Referencing is a critical part of assignments, you must always acknowledge where information has come from (e.g. article, book or website) and understand why, when and how to use APA in-text citations and references.
APA is an author-date style of referencing, only the author's surname and the year of publication (and where applicable page number) are referred to in the body of your assignment. The rest of the source information is located in the reference list, at the end of your assignment.
Source material must be identified in the body of the assignment by citing the author(s), year of the source and where appropriate, the page or paragraph number.
All ideas and words of others must be formally acknowledged by inserting an in-text citation whenever you quote another work or when paraphrasing another work in your own words.
The reader can obtain the full source information from the reference list that follows the body of your assignment.
In-text citations can be formated two ways
1. Parenthetical citation: Both the author(s) and year (and if applicable the page number) appear in parentheses at the end of the sentence.
OR
2. Narrative citation: The author(s) are part of the sentence, the year (and if applicable page number) appears in parentheses immediately after the author's surname(s).
References provide the information necessary for others (e.g. tutors) to identify and retrieve each work cited in your assignment.
Check each reference carefully against the original publication to ensure information is accurate and complete.
Consistency in reference formatting identifies the types of works you consulted and the important elements (author, date, title and source) with each.
SIT uses the APA style of referencing. There are many APA rules that must be followed when preparing your reference list. They include source information and the use of italics, brackets, commas and full stops.
You will lose marks in your assignments if you do not follow correct APA formatting.
References cited in the body of your assignment MUST appear in your reference list and vice versa.
Basic principles of reference list entries
A reference list entry generally has four elements: author, date, title and source. Each element answers a question:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of work: Second part of title. Source information.
Author: Names are inverted, surname comes first followed by initial/s. For two or more initials leave a single space between initials. Always use ‘&’ between the last two names in a reference, not ‘and’.
Date: Copyright or publication year in brackets, followed by a full stop. Provide the most specific date possible, so if month and date are given, include them as well as the year e.g. (2018, September 16).
Title: Capitalise only the first letter of the first word. For a two-part title also capitalise the first letter of the first word of the second part e.g. Small business management: Entrepreneurship and beyond. If a proper noun (person, country, company etc) is in the title the first letter is capitalised e.g. Two people, one land: The New Zealand wars. Most titles are also italicised, the exceptions are a journal article’s title or a chapter’s title in an edited book.
Source information: Publisher name, journal information, DOI or URL. Do not include Inc. or Ltd as part of a publisher’s name. Do not include a full stop at the end of DOIs or URLs. For articles, source information includes the journal’s title, volume and issue number, page range and DOI (if the article is accessed via the MySIT page) or URL (if the article is freely available on the internet). Capitalise the first letter of all major words in a journal’s title and italicise along with the volume number but not the issue number e.g. Journal of Business Ethics, 150(3), 961-709. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3171-1
A reference has four main pieces of information: author, date, title and source information.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of work: Second part of title. Source information.
Author: Names are inverted, surname comes first followed by initial/s. For two or more initials leave a single space between initials. Always use ‘&’ between the last two names in a reference, not ‘and’.
Date: Copyright or publication year in brackets, followed by a full stop. Provide the most specific date possible, so if month and day are given, include them as well as the year e.g. (2018, September 16).
Title: Capitalise only the first letter of first word. For a two-part title also capitalise the first letter of the first word of the second part e.g. Small business management: Entrepreneurship and beyond. If a proper noun (person, country, company etc) is in the title the first letter is capitalised e.g. Two people, one land: The New Zealand wars. Most titles are also italicised, the exceptions are a journal article’s title or a chapter’s title in an edited book.
Source information: Publisher name, journal information, DOI or URL. Do not include Inc. or Ltd as part of a publisher’s name. Do not include a full stop at the end of DOIs or URLs. For articles, source information includes the journal’s title, volume and issue number, page range and DOI or URL (if article is freely available on the internet). Capitalise the first letter of all major words in a journal’s title and italicise along with the volume number but not the issue number e.g. Journal of Business Ethics, 150(3), 961-709. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3171-1
The tabs of this box show examples of reference structures for common information sources. Each example uses a colour code to identify the four main pieces of information a reference must include.
