reference section in research paper

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

13.3 Creating a References Section

Learning objective.

Apply American Psychological Association (APA) style and formatting guidelines for a references section.

This section provides detailed information about how to create the references section of your paper. You will review basic formatting guidelines and learn how to format bibliographical entries for various types of sources. This section of Chapter 13 “APA and MLA Documentation and Formatting” , like the previous section, is meant to be used as a reference tool while you write.

Formatting the References Section: The Basics

At this stage in the writing process, you may already have begun setting up your references section. This section may consist of a single page for a brief research paper or may extend for many pages in professional journal articles. As you create this section of your paper, follow the guidelines provided here.

Formatting the References Section

To set up your references section, use the insert page break feature of your word-processing program to begin a new page. Note that the header and margins will be the same as in the body of your paper, and pagination continues from the body of your paper. (In other words, if you set up the body of your paper correctly, the correct header and page number should appear automatically in your references section.) See additional guidelines below.

Formatting Reference Entries

Reference entries should include the following information:

The name of the author(s)
The year of publication and, where applicable, the exact date of publication
The full title of the source
For books, the city of publication
For articles or essays, the name of the periodical or book in which the article or essay appears
For magazine and journal articles, the volume number, issue number, and pages where the article appears
For sources on the web, the URL where the source is located

See the following examples for how to format a book or journal article with a single author.

Sample Book Entry

Sample Journal Article Entry

The following box provides general guidelines for formatting the reference page. For the remainder of this chapter, you will learn about how to format bibliographical entries for different source types, including multiauthor and electronic sources.

Formatting the References Section: APA General Guidelines

1. Include the heading References , centered at the top of the page. The heading should not be boldfaced, italicized, or underlined. 2. Use double-spaced type throughout the references section, as in the body of your paper. 3. Use hanging indentation for each entry. The first line should be flush with the left margin, while any lines that follow should be indented five spaces. Note that hanging indentation is the opposite of normal indenting rules for paragraphs. 4. List entries in alphabetical order by the author’s last name. For a work with multiple authors, use the last name of the first author listed. 5. List authors’ names using this format: Smith, J. C. 6. For a work with no individual author(s), use the name of the organization that published the work or, if this is unavailable, the title of the work in place of the author’s name.

7. For works with multiple authors, follow these guidelines:

For works with up to seven authors, list the last name and initials for each author.
For works with more than seven authors, list the first six names, followed by ellipses, and then the name of the last author listed.
Use an ampersand before the name of the last author listed.

8. Use title case for journal titles. Capitalize all important words in the title.

9. Use sentence case for all other titles—books, articles, web pages, and other source titles. Capitalize the first word of the title. Do not capitalize any other words in the title except for the following:

Proper nouns
First word of a subtitle
First word after a colon or dash

Set up the first page of your references section and begin adding entries, following the APA formatting guidelines provided in this section.

If there are any simple entries that you can format completely using the general guidelines, do so at this time.
For entries you are unsure of how to format, type in as much information as you can, and highlight the entries so you can return to them later.

Formatting Reference Entries for Different Source Types

As is the case for in-text citations, formatting reference entries becomes more complicated when you are citing a source with multiple authors, citing various types of online media, or citing sources for which you must provide additional information beyond the basics listed in the general guidelines. The following guidelines show how to format reference entries for these different situations.

Print Sources: Books

For book-length sources and shorter works that appear in a book, follow the guidelines that best describes your source.

A Book by Two or More Authors

List the authors’ names in the order they appear on the book’s title page. Use an ampersand before the last author’s name.

Campbell, D. T., & Stanley, J. C. (1963). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

An Edited Book with No Author

List the editor or editors’ names in place of the author’s name, followed by Ed. or Eds. in parentheses.

Myers, C., & Reamer, D. (Eds.). (2009). 2009 nutrition index. San Francisco, CA: HealthSource, Inc.

An Edited Book with an Author

List the author’s name first, followed by the title and the editor or editors. Note that when the editor is listed after the title, you list the initials before the last name.

Dickinson, E. (1959). Selected poems & letters of Emily Dickinson. R. N. Linscott (Ed.). Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

The previous example shows the format used for an edited book with one author—for instance, a collection of a famous person’s letters that has been edited. This type of source is different from an anthology, which is a collection of articles or essays by different authors. For citing works in anthologies, see the guidelines later in this section.

A Translated Book

Include the translator’s name after the title, and at the end of the citation, list the date the original work was published. Note that for the translator’s name, you list the initials before the last name.

Freud, S. (1965). New introductory lectures on psycho-analysis (J. Strachey, Trans.). New York, NY: W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1933).

A Book Published in Multiple Editions

If you are using any edition other than the first edition, include the edition number in parentheses after the title.

Berk, L. (2001). Development through the lifespan (2nd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

A Chapter in an Edited Book

List the name of the author(s) who wrote the chapter, followed by the chapter title. Then list the names of the book editor(s) and the title of the book, followed by the page numbers for the chapter and the usual information about the book’s publisher.

When creating a references section include the abbreviation

A Work That Appears in an Anthology

Follow the same process you would use to cite a book chapter, substituting the article or essay title for the chapter title.

An Article in a Reference Book

List the author’s name if available; if no author is listed, provide the title of the entry where the author’s name would normally be listed. If the book lists the name of the editor(s), include it in your citation. Indicate the volume number (if applicable) and page numbers in parentheses after the article title.

Capitalize proper nouns that appear in a book title while creating a references section

Two or More Books by the Same Author

List the entries in order of their publication year, beginning with the work published first.

Swedan, N. (2001). Women’s sports medicine and rehabilitation. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen Publishers.

Swedan, N. (2003). The active woman’s health and fitness handbook. New York, NY: Perigee.

If two books have multiple authors, and the first author is the same but the others are different, alphabetize by the second author’s last name (or the third or fourth, if necessary).

Carroll, D., & Aaronson, F. (2008). Managing type II diabetes. Chicago, IL: Southwick Press.

Carroll, D., & Zuckerman, N. (2008). Gestational diabetes. Chicago, IL: Southwick Press.

Books by Different Authors with the Same Last Name

Alphabetize entries by the authors’ first initial.

When creating a freferences section, capitalize the first word of a subtitle

A Book Authored by an Organization

Treat the organization name as you would an author’s name. For the purposes of alphabetizing, ignore words like The in the organization’s name. (That is, a book published by the American Heart Association would be listed with other entries whose authors’ names begin with A .)

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders DSM-IV (4th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

A Book-Length Report

Format technical and research reports as you would format other book-length sources. If the organization that issued the report assigned it a number, include the number in parentheses after the title. (See also the guidelines provided for citing works produced by government agencies.)

Jameson, R., & Dewey, J. (2009). Preliminary findings from an evaluation of the president’s physical fitness program in Pleasantville school district. Pleasantville, WA: Pleasantville Board of Education.

A Book Authored by a Government Agency

Treat these as you would a book published by a nongovernment organization, but be aware that these works may have an identification number listed. If so, include it in parentheses after the publication year.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2002). The decennial censuses from 1790 to 2000 (Publication No. POL/02-MA). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Offices.

Revisit the references section you began to compile in Note 13.73 “Exercise 1” . Use the guidelines provided to format any entries for book-length print sources that you were unable to finish earlier.

Review how Jorge formatted these book-length print sources:

Atkins, R. C. (2002). Dr. Atkins’ diet revolution . New York, NY: M. Evans and Company.

Agatson, A. (2003). The South Beach diet. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin.

Print Sources: Periodicals

An article in a scholarly journal.

Include the following information:

Author or authors’ names
Publication year
Article title (in sentence case, without quotation marks or italics)
Journal title (in title case and in italics)
Volume number (in italics)
Issue number (in parentheses)
Page number(s) where the article appears

DeMarco, R. F. (2010). Palliative care and African American women living with HIV. Journal of Nursing Education, 49 (5), 1–4.

An Article in a Journal Paginated by Volume

In these types of journals, page numbers for one volume continue across all the issues in that volume. For instance, the winter issue may begin with page 1, and in the spring issue that follows, the page numbers pick up where the previous issue left off. (If you have ever wondered why a print journal did not begin on page 1, or wondered why the page numbers of a journal extend into four digits, this is why.) Omit the issue number from your reference entry.

Wagner, J. (2009). Rethinking school lunches: A review of recent literature. American School Nurses’ Journal , 47, 1123–1127.

An Abstract of a Scholarly Article

At times you may need to cite an abstract—the summary that appears at the beginning—of a published article. If you are citing the abstract only, and it was published separately from the article, provide the following information:

Publication information for the article
Information about where the abstract was published (for instance, another journal or a collection of abstracts)

When creating a references section, use this format for abstracts published in a collection of abstracts

A Journal Article with Two to Seven Authors

List all the authors’ names in the order they appear in the article. Use an ampersand before the last name listed.

Barker, E. T., & Bornstein, M. H. (2010). Global self-esteem, appearance satisfaction, and self-reported dieting in early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 30 (2), 205–224.

Tremblay, M. S., Shields, M., Laviolette, M., Craig, C. L., Janssen, I., & Gorber, S. C. (2010). Fitness of Canadian children and youth: Results from the 2007–2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Health Reports, 21 (1), 7–20.

A Journal Article with More Than Seven Authors

List the first six authors’ names, followed by a comma, an ellipsis, and the name of the last author listed. The article in the following example has sixteen listed authors; the reference entry lists the first six authors and the sixteenth, omitting the seventh through the fifteenth.

When creating a references section, because some names are omitted, use a comma and an ellipsis, rather than an ampersand, before the final name listed

Writing at Work

The idea of an eight-page article with sixteen authors may seem strange to you—especially if you are in the midst of writing a ten-page research paper on your own. More often than not, articles in scholarly journals list multiple authors. Sometimes, the authors actually did collaborate on writing and editing the published article. In other instances, some of the authors listed may have contributed to the research in some way while being only minimally involved in the process of writing the article. Whenever you collaborate with colleagues to produce a written product, follow your profession’s conventions for giving everyone proper credit for their contribution.

A Magazine Article

After the publication year, list the issue date. Otherwise, treat these as you would journal articles. List the volume and issue number if both are available.

When creating a references section, oist the month after the year. For weekly magazines, list the full date, e.g.

A Newspaper Article

Treat these as you would magazine and journal articles, with one important difference: precede the page number(s) with the abbreviation p. (for a single-page article) or pp. (for a multipage article). For articles whose pagination is not continuous, list all the pages included in the article. For example, an article that begins on page A1 and continues on pages A4 would have the page reference A1, A4. An article that begins on page A1 and continues on pages A4 and A5 would have the page reference A1, A4–A5.

When creating a references section, include the section in your page reference.

A Letter to the Editor

After the title, indicate in brackets that the work is a letter to the editor.

Jones, J. (2009, January 31). Food police in our schools [Letter to the editor]. Rockwood Gazette, p. A8.

After the title, indicate in brackets that the work is a review and state the name of the work being reviewed. (Note that even if the title of the review is the same as the title of the book being reviewed, as in the following example, you should treat it as an article title. Do not italicize it.)

When creating a references section, italicize the title of the reviewed book only where it appears in brackets

Revisit the references section you began to compile in Note 13.73 “Exercise 1” . Use the guidelines provided above to format any entries for periodicals and other shorter print sources that you were unable to finish earlier.

Electronic Sources

Citing articles from online periodicals: urls and digital object identifiers (dois).

Whenever you cite online sources, it is important to provide the most up-to-date information available to help readers locate the source. In some cases, this means providing an article’s URL , or web address. (The letters URL stand for uniform resource locator.) Always provide the most complete URL possible. Provide a link to the specific article used, rather than a link to the publication’s homepage.

As you know, web addresses are not always stable. If a website is updated or reorganized, the article you accessed in April may move to a different location in May. The URL you provided may become a dead link. For this reason, many online periodicals, especially scholarly publications, now rely on DOIs rather than URLs to keep track of articles.

A DOI is a Digital Object Identifier—an identification code provided for some online documents, typically articles in scholarly journals. Like a URL, its purpose is to help readers locate an article. However, a DOI is more stable than a URL, so it makes sense to include it in your reference entry when possible. Follow these guidelines:

If you are citing an online article with a DOI, list the DOI at the end of the reference entry.
If the article appears in print as well as online, you do not need to provide the URL. However, include the words Electronic version after the title in brackets.
In other respects, treat the article as you would a print article. Include the volume number and issue number if available. (Note, however, that these may not be available for some online periodicals).

An Article from an Online Periodical with a DOI

List the DOI if one is provided. There is no need to include the URL if you have listed the DOI.

Bell, J. R. (2006). Low-carb beats low-fat diet for early losses but not long term. OBGYN News, 41 (12), 32. doi:10.1016/S0029-7437(06)71905-X

An Article from an Online Periodical with No DOI

List the URL. Include the volume and issue number for the periodical if this information is available. (For some online periodicals, it may not be.)

When creating a references section, use the words

Note that if the article appears in a print version of the publication, you do not need to list the URL, but do indicate that you accessed the electronic version.

Robbins, K. (2010, March/April). Nature’s bounty: A heady feast [Electronic version]. Psychology Today, 43 (2), 58.

Provide the URL of the article.

McNeil, D. G. (2010, May 3). Maternal health: A new study challenges benefits of vitamin A for women and babies. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/health/04glob.html?ref=health

An Article Accessed through a Database

Cite these articles as you would normally cite a print article. Provide database information only if the article is difficult to locate.

APA style does not require writers to provide the item number or accession number for articles retrieved from databases. You may choose to do so if the article is difficult to locate or the database is an obscure one. Check with your professor to see if this is something he or she would like you to include.

An Abstract of an Article

Format these as you would an article citation, but add the word Abstract in brackets after the title.

Bradley, U., Spence, M., Courtney, C. H., McKinley, M. C., Ennis, C. N., McCance, D. R.…Hunter, S. J. (2009). Low-fat versus low-carbohydrate weight reduction diets: Effects on weight loss, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular risk: A randomized control trial [Abstract]. Diabetes , 58 (12), 2741–2748. http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2009/08/23/db00098.abstract

A Nonperiodical Web Document

The ways you cite different nonperiodical web documents may vary slightly from source to source, depending on the information that is available. In your citation, include as much of the following information as you can:

Name of the author(s), whether an individual or organization
Date of publication (Use n.d. if no date is available.)
Title of the document
Address where you retrieved the document

If the document consists of more than one web page within the site, link to the homepage or the entry page for the document.

American Heart Association. (2010). Heart attack, stroke, and cardiac arrest warning signs. Retrieved from http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3053

An Entry from an Online Encyclopedia or Dictionary

Because these sources often do not include authors’ names, you may list the title of the entry at the beginning of the citation. Provide the URL for the specific entry.

Addiction. (n.d.) In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary . Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/addiction

If you cite raw data compiled by an organization, such as statistical data, provide the URL where you retrieved the information. Provide the name of the organization that sponsors the site.

