APA Referencing: Books, eBooks, Dictionaries, Encyclopedias

One author

In-text citation

Reference list entry

Two authors

In-text citation

Reference list entry

Three or more authors 

In-text citation

• If there are 3 or more authors, cite the first author followed by et al. This is Latin for 'and others'. It is an abbreviation so there is a full stop after al.

Reference list entry

• Include the surname and initials up to 20 authors with & before the final author

A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a unique code consisting of letters and numbers that identifies content and provides a reliable link to its location on the internet. If an ebook has a DOI, include it in your reference by adding https://doi.org/ before the code. 

In text citation

Reference list entry

An eBook from a Library database

In-text citation

Reference list entry

• Do not include the database name or URL

eBook freely available on the internet with no DOI

In-text citation

Reference list entry

In text citation

Reference list entry

• If the same author has written a number of books which have been published in different years, the reference is arranged by the year of publication, with the earliest going first in the reference list

In text citation

Reference list entry

• Reference list entries are arranged alphabetically by author
• If the author writes multiple works, you arrange the reference list entry by the year the item was published, with the earliest going first (see above example same author but different year)
• If the same author writes multiple works in the same year, you arrange the reference list entries alphabetically by the title (disregarding "A", "An" and "The" at the beginning of the title)
• To show which book the quote or paraphrase comes from, you add a lowercase letter e.g. a, b, c, etc immediately after the year in your reference list
• It is this alphabetical order of titles in the reference list that determines which lowercase letter is next to the date in your in-text citation

Edited books

In-text citation

Reference list entry

In-text citation

Reference list entry

• If the chapters are written by different authors and the whole book has been put together by an editor or editors, it is referenced as a chapter in an edited book
• The chapter author is first as they are the person you have quoted or paraphrased. This corresponds with the in-text citation
• Title of the chapter follows the date of publication. The word 'In' is next, then the editor information. Editor(s) is in parentheses and is abbreviated so followed by a full stop and has a capital letter. The closed round bracket is followed by a comma  
• If the editor(s) have also written a chapter, they are mentioned as authors and editors. Note: The order of the initials change in the editor field
• The book title is a stand alone work so is in italics. Any edition information and page numbers of the chapter are placed within the same parentheses. Use pp. as it is for more than one page.
• Finish with the source information

Often authors quote from or refer to research of other authors in their work.  If you wish to refer to the original author's quote this is called citing from a secondary source. Cite secondary sources sparingly, e.g. if the original work is out of print, unavailable or available only in a language that you do not understand. As a matter of good scholarly practice, it is best to locate the original source and quote or paraphrase from that.

In-text citation

Reference list entry

• Give credit to all authors in text ( the author(s) of the original work and the author(s) of the work you have read)
• In text use the phrase as cited in
• Only list the book you have read in your reference list (cite what you sight).

A dictionary, thesaurus or encyclopedia entry is treated in a similar way to a chapter in an edited book. If the entry has an author, place this author in the author position. 

Often a dictionary, thesaurus or encyclopedia does not have an individual author(s). If there is no named author(s) for the entry, but there is an editor(s), place the editor(s) in the author position. 

If there is no author and no editor, the company responsible for the work is treated as a group author and is placed in the author position e.g. Merriam-Webster, Oxford University Press (see APA Manual, p. 328 and APA Style).

Entry in a dictionary, thesaurus or encyclopedia, with individual author(s)

In text citation

Reference list entry

Entry in a dictionary, thesaurus or encyclopedia, with group author

In text citation

Reference list entry

• If there is no named author for the entry, but there are editors, move the editors to the author position
• If there are no named authors or editors, treat the company responsible for the dictionary/encyclopedia as a group author
• If the author and publisher are the same, include the name in the author field and omit from the publisher field to avoid repetition
• Provide the page number(s) for the entry after the title of a print dictionary, thesaurus or encyclopedia.  When both an edition and page number(s) are present, place them in the same parentheses, separated by a comma. Use p. for one page e.g. p. 667, pp. for a page range e.g. pp. 350-353
• If an online reference work is continously updated and not archived, use (n.d.) as the year of publication and include a retrieval date i.e. the date you accessed the information 

Whitireia/WelTec Library guides

APA Referencing Quick Guide 

APA Referencing Guide to Hanging Indentation 

Introduction to APA Referencing Guide

Key Changes between APA 6th and APA 7th edition (University of Auckland)

Paraphrasing Author(s) Multiple Times in a Paragraph 

Images: Finding and Referencing

Whitireia/WelTec Learning Support Guides

Assignment Writing - Covers plagiarism, paraphrasing

Tūāpapa Online Study Hub Modules. To access go to Moodle:

Click here if you are a Whitireia student. 

Click here if you are a Weltec student. 

• Log in if prompted
• Click Academic Communication, then Introduction to APA and Plagiarism & Academic Integrity

Referencing tools 

APA Interactive, Massey University

APA Style Blog

Referencite, University of Auckland

Referencing software

Mendeley 

Zotero