APA 7th referencing

The reference list gives the full details of the sources you used in your work. Reference list entries usually include four parts: author, date, title and source.

Authors

These rules apply to all types of sources, including books, journal articles, and websites. When writing your reference list:

  • Start with the author’s last name (surname), followed by a comma and their initials. For example, Jane Smith becomes Smith, J.
  • Put a full stop after each initial and a space between them. For example: Lee, S. A.
  • List the authors in the same order they appear in the source you are referencing.

If a source does not list a personal author, first check if an organisation is named as the author. If there is no author at all, and you are sure the source is credible, follow these steps:

  • Use the title of the work instead of the author’s name in both your in-text citation and the reference list
  • If the title is long, shorten it in the in-text citation to make it easier to read
  • If the title is italicised in the reference list, italicise it in the in-text citation too
  • If the title is not italicised in the reference list, use double quotation marks around it in the in-text citation
  • Use headline style capitalisation (capitalise all major words) in both the in-text citation and in your writing
  • In your reference list, arrange the entry alphabetically by the first word of the title (ignore words like A, An, In, or The at the beginning).

In-text citation

(In the Former Capital, 2020). OR The article In the Former Capital (2020) suggests…

(“A Higher Education Return,” 2016). OR In the article “A Higher Education Return” (2016)…

Reference list

In the former capital of pro-slavery America, Confederate statues are coming down. (2020, July 2). SBS News. https://sbs.com.au/news/in-the-former-capital-of-pro-slavery-america-confederate-statues-are-coming-down

A higher education return. (2016, August 18). The Australian. https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/higher-education-return/docview/1811922139/se-2?accountid=10382

  • If there is more than one author, add a comma after each name and use an ampersand (&) before the last author
  • Include all authors in the reference list entry.

Examples

Burns, T. (2015). Philosophy and poetry: A new look at an old quarrel. The American Political Science Review, 109(2), 326-338. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055415000076

Habary, A., Johansen, J. L., Nay, T. J., Steffensen, J. F., & Rummer, J. L. (2017). Adapt, move or die - how will tropical coral reef fishes cope with ocean warming? Global Change Biology, 23(2), 566-577. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13488

Lane, R., & Catling, S. (2016). Preservice primary teachers’ depth and accuracy of knowledge of tropical cyclones. Journal of Geography, 115(5), 198-211. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221341.2016.1153133

  • In the reference list entry, list the first 19 authors followed by an ellipsis (…) then the final author’s name
  • Do not use an ampersand (&) before the final author’s name in this case.

Example

Naghavi, M., Abajobir, A. A., Abbafati, C., Abbas, K. M., Abd-Allah, F., Abera, S. F., Aboyans, V., Adetokunboh, O., Afshin, A., Agrawal, A., Ahmadi, A., Ahmed, M. B., Aichour, A. N., Aichour, M. T. E., Aichour, I., Aiyar, S., Alahdab, F., Al-Aly, Z., Alam, K., . . . Murray, C. J. L. (2017). Global, regional, and national age-sex specific mortality for 264 causes of death, 1980-2016: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet, 390(10100), 1151-1210. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32152-9

  • Write the organisation name in full in the reference list
  • If there are multiple departments listed, use the one most responsible for the content as the author. This is common in government documents, where the full hierarchy might be shown. For example: Government of Western Australia, East Metropolitan Health Service, Royal Perth Hospital. In this case, Royal Perth Hospital is the department that created the content, so it should be listed as the author. The larger organisation (e.g. Government of Western Australia) can be listed as the publisher in the source element.

Examples

Royal Perth Hospital. (2023, April 14). Electronic prescriptions. Government of Western Australia. https://rph.health.wa.gov.au/Patients-and-Visitors/Outpatients/Electronic-Prescriptions

World Health Organization. (2023). Global status report on road safety 2023. https://www.who.int/teams/social-determinants-of-health/safety-and-mobility/global-status-report-on-road-safety-2023

Title capitalisation

All titles, with the exception of journal titles, should be presented in sentence-case capitalisation (where only the first letter of the first word, the first letter of a subtitle and any proper nouns or abbreviations are capitalised).

Example: Youth subcultures: Theory, history and the Australian experience

Journal titles should be presented in headline-style capitalisation (where each significant word is capitalised).

Example: New England Journal of Medicine

DOIs and URLs

A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a unique link to a journal article, book, or online document.

