The basic format for an APA reference is:
Template
Who. (When). What. Where.
OR
Author. (Date). Title. Source.
Who:
- The author, composer or creator of a work, whether an individual, a group of individuals or an organisation.
- Write the author's surname as it appears in the work, retaining punctuation and capitalisation as it appears.
- Invert all personal author's names - surname followed by initials, e.g. Crick, F. H. C.
- Use commas to separate initials and suffixes such as Jr. and II (e.g. King, M. L., Jr.).
- For more information about this see the button below.
When:
- The year the work was published or produced.
- For sources that have frequent issues, such as magazines, newspapers, conference papers and blog posts, give the exact date.
- For more information about this see the button below.
What:
- The title, journal title, website name etc.
- Article and chapter titles - capitalise only the first word of the title and the subtitle and any proper nouns, no italics.
- Journal, newsletter and magazine titles are in italics and capitalised.
- Book titles are in italics but capitalise only the first word of the title and subtitle and any proper nouns.
- Additional information, such as edition or report numbers are included in parentheses after the title.
- Nonroutine information may be needed to identify the item. It follows the title in square brackets, e.g. [Lecture notes], [Audio podcast].
- If an item does not have a title, include a description of it in square brackets, e.g. [Photograph of Queensland Parliament House]
Where:
- Publication details.
- For a book, the publisher.
- For journal articles, the journal name (capitalised and in italics), volume, issue, page numbers, DOI.
- Do not include ebook type or database name if it is from a standard academic database or source, unless the item is only available from that source
- For a website usually the URL
For more information about this see the and button below.
There are specific examples for many different types of sources on QUT cite|write. Further examples and information can be found in the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association or the APA Blog.
See also the APA blog regarding the Elements of a Reference.