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Psychology

Your first stop for research: a guide to resources for Psychology

APA 7th edition Referencing style guide

APA Referencing Handbook

The School of Psychology and The School of Sport and Exercise Science use the APA referencing style.

The 7th edition of the APA's Publication Manual was released in October 2019 and the Library's support
material has been updated to reflect the 7th edition.

The Library provides a 7th edition APA referencing handbook and a Library's 7th edition APA libguide.
Both have the same content so you can use whichever guide you prefer.

Helpful tips are also available on the APA website http://www.apastyle.org 
 

Referencing and Plagiarism

Image of the word Reference in a dictionary

 

Why should I reference?

Referencing is important in academic writing and an essential part of any of your assignments as it:

  • allows you to acknowledge your sources,
  • gives academic credibility to your work,
  • demonstrates your knowledge of a subject area,
  • prevents accusations of plagiarism.


What is plagiarism?

Check out the Plagiarism tutorial

 

What should I reference?

You should always reference a source when:

  • using a direct quote
  • summarising a theory
  • discussing someone else's opinion
  • using case studies
  • quoting statistics or visual data
  • but not when stating your own opinion, observation or experience.

If you are unsure use this flowchart to check whether you need to reference (click on the image to enlarge).

 Should I cite flowchart

RefWorks

RefWorks logo

RefWorks is referencing software which allows you to:

  • store references
  • organise references
  • generate citations
  • generate reference lists
  • share references

It's available to all staff and students, click here to log in.

Do I still need to check my references when using RefWorks (or any other bibliographic management software)?

Yes! While RefWorks should generally handle the formatting for you, there are still opportunities for error. You are still responsible for your final reference list, and you will want to proofread for spelling, capitalisation, and general formatting. Make sure that the data that has been stored in RefWorks is correct as it can only reflect what has been exported into it. If you find problems, you can either fix them in the citation in your RefWorks database and regenerate your paper, or just make the changes in your final Word document before printing it.

Subjects: Psychology