ACAP Learning Resources: Reference in APA 7: Reference List Elements

Reference List Elements

Author. (Date). Title in italics. Source.

Author. (Date). Title of part or section of the whole. Title of the whole work in italics. Source.

For specific examples and detailed formatting of particular sources, see the remaining pages in this guide.

Author

The author can be any individual or group responsible for the creation of the work such as: single or multiple people, institutions, government departments, organisations or a combination of these. This element may also include editors of books, directors of films, podcast hosts, bloggers and so on.

Single Author
Author, A. A.

Two Authors (use the ampersand):
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B.

Three to Twenty Authors (use the ampersand):
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C.

Twenty-one or More Authors (ellipses after the 19th; no ampersand):
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C., Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F., Author, G. G., Author, H. H., Author, I. I., Author, J. J., Author, K. K., Author, L. L., Author, M. M., Author, N. N., Author, O. O., Author, P. P., Author, Q. Q., Author, R. R., Author, S. S., . . . Author, Z. Z.

Group Authors (do not use abbreviations):
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Date

The date element points to the date of publication. This element can take one of the following forms: year; year, month, and day; year and month; year and season; or range of dates.

Year Only (use in most cases)
(2020).

Year, Month Day (use for frequently published works, news, blogs etc.)
(2020, August 26). (2018, July). (2019, Winter).

Unpublished or Advanced Publications
(in press).

Approximating the date of Publication (use circa)
(ca. 1999).

No Date (use n.d.)
(n.d.).

⁠Retrieval Dates (use only if the work is not archived and changes over time)
Retrieved September 30, 2020, from https://xxxxx

Same Date & Same Author (use lowercase letters)
(2021a). (2021b). (n.d.-a). (n.d.-b).

Title

The title element can be split into two categories: works that stand alone (e.g., books, reports, theses, videos, films, TV series, albums, podcasts, social media, and websites) and works that are part of a whole (e.g., articles, edited chapters, episodes, and songs).

Works that stand alone appear in the Title section of the reference. Works that are part of a whole appear in the in the source section of the reference.

Parts of a Whole (Articles, chapters: Normal font, standard capitalisation and punctuation)
Red dust healing: Acknowledging the past, changing the future.

Stand Alone (Books, reports, webpages: Italicised font, standard capitalisation and punctuation)
Helping skills: Facilitating exploration, insight, and action.
The psychology of music (3rd ed.).
Nursing: A concept-based approach to learning (2nd ed., Vol. 1).

Bracketed Descriptions (use square brackets to identify non-standard works)
Comprehensive meta-analysis (Version 3.3.070) [Computer software].

Source

The source tells readers where to retrieve the cited work.

The source element is also split into two categories: works that stand alone (e.g., books, reports, theses, videos, films, TV series, albums, podcasts, social media, and websites) and works that are part of a whole (e.g., articles, edited chapters, episodes, and songs).

The APA Style and Grammar Guidelines provide these examples:

Reference Type	Elements	Example
Journal Article	Periodical title, volume, issue, page range, and DOI or URL	Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 8(3), 137-151. https://doi.org/10.1037/cfp0000121
Journal Article with Article Number	Periodical title, volume, issue, article number, and DOI or URL	PLoS ONE, 14(9), Article e0222224. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222224
Whole Book	Publisher name and DOI or URL	Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25513-8
Edited Book Chapter	Editor/s name, whole book title, edition and/or volume number, page range, and publisher name, and DOI or URL	In G. R. Samanez-Larkin (Ed.), The aging brain: Functional adaptation across adulthood (pp. 9-43). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000143-002
Webpage (different author to publisher)	Website name and URL	Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-acidophilus/art-20361967
Webpage (same author as the publisher)	URL	https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/kinds.htm
Multiple Publishers	Separate with a semi-colon (;)	HBO; Sky UK; Sister Pictures; The Mighty Mint; Word Games.

Common Examples

Click each citation below to view a full description of the citation elements.

Journal Articles

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article. Name of the Periodical, volume(issue), page#-#. https://doi.org/xxxx

Whole Books

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book (# ed.). Publisher. DOI or URL

Chapter in an Edited Book

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book chapter. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of the book (# ed., pp. #-#). Publisher. DOI or URL

Source: American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
Credit: Melanie R. Fowler, Florida Southern College.