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I need to reference something in APA 6: Citation in something you have read

I need to reference something in APA 6: Check which referencing style you should use before following advice on this page.

Citation in something you have read

Citation in something you have read (secondary reference)

Citation in something you have read - citation

Citation

If you refer to the work of an author, cited in a source you are reading (known as secondary referencing) you should identify the original author but cite where you read it. 

It was found... (Neale cited in Hollinger, 2012) 
Neale (cited in Hollinger, 2012) states that...

 

Citation in something you have read - reference

Reference list

In your reference list, include only the work you have read.  If your secondary reference is from a book then you will have a normal book reference:

Author(s), (Year). Title. Edition (other than first edition). Place of publication: Publisher.

Hollinger, K. (2012). Feminist film studies. London: Routledge.

Good practice

If practical we recommend reading the original source of anything you want to cite which will reduce the need for secondary referencing.

 

 

More than one author

If you have a source with more than one author, if the author is an organisation, or if you cannot identify an author, follow this guidance.

Citing authors with example references

Examples in this table are selected to show how to cite and reference names.  The approach to names is the same for all types of reference and you will see different types of reference from the main example at the top of the page.

  Citation Reference

One author

Cite and reference the author

Phillips (2006) or (Phillips, 2006)

 Philips, D. (2006). Quality of life: Concept, policy and practice. London: Routledge.

Two authors

Cite and reference both authors

Kimball and Ross (2002) or (Kimball & Ross, 2002)

 Kimball, R., & Ross, M. (2002). The data warehouse toolkit: The complete guide to dimensional modeling. New York: Wiley.

Three, four or five authors

Cite all authors in the first citation.

 

Subsequent citations should include the first author followed by et al. In your reference include all the authors.

Bott, Coleman, Eaton and Rowland (2001) or (Bott, Coleman, Eaton & Rowland, 2001)

Bott et al. (2001) or (Bott et al., 2001)

 Bott, F., Coleman, A., Eaton, J., & Rowland, D. (2001). Professional issues in software engineering (3rd ed.). London: Taylor and Francis.

Six or seven authors

Cite the first author followed by et al. and in your reference include all the authors.

Shepperd et al. (2009) or (Shepperd et al., 2009)

 Shepperd, S., Doll, H., Gowers, S., James, A., Frazel, M., Fitzpatrick, R., & Pollock, J. (2009). Alternatives to inpatient mental health care for children and young people. The Cochrane Library, (2), article number CD006410.

Eight of more authors

Cite the first author followed by et al.

In your reference, include the first six authors, followed by ... then add the last  author.

Mali et al. (2013) or (Mali et al.,2013)

 Mali, P., Yang, L., Exvelt, K., Aach, J., Guell, M., Dicarlo, J., ... Church, G. (2013). RNA-guided human genome engineering via Cas9. Science, 339(6121), 823-6.

Editors

Follow the pattern above for when you have an editor or editors of a work; just remember that in your reference you need to identify them as an editor by putting (Ed) or (Eds) after all of the editors in the reference.

A source can be written by a corporate author such as an organisation or a company, also known as a group author. The corporate author and year should be used in the citation.

Citation Reference
Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2013) or (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2013) Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2013). Free school meals announcement - JRF response. Retrieved from: https://www.jrf.org.uk/press/free-school-meals-announcement-jrf-response

For instances of more than one corporate authors of a source, treat them as you would two individuals in the reference (i.e., include both). The group author names should not be shortened in the text citation. However, if they are used repeatedly, you might introduce an abbreviation.

If you cannot identify the author(s) of a source, cite it by title and list it under the title in your reference list.

  Citation Reference
Whole work (book) Dictionary of sports science (2006) or (Dictionary of sports science, 2006) Dictionary of sports science (2006). London : A. and C. Black.
Part of work (chapter, article, document) "Jennifer & Joshua's Star wars suite" (2016) or ("Jennifer & Joshua's Star wars suite", 2016) Jennifer & Joshua's Star wars suite (2016). In The modern wedding : From graphics to styling. Berkley CA : Gingko Press.