References in article writing are the sources you cite to support your claims, provide

evidence, or give credit to other authors' ideas. They are essential in academic and

professional writing for maintaining credibility, avoiding plagiarism, and guiding readers

to further information.

What Are References?

A reference is a detailed description of a source you've used in your article. It includes

key information like:

 Author(s)

 Year of publication

 Title of the work

 Source (book, journal, website, etc.)

 Publisher or URL/DOI

Principles of Reference List Entries:

Elements:

Four Elements of a Reference A reference generally has four elements: author, date, title,

and source. Each element answers a question:

• Author: Who is responsible for this work?

• date: When was this work published?

• title: What is this work called?

• source: Where can 1 retrieve this work?

a reference for any type of work, even if you do not see a specific example that matches

it.

Purpose of References

1. Give credit to original authors and researchers.

2. Support your arguments with credible evidence.

3. Allow readers to verify or explore the information.

4. Avoid plagiarism by acknowledging others' ideas.

Punctuation Within Reference List Entries:

• Use punctuation marks within reference list entries to group information.

Ensure that a period appears after each reference element is, after the

author, date, title, and source.

• do not put a period after a DOI or URL because it may interfere with link

functionality.

• Use punctuation marks (usually commas or parentheses) between parts of

the same reference elements.

• Do not use a comma between the journal volume and issue numbers; place the

issue number in parentheses instead

• Italicize punctuation marks that appear within an italic reference element

between reference elements (e.g., the period after an italic book title).

Types of Sources You May Reference:

 Books

 Journal articles

 Research papers

 Websites

 Interviews

 News articles

 Reports

 Legal documents

 Multimedia (videos, podcasts, etc.)

Accuracy and Consistency in References

The best way to ensure that information is accurate and complete is to check each

reference carefully against the original publication. Authors are responsible for all

information in their reference lists. Accurately prepared references help establish your

credibility as a careful researcher and writer.

Consistency in reference formatting allows readers to focus on the content of your

reference list, discerning both the types of works you consulted and the important

reference elements (who, when, what, and where) with ease. When you present each

reference consistently, following APA Style reference guidelines, readers do not need to
spend time determining how you organized the information. And when searching the

literature, yourself, you also save time and effort when reading reference lists in the

works of others. Some works contain suggested citations; these citations often contain the

information necessary to write an APA Style reference but need editing for style.

Accuracy and consistency of references are also important for ensuring that other

researchers can find and access the works in your reference list for example, in the online

version of an article, publishers use computer algorithms to link in-text citations to

reference list entries within the article, link the reference list entries to the works they

cite, and compile lists of works that have cited each source. If reference elements are out

of order or incomplete, the algorithm may not recognize them, lowering the likelihood

that the reference will be captured for indexing. When in doubt, place reference elements

in the order of author, date, title, and source.

Format of the Author Element:

Follow these guidelines to format the author element: • Invert all individual authors'

names, providing the surname first, followed by a comma and the initials: Author, A. A.

Use a comma to separate an author's initials from additional author names, even when

there are only two authors; use an ampersand (&) before the final author's name: Author,

A. A., & Author, B. B. Do not use a comma to separate two group authors: American

Psychological Association & National Institutes of Health.

• Use a serial comma before the ampersand (&) with three or more authors.
• Provide surnames and initials for up to and including 20 authors. When there are two to

20 authors, use an ampersand before the final author's name: Author, A. A., Author, B.

B., & Author, C. C.

• 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.

• Use one space between initials.

• When given names are hyphenated, retain the hyphen and include a period after each

initial but no space (e.g., Xu, A.-J., for Ai-Jun Xu). When the second element of a

hyphenated name is lowercase, treat it as a single name (e.g., Raboso, L., for Lee-ann

Raboso).

• Use commas to separate initials and suffixes such as Jr. and III: Author, A. A., Jr., &

Author, B. B.

• If nonprimary authors are credited using the word "with" (e.g., on a book cover),

include them in the reference list entry in parentheses: Meyers, K. (with Long, W. T.).

The in-text citation, however, refers to the primary author only: (Meyers, 2019).
• If an author has only one name (e.g., some celebrities, some authors from Indonesia,

ancient Greek and Roman authors, some group or corporate authors); an inseparable

multipart name (e.g., Malcolm X, Lady Gaga); an essential title, in rare cases (Queen

Elizabeth 11); or a username (or 'screen name) only, provide the full name or username

without abbreviation in both the reference list and the in-text citation. That is, cite Plato,

Sukarno, or Lady Gaga; do not abbreviate these names to P.; S.; or Gaga, 1. In the

reference list entry, add a period after the author's name: Plato. (2017).

• Do not include titles, positions, ranks, or academic achievements with names in

reference list entries (e.g., Reverend, President, General, PhD, LCSW). A few reference

types include an author's role in parentheses.

• If both an author's username and real name are known, such as for sorne individual and

group social media authors, provide the real name of the individual (in inverted format)

or group, followed by the username in square brackets

• This approach allows the reference to be grouped with any other works by that author

in the reference list and will aid readers in identifying and retrieving the cited work. •

When the @ symbol is part of a username, include that symbol with the username in

brackets.
Date:

The following sections describe the definition and format of the date element. The date

may take one of the following forms:

• year only;

• year, month, and day (i.e., an exact date);

• year and month; • year and season; or

• range of dates (e.g., range of years, range of exact dates)

Title:

Definition:

The title is the name of the work you are citing—this could be the name of a book,

article, web page, report, or any other type of work.

