Engineering Times, 1525, 22.
Newman, M. (2008, October). Baffling the bandits. National Wildlife, 46, 14-15.
Online magazine article:
Burrows, C. (2009, March/April). The shyness myth: Questioning student stereotypes. ESL Magazine, 68, 22-26. Retrieved from http://www.eslmag.com/
For example - in text citation
Newman (2008) reported that…
OR
Apple has been beset with more patent suits since developing the iPod (Claburn, 2008).
Style notes
- In the reference list, give the year and month separated by a comma. If appropriate, include the exact date, e.g., (2008, March 3). If the date is given as a season, provide the year and the season, e.g., (2011, Winter).
- In the in-text citation, give only the first author’s surname and the year.
- Italicise the name of the magazine and volume number.
- Capitalise the first and all major words of the magazine’s name.
- Give the magazine’s name in full, e.g., Reproduction, Fertility and Development.
- Give the volume number if available.
- Give inclusive page numbers.
- Include both article title and subtitle, regardless of length.
- For online magazines articles, provide the home page URL of the magazine publisher, not the URL of the article as retrieved from the database search. Do not place a full-stop after the URL.
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Secondary source
Entry in reference list
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. [authors of the article you read] (Year of publication). Title of article you read. Name of Journal, Volume(issue), pp-pp.
For example - reference list
Gholson, B., & Barker, P. (1985). Kuhn, Lakatos, and Laudan: Applications in the history of physics and psychology. American Psychologist, 40(6), 755-769.
For example - in text citation
According to Lakatos (as cited in B. Gholson & P. Barker, 1985), scientists justifiably continue …
Style notes
- Use secondary sources sparingly, e.g., when the original text is not accessible.
- In the reference list, record only the secondary source.
- In the text, name the original article, and give a citation in parentheses for your secondary source. That is, if you did not read the article cited, list the reference for the work you did access in the Reference List, but in the text, after identifying the original work, put in parentheses the phrase as cited in followed by the authors’ names for your source and the publication year of their work.
- Journal titles are italicised.
- If pages are being directly referenced in the text, include the page number/s in the in-text citation after the year.
This is an introduction to the APA style which is widely used in the social sciences and other fields, such as education, commerce and nursing.
This guide is based on the 6th edition of the APA's style rules which are set out in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition.
APA is an author-date style with two key components:
- Citations in the text, including the name of the author and year of publication.
- Reference list at end of paper, alphabetically listing of all references used in the text.
The purpose of referencing is to acknowledge the source and to enable the reader to trace the sources. Reference data must be accurate, including specific page numbers or specific URLs (web addresses), when otherwise it might be difficult to retrieve the original text.
For more information see:
- A tutorial for beginners
- A general outline of changes from the 5th edition. For details of the changes, see APA’s tutorial
- The American Psychological Association website.
Before writing your list of references, check with your tutor or lecturer for the bibliographic style preferred by the School or Department.
Reference list notes
- References cited in the text must be listed in the reference list, and all references listed in the reference list must be cited in the text.
Exceptions: do not include in the reference list sources such as:
- Personal communications, such as letters, informal email, or private social media posts
- Classical works or major religious texts
- Web sites or Facebook orTwitter feeds when discussed as a whole.
Cite all these sources only in the text.
- Order the reference list alphabetically by author surnames:
- Where an item has no author it is cited by its title, and ordered in the reference list alphabetically by the first significant word of the title (not A or The) .
- References by the same single or multiple authors are arranged by year of publication, the earliest first, e.g.,
- Hong, B.H. & Yeung, K.L. (2001)
- Hong, B.H. & Yeung, K.L. (2009)
- References with the same first author and different second or third author are arranged alphabetically by the surname of the second author, or if the same, third, and so on, e.g.,
- Brown, J., Gold, F., & Black, L. (2007)
- Brown, J., Gold, F., & Greene, H. (2006)
- References by the same author (or by the same two or more authors in the same order) with the same publication date are arranged alphabetically by the title (excluding A or The) that follows the date. Lower case letters – a, b, c – are placed immediately after the year in parentheses.
- Smith, J.R. (2008a)
- Smith, J.R. (2008b)
References with multiple authors
- Give surnames and initials for up to seven authors. With eight or more authors, include the first six authors' names, then insert three ellipses and add the last author's name.
Formatting the reference list
- APA requires that the reference list be double-spaced
- Entries in the reference list should have a hanging indent (the second and subsequent lines of the reference must be indented five spaces.) e.g.
American Psychological Association (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington D.C: Author.
- Book titles are italicised, e.g., Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. Chapter or section titles within a larger work are not italicised.
- Translated works: if you used the non-English version of a work, cite using the original title and immediately following that title, give the English translation in brackets. If you used the English translation, just cite the English translation.
- Give the publication date (the year the work was copyrighted) in parentheses, e.g., (2009). Note: APA uses parentheses (…) for standard parts of a reference, e.g., the year of publication, and brackets […] for information that you have inserted, e.g., format information such as [Audio podcast].
- Place of publication: within the United States, give the city and the abbreviation for the state, e.g., Boston, MA. Outside the United States, record the city and country, e.g., London, England, or, Melbourne, Australia.
- Journal titles in the reference list must be italicised and be given in title case; do not abbreviate titles (e.g., Journal of Immunology, not J Immunol). Article titles are not italicised.
- Inclusive page numbers for all articles and chapters in books should be included in the reference list.
- List page numbers in full (e.g., 132-135, not 132-5).
- Electronic sources: in general, include the same elements, in the same order, as you would for a reference to a fixed-media source and add as much electronic retrieval information as needed for others to locate the source.
