APA 7th Referencing

• A reference list only includes the books, articles, and web pages etc that are cited in the text of the document.
• A bibliography includes all sources consulted, even if they are not cited in the document.

Check your assessment instructions as to whether you should use a reference list or a bibliography.

• Arrange the reference list alphabetically by author family name.
• If you have more than one item with the same author, list the items chronologically, starting with the earliest publication.
• If a reference has no author, check whether it has been produced by an institution (company, government...). If there is no individual or institutional author, cite the work by title, and include it in the alphabetical list using the first significant word of the title.

Please refer to the Author information page for details.

• Include year of publication in brackets.
• Use n.d. if there is no date available.
• Same author, multiple publications, no date:
  • Arrange works with the same author(s) and not date alphabetically by title in the reference list. For the date field of each work, include a dash then the relevant letter at the end, e.g. n.d.-a.
  • Works with no date will appear before works by the same author with specified years.
  • Note: this applies to all reference types with the same author(s) and year.
• Use in press when the work is accepted for publication but has not been published.
• When the work has been published online prior to publication, include the year of when it was uploaded online. Include the phrase [Advance online publication] after the article title.
• When a month, date or season is used, use (Year, Month Date) or (Year, Season), e.g. (2019, November 8) or (2019, Autumn/Winter).
• If a "Last Updated" date in used, include this as the publication date. This is only when the information has been clearly changed, not just reviewed.
• For online works that are meant to be changed regularly eg. Facebook, dictionary entry, use Retrieved Month, Date, Year, from URL, e.g. Retrieved November 8, 2019, from https://www.facebook.com/uniofqldlibrary

• Article or book chapter titles
  • ​use sentence case (the first word uses a capital letter with each subsequent word in lower case). The exceptions are for names, e.g., countries, people, rivers, etc., and after a colon (:) e.g., Writing prose in Australia: Words of wisdom from the best
  • do not use single or double quotation marks.
  • do not italicise.
• Books (including when using book chapters) and report titles
  • ​use sentence case.
  • italicise the title.
• Journal, magazine and newspaper titles
  • use the full journal name (not abbreviated) and use capitals where appropriate (rather than sentence case) eg. Psychological Review.
  • italicise the title.
• Website titles should be italicised.  
• No title
  • add a description of the reference used, including the type of reference in square brackets. For example, [Image of a child playing in outdoor playground]. 
  • For social media posts or comments without a title, add up to the first 20 words used in the post or comment and italicise it. Also include a description of the work in square brackets, e.g., On Monday and Tuesday (16-17 December) this week, we are replacing computers in the PACE Health Sciences Library [Infographic].
• use the title in place of the author.
• list alphabetically.
• Use the first significant word of the title. Ignore "A", "And" and "The".

Examples 

The best 10 years of Radio magazine. (2003). Radio, 9(9), 79.

The only 10 recipes you'll ever need. (1998). Good Housekeeping, 227(3).

List multiple publisher names in the order in which they appear, separated by semicolons. 

• For publisher names, words like "Co.", "Publishers" or "Inc." should not be included, e.g. use Springer, not Springer Publishers.
• Places of publication are not included.
• Do not include publisher name if it is the same as the author.

• Page numbers are included when you are referring to a section of a greater work, e.g. book chapter, journal article.
• Use the full page range and full page numbers.
• Use pp. for book chapter page numbers e.g., pp. 121-138 but not for journal articles, e.g. 121-138.
• For an online publication that uses article numbers or similar, include Article then the article number in the Page Number place, e.g. Article e09645731.

URLs or DOIs can be shown either as live links (blue and underlined) or as normal black text with no underline. If the work containing the reference list is to be made available online, use the live link format.

What is a DOI (Digital Object Identifier)?

A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique alphanumeric string assigned by the International DOI Foundation to identify digital content and provide a persistent link to its location on the internet. Publishers assign a DOI when an article is published and made available online.

DOIs follow a standard format:

https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx

The format includes:

• https://doi.org/ at the beginning
• The prefix (e.g., 10.1234), is a unique number of four or more digits assigned to the organisation
• The suffix, is created by the publisher and may vary depending on their identification standards
• The prefix and the suffix separated by a slash

Important Note: We’ve recently encountered errors in some articles where the DOI includes an incorrect domain such as simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au. This domain should not appear in the DOI format. If you come across a DOI like this, please check the article carefully to locate the correct DOI—often it can be found in the PDF version of the document or by checking the Library MultiSearch "Citation" record.

Where to find a DOI?

DOIs are usually located:

• on the first page (abstract page) of the electronic journal article, near the copyright notice or near the author's address.
• on the database landing page in the Full Record Display of the article with the field labelled DOI.
• on the PDF version of an article DOIs will be located on the cover sheet, towards the top or the bottom of the article.

Can't find the DOI?

Not all publications have a DOI, and not all databases list DOIs where available. If you are unable to locate a DOI for a publication, you can use the online free DOI lookup on CrossRef. Simply enter the author’s surname along with the title of the publication in Search on article title and click "Search".

You can also find a publication by using the DOI resolver on International DOI Foundation. Simply enter the DOI and click "Go".