Referencing using APA/Activities/Activity Sheet 1

Learning Outcomes
This learning module aims to provide you will an understanding of how to utilise the APA referencing style in your academic writing.

Theoretical background
Start by reading
 * this Introduction
 * this article on Plagiarism
 * this article on Referencing

Reference Lists and Bibliographies
As well as acknowledging author(s) with in-text citations, you have to include the details of their publication in a reference list at the end of your text.

The basic skills of writing reference lists can be found here.

A reference list is a record of the works that you have chosen to refer to in your essay. A bibliography on the other hand is a list of the material which you have accessed in the preparation of your essay. This is material which has influenced your thinking, but does not particularly warrant a reference.

Application
Now complete the following exercises to apply the principles you have just learnt
 * Ordering information in a list of references. Note that the list of references is here called a bibliography, rather than a reference list.

More theory
Now read
 * This article on Paraphrasing, Summarising and Quoting and
 * this Summary

Need some practice ?
If you need more practice with these ideas, Monash University has a useful on-line referencing tutorial.

Supporting resources
You will need a quick-reference guide to help you get your APA referencing right. Here are two options. Use them.

Curtin University of Technology has a useful print-based quick-reference guide to APA referencing.

Waikato Univeristy have another online guide which some people find useful.

Otago University has an excellent print-based guide called Using the APA reference style. This is a print-based document, not a quick-reference guide.

Contributors
--David McQuillan 2008