 Use sentence case: Only the first word of the title, the first word after a colon, and

proper nouns are capitalized.

 Italicize book titles, journal titles, reports, and stand-alone works.

 Do not italicize titles of journal articles, book chapters, or web pages.

Examples:
  Understanding psychology (book title – italicized)

 The role of nutrition in child development (article title – not italicized)

Source:

Definition:

The source provides information about where the reader can retrieve the work. It includes

elements like the publisher, journal name, volume and issue numbers, or a URL/DOI.

 For books: The source is the publisher.

For journal articles: The source includes the journal name, volume, issue, page numbers,

and DOI (if available).

 For websites: The source is the site name and URL.

 Omit the source if it is the same as the author (for example, an organization as

both author and publisher).

Examples:

 Book: Pearson

 Journal Article: Journal of Health Psychology, 25(3), 234–245.

https://doi.org/10.1037/abc0000123

 Website: World Health Organization. https://www.who.int

Feature In-Text Citation References

Definition A brief citation within the body A full list of sources at the end of

of your text your document

Purpose To show where a particular idea To give complete details of the

or quote came from sources cited in the text

Placement Appears immediately after a Appears on a separate "References"

quote or paraphrased content page at the end of the paper

Includes Author’s last name, year, and Author(s), year, title, source, and

page number (if needed) retrieval info (URL/DOI)

Format (Smith, 2020, p. 45) or Smith Smith, J. A. (2020). Understanding

Example (2020) stated... psychology. Pearson.

Required? Yes, for every source you refer Yes, to provide full citation info for

to in the text all in-text citations

Common Errors in APA 7 Referencing (Point Form)

1. Missing or Incorrect Author Format

 Use last name + initials (e.g., Smith, J. A.)

 For group authors (e.g., World Health Organization), write the full name.

2. Incorrect Title Capitalization

 Use sentence case in titles: Capitalize only the first word, first word after a colon,

and proper nouns.

3. Italic Errors

 Italicize:

o Book titles

o Journal titles

o Volume numbers

 Do not italicize:

o Article titles

o Chapter titles

o Webpage titles

4. Missing or Incorrect DOI/URL

 Include the DOI or URL if available.

 Use DOI in this format: https://doi.org/xxxxx

 Do not use "Retrieved from" unless the source is updated regularly (e.g., wikis).

5. Incorrect Use of "et al."

 In in-text citations:
 o Use “et al.” for 3 or more authors

o Do not use it for 2 authors; list both names

 In the reference list:

o List up to 20 authors before using an ellipsis (...)

6. Wrong Date Format

 Use:

o Year only for books, articles, and reports

o Full date (Year, Month Day) for webpages, blogs, etc.

7. No Hanging Indent

 Reference list entries must have a hanging indent:

o First line left-aligned, all other lines indented

8. Mixing Citation Styles

 Don’t combine APA with MLA, Chicago, or other styles

 Be consistent: Use APA style only

9. Missing In-Text Citations or References

Every in-text citation must have a matching reference in the list:

 Every item in the reference list must be cited in the text.

10. Incorrect Punctuation

o Commas between author names

o Periods after each part of the reference

o Parentheses for the year

Special cases in referencing:

1. No Author

 Move the title to the author position.

 Alphabetize by the title in the reference list.

 In-text citation: Use a shortened version of the title.

Example:

Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary (11th ed.). (2005). Merriam-Webster.

In-text: (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 2005)

2. Group Author (Organization as Author)

 Use the full name of the organization.

 Include abbreviation on first use if frequently repeated.

Example:

World Health Organization. (2022). Mental health and wellness. https://www.who.int

or (WHO, 2022) if introduced earlier as WHO.

3. No Date (n.d.)

 Use (n.d.) in place of the year.

Example:

U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Student loans guide. https://studentaid.gov

In-text: (U.S. Department of Education, n.d.)

4. Multiple Works by the Same Author in the Same Year

 Add lowercase letters (a, b, c...) after the year.

Example:

Lee, C. (2020a). Intro to sociology. Sage.

Lee, C. (2020b). Advanced sociology. Sage.

In-text: (Lee, 2020a), (Lee, 2020b)

5. Secondary Sources

 Cite the original author in-text, but list the secondary source in the reference list.

 Use the phrase "as cited in" in-text.

Example:
In-text: (James, 1890, as cited in Smith, 2020)

Reference:

Smith, A. R. (2020). The history of psychology. Harper Press.

6. Personal Communication (e.g., Emails, Interviews, Phone Calls)

 Do not include in the reference list.

 Cite only in-text with exact date.

In-text only example:

(L. Johnson, personal communication, March 3, 2023)

7. Anonymous Author

 Use "Anonymous" as the author's name.

Example:

Anonymous. (2018). Confessions of a teacher. Education Weekly.

8. Classic Works or Religious Texts

 Cite the year of the translation or version used.

 Do not include in reference list if widely known.

Example:

In-text: (Plato, trans. 2000)

 Include both the original and republished year.

Example:

Freud, S. (1953). The interpretation of dreams (J. Strachey, Trans.). Basic Books.

(Original work published 1900)