US Food and Drug Administration. (2009). Nationwide evaluation of X-ray trends: NEXT surveys performed [Data file]. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/RadiationSafety/NationwideEvaluationofX- RayTrendsNEXT/ucm116508.htm

Graphic Data

When citing graphic data—such as maps, pie charts, bar graphs, and so on—include the name of the organization that compiled the information, along with the publication date. Briefly describe the contents in brackets. Provide the URL where you retrieved the information. (If the graphic is associated with a specific project or document, list it after your bracketed description of the contents.)

US Food and Drug Administration. (2009). [Pie charts showing the percentage breakdown of the FDA’s budget for fiscal year 2005]. 2005 FDA budget summary . Retrieved from mhttp://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ReportsManualsForms/Reports/BudgetReports/2005FDABudgetSummary/ucm117231.htm

An Online Interview (Audio File or Transcript)

List the interviewer, interviewee, and date. After the title, include bracketed text describing the interview as an “Interview transcript” or “Interview audio file,” depending on the format of the interview you accessed. List the name of the website and the URL where you retrieved the information. Use the following format.

Davies, D. (Interviewer), & Pollan, M. (Interviewee). (2008). Michael Pollan offers president food for thought [Interview transcript]. Retrieved from National Public Radio website: http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=100755362

An Electronic Book

Electronic books may include books available as text files online or audiobooks. If an electronic book is easily available in print, cite it as you would a print source. If it is unavailable in print (or extremely difficult to find), use the format in the example. (Use the words Available from in your citation if the book must be purchased or is not available directly.)

Chisholm, L. (n.d.). Celtic tales. Retrieved from http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/BookReader?bookid= chicelt_00150014&twoPage=false&route=text&size=0&fullscreen=false&pnum1=1&lang= English&ilang=English

A Chapter from an Online Book or a Chapter or Section of a Web Document

These are treated similarly to their print counterparts with the addition of retrieval information. Include the chapter or section number in parentheses after the book title.

Hart, A. M. (1895). Restoratives—Coffee, cocoa, chocolate. In Diet in sickness and in health (VI). Retrieved from http://www.archive.org/details/dietinsicknessin00hartrich

A Dissertation or Thesis from a Database

Provide the author, date of publication, title, and retrieval information. If the work is numbered within the database, include the number in parentheses at the end of the citation.

When creating a references section, italicize the titles of theses and dissertations.

Computer Software

For commonly used office software and programming languages, it is not necessary to provide a citation. Cite software only when you are using a specialized program, such as the nutrition tracking software in the following example. If you download software from a website, provide the version and the year if available.

Internet Brands, Inc. (2009). FitDay PC (Version 2) [Software]. Available from http://www.fitday.com/Pc/PcHome.html?gcid=14

A Post on a Blog or Video Blog

Citation guidelines for these sources are similar to those used for discussion forum postings. Briefly describe the type of source in brackets after the title.

When creating a references section, do not italicize the titles of blog or video blog postings

Because the content may not be carefully reviewed for accuracy, discussion forums and blogs should not be relied upon as a major source of information. However, it may be appropriate to cite these sources for some types of research. You may also participate in discussion forums or comment on blogs that address topics of personal or professional interest. Always keep in mind that when you post, you are making your thoughts public—and in many cases, available through search engines. Make sure any posts that can easily be associated with your name are appropriately professional, because a potential employer could view them.

A Television or Radio Broadcast

Include the name of the producer or executive producer; the date, title, and type of broadcast; and the associated company and location.

West, Ty. (Executive producer). (2009, September 24). PBS special report: Health care reform [Television broadcast]. New York, NY, and Washington, DC: Public Broadcasting Service.

A Television or Radio Series or Episode

Include the producer and the type of series if you are citing an entire television or radio series.

Couture, D., Nabors, S., Pinkard, S., Robertson, N., & Smith, J. (Producers). (1979). The Diane Rehm show [Radio series]. Washington, DC: National Public Radio.

To cite a specific episode of a radio or television series, list the name of the writer or writers (if available), the date the episode aired, its title, and the type of series, along with general information about the series.

Bernanke, J., & Wade, C. (2010, January 10). Hummingbirds: Magic in the air [Television series episode]. In F. Kaufman (Executive producer), Nature. New York, NY: WNET.

A Motion Picture

Name the director or producer (or both), year of release, title, country of origin, and studio.

Spurlock, M. (Director/producer), Morley, J. (Executive producer), & Winters. H. M. (Executive producer). (2004). Super size me. United States: Kathbur Pictures in association with Studio on Hudson.

A Recording

Name the primary contributors and list their role. Include the recording medium in brackets after the title. Then list the location and the label.

Smith, L. W. (Speaker). (1999). Meditation and relaxation [CD]. New York, NY: Earth, Wind, & Sky Productions.

Székely, I. (Pianist), Budapest Symphony Orchestra (Performers), & Németh, G. (Conductor). (1988). Chopin piano concertos no. 1 and 2 [CD]. Hong Kong: Naxos.

Provide as much information as possible about the writer, director, and producer; the date the podcast aired; its title; any organization or series with which it is associated; and where you retrieved the podcast.

Kelsey, A. R. (Writer), Garcia, J. (Director), & Kim, S. C. (Producer). (2010, May 7). Lies food labels tell us. Savvy consumer podcasts [Audio podcast] . Retrieved from http://www.savvyconsumer.org/podcasts/050710

Revisit the references section you began to compile in Note 13.73 “Exercise 1” .

Use the APA guidelines provided in this section to format any entries for electronic sources that you were unable to finish earlier.
If your sources include a form of media not covered in the APA guidelines here, consult with a writing tutor or review a print or online reference book. You may wish to visit the website of the American Psychological Association at http://www.apa.org or the Purdue University Online Writing lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu , which regularly updates its online style guidelines.
Give your paper a final edit to check the references section.

Key Takeaways

In APA papers, entries in the references section include as much of the following information as possible:

Print sources. Author(s), date of publication, title, publisher, page numbers (for shorter works), editors (if applicable), and periodical title (if applicable).
Online sources (text-based). Author(s), date of publication, title, publisher or sponsoring organization, and DOI or URL (if applicable).
Electronic sources (non-text-based). Provide details about the creator(s) of the work, title, associated company or series, and date the work was produced or broadcast. The specific details provided will vary depending on the medium and the information that is available.
Electronic sources (text-based). If an electronic source is also widely available in print form, it is sometimes unnecessary to provide details about how to access the electronic version. Check the guidelines for the specific source type.

school Campus Bookshelves
menu_book Bookshelves
perm_media Learning Objects
login Login
how_to_reg Request Instructor Account
hub Instructor Commons

Margin Size

Download Page (PDF)
Download Full Book (PDF)
Periodic Table
Physics Constants
Scientific Calculator
Reference & Cite
Tools expand_more
Readability

selected template will load here

This action is not available.

16.3: Creating a References Section (Part 1)

Last updated
Save as PDF
Page ID 251727

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \)

\( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)

\( \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)

( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\)

\( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\)

\( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\)

\( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\)

\( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)

\( \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\)

\( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\)

\( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\)

\( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\)

\( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\)

\( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\)

\( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\)

\( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

\( \newcommand{\vectorA}[1]{\vec{#1}} % arrow\)

\( \newcommand{\vectorAt}[1]{\vec{\text{#1}}} % arrow\)

\( \newcommand{\vectorB}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \)

\( \newcommand{\vectorC}[1]{\textbf{#1}} \)

\( \newcommand{\vectorD}[1]{\overrightarrow{#1}} \)

\( \newcommand{\vectorDt}[1]{\overrightarrow{\text{#1}}} \)

\( \newcommand{\vectE}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash{\mathbf {#1}}}} \)

Learning Objectives

Apply American Psychological Association (APA) style and formatting guidelines for a references section.

This section provides detailed information about how to create the references section of your paper. You will review basic formatting guidelines and learn how to format bibliographical entries for various types of sources. This section of Chapter 13, like the previous section, is meant to be used as a reference tool while you write.

Formatting the References Section: The Basics

Formatting the References Section

Formatting Reference Entries

Reference entries should include the following information:

The name of the author(s)
The year of publication and, where applicable, the exact date of publication
The full title of the source
For books, the city of publication
For articles or essays, the name of the periodical or book in which the article or essay appears
For magazine and journal articles, the volume number, issue number, and pages where the article appears
For sources on the web, the URL where the source is located

See the following examples for how to format a book or journal article with a single author.

Sample Book Entry

Sample Journal Article Entry

Formatting the References Section: APA General Guidelines

7. For works with multiple authors, follow these guidelines:

For works with up to seven authors, list the last name and initials for each author.
For works with more than seven authors, list the first six names, followed by ellipses, and then the name of the last author listed.
Use an ampersand before the name of the last author listed.

8. Use title case for journal titles. Capitalize all important words in the title.

Proper nouns
First word of a subtitle
First word after a colon or dash

10. Use italics for book and journal titles. Do not use italics, underlining, or quotation marks for titles of shorter works, such as articles.

Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)

Set up the first page of your references section and begin adding entries, following the APA formatting guidelines provided in this section.

If there are any simple entries that you can format completely using the general guidelines, do so at this time.
For entries you are unsure of how to format, type in as much information as you can, and highlight the entries so you can return to them later.

Formatting Reference Entries for Different Source Types

Print Sources: Books

For book-length sources and shorter works that appear in a book, follow the guidelines that best describes your source.

A Book by Two or More Authors

List the authors’ names in the order they appear on the book’s title page. Use an ampersand before the last author’s name.

Campbell, D. T., & Stanley, J. C. (1963). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

An Edited Book with No Author

List the editor or editors’ names in place of the author’s name, followed by Ed. or Eds. in parentheses.

Myers, C., & Reamer, D. (Eds.). (2009). 2009 nutrition index. San Francisco, CA: HealthSource, Inc.

An Edited Book with an Author

List the author’s name first, followed by the title and the editor or editors. Note that when the editor is listed after the title, you list the initials before the last name.

A Translated Book

Freud, S. (1965). New introductory lectures on psycho-analysis (J. Strachey, Trans.). New York, NY: W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1933).

A Book Published in Multiple Editions

If you are using any edition other than the first edition, include the edition number in parentheses after the title.

A Chapter in an Edited Book

A Work That Appears in an Anthology

Follow the same process you would use to cite a book chapter, substituting the article or essay title for the chapter title.

An Article in a Reference Book

Two or More Books by the Same Author

List the entries in order of their publication year, beginning with the work published first.

Swedan, N. (2001). Women’s sports medicine and rehabilitation. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen Publishers.
Swedan, N. (2003). The active woman’s health and fitness handbook. New York, NY: Perigee.

If two books have multiple authors, and the first author is the same but the others are different, alphabetize by the second author’s last name (or the third or fourth, if necessary).

Carroll, D., & Aaronson, F. (2008). Managing type II diabetes. Chicago, IL: Southwick Press.
Carroll, D., & Zuckerman, N. (2008). Gestational diabetes. Chicago, IL: Southwick Press.

Books by Different Authors with the Same Last Name

Alphabetize entries by the authors’ first initial.

A Book Authored by an Organization

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders DSM-IV (4th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

A Book-Length Report

A Book Authored by a Government Agency

U.S. Census Bureau. (2002). The decennial censuses from 1790 to 2000 (Publication No. POL/02-MA). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Offices.

Exercise \(\PageIndex{2}\)

Revisit the references section you began to compile in Exercise 1. Use the guidelines provided to format any entries for book-length print sources that you were unable to finish earlier.

Review how Jorge formatted these book-length print sources:

Atkins, R. C. (2002). Dr. Atkins’ diet revolution . New York, NY: M. Evans and Company.

Agatson, A. (2003). The South Beach diet. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin.

Print Sources: Periodicals

An article in a scholarly journal.

Include the following information:

Author or authors’ names
Publication year
Article title (in sentence case, without quotation marks or italics)
Journal title (in title case and in italics)
Volume number (in italics)
Issue number (in parentheses)
Page number(s) where the article appears

DeMarco, R. F. (2010). Palliative care and African American women living with HIV. Journal of Nursing Education, 49 (5), 1–4.

An Article in a Journal Paginated by Volume

Wagner, J. (2009). Rethinking school lunches: A review of recent literature. American School Nurses’ Journal , 47, 1123–1127.

An Abstract of a Scholarly Article

Publication information for the article
Information about where the abstract was published (for instance, another journal or a collection of abstracts)

A Journal Article with Two to Seven Authors

List all the authors’ names in the order they appear in the article. Use an ampersand before the last name listed.

Barker, E. T., & Bornstein, M. H. (2010). Global self-esteem, appearance satisfaction, and self-reported dieting in early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 30 (2), 205–224.
Tremblay, M. S., Shields, M., Laviolette, M., Craig, C. L., Janssen, I., & Gorber, S. C. (2010). Fitness of Canadian children and youth: Results from the 2007–2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Health Reports, 21 (1), 7–20.

A Journal Article with More Than Seven Authors

Writing at Work

A Magazine Article

After the publication year, list the issue date. Otherwise, treat these as you would journal articles. List the volume and issue number if both are available.

A Newspaper Article

A Letter to the Editor

After the title, indicate in brackets that the work is a letter to the editor.

Jones, J. (2009, January 31). Food police in our schools [Letter to the editor]. Rockwood Gazette, p. A8.

Exercise \(\PageIndex{3}\)

Revisit the references section you began to compile in Exercise 1. Use the guidelines provided above to format any entries for periodicals and other shorter print sources that you were unable to finish earlier.

I nfographics
Show AWL words
Subscribe to newsletter
What is academic writing?
Academic Style
What is the writing process?
Understanding the title
Brainstorming
Researching
First draft
Proofreading
Report writing
Compare & contrast
Cause & effect
Problem-solution
Classification
Essay structure
Introduction
Literature review
Book review
Research proposal
Thesis/dissertation
What is cohesion?
Cohesion vs coherence
Transition signals
What are references?
In-text citations
Reference sections
Reporting verbs
Band descriptors

Show AWL words on this page.

Levels 1-5: grey Levels 6-10: orange

Show sorted lists of these words.

Any words you don't know? Look them up in the website's built-in dictionary .

Choose a dictionary . Wordnet OPTED both

Reference section Citation end-matters

The reference section is an important part of a researched academic paper. This page looks at what a reference section is , explains the difference between a reference section and a bibliography , and finally looks at reference section formats for the three most common referencing conventions, namely Harvard , APA ( 7th edition ) and MLA ( 8th edition ) .

What is a reference section?

For another look at the same content, check out the YouTube » or Youku » videos.

The Reference Section, also called the Reference List or Cited Works List, is a list of the full text (or 'biographical') details of the in-text citations which have used in the main text. It includes information such as author, year of publication, title, and publisher or URL. The Reference Section allows the reader to find the text easily, and can be considered as the long-hand format of the in-text citation. It is found at the end of the piece of writing. It is similar to but not the same as a bibliography (see below). The works in a reference section should be listed in alphabetical order , in other words from A-Z.

Reference Section vs. Bibliography

The format of a reference section and a bibliography will be exactly the same, and will depend on which referencing convention you are using (see main ones below). The difference between them is that a reference section contains only the works which have been cited in the main text. A bibliography, on the other hand, contains additional sources, which the writer has referred to while writing the work but not actually used in the main text. You should check with your tutor which type is required for your submission. Sometimes both are needed: a reference section with works cited, and a separate bibliography which lists works referred to but not used.

Reference section formats

This section gives information on compiling a reference section for the three most common formats, namely Harvard , APA and MLA . This is shown in the same format as you need to use in your reference section (e.g. Title means you need to put the title in italics). Referencing can be a confusing area, with books and websites striving for completeness by considering every possible source of information. To simplify matters, this page considers only the most common sources of information used by students, which are: website articles; journal articles; books; and chapters of edited books.

The Harvard style, despite its American origins, is the most common system used in the UK. The following table shows the information needed in the reference section if using the Harvard style of referencing.

Example Reference Section (Harvard style)

Cornell University (2005) What is the difference between documentation, citation, and reference? Available at: https://plagiarism.arts.cornell.edu/tutorial/logistics3.cfm (Access date: 10/11/15).

Leithwood, K., Harris, A., and Hopkins, D. (2008) 'Seven strong claims about successful school leadership', School Leadership & Management , 28(1), pp.27-42.

Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2013) Cite them right: The essential guide to referencing . 9th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

Tosey, P. (2003) 'The Learning Organization', in Jarvis, P., Holford, J. and Griffin, C. (eds.) The Theory and Practice of Learning . London: Kogan Page, pp.144-156.

The APA (American Psychological Association) style of referencing is used in social science subjects, especially in the USA. It is very close to the Harvard style. If using APA style, the section is always called References (level 1 heading, meaning it should be in bold and centred). The following table shows the information needed in the reference section if using the APA style of referencing.

Example Reference Section (APA style)

Cornell University (2005). What is the difference between documentation, citation, and reference? https://plagiarism.arts.cornell.edu/tutorial/logistics3.cfm

Leithwood, K., Harris, A., and Hopkins, D. (2008). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership. School Leadership & Management, 28 (1), 27-42.

Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2013). Cite them right: The essential guide to referencing . 9th edn. Palgrave MacMillan.

Tosey, P. (2003) The Learning Organization. In Jarvis, P., Holford, J. and Griffin, C. (eds.) The Theory and Practice of Learning (pp.144-156). Kogan Page.

The MLA (Modern Language Association) referencing style is used in some humanities subjects, including language and literature, especially in the USA. The reference section in MLA style is always called the Cited Works List . The following table shows the information needed in the reference section if using the MLA style of referencing.

Example Cited Works List (MLA style)

Cornell University. What is the difference between documentation, citation, and reference? 2005. plagiarism.arts.cornell.edu/tutorial/logistics3.cfm. Accessed 10 November 2015.

Leithwood, Kenneth, Alma Harris and David Hopkins. "Seven strong claims about successful school leadership." School Leadership & Management . 28.1 (2008): 27-42.

Pears, Richard and Graham Shields. Cite them right: The essential guide to referencing . 9th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2013.

Tosey, Paul. "The Learning Organization". The Theory and Practice of Learning . Ed. Peter Jarvis, John Holford, and Colin Griffin. London: Kogan Page, 2003, 144-156.

Multiple authors

As mentioned in the in-text citations section, one area of difference between the above styles is how they deal with multiple authors. For the Harvard style, all authors are listed in the reference section, no matter how many there are. With APA style, up to 20 authors' names are listed; if more than 20, use ... after the 19th name, followed by the final author's name. With MLA style, if the phrase et al. is used for multiple authors in the text, then only the first author and the phrase et al. is given in the Cited Works List.

GET FREE EBOOK

Like the website? Try the books. Enter your email to receive a free sample from Academic Writing Genres .

Below is a checklist for checking the reference section of an academic paper. Use it to check your own writing, or get a peer (another student) to help you.

American Psychological Association (2016) How do you cite website material that has no author, no year, and no page numbers? Available at: http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/cite-website-material.aspx (Access date: 1/1/2016).

Leabharlann, A., Ollsciole, A., and Cliath, B.(2011) MLA Referencing Style . Available at: http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/Guide70.pdf (Access date: 31/12/2015).

Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2013). Cite them right: The essential guide to referencing . 9th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

Russell, T., Brizee, A., Angeli, E., Keck, R., Paiz, J., Campbell, M., Rodríguez-Fuentes, R., and Kenzie, D. (2014) MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics . Available at: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/ (Access date: 31/12/2015).

Southern Cross University (2014) Harvard Referencing Style . Available at: http://libguides.scu.edu.au/content.php?pid=269507&sid=2223231 (Access date: 1/1/2016).

University of Maryland University College (2016) MLA Citation Examples . Available at: http://www.umuc.edu/library/libhow/mla_examples.cfm . (Access date: 1/1/2016).

Next section

Find out about reporting verbs in the next section.

Previous section

Go back to the previous section about in-text citations .

Author: Sheldon Smith ‖ Last modified: 27 March 2021.

Sheldon Smith is the founder and editor of EAPFoundation.com. He has been teaching English for Academic Purposes since 2004. Find out more about him in the about section and connect with him on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn .

Compare & contrast essays examine the similarities of two or more objects, and the differences.

Cause & effect essays consider the reasons (or causes) for something, then discuss the results (or effects).

Discussion essays require you to examine both sides of a situation and to conclude by saying which side you favour.

Problem-solution essays are a sub-type of SPSE essays (Situation, Problem, Solution, Evaluation).

Transition signals are useful in achieving good cohesion and coherence in your writing.

Reporting verbs are used to link your in-text citations to the information cited.

Walden University
Faculty Portal

Reference List: Common Reference List Examples

Article (with doi).

Alvarez, E., & Tippins, S. (2019). Socialization agents that Puerto Rican college students use to make financial decisions. Journal of Social Change , 11 (1), 75–85. https://doi.org/10.5590/JOSC.2019.11.1.07

Laplante, J. P., & Nolin, C. (2014). Consultas and socially responsible investing in Guatemala: A case study examining Maya perspectives on the Indigenous right to free, prior, and informed consent. Society & Natural Resources , 27 , 231–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2013.861554

Use the DOI number for the source whenever one is available. DOI stands for "digital object identifier," a number specific to the article that can help others locate the source. In APA 7, format the DOI as a web address. Active hyperlinks for DOIs and URLs should be used for documents meant for screen reading. Present these hyperlinks in blue and underlined text (the default formatting in Microsoft Word), although plain black text is also acceptable. Be consistent in your formatting choice for DOIs and URLs throughout your reference list. Also see our Quick Answer FAQ, "Can I use the DOI format provided by library databases?"

Jerrentrup, A., Mueller, T., Glowalla, U., Herder, M., Henrichs, N., Neubauer, A., & Schaefer, J. R. (2018). Teaching medicine with the help of “Dr. House.” PLoS ONE , 13 (3), Article e0193972. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193972

For journal articles that are assigned article numbers rather than page ranges, include the article number in place of the page range.

For more on citing electronic resources, see  Electronic Sources References .

Article (Without DOI)

Found in a common academic research database or in print.

Casler , T. (2020). Improving the graduate nursing experience through support on a social media platform. MEDSURG Nursing , 29 (2), 83–87.

