Introduction to Referencing
Referencing is an important skill to learn at university. You are required to reference all your sources including quotes, paraphrases, data, images, and diagrams. Marks are often given for accurate referencing as this allows you to:
This guide explains how to reference your sources in the APA referencing style (7th edition). Click on the videos below to learn more about APA referencing or explore the sections below.
Overview
In-text citations
Reference list
This is a short reference in the body of your assignment which includes the author’s last name or organisation’s name, the date, and where applicable, the page number.
You must give an in-text citation for a direct quote, and when paraphrasing, summarising, reproducing data, using an image etc.
Every in-text citation must match an entry in the reference list.
There are two ways to write an in-text citation:
Both types of citation are acceptable to use, and you will probably find that you switch between both in your assignments.
The information is placed in brackets, and normally at the end of a sentence before the full stop. However, the citation can be elsewhere in the sentence if this makes the reference clearer.
(Author, year) or (Author, year, p. x)
Example 1 (A summary of the whole book)
Data analysis using an innovative technique for data mining (Tuccitto, 2017).
Example 2 (A direct quote)
The new technique makes "a dataset much more manageable than the giant original raw data" (Tuccitto, 2017, p. 5).
The author's name is in the structure of your sentence followed by the date in brackets. The page number is also in brackets at the end of the quote or paraphrase. If this is at the end of the sentence, it is before the full stop.
Author (year) or Author (year) “Quote” (p. x).
Example 1 (A summary of the whole article)
Launer (2022) argues that reflection is an important skill in healthcare.
Example 2 (A paraphrased section across multiple pages)
Launer (2022) discusses how working cultures can be transformed by good conversation amongst colleagues (pp. 5-6).
You may need to cite more than one source in the same sentence, for example, when showing that multiple authors agree.
Example 1 (Multiple parenthetical citations)
Studies have shown work-life balance is important for productivity (Beverley, 2021; Hill, 2016; Veltri, 2017).
Example 2 (Multiple narrative citations)
Robinson (2023) and Ibrahim et al. (2022) found that ...
Example 3 (Multiple narrative citations by the same author)
According to Gonzalez (2017, 2020, 2024) ...
Sometimes, you may use more than one sentence to paraphrase, summarise, or discuss a source. If referring to the same source, you only need to include the citation in the first sentence. In subsequent sentences, to show that you are continuing to draw from the same source, you can, mention the author’s name or use a phrase like “the study” to refer to the source.
If you continue that discussion into a new paragraph, or return to a source later in your assignment, give the full citation again.
The reference list gives the full details of every source to match your in-text citations. It provides the reader with the information to check the source themselves. If you have referred to the same source multiple times, you only need to include the source once in your reference list.
The information required for a reference will change depending on the type of source. Refer to the A-Z section A-Z section to find specific reference examples for the different source types.
The reference list is in alphabetical order by the author's last name. There is an option in Word, Google Docs etc. to sort the list automatically [FAQ Link]. Your references should be in one long list - you do not need a separate list for books, articles etc. unless specified by your tutor.
Each entry in your reference list should have a hanging indent [FAQ link]. This means that the first line of each reference is in line with the margin of the page, and any lines afterwards are indented away from the edge. The paragraph formatting tool in Word, Google Docs, etc. can to do this automatically for you.
A reference will generally have four components: author, date, title, and source, with the first two components included in the in-text citation. The information in the reference will vary depending on the information available and the source type. The general format is discussed below, though refer to the A-Z section for examples how to reference specific sources.
Author. (Date). Title [Format]. Publisher. www.website.co.uk
Almost all references start with an author. This is the creator of the work, (writer, artist, director, presenter, etc.), and might be a person/people or an organisation. The latter is known as the ‘corporate author’.
The in-text citation will include the author's family name (last name) or the organisation’s name. In your reference list, the initial(s) of the author's first or given name(s) are also included when it is a named author.
In-text citation: (O’Connor, 2020) or O’Connor (2020) suggests ...
Reference list: O’Connor, P. (2020). Skateboarding and religion. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24857-4
In-text citation: (Tesco, 2023) or Tesco (2023) contributed ...
Reference list: Tesco. (2023). Annual report & financial statements 2023. https://www.tescoplc.com/media/u1wlq2qf/tesco-plc-annual-report-2023.pdf
See separate section below.
The second element is the date the source was published, updated, or completed. The date is in brackets, followed by a full stop.
In-text citation: (Li, 2024) or Li (2024) argues ...
Reference list: Li, Y. (2024). Oil spill detection, identification, and tracing. Elsevier.
