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Citing and referencing based on the APA 7th style

Contents
What is referencing and why should it be used? ........................................................................................ 1
Citing......................................................................................................................................................... 1
Paraphrasing ........................................................................................................................................ 2
Quotes .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Secondary referencing ......................................................................................................................... 4
Referencing .............................................................................................................................................. 4
Formatting............................................................................................................................................ 4
Formatting examples ........................................................................................................................... 5
Further help and advice ........................................................................................................................... 6
Key changes from 6th edition ................................................................................................................... 6
Referencing examples .............................................................................................................................. 7

What is referencing and why should it be used?

Academic work demands that you read widely and consider the work of other writers and researchers
when you are preparing your essays and other assignments. Using this work without acknowledgement
is stealing the ideas of other people and is called plagiarism. It is therefore, very important that you
acknowledge these ideas and opinions as belonging to a particular author, as they are considered to be
that author’s intellectual property. This procedure is called citing or quoting. By doing this you are
making it possible for readers to locate the source that you have used. The system used at the
University of Gloucestershire is based on the APA 7th (American Psychological Association) style, and
most closely follows the ‘sentence case’ rule option given in commercial referencing software.

Citing
See APA 7th Manual, chapter 8

Citing means referring in your text to sources which you have used in the course of your research. They
may also be referred to as in-text citations. In the APA 7th style, this means giving the author’s
surname and year of publication in brackets at the appropriate point in your text. Also include a page
number or page range if you are referring to a specific section of a resource that uses pagination.

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 The broad guidelines are:
• You must include author (surname only) and year details, for the purposes of compiling the
references list. Page ranges can be omitted if referring to broad ideas
• Use and outside of parentheses, and an ampersand (&) inside of parentheses
• If there are two authors, cite both every time for in-text citations
• If there are three or more authors, use the first author and et al., in first and subsequent
citations, unless there is more than one reference with the same first author and date. Add as
many names as necessary to differentiate between them
• If you are discussing a point about which several authors have expressed similar views, include
them all in one set of brackets in alphabetical order and separated by a semi-colon:
(Davis, 1985; Jones, 1992; Smith, 2008)
• If there is no author, use the title (or a short form of the title, if it is lengthy) and the year.
Duplicate any title italicisation in the reference in the in-text citation. Use title case even where
the reference uses sentence case
• If there is no date, use (n.d.)
• If you can find evidence to estimate a date use (ca.0000)
• If there is no pagination for a webpage or an eBook, note the section title if there is one, count
the paragraphs and use (section title section), (section title section, para. 0), or (para. 0), in
text

Paraphrasing
See APA 7th Manual, pages 269- 270

You should aim to paraphrase information provided by an author in your own words rather than
quoting large amounts of their work verbatim, as this helps to demonstrate your understanding of the
information to the reader.

You can refer to your source authors either in the (a) phrasing of the sentence (also called narrative
formatting), or (b) include the author, date and pagination details in brackets at the end of the
paraphrased idea (also called parenthetical formatting). It is optional to give a page number; use one if
you particulary want to point your reader to a specific part of a book or article, it is not required if you
are referring generally to the whole document or book, or a broad idea within the text (c).

a) Smith (2010) argues that the main considerations are… (p. 7).
b) It has been argued (Smith, 2010, pp. 7-8) that the main considerations are…
c) Smith (2010) has taken a broader approach in his work on the subject…

You do not need to repeat the in-text citation within the same paragraph, as long as it is clear from the
phrasing that you are referring to the same sources.

To give your writing some variety, and to save yourself some time, consider building up a bank of
phrases to use when referring to the work of others. You will see a few ideas in the examples
contained in this guide: argues that; taken a broader approach; contends; also discusses; states and so
on.

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Quotes
See APA 7th Manual, pages 270- 278

It may be necessary to directly quote from the text when:

• Referring to a definition
• You cannot present the information more succinctly
• You need to present a particular portion of an author’s text in your work to analyse it

The in-text citation for all quotes should include author and date details. For paginated sources include
page numbering; for other written sources section titles or paragraph numbering (author, year, para. 0),
for audio-visual sources a time stamp (author, year, 0:00).

Short quotes

A short quote is forty or fewer words. Short quotes are included in the body of text. For a short quote,
cite the author, date and page, and enclose the writer’s words in double quotation marks. It can be a
narrative or parenthetical in-text citation:

The nature of philosophy as a discipline can be compared to science and mathematics, in the
absence of experimentation and evidence of proof “It is done just by asking questions,
arguing, trying out ideas and thinking of possible arguments” (Nagel, 2005, p. 3).

Long quotes

A long quote is forty or more words. Long quotations should be separated from the body of your
text, double spaced, and indented 1.3 cm from the left-hand margin. Do not include quotation marks.
For any new paragraphs within the quote use a first line indent:

Russell (2005) summarises the value of philosophy:

Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions,

since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of

the questions themselves; because these questions enlarge our conception of what is

possible, enrich our intellectual imagination, and diminish the dogmatic assurance

which closes the mind against speculation. (p.28)

In contemplating the universe through philosophy, the capacity of the mind is elevated.