Acceptable abbreviations in the reference list for parts of books and other publications include:
| ed. | edition |
| Rev.ed. | revised edition |
| 2nd ed. | second edition |
| Ed. ( Eds.) | Editor (Editors) |
| Trans. | Translator(s) |
| n.d. | no date |
| p. (pp) | page (pages) |
| Vol. | Volume (as in Vol. 4) |
| Vols. | Volume (as in Vols. 1-4) |
| No. | Number |
| Pt. | Part |
| Suppl. | Supplement |
| Tech. Rep. | Technical report |
In-text citations
- If more than one reference is used in a set of parentheses, the references are ordered alphabetically by author name. Separate multiple citations using a semi-colon, e.g., (Coats, 2005; McMinn, 2003; Ng, Leung, Kwok, & Chan, 2007).
- References with multiple authors: cite all authors up to five in the first in-text citation (surnames only). In subsequent citations, use the surname of the first author followed by et al. (not italicised and followed by a period) and the year.
- With six or more authors, cite only the surname of the first author followed by et al. and the year.
- Always give specific page numbers for quotations in the text and include a complete reference in the reference list, e.g.,
…(Miller, 1994, p. 276)…
OR
Miller (1994) found that, "the 'placebo effect,'… in all participants" (p. 245).
- No distinction is made between print and electronic sources when citing in text.
- If quoting the full title of a reference in the text, the first word of titles and subtitles and all other major words are capitalised and italicised e.g., When The Handicap Principle: A Missing Piece of Darwin's Puzzle was published…
- For classical, major religious and very old works not included in the reference list, give the year of the translation or version that you used, with the word trans. or version, and give section numbers rather than page numbers, e.g., (Aristotle, trans. 1931); 1 Cor. 13:1 (Revised Standard Version). When the date of the original publication is available, include that date, e.g., James (1890/1983).
- To cite a web site or a Facebook or Twitter feed as a whole or to discuss it in general, you need only to provide the site URL in parentheses in the text; there is no need for a reference list entry.
Direct quotation of sources
These notes apply to the word-for-word reproduction from another author's work.
The quote is fewer than 40 words
- If the quote is fewer than 40 words, incorporate it into the text and use double quotation marks.
- Always provide author, year, and page number or paragraph number for non-paginated material, e.g.
According to Palladino and Wade (2010), "a flexible mind is a healthy mind" (p. 147).
In 2010, Palladino and Wade noted that "a flexible mind is a healthy mind" (p. 147).
"A flexible mind is a healthy mind," according to Palladino and Wade's (2010, p. 147) longitudinal study.
- List the complete reference in the bibliography
- If the quote is at the end of a sentence, close the quote with quotation marks, cite the source in brackets after the quotation marks, and place a full stop after the bracket, e.g.
In fact, "a flexible mind is a healthy mind" (Palladino & Wade, 2010, p. 147).
The quote is more than 40 words
- If the quote is more than 40 words, display in a freestanding block of text and omit the quotation marks.
- Start the quote on a new line, and indent about half and inch (equal to a tab space or 1.27cm) from the left margin (in the same position as a new paragraph).
- If there are additional paragraphs in the same quote, indent the first line of each by half an inch (one tab space).
- Double-space the entire quotation. Cite the quoted source, page or paragraph number in brackets after the final punctuation mark.
- Use p. for a single page number (Example: p. 15) and pp. for multiple page numbers (Examples: pp. 125-126).
- If citing an online source without page numbers, cite the paragraph number (Example: para. 4).
- When citing multiple authors after a quotation use the ampersand symbol '&' instead of the word 'and'.
- If the quoted source is cited and included in the introductory sentence only the page or paragraph number is required at the end of the quotation.
Example
Jones's (1998) study found the following:
Students often had difficulty using APA style especially when it was their first time citing source. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual or ask their teacher for help. (p. 199)
Block quote with author at beginning
Lyoob, Rossetti and Chen (2013) noted:
Many software providers take advantage of these developing technologies to provide new cloud computing services or transform their existing products to the cloud. Since the term cloud could refer to any infrastructure, platform or software that serves for cloud computing, every component in the cloud may be provided as a service. (p. 34)
Block quote with author at the end
Cyber threats are not the only challenge to cloud computing:
While security has been a major topic of interest, reliability is a much bigger concern. Cloud computing is based on Internet access, so a fast and constant Internet connection is critical to cloud computing solutions. Therefore, it is imperative to ensure the enterprise's connectivity to the Internet is well-established and that there are backup connections in case of connectivity failure. (Lyoob, Rosetti, & Chen, 2013 pp. 35-36)
Direct quotations of online material without pagination
- List author year and page number in brackets
- If paragraph numbers are available, use these when page numbers are absent
- Use the abbreviation para, e.g.
Basu and Jones (2007) went so far as to suggest the need for a new "intellectual framework in which to consider the nature and form of regulation in cyberspace " (para. 4).
- If a subheading is available but no paragraph or page numbers, cite the heading and the numbers of the paragraph following it, e.g.
In their study, Verbunt, Pernot, and Smeets (2008) found that "the level of perceived disability in patients with fibromyalgia seemed best explained by their mental health condition and less by their physical condition " (Discussion section, para. 1).
- If the subheading is too long and unwieldy to use (and there is no paragraph or page numbers) a short title enclosed in quotation marks will suffice, e.g.
"Empirical studies have found mixed results on the efficacy of labels in education consumers and changing consumption behaviour " (Golan, Kuchler, & Kirssof, 2007, "Mandatory Labelling Has Targeted, " para. 4).
Citations within quotations
- Do no omit citations already present in the material you are quoting. The work cited should not be listed in the bibliography either unless cited as a primary source in another part of the assignment.