In-text citation: (DHL Group, n.d.) or DHL Group (n.d.) commits ...
Reference list: DHL Group. (n.d.). Our sustainability roadmap. https://group.dhl.com/en/sustainability/sustainability-roadmap.html
In-text citation: In-text citation: (London Stock Exchange, 2024) or London Stock Exchange (2024) shows …
Reference list: London Stock Exchange. (2024). FTSE 100. Retrieved 28 March, 2024, from https://www.londonstockexchange.com/indices/ftse-100
Titles are formatted as follows in the reference list:
Cottrell, S. (2019). The study skills handbook. Red Globe Press.
Ramayya, N. (2024). Colour of noise. The Senses and Society, 19(1), 19–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/17458927.2023.2274749
FAME. (n.d.). [Top 25 UK companies by turnover]. Retrieved April 10, 2024, from https://fame-r1.bvdinfo.com/version-20240321-1-1/fame/1/Companies/List
The source format is not included in every reference type. Sometimes, it can be helpful to explain the type of source in a reference and this is placed in square brackets, e.g. [Presentation] or [Video] after the title. If this is required, the full stop that would normally go after the title moves to after the source format.
Coventry University. (n.d.). CMI referencing [Presentation]. Aula. https://files.coventry.aula.education/3a4c8b7c5cbc31be645c1a955a068dadcmi_library_resources_feb2024.pptx
Example 2 (Video on a video sharing platform)
TED. (2024, February 5). How babies think about danger | Shari Liu | TED [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6djPLVa9aQ4
This component is primarily used for published books or where a source has been published, produced, or made available by an organisation and that organisation is not listed as the author.
Smithers, G. W. (2024). Encyclopaedia of food safety (2nd ed.). Academic Press.
European Commission, Directorate-General for Communication. (2024). The EU in 2023: General report on the activities of the European Union. Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2775/900953
DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier and is a string of numbers and letters. It is a number that can be given to e-books, journal articles and reports to make them easier to find. If an electronic source has a DOI, use that number rather than the web address. Sully, A. (2024). Interior design: Conceptual basis (2nd ed.).Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51410-4 Nguyen, T. L. (2024). The hybrid languages of love and comics. World Literature Today, 98(1), 42–43. https://doi.org/10.1353/wlt.2024.a916069 When an electronic source does not have a DOI, give the web address. This will normally be the full web address to the exact page you have used. There are two exceptions to this: Reliance Industries. (n.d.). Decarbonisation: Our carbon reduction strategy. https://www.ril.com/sustainability/decarbonisation Euromonitor International. (2024). World in 2040: The future demographic. https://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal/analysis/tabDOIs (Digital Object Identifier) or web addresses
DOIs
Examples
Example 1 (eBook with a DOI)
Example 2 (ejournal article with a DOI)
Web addresses
Examples
Example 1 (Website link)
Example 2 ( Link to subscription database requiring a login)
When citing multiple authors, list the authors in the order they appear on the source.
In-text citations
Two authors: (Mankiw & Taylor, 2022) or Mankiw and Taylor (2022) discuss ...
Three of more authors: (Willey et al., 2023) or Willey et al. (2023) compare ...
Two authors: Mankiw, N. G., & Taylor, M. P. (2023). Economics. Cengage.
Three or more authors: Willey, J., Sandman, K., & Wood, D. (2022). Prescott's microbiology (12th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Twenty-one authors or more: Ong, K. L., Stafford, L. K., Cruz, J. A., Aali, A., Abate, M. D., Abd ElHafeez, S., Adane, T. D., Adekanmbi, V., Agudelo-Botero, M., Ahmadi, A., Akinyemi, R. O., Al Hamad, H., Alvis-Guzman, N., Amusa, G. A., Anyasodor, A. E., Areda, D., Armocida, B., Arumugam, A., Aryan, Z., … Belete, M. A. (2023). Global, regional, and national burden of diabetes from 1990 to 2021, with projections of prevalence to 2050: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021. The Lancet, 402(10397), 203–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01301-6
Where possible, always read the original source and reference that source. For example, if you read a viewpoint expressed by Tang in a book written by Khan, go to the original source written by Tang. Sometimes this may not be possible. For example, the original source could be out of print, or it could be written in another language. In this case create a secondary citation for your in-text citation.
Parenthetical citation: (Original author, original year, as cited in author, year)
Narrative citation: Original author (original year, as cited in author, year)
Parenthetical citation: (Tang, 2005, as cited in Khan, 2024)
Narrative citation: According to Tang (2005, as cited in Khan, 2024) ...
In your reference list, reference only the source you read (i.e. Khan).