Colour Code |
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Author |
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Date |
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Title |
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Source information |
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Wright, M. (2006). Two peoples, one land: The New Zealand wars. Reed Books.
Rudman, R. (2010). Human resources management in New Zealand (5th ed.). Pearson.
Shanken, E. A. (Ed.). (2009). Art and electronic media. Phaidon Press.
Papps, E. (2015). Cultural safety: Daring to be different. In D. Wepa (Ed.), Cultural safety in Aotearoa New Zealand (2nd ed., pp. 36-48). Cambridge University Press.
Example of a journal article from the online databases with a DOI:
Grandy, G., & Sliwa, M. (2017). Contemplative leadership: The possibilities for the ethics of leadership theory and practice. Journal of Business Ethics, 143(3), 423-440. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2802-2
Example of a journal article from the online databases without a DOI:
Mohammed, M., & Naji, F. L. (2017). Benefits of exercise training for computer-based staff: A meta analyses. International Journal of Kinesiology & Sports Science, 5(2), 16-23.
Lagerkvist, C. J., & Hess, S. (2011). A meta-analysis of consumer willingness to pay for farm animal welfare. European Review of Agricultural Economics, 38(1), 55-78. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=b7ff2a9a4f2b3acc0ef8db8e0cc0ec077c19c79f
Write the authors’ names in the order they appear in the article.
Include the URL if the article is accessible on the internet to all readers without needing to login to the website.
Blood pressure measurement. (2022, February 18). Lippincott Procedures: New Zealand Instance. http://procedures.lww.com
Paracetamol. (2022). MIMS New Ethicals, Jul-Dec 22(37), 203-205.
While MIMS is a journal, please confirm with your tutor the format they will accept as in some situtations tutors prefer MIMS referenced as a book.
Bersin, J. (2015, March 13). Culture: Why it’s the hottest topic in business today. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2015/03/13/culture-why-its-the-hottest-topic-in-business-today/#54831119627f
List the website or organisation's name for the publisher.
Ministry for the Environment. (2021, September 30). Evidence for climate change. https://environment.govt.nz/facts-and-science/climate-change/evidence-of-climate-change/
Ministry of Education. (n.d.). Innovative learning environments. TKI. https://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Innovative-learning-environments
Ministry of Health. (2020). Eating and activity guidelines for New Zealand adults. https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/eating-activity-guidelines-new-zealand-adults-updated-2020-jul21.pdf
Are you struggling with APA referencing? Check out these links to the official APA 7th edition referencing website https://apastyle.apa.org/. This website provides webinars, tutorials, handouts and information on all aspects of APA referencing as well as information on appropriate writing style.
This tutorial helps writers understand and implement basic elements of APA style including format, academic writing style, grammar, bias-free language guidelines, mechanics of style, table and figures, in-text citations, paraphrasing, quotations and reference list format and order.
https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references
References provide the information necessary for the reader to identify and retrieve each work quoted or paraphrased by the writer. This webpage answers any questions you may have about referencing.
Reference Examples:
https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples
This provides reference examples for the most common works that writers cite. To find the reference example you need, first select a category (e.g. periodicals) and then choose the appropriate type of work (e.g. journal article) and follow the relevant example.
https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations
In academic writing it is essential to acknowledge any ideas that are not your own. This webpage helps writers understand the principles of citation and how to avoid plagiarism.
https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/basic-principles/author-date
APA uses the author-date citation system. This webpage explains the number of authors to include, the dates in a citation, exceptions to the basic in-text citation style and repeating a citation.
Quotations:
https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/quotations
A direct quotation reproduces word for word from another source. This webpage addresses how to format short and long quotes.
Paraphrasing:
https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is restating another's ideas in your own words. It allows your to summarise information from one or more sources. This webpage states how to cite original works you have paraphrased.
https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/tutorials-webinars
These tutorial webinars explain how to format, cite and reference correctly to APA 7th edition standards.
https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/handouts-guides
This webpage provides guides, checklists and interactive activities to improve APA formatting and writing.
EndNote is software for managing references. EndNote can: