This guidance applies to all source types.

1 author

In-text: (Santrock, 2011)

Reference List:

2 authors

List both authors in the order they appear in the publication. Use an ampersand (&), not 'and' between names.

In-text: (Lee & Benati, 2007)

Reference List:

3-20 authors

In the citation use the surname of the first author followed by 'et al.' (including the full stop). In the reference list, list all authors in the order they appear in the publication. Use an ampersand (&), not 'and' between names. In subsequent citations, give the first author's name followed by et al. (the full stop is important!).

In-text (Wilkinson et al., 2011)

Reference List:

21+ authors

In all in-text citations, give the first author's name followed by et al. (the full stop is important!). In the reference list, include the names of the first 19 authors, insert an ellipsis (three dots) but no ampersand, then include the name of the final author.

In-text: (Halonen, et al., 2003)

Reference List:

If you're pulling together information from a number of sources to support your argument you may want to include more than one source in one in-text citation. For example:

They should appear alphabetically, matching the order in which they will appear in your reference list.

If an author (or a group of authors) have more than one publications in the same year, add lower-case letters (a, b, c, etc.) to the year to differentiate between them. Add a to the first source cited, b to the second course and so on.  For example:

In-text: (Carroll, 2007a; Carroll, 2007b)

References:

No author name

It's important to use quality sources to support your arguments, so you should carefully consider the value of using any source when you can't identify its author. 

For online sources, look carefully for named contributors, such as in the ‘about us’ sections. For printed material look carefully at the publication/ copyright information, which is often on the inside cover of a book or back page of a report. If you cannot locate the information you could use the name of the organisation for the author, for example (NSPCC, 2012).

No publication date

Knowing when a source was created, published, or last updated is important as this helps you to determine the relevance and reliability of the source. For online sources look carefully for created and/ or last updated dates on the page(s). If you can't locate a date write (n.d.) instead of the year to denote ‘no date’.

Quotations are word-for-word text included in your work and must be clearly distinguished from your own words and ideas. You must also include the page number(s) in the in-text citation.

Short quotations (fewer than 40 words)

Use a brief phrase within your paragraph or sentence to introduce the quotation before including it inside double quotation marks “ ”.  For example:

Longer quotations (40 words or more)

Use block quotation, without quotation marks, but clearly indented to indicate these words are not your own. For example:

A secondary reference is given when you are referring to a source which you have not read yourself, but have read about in another source, for example referring to Jones’ work that you have read about in Smith. Avoid using secondary references wherever possible and locate the original source and reference that.

Only give a secondary reference where it's not possible to read the original source, and you think it's essential to use the material. It is important to think carefully about using secondary references as the explanation or interpretation of that source by the author you have read may not be accurate. For example, if Allport's work is cited in Nicholson and you did not read Allport's work, list the Nicholson reference in the reference list. In the text, use the following citation:

Only list the sources that you have read in your reference list - ie. list Nicholson but not Allport in the reference list.

Include the page number(s) in an in-text citation when:

• quoting directly
• referring to a specific detail in a text (eg, a specific theory or idea, an illustration, a table, a set of statistics).

Giving page numbers lets the reader locate the specific item you're referring to. Page numbers are not required when paraphrasing, but you may choose to do so in order to make it easier for readers to locate the information in a longer work.

You should only capitalise the first letter of the first word of a book, journal article, etc and any word following a colon in the title. The exception is if these include proper nouns – names of people or organisations.

Usually in-text citations are included in your word count as they are integral to your argument.

This may vary depending on the assignment you are writing and you should confirm this with your module tutor. If in-text citations are included this does not mean you should leave out citations where they are appropriate.

In-text: (Santrock, 2011)

Reference list:

Information to include
Author(s) Surname, Initial. (year). Name of book (Edition if not the first). Publisher name. Doi if available

For books written or published in another language, see the Book (translated to English) and Book (read in another language) sections below.

Chapter in an edited book

In-text: (Alexander, 2009)

Reference list:

Information to include
Chapter author(s) Surname, Initial. (year). Title of chapter. In editor(s) Initial, Surname (Ed/Eds.), Title of edited book. (pp. Page numbers). Publisher name. Doi if available

Edited book as a whole

In-text: (Daniels et al., 2009)

Reference list:

Information to include
Editor(s) Surname, Initial. (Ed/Eds.). (year). Title of edited book. Publisher name. Doi if available

Most journal articles / papers are now available in electronic form, usually with a DOI (a special type of link). If there isn't a DOI, include the URL instead or leave this out if you are referencing a printed journal article / paper.

In-text: (Forlin, 2010)

Reference list:

Information to include
Author(s) Surname, Initial. (year). Title of paper / article. Name of journal, volume(issue), page numbers. DOI if available

Newspaper/magazine article

Include the most precise date of publication given - usually full date for newspaper articles, month and year for magazines.

In-text: (Clarkson, 2008; Swain, 2008)

Reference list:

Information needed
Author(s) Surname, Initial. (year, month date). Title of article. Name of newspaper/magazine. page number(s).

Newspaper/magazine article (without named author)

Use the article title instead of the author name. In the in-text citation, put the title (or a shortened version) between quotation marks (").

In-text: ("Editorial: French Elections," 2012)

Reference list:

Information needed
Title of article. (year, month date). Name of newspaper/magazine. page number(s).

Website with author

In-text: (Richardson, 2011)

Reference List:

Information to include
Author(s) Surname, Initial. (year). Name of specific webpage. Name of full website. URL

Website without named author

In-text: (BBC News, 2011)

Reference list:

Information to include
Name of full website (year). Name of specific webpage.  URL

In-text: (Education Act 2011)

Reference list:

In-text: (Quigley, 2023)

Reference List:

If you are reading an English language version of a book originally published in another language follow this example.

In-text: (Freud, 1901/2002)
Bibliography/ Reference List:

If you are reading a book in another language, follow this example:

In-text: (Hoops, 1932)

Bibliography/ Reference List:

In-text: (The Cogent Group, 2009)

Reference list:

If conference proceedings have been published in book form cite them as for a book.

In-text: (Kawkins & Hawkins, 2019)

Reference list:

Include the type of resource in square brackets after its name: [CD], [CD-Rom], [DVD]

In-text: (Coppola, 1972)

Reference list:

Online database (specific content)

In-text: (The National Autistic Society, n.d.)

Reference list:

Online database (as a whole)

In-text: (The National Autistic Society, n.d.)

Reference list:

n.d. denotes no date given - include the year when known

In-text: (Paperback Oxford English Dictionary, 2006)

Reference list:

If there are no page numbers, give the chapter number for direct quotes eg, "…" (Bartram, 2010, ch.1).

In-text: (Bartram, 2010)

Reference list:

Personal communications such as personal emails, private letters, and telephone conversations are non-recoverable and so are not included in the reference list. Cite them in-text only with the initials and surname of the author.

In-text: (I. Johnson, personal communication, May 22 2023)

Note: No personal communication is included in your reference list; instead, parenthetically cite the communicator's name, the phrase "personal communication," and the date of the communication in your main text only.

Encyclopedia as a whole

In-text: (Hornberger, 2008)

Reference list:

Encyclopedia (specific entry)

In-text: (Manstead & Hewston, 1996)

Reference list:

In-text: (Lloyd, 2008)

Reference list:

In-text: (Great Britain. Dept. for Education, 2010)

Reference list:

Cm. is the abbreviation used to designate a command paper. This example is command paper 7980.

Print copy, with figure number

In-text: [INSERT IMAGE] Table X Common Abbreviations for Units of Measurement (APA, 2020, p. 109, table 4.4)

Reference List:

Online, no figure number

In-text: [INSERT IMAGE] Classical Conditioning (Kulich, 2006)

Reference list:

Conducted by someone else

If it is a published interview in a magazine, journal, website or newspaper, then use the referencing format for that source type.

Conducted yourself

You are not encouraged to cite these, except where an interview has been conducted as part of a non-empirical assignment. That is, only cite if you discuss an interview within your assignment where you had not been required to conduct interviews, but did so to augment your work. Consideration also needs to be given to confidentiality and interviewee anonymity as appropriate.

Not included in the reference list as it is non-retrievable communication for the reader.

In-text: (J. Smith, personal communication, March 2 2023)

In-text: (Waddle & Brown, 2023)

Reference list:

In-text: (Waddle & Brown, 2023)

Reference list:

Personal communications such as personal emails, private letters, and telephone conversations are non-recoverable and so are not included in the reference list. Cite them in-text only with the initials and surname of the author.

In-text: (J. Smith, personal communication, March 2, 2023)

Each one will have titles and references within it or you can refer to the actual microfiche record number, where it is stored and when accessed. This is an example of a historic periodical.

In-text: In-text: (Brown, 1794)

Reference list:

In-text: (Stringer, 2023)

Reference list:

In-text: (Chopin, 1943)

Reference list:

In-text: (American Psychological Association, 2023)

Reference list:

In-text: (Monet, 1899)

Reference list:

In-text: (City of York Council, 2023)

Reference list:

In-text:(Higher Education (Fees) Bill HL 2012-13)

Reference list:

HC stands for House of Commons, with HL being used for Bills originating in the House of Lords. The date represents the parliamentary session and the number in [ ] the number of the bill.

In-text: (Jakubowski, 2023)

Reference list:

In-text: (Jarche, 1931)

Reference list:

In-text: (Lynn, 2012)

Reference list:

In-text: (Webster, 1998)

Reference list:

In-text: (Kipling, 1999)

Reference list:

In-text: (Mills & Blagrove, 2023)

Reference list:

In-text: (O'Dea, 2011)

Reference list:

Religious and sacred texts such as the Bible, Talmud, and Qur’an follow the reference format for either a book or website depending on your source. Religious texts don't usually require an author. Include the original publication date if possible, but leave this blank if unknown or in dispute.

In-text: (King James Bible, 1769/2017)

Reference list:

Report (online)

In-text: (British Psychological Society, 2021)

Reference list:

Report (hard copy)

In-text: (Higher Education Academy, 2008)

Reference list:

This format is for when you read a more recent version of an older work. In-text, the date of the original publication is given before the later one you read. In the bibliography/ reference list you give the date of the version you read with the original date at the end of the reference.

In-text: (Erikson, 1951/1977)

Reference list:

In-text: (Runciman, 2002)

Reference list:

In-text: Belle & Sebastian, 2003, track 8)

The track number is optional.

Reference list:

In-text: (British Standards Institute, 2006)

Reference list:

Full series

In-text: (Gilligan, 2008-2013)

Reference list:

Single episode

In-text: (Gilligan et al., 2013)

Reference list:

Personal communications such as personal emails, private letters, and telephone conversations are non-recoverable and so are not included in the reference list. Cite them in-text only with the initials and surname of the author.

In-text: (J. Smith, personal communication, March 2, 2023)

In-text: (Missuno, 2012)

Reference List:

Information to include
Author(s) Surname, Initial. (year). Title of thesis. [level of qualification, institution]. Database name.

In-text: (Waddle & Brown, 2023)

Reference list:

In-text: ("Psychometrics," 2014)

Reference list:

In-text: (UoY Press Office, 2023)

Reference list: