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APA 7th Edition - Citation Guide - CBS Library: Home

Avoid plagiarism

Why should I reference?

Referencing is important in academic writing and an essential part of any 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

Check out the CBS Library guide on Plagiarism & Academic Integrity

Plagiarism

 

What should I reference?

You should always reference a source when:

  • using a direct quote
  • summarizing 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 (unless you are recycling parts of a previously assessed paper)

Getting Started with APA referencing

The quickest and easiest way to reference in your academic work is to:

  • record the necessary information at the time of using it
  • be consistent

Referencing is a very important part of an academic work and by following these guidelines you will ensure that you meet the requirements set out by your tutor.

You need to reference:

  • to demonstrate that you have undertaken research for your academic work
  • to acknowledge the work of other authors, which can be found in books, journal articles, websites etc.
  • to avoid accusations of plagiarism

There are many referencing systems available, but this guide will focus on the American Psychological Association (APA) system which is very common in the social sciences and the preferred style in many CBS programmes.

NB! some CBS programmes may not follow the APA standard - Please check out the guidelines for YOUR programme!! 

This guide provides examples of different information sources: how to cite them within your text body and how to include them in your reference list. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 

On http://www.apastyle.org you will find more information and tips on how to use the APA style.

Other referencing styles

If you need to use a referencing style other than APA, please check out these library guides:

Using Mendeley?

More information on Mendeley? Go to the Mendeley LibGuide

Introduction to APA

The APA citation style is primarily used by in the fields of business, social sciences, health, and education. The official guide is published by the American Psychological Association.

Edition Note: The 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association was published in October 2019. Some CBS departments and instructors may still prefer the 6th edition. Please consult your instructor if you are unsure which edition to use.

(*** Please visit What's new in APA 7th? for a summary of the differences between 6th and 7th editions)

Need the APA 6th Guide? Look here

You will find plenty of online resources on APA 7th, including:

Guide Info

Creative Commons License This guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This guide was adapted and inspired from the APA 7th Edition guide at Santa Fe College Library and Charleston Southern University Library. Thanks to Diana Matthews and Joe Fox for permission to use of there work.