If an article does not have a DOI and you retrieved it from a common academic research database through the university library, there is no need to include any additional electronic retrieval information. The reference list entry looks like the entry for a print copy of the article. (This format differs from APA 6 guidelines that recommended including the URL of a journal's homepage when the DOI was not available.) Note that APA 7 has additional guidance on reference list entries for articles found only in specific databases or archives such as Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, UpToDate, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, and university archives. See APA 7, Section 9.30 for more information.

Found on an Open Access Website

Eaton, T. V., & Akers, M. D. (2007). Whistleblowing and good governance. CPA Journal , 77 (6), 66–71. http://archives.cpajournal.com/2007/607/essentials/p58.htm

Provide the direct web address/URL to a journal article found on the open web, often on an open access journal's website. In APA 7, active hyperlinks for DOIs and URLs should be used for documents meant for screen reading. Present these hyperlinks in blue and underlined text (the default formatting in Microsoft Word), although plain black text is also acceptable. Be consistent in your formatting choice for DOIs and URLs throughout your reference list.

Weinstein, J. A. (2010). Social change (3rd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield.

If the book has an edition number, include it in parentheses after the title of the book. If the book does not list any edition information, do not include an edition number. The edition number is not italicized.

American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing: Scope and standards of practice (3rd ed.).

If the author and publisher are the same, only include the author in its regular place and omit the publisher.

Lencioni, P. (2012). The advantage: Why organizational health trumps everything else in business . Jossey-Bass. https://amzn.to/343XPSJ

As a change from APA 6 to APA 7, it is no longer necessary to include the ebook format in the title. However, if you listened to an audiobook and the content differs from the text version (e.g., abridged content) or your discussion highlights elements of the audiobook (e.g., narrator's performance), then note that it is an audiobook in the title element in brackets. For ebooks and online audiobooks, also include the DOI number (if available) or nondatabase URL but leave out the electronic retrieval element if the ebook was found in a common academic research database, as with journal articles. APA 7 allows for the shortening of long DOIs and URLs, as shown in this example. See APA 7, Section 9.36 for more information.

Chapter in an Edited Book

Poe, M. (2017). Reframing race in teaching writing across the curriculum. In F. Condon & V. A. Young (Eds.), Performing antiracist pedagogy in rhetoric, writing, and communication (pp. 87–105). University Press of Colorado.

Include the page numbers of the chapter in parentheses after the book title.

Christensen, L. (2001). For my people: Celebrating community through poetry. In B. Bigelow, B. Harvey, S. Karp, & L. Miller (Eds.), Rethinking our classrooms: Teaching for equity and justice (Vol. 2, pp. 16–17). Rethinking Schools.

Also include the volume number or edition number in the parenthetical information after the book title when relevant.

Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id. In J. Strachey (Ed.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 19, pp. 3-66). Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1923)

When a text has been republished as part of an anthology collection, after the author’s name include the date of the version that was read. At the end of the entry, place the date of the original publication inside parenthesis along with the note “original work published.” For in-text citations of republished work, use both dates in the parenthetical citation, original date first with a slash separating the years, as in this example: Freud (1923/1961). For more information on reprinted or republished works, see APA 7, Sections 9.40-9.41.

Classroom Resources

Citing classroom resources.

If you need to cite content found in your online classroom, use the author (if there is one listed), the year of publication (if available), the title of the document, and the main URL of Walden classrooms. For example, you are citing study notes titled "Health Effects of Exposure to Forest Fires," but you do not know the author's name, your reference entry will look like this:

Health effects of exposure to forest fires [Lecture notes]. (2005). Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com

If you do know the author of the document, your reference will look like this:

Smith, A. (2005). Health effects of exposure to forest fires [PowerPoint slides]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com

A few notes on citing course materials:

[Lecture notes]
[Course handout]
[Study notes]
It can be difficult to determine authorship of classroom documents. If an author is listed on the document, use that. If the resource is clearly a product of Walden (such as the course-based videos), use Walden University as the author. If you are unsure or if no author is indicated, place the title in the author spot, as above.
If you cannot determine a date of publication, you can use n.d. (for "no date") in place of the year.

Note: The web location for Walden course materials is not directly retrievable without a password, and therefore, following APA guidelines, use the main URL for the class sites: https://class.waldenu.edu.

Citing Tempo Classroom Resources

Clear author:

Smith, A. (2005). Health effects of exposure to forest fires [PowerPoint slides]. Walden University Brightspace. https://mytempo.waldenu.edu

Unclear author:

Health effects of exposure to forest fires [Lecture notes]. (2005). Walden University Brightspace. https://mytempo.waldenu.edu

Conference Sessions and Presentations

Feinman, Y. (2018, July 27). Alternative to proctoring in introductory statistics community college courses [Poster presentation]. Walden University Research Symposium, Minneapolis, MN, United States. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/symposium2018/23/

Torgerson, K., Parrill, J., & Haas, A. (2019, April 5-9). Tutoring strategies for online students [Conference session]. The Higher Learning Commission Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, United States. http://onlinewritingcenters.org/scholarship/torgerson-parrill-haas-2019/

Dictionary Entry

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Leadership. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary . Retrieved May 28, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leadership

When constructing a reference for an entry in a dictionary or other reference work that has no byline (i.e., no named individual authors), use the name of the group—the institution, company, or organization—as author (e.g., Merriam Webster, American Psychological Association, etc.). The name of the entry goes in the title position, followed by "In" and the italicized name of the reference work (e.g., Merriam-Webster.com dictionary , APA dictionary of psychology ). In this instance, APA 7 recommends including a retrieval date as well for this online source since the contents of the page change over time. End the reference entry with the specific URL for the defined word.

Discussion Board Post

Osborne, C. S. (2010, June 29). Re: Environmental responsibility [Discussion post]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com

Dissertations or Theses

Retrieved From a Database

Nalumango, K. (2019). Perceptions about the asylum-seeking process in the United States after 9/11 (Publication No. 13879844) [Doctoral dissertation, Walden University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

Retrieved From an Institutional or Personal Website

Evener. J. (2018). Organizational learning in libraries at for-profit colleges and universities [Doctoral dissertation, Walden University]. ScholarWorks. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6606&context=dissertations

Unpublished Dissertation or Thesis

Kirwan, J. G. (2005). An experimental study of the effects of small-group, face-to-face facilitated dialogues on the development of self-actualization levels: A movement towards fully functional persons [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center.

For further examples and information, see APA 7, Section 10.6.

Legal Material

For legal references, APA follows the recommendations of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation , so if you have any questions beyond the examples provided in APA, seek out that resource as well.

Court Decisions

Reference format:

Name v. Name, Volume Reporter Page (Court Date). URL

Sample reference entry:

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483

Sample citation:

In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Supreme Court ruled racial segregation in schools unconstitutional.

Note: Italicize the case name when it appears in the text of your paper.

Name of Act, Title Source § Section Number (Year). URL

Sample reference entry for a federal statute:

Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq. (2004). https://www.congress.gov/108/plaws/publ446/PLAW-108publ446.pdf

Sample reference entry for a state statute:

Minnesota Nurse Practice Act, Minn. Stat. §§ 148.171 et seq. (2019). https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/148.171

Sample citation: Minnesota nurses must maintain current registration in order to practice (Minnesota Nurse Practice Act, 2010).

Note: The § symbol stands for "section." Use §§ for sections (plural). To find this symbol in Microsoft Word, go to "Insert" and click on Symbol." Look in the Latin 1-Supplement subset. Note: U.S.C. stands for "United States Code." Note: The Latin abbreviation " et seq. " means "and what follows" and is used when the act includes the cited section and ones that follow. Note: List the chapter first followed by the section or range of sections.