Modifying a quote

If you omit some words from the quote, you need to indicate this by typing in three ellipsis points
(highlighted):

Ayer (2005) outlines the distinctiveness of philosophy as “It is by its methods rather than its
subject-matter… . Philosophical theories are not tested by observation” (p.21).

If you add some of your own words within the quote to clarify meaning, ensure that you place
your words in square brackets to make it clear which are the author’s words and which are yours.

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 The same can be done if for example you have italicized text to draw attention to it, by adding
[emphasis added].

Secondary referencing

If you want to cite an author whose work you have not personally read, but whose work is presented or
summarised by the author of a publication you have consulted, it can be shown as follows:

Smith’s assertion (as cited in Jones, 2015) that the reason for...

One of the key approaches in ethics is querying if the ends justifies the means (Smith, 1939, as
cited in Jones, 2015).

In your reference list you should only include the sources you have actually seen, i.e. Jones from the
example above.

Referencing
See APA 7th Manual, chapters 9 &10

Referencing means giving a full description of each source you have consulted in a references list at
the end of your work. A reference list should include all sources which have been cited in the body of
the text, and no more.

The rules governing the compilation of a references list are very detailed. Some of the most common
referencing occurrences are explained below:

Formatting

Layout
• Put on a new page with the title References
• Double space
• First line of each reference flush left, with subsequent lines indented (hanging indent) 1.3 cm

Order
• Alphabetical order by the first author’s last name and include the initials of each author’s first
name(s)
• For more than one work by the same author, arrange these by the year of publication, with
earliest first
• For more than one work by the same author in the same year, arrange alphabetically by title
adding suffix a, b etc. to the year:
Smith, A. (2001a). …

Authors and editors

• Invert all individual authors’ names
• Capitalise the first letter of each author’s last name and each initial, using a full stop after each
initial, with a space between each initial and full stop, and a comma to divide surnames and
initials
• For 2 to 20 authors include all names using an ampersand (&) before the last name
• e.g. Smith, A. A., Jones, B. B., & Davis, C. C.
• For 21 or more authors, include the first 19 names then an ellipsis and then add the final author
name
• Spell out the name of a group author: e.g. National Health Service
• For multiple corporate authors, list them in order as credited

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 • Where no author is identifiable, move the title to the author position
• For an edited work, place the editor name(s) in the author position, with the abbreviation (Ed.) or
(Eds.) after the last editors name
• With a reference to a chapter in an edited work, do not invert the editor names, precede the
names with In

Publication dates and editions

• Use the copyright date, not reprint date for books, in the format (2020)
• Use the volume date for journals
• Some other reference categories use longer date forms including year, month and day
• Place any edition details after the title of the book
• If the book is not the first edition, include details in the references list only, in the format (2nd
ed.), (Rev. ed.). See the APA Manual for other acceptable formats
• If no publication date is given use (n.d.)

Titles
• Capitalise in sentence case; first letter of the title and subtitle for books, plus all proper nouns in
a title
• Use title case for the names of journals
• Reproduce journal titles as presented on the cited work, including the use of &
• Italicise titles of books, reports and conference proceedings
• For journal articles and book chapters, italicise the journal or book title element of the reference

Sources
• Sources can be a publisher, distributor, provider, production company depending on the
resource type
• Use source name as shown on the resource you used
• Use title case for the source name
• When the author is also the source only include it in the author position
• Use a full stop after the source information to complete the reference
• Place any required URL or DOI information after the source details, without a full stop to
complete the reference

Formatting examples

Webpages and websites

Only use the website category type when the resource doesn’t fit within another reference category
type - e.g. a report retrievable from a website should be formatted as a report, a journal article from a
publisher’s webpage should be formatted as a journal article.

Referencing a web source can be difficult. If no author is specified, the organisation owning the website
should be treated as the author. If no ownership is detectable, you should question whether the source
is of sufficient quality. Ideally you should aim to include the following information:

Author, A. (Date). Title of work. Site name. URL

Kelion, L. (2020, June 18). UK virus-tracing app switches to Apple-Google model. BBC News.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53095336

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 Foreign language sources

For translated works, you should include details of the translators after the title:

Satre, J. P. (1964). The problem of method (H. E. Barnes, Trans.). Methuen.

Personal communications

Sources that cannot be recovered by the reader are classified as ‘personal communications’ - e.g. an
email; an unrecorded lecture; a conversation. Use recoverable sources where possible. Archived
sources that are recoverable by your specific audience should be referenced as per the resource type,
e.g. lecture notes on a VLE being used for an essay should be referenced using the ‘visual work’
guidance. Personal communications are cited in the text only and not included on the reference list:

A. Smith (personal communication, June 18, 2020)

Further help and advice

More examples of formatting for reference lists are on the last page of this guide.

For further help with referencing, you can:

• Use the Practical Referencing Guide for more examples -
https://ils.glos.ac.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=80
• Go to the Information Literacy Tutorial - https://ils.glos.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=54
• Search Discovery for a copy of The APA Manual 7th edition (808.066 AME)
• Use Cite Them Right Online - https://www-citethemrightonline-com.glos.idm.oclc.org/
• Use the APA website and blog - https://apastyle.apa.org/
• Contact your Subject Librarian - https://sites.glos.ac.uk/library/support/subject-librarians/

Additional information on plagiarism is on the Information Literacy Tutorial, The APA Manual (links
above).

Key changes from 6th edition

• Print and eBooks are formatted the same unless the eBook has a DOI or URL
• Print and online journals are formatted the same, only add a DOI or URL if the article isn’t
accessible on an academic database. You no longer add the name of the source database
• Simplification of number of author formatting
o In-text citations – cite one to two author names every time, for three or more use the first
name with et al. every time
o Referencing- all listed for up to 20 authors, for 21or more, list first 19 with three ellipsis
points (…) before last name
• No place of publication
• Removal of Retrieved from for most reference types
• More clarity and examples for audio-visual and online media

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 Referencing examples

Print Book or eBook: Add Cummins, P., O'Boyle, I., & Cassidy, T. (2019). Leadership in sports coaching: A social identity
URL or DOI after publisher if approach. Routledge.
not on eBook platform
Book: edited book chapter Grehaigne, J. F., & Godbout, P. (2013). Collective variable for analysing performance in team
sports. In T. Garry, P. O’Donoghue, & A. J. de Eira Sampaio (Eds.), Routledge handbook
of sports performance analysis (pp.101-114). Taylor and Francis.

PhD thesis: For Masters Hill, D. M. (2010). Choking in sport: The case of elite golfers [Unpublished doctoral dissertation].
level work, write ‘masters University of Gloucestershire.
dissertation’

Webpage: News site Kelion, L. (2020, June 18). UK virus-tracing app switches to Apple-Google model. BBC News.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53095336

Journal article: Online with Lenihan, D. J. (2019). Cardiac disease after breast cancer treatment: Make sure to check our blind
DOI spot! Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 111(8), 762-763.
https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djy219

Journal article: Online with Padley, S. (2020). Operationalising physical literacy factors to consider for whole school planning:
no DOI, publisher URL Lessons learnt from the coal face. Physical Education Matters, 15(2), 32-35.
https://www.afpe.org.uk/physical-education/online-archive-of-pe-matters/

Journal article: Print or Prabhakaran, D., Chandrasekaran, A. M., Singh, K., Mohan, B., Chattopadhyay, K., Chadha, D.
database accessible S., Negi, P. C., Bhat, P., Sadananda, K. S., Ajay, V. S., Singh, K., Praveen, P. A., Devarajan,
21+ authors R., Kondal, D., Soni, D., Mallinson, P., Manchanda, S. C., Madan, K., Hughes, A. D., …
Kinra, S. (2020). Yoga-based cardiac rehabilitation after acute myocardial infarction: A
randomized trial. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 75(13), 1551–1561.

Journal article: Online with Resurrección, D.M., Motrico, E., Rubio-Valera, M., Mora-Pardo, J.A., & Moreno-Peral, P. (2018)
DOI and article numbering. Reasons for dropout from cardiac rehabilitation programs in women: A qualitative study.
Do not include pagination. PLOS ONE, 13(7), Article e0200636. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200636

Newspaper article: Sabbagh, D., & Hern, A. (2020, June 18). UK abandons coronavirus app in favour of Apple and
Online Google model. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/18/uk-poised-
to-abandon-coronavirus-app-in-favour-of-apple-and-google-models

Report: Government report Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. (2018). The government response to the Health and
Social Care select committee second report of session 2017-19, ‘The nursing workforce’.
(Cm.9669). https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-
committees/Health/Correspondence/2017-19/Government-response-to-nursing-workforce-
report-17-19-Cm-9669.pdf

Blog post Sumner, R. (2020, May 8). The heroism of our frontline workers. CV19 Heroes Project.
https://cv19heroes.wordpress.com/2020/05/08/example-post-3/

Online media: Social United Nations [@UN]. (2020, May 21). As we work together to contain #COVID19, we must also
media - Twitter work to contain misinformation. That’s why we’re launching Verified [Thumbnail with link
attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/un/status/1263499796016435202?s=21

Book: Edition variation Warburton, N. (Ed.). (2005). Philosophy: Basic readings (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Identical author and year Warburton, T., Houghton, T., & Barry, D. (2016a). Facilitation of learning: Part 1. Nursing
Standard, (30)32, 40-47.

Warburton, T., Houghton, T., & Barry, D. (2016b). Facilitation of learning: Part 2. Nursing
Standard, (30)35, 41-48.

Audio-visual: Streaming Wicks, J. (2020, March 23). P.E. with Joe [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Rz0go1pTda8
video
Webpage: group author World Health Organisation. (2020, March 18). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak: Rights,
roles and responsibilities of health workers, including key considerations for occupational
safety and health. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-
outbreak-rights-roles-and-responsibilities-of-health-workers-including-key-considerations-
for-occupational-safety-and-health

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