University Library: APA Referencing 7th Edition: APA basics

What is the APA referencing style?

The American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style is commonly used in universities to acknowledge original sources.

APA has two main components: In-text citations and a Reference list.

Whenever you include an idea or quotation from another source, you must acknowledge it appropriately. This guide provides clear instructions and examples on how to reference various types of sources using APA.

The Printable Quick Reference Guide includes brief examples for the commonly used sources.

Note for postgraduates, researchers, and academic staff: This guide has been adapted from the official Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association with some local adjustments for undergraduate use. The Library recommends postgraduates, researchers, or those preparing material for publication consult the full APA Publication Manual for more comprehensive guidance.

Understanding and avoiding plagiarism

What counts as plagiarism? APA Style helps you understand and avoid both.

Check out the APA Plagiarism Guide to make sure you appropriately credit your sources.

Avoiding Plagiarism Guide

Tutorials, tools, guides, and classes

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 7th ed by American Psychological Association
Call Number: 808.06615 PUB 2019

ISBN: 9781433832161

Publication Date: 2019

APA Style blog
Written by experts from the APA, you can search this blog to find explanations for the more tricky referencing queries.
APA style guidelines - References
This guide contains commonly asked referencing questions and examples. It also includes tricky and unusual examples not included in the APA print manual such as: archival documents, letters, interviews, historical newspapers; editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), religious works etc.

APA style guidelines - In-text citations
Guidelines to help determine the appropriate level of citation and how to avoid plagiarism, with specific guidance for in-text citation, paraphrases and direct quotations.

Tutorial: APA Citations 7th Edition
This tutorial provides guidelines to help you properly format both in-text citations and references for books, ebooks, journals and websites.
Quiz: APA Citations 7th Edition
Take this quiz to test how much you've learnt about APA referencing.
Academic writer tutorial: Basics of APA Style
Provides guidance on grammar, writing style, formatting and mechanics as well as in-text and reference list elements. Official resource from the American Psychological Association.
Basic elements of a APA style reference
Use this guide to identify the basic reference elements (author, date, title, and source) to create complete APA style reference list entries.

APA style references formatting activity
Practice exercises: Rewrite the references in correct APA style and check your answers.

Test your APA style knowledge quiz
Answer questions to test your knowledge of APA style. Check for accuracy by comparing your answers provided at the end of the document.

APA 7th Quick Reference Guide
Quick guide to commonly used references using the APA 7th edition
APA Sample reference list
Not sure what your reference list should look like? Take a look at this example provided by the American Psychological Association.
Student paper example - APA 7th - Figures and Tables
This sample paper has been adapted to demonstrate how to display figures and tables within a document according to APA style. Please note that your course might have different formatting requirements than those presented here. Please check with your course coordinator for more information. This sample paper is not intended for those who are publishing their work (e.g. PhD candidates).

Sample papers - American Psychological Association
A collection of example papers demonstrating correct APA formatting and referencing style.

The University Library provides students with free access to EndNote and RefWorks software. Both have the same purpose: to make the management and formatting of references more streamlined. It is worth looking at both tools to determine which one could be right for you, depending on how you like to work. The Library recommends that undergraduate and coursework students use RefWorks, and higher degree by research students and academic staff use EndNote.

RefWorks is a fully cloud-based tool, meaning that there is no requirement to install or upgrade the software and users have access to the full features of the software online.
EndNote requires installation on one of your devices in order for you to access the full features of the software. APA 7th is available as a default style in EndNote X9.3.3 onwards. For other versions of EndNote, please see our EndNote Guide - Installation to see how to download APA 7th.

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APA 7th tutorials and webinars
Useful materials to guide beginners and more experienced users of APA in their scholarly writing.

APA Referencing 7th Edition

What is the APA referencing style?

Understanding and avoiding plagiarism

Tutorials, tools, guides, and classes

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