  • In APA style, DOIs are written as hyperlinks starting with https://doi.org/. Example: https://doi.org/10.1108/HER-10-2015-0023
  • If a DOI is available, use it instead of a URL because it is more stable
  • If there is no DOI, include the URL of the source
  • All DOIs and URLs should start with https:// and can be presented as either live links or as plain text, but should be consistent throughout the reference list.

Where can I find the DOI?
Look on the first page of the article or in the publication details. If you cannot find the DOI, press CTRL + F (Windows) or Command + F (Mac) and search for “doi”.

Reference list page layout

  • Start the reference list on a new page after your main text
  • Write References in bold and centre it at the top of the page
  • Double space the entire list (both within and between entries)
  • Use a hanging indent of 1.27cm for each entry.

References

Arkoudis, S., Dollinger, M., Baik, C., & Patience, A. (2019). International students’ experience in Australian higher education: Can we do better? Higher Education, 77(5), 799-813. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0302-x

Boulton, C. A., Hughes, E., Kent, C., Smith, J. R., & Williams, H. T. P. (2019). Student engagement and wellbeing over time at a higher education institution. PLoS ONE, 14(11), Article e0225770. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225770

Forsyth, H. (2014a). Dreaming of higher education. Southerly, 74(2), 119-142. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.792227855125093

Forsyth, H. (2014b). A history of the modern Australian university. NewSouth Publishing.

Forsyth, H. (2017). Post-war political economics and the growth of Australian university research, c.1945-1965. History of Education Review, 46(1), 15-32. https://doi.org/10.1108/HER-10-2015-0023

A higher education return. (2016, August 18). The Australian. https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/higher-education-return/docview/1811922139/se-2?accountid=10382

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). (2019, February 27). The future of higher education in the age of disruption [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/NFP2S2f3io4

Rudick, C. K., & Dannels, D. P. (2018). “Yes, and … ”: Continuing the scholarly conversation about immigration and higher education. Communication Education, 67(1), 120-123. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2017.1392584

10 ways wearables will revolutionise education. (2015, April 28). Progressive Digital Media Technology News. https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/10-ways-wearables-will-revolutionise-education/docview/1677305214/se-2?accountid=10382

Tierney, W. G., & Lanford, M. (2016). Conceptualizing innovation in higher education. In M. B. Paulsen (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 1-40). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26829-3

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (n.d.). Education transforms lives. https://www.unesco.org/en/education

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2016). Global education monitoring report, 2016: Place: Inclusive and sustainable cities. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000246230

The World Bank. (2025). Tertiary education. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/tertiaryeducation

Order of references in the reference list

Sort entries alphabetically by the first author’s surname or organisation name. If there is no author, use the first word of the title, ignoring words like A, An, or The at the beginning.

Arkoudis, S., Dollinger, M., Baik, C., & Patience, A. (2019). International students’ experience in Australian higher education: Can we do better? Higher Education, 77(5), 799-813. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0302-x

Boulton, C. A., Hughes, E., Kent, C., Smith, J. R., & Williams, H. T. P. (2019). Student engagement and wellbeing over time at a higher education institution. PLoS ONE, 14(11), Article e0225770. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225770

A higher education return. (2016, August 18). The Australian. https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/higher-education-return/docview/1811922139/se-2?accountid=10382

List works by the same author(s) by publication date, starting with the oldest first. References with no date (n.d.) come before references with dates.

Bull, M. (2008). Governing the heroin trade: From treaties to treatment. Ashgate Publishing. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/curtin/detail.action?docID=438571

Bull, M. (2015). Punishment and sentencing: Risk rehabilitation and restitution. Oxford University Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/curtin/detail.action?docID=1985996

If there are multiple works by the same author(s) published in the same year, order them alphabetically by title. Add a, b, c after the year to tell them apart.

Forsyth, H. (2014a). Dreaming of higher education. Southerly, 74(2), 119-142. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.792227855125093

Forsyth, H. (2014b). A history of the modern Australian university. NewSouth Publishing.

If a reference list entry starts with a number, alphabetise it as if the number were spelled out (e.g. treat 10 as if written as ten)

Rudick, C. K., & Dannels, D. P. (2018). “Yes, and … ”: Continuing the scholarly conversation about immigration and higher education. Communication Education, 67(1), 120-123. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2017.1392584

10 ways wearables will revolutionise education. (2015, April 28). Progressive Digital Media Technology News. https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/10-ways-wearables-will-revolutionise-education/docview/1677305214/se-2?accountid=10382