Skip to Main Content

Education: APA 7th Referencing

This guide contains resources and guidance to help students studying education subjects.

Icon

As Education students, you will be asked to use the APA 7th referencing style. 

What is referencing?

 

At university you are expected to reference information sources used in your assignments. Referencing is important as it:

  • gives credit to authors
  • shows that you’ve done your research  
  • means that others can find the resources you have used.

APA 7th referencing

 

APA 7th referencing is the referencing style for all your assignments.

In-text citations tell readers the information you used in your writing comes from where.

The reference list at the end of your writing help readers locate sources you used.

APA referencing guide

 

In-text citation: basic rules and examples

 

To write an in-text citation you need the following elements:

  • The author(s) of your source
  • The year it was published
  • The page number(s) (if quoting directly)

1 Author

2 Authors

3 + Authors

Organizational Author

The children “found play stimulating” (Smith, 2017, p. 98).

The children “found play stimulating” (Smith & Frank, 2017, p. 98). 

The children “found play stimulating” (Smith et al., 2017, p. 98).

First time: (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL], 2014). 
Subsequently: (AITSL, 2014).

Reference list: basic rules and examples

 
  • Arrange references alphabetically.
  • Apply a hanging indent for a reference having more than one lines. (Mac: cmnd + t; PC: ctrl + t)
  • Include all authors (up to 20) for each reference.
  • Add a comma between all authors and use the full stop after the organisational name.
  • Always use “&” between the last two authors.
  • Do not place a full stop after the DOI/URL

Sample Reference List

Sample reference list

Referencing software: RefWorks

 

RefWorks is a cloud-based reference manager that can assist your referencing. You can use RefWorks to store and manage your references and enter references into Microsoft Word.