You must acknowledge all sources of information that you use. Pretending that the ideas of others are your own is called plagiarism. The purpose of your reference is to acknowledge the source of information and to enable that source to be found again.

Students undertaking research are expected to list all sources of information in the following ways using APA 7th edition:

• A reference/citation refers to a resource from which an idea or direct quotation has been taken. An ‘in-text’ reference, citing the author and date, is placed in the sentence or below a quotation inside curved brackets.

• A references list is an alphabetical listing of all resources that have been referenced in the text of the report, essay or assignment.

• A bibliography is an alphabetical listing of all resources that have been used, including all those referenced in the text of the work. It is placed at the end of the report, essay or assignment.

Following your direct or indirect quotation:

• Select the References button.

• Select the second tab labeled ‘citations’.

• Click the ‘+’ button at the bottom.

• Select the type of source from the drop down box.

• Enter the appropriate details (ie. For a book enter the author, title, date of publication, publisher, and place of publication).

• Click ‘OK’ and an in-text reference will appear in your document.

• To use the same source more than once, move your cursor to the next quote, open the citations  and double click the correct source in the citations list.

For a direct quote from a paged source:

• Click on the in-text reference to activate it.

• From the drop down menu select ‘Edit this citation’.

• Add the page number/s where the quote was located.

• Click ‘OK’.

Upon completion of your document:

• Select the ‘Document Elements’ tab.

• Look across to ‘References’ and ensure ‘APA’ is selected.

• Click on the ‘Bibliography’ button and select the ‘Works Cited’ option on the right.

• Your works cited list should now be visible at the end of your document.

• Highlight the phrase "Works Cited" and change it to "References". Centre the title.

• Check that your list is in correct alphabetical order (see the References List Example webpage)

• Double-space your references/citations.

• Highlight the References list, move your cursor up to the ruler and drag the 'Hanging Indent' across half an inch.

REFERENCING STYLE

In consultation with Curriculum Leaders, Scotch College formally uses the APA referencing style (7th ed.). This is recorded with the IBO.

APA BASICS

APA Style uses in-text citations, not footnotes or endnotes, to direct the reader to a source in the reference list. The only use for footnotes in APA Style is to provide additional content that supplements the text. Endnotes are never used in APA.

APA Style requires reference lists not bibliographies. This means that all of the resources in the reference list have been cited in-text. (A bibliography is a list of all resources that have been cited as well as all resources that may have been consulted but not cited.)

ACHIEVEMENT LEVEL

In order to be awarded a top level in the relevant criterion, students must demonstrate the following:

• The reference list should be placed at the end of the assignment on a new numbered page

• Label the references list ‘References’, centred in plain text

• Sources should be varied and appear reliable (ie. primary sources, professional authors, news or feature articles, recent – depending on context, etc.)

• Sources should be titled using sentence case (only the first word, the word after a colon, and proper nouns are capitalised)

• Sources should be double spaced

• The reference list should have a 0.5cm hanging indent

• Sources are arranged in pure alphabetical order in the reference list:

  • Alphabetise letter by letter

  • Ignore spaces, capitalisation, hyphens, apostrophes, periods, and accent marks

  • When alphabetising titles or group names as authors, go by the first significant word (disregard a, an, the, etc.)

  • Use words to express any number that begins a title (ie. 1914: The great war would appear under ‘N’ for nineteen)