APA style edition and punctuation
The examples on this page use the APA 7th edition.
Punctuation is important. Use the same punctuation and formatting as the order instructions and examples (commas, full stops and brackets). Use 1 space after any punctuation mark.
Key points
Each source entry has 4 basic parts:
- Name of the author – write organisational authors in full, not abbreviations. The author or authors can be a person, people, a group or a combination of people and groups.
- Year of publication – if there is no year, use n.d., meaning 'no date'.
- Title – upper-case letters for the first word of the title, the first word of any subtitle and proper nouns.
- Publisher's name – omit the publisher detail when the author and publisher are the same.
Book
Order: Authors. (Year of publication). Book title: Subtitle. Publisher name. DOI
The subtitle is optional.
When the author and publisher are the same, omit the publisher to avoid repetition.
If there are several authors, each is separated from the others with a comma and there is an ampersand (&) before the final author. For example, Cunningham, B. M., Nikolai, L. A., & Bazley, J. D.
Write out organisational authors in full not abbreviations. For example, Ministry of Health. Not MoH.
Include DOIs for all books where a DOI is available, even if you didn’t access the source online.
Example
Durie, M. (2003). Ngā kāhui pou: Launching Māori futures. Huia Publishers.
Wallbank, A. J. (2022). Academic writing and dyslexia: A visual guide to writing at university. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003190189
Book (later edition)
Order: Authors. Year of publication. Book title: Subtitle (edition). Publisher name.
The subtitle is optional.
Omit the edition information if it's the first edition.
Example
McShane, S., & Travaglione, T. (2007). Organisational behaviour on the Pacific Rim (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Chapter in an edited book
Order: Authors. (Year of publication). Chapter title: Subtitle. Book editors. Book title, (page number range of the chapter). Publisher name. DOI or URL
List the book's chapters separately if the author of each chapter is different. Otherwise, list the entire book.
The book title is in italics, but the chapter title is not.
The subtitle is optional.
List the editor with their surname after their initials.
The page number range includes the first and last page of the full chapter, not just the pages you used.
Include the DOI if available or the URL if access online.
Example
Markusen, A. R. (1996). The economics of postwar regional disparity. In S. S. Fainstein & S. Campbell (Eds.), Readings in urban theory (pp. 102–131). Blackwell.
Heath, I. (2008). Domestic violence: A family health perspective. In J. Keeling & T. Mason (Eds.), Domestic violence: A multi-professional approach for healthcare practitioners (pp. 167–175). Open University Press.
Edited book
If you refer to a specific chapter in an edited book, reference the chapter rather than the whole work.
Order: Editors. (Year of publication). Book title: Subtitle. Publisher name. DOI or URL
List the editor with their surname after their initials – the same format as for an author.
The subtitle is optional.
Include the DOI if available or the URL if accessed online.
Example
Fainstein, S. S., & Campbell, S. (Eds.). (1996). Readings in urban theory. Blackwell.
Online books and books with DOIs
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique number allocated to an online publication. It's often used to identify online journal articles and other online documents.
The DOI will usually appear as part of the source's copyright information.
You can look up a DOI at www.crossref.org/guestquery/
Order: Authors. (Year of publication). Book title: Subtitle. DOI or URL if no DOI is available.
The subtitle is optional.
Example
Fang, Z. (2021). Demystifying academic writing: Genres, moves, skills, and strategies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003131618
Todd, S. (2022). Historical introduction. In S. Todd & M. Barber (Eds.), Burrows, Finn and Todd on the law of contract in New Zealand (7th ed., pp. 1-11). LexisNexis. https://advance.lexis.com
Include a DOI for all works that have one, even if you used the print version. If a print work doesn't have a DOI, however, then don't include a URL in the reference.
Don't place a full stop at the end of the URL or DOI, as this may affect the functionality of the link.
If the online book has a DOI, use it instead of the URL address. Start the DOI link with https:// or http://.
Give the full URL address as it appears in your browser's address bar.
If the URL is password protected, such as accessed through the university library catalogue, give the publisher's homepage URL.
Include publisher details for online books as well as the URL or DOI.
E-book reader book
Order: Authors. (Year of publication). Book title: Subtitle. Publisher name. Download source or DOI.
The subtitle is optional.
Include the DOI if available.referencing other material in APA styleReferencing other material in APA
Example
Roach, M. (2010). Packing for Mars: The curious science of life in the void. PitStop. http://www.amazon.com
If the e-reader provides a page number, use it. Don't give the location number specific to the e-reader.
Don't place a full stop at the end of the URL or DOI as this may affect the functionality of the link.
Other book-like sources
Encyclopedia entries, study guides and other book-like sources are covered on referencing other material in APA style
Referencing disclaimer
This page is a guide to proper referencing. Your course, department, school or institute may prescribe specific conventions. Their recommendations supersede these instructions. If your questions are not covered here, ask your course coordinator or ask on our Academic Q&A forum.
Open the Academic Q&A forum in Stream (login required)
Related content