Unenacted Bills and Resolutions

(Those that did not pass and become law)

Title [if there is one], bill or resolution number, xxx Cong. (year). URL

Sample reference entry for Senate bill:

Anti-Phishing Act, S. 472, 109th Cong. (2005). https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/senate-bill/472

Sample reference entry for House of Representatives resolution:

Anti-Phishing Act, H.R. 1099, 109th Cong. (2005). https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-bill/1099

The Anti-Phishing Act (2005) proposed up to 5 years prison time for people running Internet scams.

These are the three legal areas you may be most apt to cite in your scholarly work. For more examples and explanation, see APA 7, Chapter 11.

Magazine Article

Clay, R. (2008, June). Science vs. ideology: Psychologists fight back about the misuse of research. Monitor on Psychology , 39 (6). https://www.apa.org/monitor/2008/06/ideology

Note that for citations, include only the year: Clay (2008). For magazine articles retrieved from a common academic research database, leave out the URL. For magazine articles from an online news website that is not an online version of a print magazine, follow the format for a webpage reference list entry.

Newspaper Article (Retrieved Online)

Baker, A. (2014, May 7). Connecticut students show gains in national tests. New York Times . http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/nyregion/national-assessment-of-educational-progress-results-in-Connecticut-and-New-Jersey.html

Include the full date in the format Year, Month Day. Do not include a retrieval date for periodical sources found on websites. Note that for citations, include only the year: Baker (2014). For newspaper articles retrieved from a common academic research database, leave out the URL. For newspaper articles from an online news website that is not an online version of a print newspaper, follow the format for a webpage reference list entry.

OASIS Resources

Oasis webpage.

OASIS. (n.d.). Common reference list examples . Walden University. https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/apa/references/examples

For all OASIS content, list OASIS as the author. Because OASIS webpages do not include publication dates, use “n.d.” for the year.

Interactive Guide

OASIS. (n.d.). Embrace iterative research and writing [Interactive guide]. Walden University. https://academics.waldenu.edu/oasis/iterative-research-writing-web

For OASIS multimedia resources, such as interactive guides, include a description of the resource in brackets after the title.

Online Video/Webcast

Walden University. (2013). An overview of learning [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com

Use this format for online videos such as Walden videos in classrooms. Most of our classroom videos are produced by Walden University, which will be listed as the author in your reference and citation. Note: Some examples of audiovisual materials in the APA manual show the word “Producer” in parentheses after the producer/author area. In consultation with the editors of the APA manual, we have determined that parenthetical is not necessary for the videos in our courses. The manual itself is unclear on the matter, however, so either approach should be accepted. Note that the speaker in the video does not appear in the reference list entry, but you may want to mention that person in your text. For instance, if you are viewing a video where Tobias Ball is the speaker, you might write the following: Tobias Ball stated that APA guidelines ensure a consistent presentation of information in student papers (Walden University, 2013). For more information on citing the speaker in a video, see our page on Common Citation Errors .

Taylor, R. [taylorphd07]. (2014, February 27). Scales of measurement [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDsMUlexaMY

OASIS. (2020, April 15). One-way ANCOVA: Introduction [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/_XnNDQ5CNW8

For videos from streaming sites, use the person or organization who uploaded the video in the author space to ensure retrievability, whether or not that person is the speaker in the video. A username can be provided in square brackets. As a change from APA 6 to APA 7, include the publisher after the title, and do not use "Retrieved from" before the URL. See APA 7, Section 10.12 for more information and examples.

See also reference list entry formats for TED Talks .

Technical and Research Reports

Edwards, C. (2015). Lighting levels for isolated intersections: Leading to safety improvements (Report No. MnDOT 2015-05). Center for Transportation Studies. http://www.cts.umn.edu/Publications/ResearchReports/reportdetail.html?id=2402

Technical and research reports by governmental agencies and other research institutions usually follow a different publication process than scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. However, they present original research and are often useful for research papers. Sometimes, researchers refer to these types of reports as gray literature , and white papers are a type of this literature. See APA 7, Section 10.4 for more information.

Reference list entires for TED Talks follow the usual guidelines for multimedia content found online. There are two common places to find TED talks online, with slightly different reference list entry formats for each.

TED Talk on the TED website

If you find the TED Talk on the TED website, follow the format for an online video on an organizational website:

Owusu-Kesse, K. (2020, June). 5 needs that any COVID-19 response should meet [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/kwame_owusu_kesse_5_needs_that_any_covid_19_response_should_meet

The speaker is the author in the reference list entry if the video is posted on the TED website. For citations, use the speaker's surname.

TED Talk on YouTube

If you find the TED Talk on YouTube or another streaming video website, follow the usual format for streaming video sites:

TED. (2021, February 5). The shadow pandemic of domestic violence during COVID-19 | Kemi DaSilvalbru [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGdID_ICFII

TED is the author in the reference list entry if the video is posted on YouTube since it is the channel on which the video is posted. For citations, use TED as the author.

Walden University Course Catalog

To include the Walden course catalog in your reference list, use this format:

Walden University. (2020). 2019-2020 Walden University catalog . https://catalog.waldenu.edu/index.php

If you cite from a specific portion of the catalog in your paper, indicate the appropriate section and paragraph number in your text:

...which reflects the commitment to social change expressed in Walden University's mission statement (Walden University, 2020, Vision, Mission, and Goals section, para. 2).

And in the reference list:

Walden University. (2020). Vision, mission, and goals. In 2019-2020 Walden University catalog. https://catalog.waldenu.edu/content.php?catoid=172&navoid=59420&hl=vision&returnto=search

Vartan, S. (2018, January 30). Why vacations matter for your health . CNN. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/why-vacations-matter/index.html

For webpages on the open web, include the author, date, webpage title, organization/site name, and URL. (There is a slight variation for online versions of print newspapers or magazines. For those sources, follow the models in the previous sections of this page.)

American Federation of Teachers. (n.d.). Community schools . http://www.aft.org/issues/schoolreform/commschools/index.cfm

If there is no specified author, then use the organization’s name as the author. In such a case, there is no need to repeat the organization's name after the title.

In APA 7, active hyperlinks for DOIs and URLs should be used for documents meant for screen reading. Present these hyperlinks in blue and underlined text (the default formatting in Microsoft Word), although plain black text is also acceptable. Be consistent in your formatting choice for DOIs and URLs throughout your reference list.

Related Resources

Knowledge Check: Common Reference List Examples

Didn't find what you need? Email us at [email protected] .

Previous Page: Reference List: Overview
Next Page: Common Military Reference List Examples
Office of Student Disability Services

Walden Resources

Departments.

Academic Residencies
Academic Skills
Career Planning and Development
Customer Care Team
Field Experience
Military Services
Student Success Advising
Writing Skills

Centers and Offices

Center for Social Change
Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services
Office of Degree Acceleration
Office of Research and Doctoral Services
Office of Student Affairs

Student Resources

Doctoral Writing Assessment
Form & Style Review
Quick Answers
ScholarWorks
SKIL Courses and Workshops
Walden Bookstore
Walden Catalog & Student Handbook
Student Safety/Title IX
Legal & Consumer Information
Website Terms and Conditions
Cookie Policy
Accessibility
Accreditation
State Authorization
Net Price Calculator
Contact Walden

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, automatically generate references for free.

Knowledge Base
Referencing

A Quick Guide to Harvard Referencing | Citation Examples

Published on 14 February 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 15 September 2023.

Referencing is an important part of academic writing. It tells your readers what sources you’ve used and how to find them.

Harvard is the most common referencing style used in UK universities. In Harvard style, the author and year are cited in-text, and full details of the source are given in a reference list .

