Version UK2 / 20 May 2010
Tip!
See http://www.apastyle.org/ to obtain information about APA style. The full guidelines are
published in the Seventh Edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association and anyone working on APA-style journals is strongly encouraged to refer to this
Manual in the first instance.
Text citations
All references in the text and notes must be specified by the authors’ last names and date
of publication together with page numbers for direct quotations from print sources.
Do not use ibid., op. cit., infra., supra.
Note the following for the style of text citations:
1. If the author’s name is in the text, follow with the year in parentheses:
... Author Last Name (year) has argued ...
2. If the author’s name is not in the text, insert last name, comma and year:
... several works (Author Last Name, year) have described ...
3. For direct quotations, the page number follows the year, preceded by ‘p.’ (not a
colon):
... it has been noted (Author Last Name, year, p. XXX) that ...
4. Where there are two authors, always cite both names, joined by ‘and’ if within
running text and outside of parentheses; joined by an ampersand (&) if within
parenthetical material, in tables and in captions, and in the reference list:
… Author Last Name and Author Last Name stated that …
... it has been stated (Author Last Name & Author Last Name, year) ...
5. When a work has three or more authors, include only the surname of the first
author followed by ‘et al.’ (not italicized and with a period after ‘al’) and the year:
… Author 1 Last Name et al. (year) found that …
6. If two references with three or more authors shorten to the same form, cite the
surnames of the first authors and of as many of the subsequent authors as
Appendix 3: APA reference style
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necessary to distinguish the two references, followed by a comma and ‘et al.’. For
example:
If you had the following reference entries:
Smith, Jones, Clark, Kumar, and Green (2000)
Smith, Jones, Miller, Green, and Powell (2000)
In the text you would cite them, respectively, as:
… Smith, Jones, Clark, et al. (2000) and Smith, Jones, Miller, et al. (2000)
However, because ‘et al.’ is plural (meaning ‘and others’), it cannot stand for only
one name. When only the final author is different, spell out all names in every
citation. For example:
If you had the following reference entries:
Smith, Jones, Clark, and Kumar (2000)
Smith, Jones, Clark, and Green (2000)
In the text you would cite them, respectively, as:
… Smith, Jones, Clark, and Kumar (2000) and Smith, Jones, Clark, and Green (2000)
7. If two or more references by the same author are cited together, separate the dates
with a comma (in chronological order):
... the author has stated this in several studies (Author Last Name, 2000, 2001, 2002,
2006) ...
8. If there is more than one reference to the same author (or by the same two or more
authors in the same order) and year, insert the suffixes ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, etc., after the
year of publication and repeat the year. The suffixes are assigned in the reference
list, where these kinds of references are ordered alphabetically by title (of the
article, chapter, or complete work):
... it was described (Author Last Name, 2000a, 2000b, 2000c) ...
9. List two or more works by different authors who are cited within the same
parentheses in alphabetical order by the first author’s surname, separated by
semicolons:
... and it has been noted (Clark, 2001; Miller, 2001) ...
Exception: You may separate a major citation from other citations within
parentheses by inserting a phrase, such as ‘see also’ before the first of the
remaining citations, which should be in alphabetical order:
... (Miller, 2001; see also Clark, 2000; Smith, 2000) ...
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10.When names of groups (e.g. government agencies, universities, etc.) serve as
authors, these are usually spelled out each time they appear in a text citation.
However, some group authors can be spelled out in the first citation and
abbreviated thereafter:
First text citation:
... (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2000) ...
Subsequent text citation:
... (NIMH, 2000) ...
11.When a work has no author as such, cite in the text the first few words of the
reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use double quotation marks
around the title of an article or chapter or web page and italicize the title of a
journal, book, etc.:
... it was stated (“Title of publication”, year) that ...
12.Citations from personal communications are not included in the reference list; cite
in text only, giving the initials as well as the surname of the communicator and
provide as exact a date as possible:
... (Initial and Last Name of Person, personal communication, April 28, 2000).
Reference list
General
1. Check that the list is in alphabetical order by surname of the first author (treat Mc
and Mac alphabetically and literally, not as if they were all spelled ‘Mac’).
2. Names should be in initial cap then lower case.
3. Where several references have the same author(s), do not use ditto marks or em
dashes; the name must be repeated each time.
4. Provide surnames and initials for up to and including 20 authors. When there are
21 or more authors, include the first 19 authors’ names, insert an ellipsis (but no
ampersand), and then add the final author’s name.
5. Nothing precedes something when alphabetizing last names (e.g., Loft V. H.
precedes Loftus, E. F.).
6. Names containing Jr or II should be listed as follows:
Author Last Name, Initials, Jr. (year).
Author Last Name, Initials, II (year).
7. When ordering several works by the same first author:
 Single-author references arranged in date order, the earliest first;
 Single-author entries precede multiple-author entries beginning with the
same surname
 Two or more author references in alphabetical order according to the second
author’s last name, or if the second author is the same, the last name of the
third author, and so on
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 References with the same authors in the same order are arranged by year of
publication, the earliest first:
Brown, J. (2003)
Brown, T. R., & Yates, P. (2003)
Brown, W. (2002)
Brown, W. (2003a)
Brown, W. (2003b)
Brown, W., Hughes, J., & Kent, T. (2003)
Brown, W., & Jones, M. (2003)
Brown, W., & Peters, P. (2002)
8. Check that all periodical data are included – volume, issue and page numbers
(complete span, not shortened), publisher, etc.
9. The date of retrieval of online material is not required, only the URL; see example
below. Exceptions include dictionary entries, databases, and websites that are
updated regularly but are not archived.
10.Include a DOI hyperlink for all works that have a DOI, regardless of whether the
print version or the online version was used.
11.Check journal for examples.
Reference styles
Journal article
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Article title. Journal Name, vol.
no.(issue no.), page range. DOI or URL
Miller, A. J., Thomson, F., & Callagher, D. (1998). Affluence in suburbia. Suburbian
Studies, 12(1), 9–12. https://doi.org.10.xxxxx
Book
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Book title. Publisher.
Miller, A. J., Thomson, F., & Callagher, D. (1998). Affluence in suburbia. BL Books.
Chapter in book
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Chapter title. In A. Editor, B. Editor, &
C. Editor (Eds.), Book title (pp. xxx–xxx). Publisher.
Miller, A. J., Thomson, F., & Callagher, D. (1998). Epping case study. In C. Carter (Ed.),
Affluence in suburbia (pp. 200–250). BL Books.
Website
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (date). Title of work. Site Name. URL
SAGE UK Style and Reference Guide
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Avramova, N. (2019, January 3). The secret to a long, happy, healthy life? Think agepositive.
CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/03/health/respect-toward-elderly-leads-to-
long-life-intl/index.html
World Health Organization. (2018, March). Questions and answers on immunization and
vaccine safety. https://www.who.int/features/qa/84/en
Conference paper
Contributor, A. A., Contributor, B. B., & Contributor, C. C. (date). Title of contribution [Type
of contribution]. Conference name, location. DOI or URL
Fistek, A., Jester, E., & Sonnenberg, K. (2017, July 12–15). Everybody’s got a little music in
them: Using music therapy to connect, engage, and motivate [Conference session]. Autism
Society National Conference, Milwaukee, WI, United States.
https://asa.confex.com/asa/2017/webprogramarchives/Session9517.html