APA 7
APA 7th Edition is the most commonly used referencing style here at the University of Portsmouth. Below you will find general guidance on how to reference and cite using APA 7th Edition, as well as examples for the specific sources you are likely to use in your assignments.
Your department or lecturer may prefer you to reference sources differently from the guidance given here. Always follow the requirements of your department or lecturer.
External visitors are welcome to use this guide, but note that your institution's requirements may differ from those suggested here.
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This only matters for the purposes of alphabetising your reference list.
Ignore the three non-significant words 'a', 'an' and 'the' if they appear at the beginning of a title for the purposes of alphabetising. You should still include them in the reference (and citation) but ignore them when sorting your list into alphabetical order.
This is particularly important if you are using the title at the beginning of your reference, or you have two sources by the same author created in the same year.
For example:
As the title of the online news article below starts with 'The' it would be alphabetised by the second word, 'King' which appears alphabetically between 'Cody' and 'Wilson':
Cody, W. J. (1999). Flora of the Yukon Territory (2nd ed.). NRC Research Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/portsmouth-ebooks/detail.action?docID=228107
The King welcomes his first world leader to Buckingham Palace as monarch: Charles lays out Guard of Honour and golden carriage ride for South African president during historic state visit to Britain. (2022, November 22). Mail Online. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11456933/Prince-Princess-Wales-greet-South-African-president.html
Wilson, W., & Barton, C. (2021). Social rented housing (England): Past trends and prospects (House of Commons Library Briefing Paper 8963). https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8963/
As the name and dates match in the references below, they are alphabetized by the title. The Irishman would appear first because 'Irishman' appears alphabetically before 'Rolling':
Scorsese, M. (Director). (2019a). The Irishman [Film]. Tribeca Productions; Sikelia Productions; Winkler Films.
Scorsese, M. (Director). (2019b). Rolling thunder revue [Film]. Grey Water Park Productions; Sikelia Productions.
Note that as the author and year of these sources are the same, lower case letters are added to the year to distinguish between them in their in-text citations. Click here for more information about this.