Journalism assignments and dissertations use the APA Referencing format.
APA referencing is a specific style of referencing which has been set out and standardised by the American Psychological Association (APA). This guide provides students with a brief introduction to using this referencing style, with examples for the most commonly used source-types provided on the following pages. For further details and examples, students should refer to the APA’s Official Publication Manual and Concise Rules of APA Style, which are available in the Library.
All Arts students within Dublin Business School are required to use the APA referencing format in their assignments.
This guide presents examples of how to reference textual sources. However if you use material from non-textual sources such as podcasts or documentaries you must also cite the source in full.
For more information and examples, refer to Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2019) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide.
(Note, that other, older versions of this book are available in the library too).
| Type | In-Text Citation | Reference List |
|---|---|---|
| Book – single author |
Tomlinson (1999, p. 12) discusses the idea that... |
Tomlinson, J. (1999). Globalisation and Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press. |
| Book – two to three authors |
...the impact of media messages can be seen in simple things such as how the weather forecast can influence the clothes people wear (Branston and Stafford, 2006, p. 273). OR Branston and Stafford (2006, p. 273) highlight the impact of media messages... |
Branston, G., & Stafford, R. (2006). The media student's book (4th ed.). London: Routledge. |
| Book – four or more authors |
First citation: Share, Tovey, and Corcoran (2007, p. 11) highlight the transformative influence of... Second citation: Share et al. (2007, p. 169) found that... |
Share, P., Tovey, H., & Corcoran, M. P. (2007). A sociology of Ireland (3rd ed.). Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. |
| Book – editor |
...to help his patients uncover these unconscious memories” (Robbins, Chatterjee, and Canda, 2010, p. 165). |
Robbins, S. P., Chatterjee, P., & Canda. E. R. (Eds.). (2010). Contemporary human behavior theory: A critical perspective for social work (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. |
| Book – chapter in an edited book |
Leahy (1998, p. 26) discusses the idea that... |
Leahy, A. L. (1998). Moving to a quality culture. In A. L. Leahy & M. M. Wiley (Eds.), The Irish health system in the 21st century (pp. 105-113). Dublin: Oak Tree Press. |
| Book – multiple works by same author |
Singer (1986, 1993) explains that... NOTE: If works were published in the same year, enter a symbol or letter beside the year in the in-text citation to link it to the relevant reference list entry, e.g. Singer (2009a, 2009b) |
Singer, P. (1986). Applied ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Singer, P. (1993). Practical ethics (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. |
| Book – organisation as an author |
First citation: ...as a standardised approach (American Psychological Association [APA], 2010, p. 17). Second citation: ...to highlight the issue (APA, 2010, p. 182). |
American Psychological Association [APA] (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington DC: Author. Note: When the author and publisher are the same, use the word ‘Author’ as the name of the publisher.
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Book – no identifiable author |
...which was set out in the 1937 constitution of Ireland (Facts about Ireland, 2001, p. 36). |
Facts about Ireland. (2001). Dublin: Department of Foreign Affairs, Information Section. |
|
eBook – from Dawsonera.com |
...within the context of four broad theories” (Carr, 2001, p. 79). |
Carr, A. (2001). Abnormal psychology. [Dawsonera version]. Retrieved June 25, 2010, from
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Notes:
Use the name of the city in which the publisher is located in your reference. If there is more than one city listed (e.g. New York, London, etc.) use the nearest geographical place or the location of the publisher’s head office.
If the town/city is not well known, you may add a county, region or state. Note, in the USA states are denoted by a two letter code, e.g. NJ = New Jersey.
This and other bibliographic information, can be found on the back of the book's title page.
| Type | In-Text Citation | Reference List |
|---|---|---|
| Journal – article from a print journal |
...that which is understood to be an impulsive act of philanthropy (Bornstein, 2009, p. 626) |
Bornstein, E. (2009). The impulse of philanthropy. Cultural anthropology, 24(4), 622-651. Volume & Issue information: 24 = Volume number 4 = Issue number |
| eJournal – full text article an electronic database |
Bristol (2004) highlights one of the central difficulties within the field of developmental psychology, namely... |
Bristol, C.R. (2004). History of a Childhood Neurosis. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 24(2), 286-308. Retrieved May 22, 2010, from PEP Archive. Note: DOI Number If a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is available this should be used in place of the date & name of the database. e.g. van der Houwen, K., Stroebe, M., Stroebe, W., Schut, H., van den Bout, J., & Meij, L. (2010). Risk Factors for Bereavement Outcome: A Multivariate Approach. Death Studies, 34(3), 195-220. doi:10.1080/07481180903559196. |
| eJournal – full text article from a free open-access online journal |
It is worth nothing that “consciousness can be examined in a multitude of ways” (Conde, 2007). |
N. (2007). Nothingness. Consciousness, Literature & the Arts, 8(1). Retrieved May 1, 2010, from http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/users/dmeyerdinkgrafe/archive/conde.html. |
| Newspaper – article from a print newspaper |
The issue was highlighted in a recent newspaper report (Campbell, 2010). |
Campbell, D. (2010, May 25). Younger people worry more about loneliness. The Guardian, p. 13. |
|
eNewspaper – article retrieved directly from a newspaper’s website |
... which has been noted as a significant problem within Irish society (Morgan, 2010).
|
Morgan, E. (2010, May 26). Struggling with literacy, numeracy and now, recession. The Irish Times. Retrieved 21 June, 2010, from http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2010/0526/1224271139519.html. |
| Hardcopy Version | Online Version (via PEP Archive) |
| In-text Citation: (Freud, 1923/2001). | In-text Citation: (Freud, 1923). |
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Reference List: Freud, S. (2001). The ego and the id. In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 19, pp. 3-66). London: Vintage. (Original work published 1923)
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Reference List: Freud, S. (1923). The Ego and the Id. Standard Edition (Vol. 19). [Electronic version]. Retrieved from PEP Archive database. Note: As the PEP Archive version splits the original work into sections, you should cite each section separately. |
Evaluating Websites: You should always ask the question ‘Is this website reliable?’ when using the internet for research. Check out the guide to ‘Evaluating Websites’ for further details.
| Type | In-Text Citation | Reference List |
|---|---|---|
| Web page with an individual author | Gunning (2002) focused on whether or not film can effectively used as a piece of historical evidence. | Gunning, T. (2002). Making Sense of Films. Retrieved May 1, 2010, from History Matters website: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/film/
|
| Web page with an organisation as author | “About 1 in 4 people will experience some mental health problems in their lifetime.” (Department of Health and Children [DOHC], 2010). | Department of Health and Children [DOHC] (2010). Mental Health Services (including Suicide Prevention). Retrieved July 25, 2010, from http://www.dohc.ie/fact_sheets/mhs_factsheet201005.pdf?direct=1. |
| Web page with no author and no date | ... infant mortality rate was significantly higher amongst working class families (“The World of the Child,” n.d.). | The World of The Child. (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2010, from Ask about Ireland website:http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/history-heritage/pages-in-history/Ireland%20in%201904/the-world-of-the-child/ |