APA Reference

An APA reference, which stands for American Psychological Association reference, is like a special code that helps us give credit to the authors of the books, articles, and websites we use in our school work. It’s a bit like saying, “I found this information in this book, and I want to show you exactly where to find it.” This code helps people read our work and find the sources we used.

When we create an APA reference, we write down important details about the source, like the author’s name, the year the source was published, the title of the source, and where it was published. This code is very organized and follows specific rules, so everyone can understand it easily.

Using APA references is important because it shows that we’re being honest and fair by giving credit to the people who did the hard work of writing those books and articles. Plus, it helps us avoid plagiarism, which is when we copy someone else’s work and pretend it’s ours. So, understanding how to make APA references is a useful skill for students who want to do good research and write great papers.

A. in-text citation
These are placed in your assignment next to the words, ideas, graphs or images created by another.

Examples:
– The Australian public are protected when shopping online (Australian Competition
and Consumer Commission, 2021).
– Most Australian politicians support a Federal Government independent commission
to expose corruption (Griffiths & Wood, 2019).

In-text citations contain:
1. The author’s last name
2. If there is no author, use the website or organisation’s name
3. The year of publication
4. The page number, if there is one

B. reference list
The reference list is arranged in alphabetical order on the last page of your assignment.

Each reference contains four elements:
1. Who – the creator of an image, author of a book or newspaper article, the name of a website, etc.
2. When – date of publication.
3. What – title or description of an image. Title of a book, newspaper, website.
4. Where – where can I find this image or work? The source?