Harvard Reference Generator

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Be assured that you'll submit flawless writing. Upload your document to correct all your mistakes.

Harvard in-text citation, creating a harvard reference list, harvard referencing examples, referencing sources with no author or date, frequently asked questions about harvard referencing.

A Harvard in-text citation appears in brackets beside any quotation or paraphrase of a source. It gives the last name of the author(s) and the year of publication, as well as a page number or range locating the passage referenced, if applicable:

Note that ‘p.’ is used for a single page, ‘pp.’ for multiple pages (e.g. ‘pp. 1–5’).

An in-text citation usually appears immediately after the quotation or paraphrase in question. It may also appear at the end of the relevant sentence, as long as it’s clear what it refers to.

When your sentence already mentions the name of the author, it should not be repeated in the citation:

Sources with multiple authors

When you cite a source with up to three authors, cite all authors’ names. For four or more authors, list only the first name, followed by ‘ et al. ’:

Sources with no page numbers

Some sources, such as websites , often don’t have page numbers. If the source is a short text, you can simply leave out the page number. With longer sources, you can use an alternate locator such as a subheading or paragraph number if you need to specify where to find the quote:

Multiple citations at the same point

When you need multiple citations to appear at the same point in your text – for example, when you refer to several sources with one phrase – you can present them in the same set of brackets, separated by semicolons. List them in order of publication date:

Multiple sources with the same author and date

If you cite multiple sources by the same author which were published in the same year, it’s important to distinguish between them in your citations. To do this, insert an ‘a’ after the year in the first one you reference, a ‘b’ in the second, and so on:

The only proofreading tool specialized in correcting academic writing

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts and by native English editors. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students.

Correct my document today

A bibliography or reference list appears at the end of your text. It lists all your sources in alphabetical order by the author’s last name, giving complete information so that the reader can look them up if necessary.

The reference entry starts with the author’s last name followed by initial(s). Only the first word of the title is capitalised (as well as any proper nouns).

Sources with multiple authors in the reference list

As with in-text citations, up to three authors should be listed; when there are four or more, list only the first author followed by ‘ et al. ’:

Reference list entries vary according to source type, since different information is relevant for different sources. Formats and examples for the most commonly used source types are given below.

Entire book
Book chapter
Translated book
Edition of a book

Journal articles

Print journal
Online-only journal with DOI
Online-only journal with no DOI
General web page
Online article or blog
Social media post

Sometimes you won’t have all the information you need for a reference. This section covers what to do when a source lacks a publication date or named author.

No publication date

When a source doesn’t have a clear publication date – for example, a constantly updated reference source like Wikipedia or an obscure historical document which can’t be accurately dated – you can replace it with the words ‘no date’:

Note that when you do this with an online source, you should still include an access date, as in the example.

When a source lacks a clearly identified author, there’s often an appropriate corporate source – the organisation responsible for the source – whom you can credit as author instead, as in the Google and Wikipedia examples above.

When that’s not the case, you can just replace it with the title of the source in both the in-text citation and the reference list:

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

Harvard referencing uses an author–date system. Sources are cited by the author’s last name and the publication year in brackets. Each Harvard in-text citation corresponds to an entry in the alphabetised reference list at the end of the paper.

Vancouver referencing uses a numerical system. Sources are cited by a number in parentheses or superscript. Each number corresponds to a full reference at the end of the paper.

A Harvard in-text citation should appear in brackets every time you quote, paraphrase, or refer to information from a source.

The citation can appear immediately after the quotation or paraphrase, or at the end of the sentence. If you’re quoting, place the citation outside of the quotation marks but before any other punctuation like a comma or full stop.

In Harvard referencing, up to three author names are included in an in-text citation or reference list entry. When there are four or more authors, include only the first, followed by ‘ et al. ’

Though the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, there is a difference in meaning:

A reference list only includes sources cited in the text – every entry corresponds to an in-text citation .
A bibliography also includes other sources which were consulted during the research but not cited.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2023, September 15). A Quick Guide to Harvard Referencing | Citation Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 14 May 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/harvard-style/

Is this article helpful?

Jack Caulfield

Other students also liked, harvard in-text citation | a complete guide & examples, harvard style bibliography | format & examples, referencing books in harvard style | templates & examples, scribbr apa citation checker.

An innovative new tool that checks your APA citations with AI software. Say goodbye to inaccurate citations!

Manuscript Preparation

How to write your references quickly and easily

3 minute read
249.4K views

Table of Contents

Every scientific paper builds on previous research – even if it’s in a new field, related studies will have preceded and informed it. In peer-reviewed articles, authors must give credit to this previous research, through citations and references. Not only does this show clearly where the current research came from, but it also helps readers understand the content of the paper better.

There is no optimum number of references for an academic article but depending on the subject you could be dealing with more than 100 different papers, conference reports, video articles, medical guidelines or any number of other resources.

That’s a lot of content to manage. Before submitting your manuscript, this needs to be checked, cross-references in the text and the list, organized and formatted.

The exact content and format of the citations and references in your paper will depend on the journal you aim to publish in, so the first step is to check the journal’s Guide for Authors before you submit.

There are two main points to pay attention to – consistency and accuracy. When you go through your manuscript to edit or proofread it, look closely at the citations within the text. Are they all the same? For example, if the journal prefers the citations to be in the format (name, year), make sure they’re all the same: (Smith, 2016).

Your citations must also be accurate and complete. Do they match your references list? Each citation should be included in the list, so cross-checking is important. It’s also common for journals to prefer that most, if not all, of the articles listed in your references be cited within the text – after all, these should be studies that contributed to the knowledge underpinning your work, not just your bedtime reading. So go through them carefully, noting any missing references or citations and filling the gaps.

Each journal has its own requirements when it comes to the content and format of references, as well as where and how you should include them in your submission, so double-check before you hit send!

In general, a reference will include authors’ names and initials, the title of the article, name of the journal, volume and issue, date, page numbers and DOI. On ScienceDirect, articles are linked to their original source (if also published on ScienceDirect) or to their Scopus record, so including the DOI can help link to the correct article.

A spotless reference list

Luckily, compiling and editing the references in your scientific manuscript can be easy – and it no longer has to be manual. Management tools like Mendeley can keep track of all your references, letting you share them with your collaborators. With the Word plugin, it’s possible to select the right citation style for the journal you’re submitting to and the tool will format your references automatically.

Like with any other part of your manuscript, it’s important to make sure your reference list has been checked and edited. Elsevier Author Services Language Editing can help, with professional manuscript editing that will help make sure your references don’t hold you back from publication.

Why it’s best to ask a professional when it comes to translation

Research Process

How to Choose a Journal to Submit an Article

Make Hook, Line, and Sinker: The Art of Crafting Engaging Introductions

Can Describing Study Limitations Improve the Quality of Your Paper?

A Guide to Crafting Shorter, Impactful Sentences in Academic Writing

6 Steps to Write an Excellent Discussion in Your Manuscript

How to Write Clear Civil Engineering Papers

How to Write Clear and Crisp Civil Engineering Papers? Here are 5 Key Tips to Consider

The Clear Path to An Impactful Paper: ②

The Essentials of Writing to Communicate Research in Medicine

There are some recognizable elements and patterns often used for framing engaging sentences in English. Find here the sentence patterns in Academic Writing

Changing Lines: Sentence Patterns in Academic Writing

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

References: How to Cite and List Correctly

First Online: 25 February 2021

Cite this chapter

C. George Thomas 2

4577 Accesses

When we write an essay, research paper, thesis, or book, it is normal to include information from the work of others or support our arguments by reference to other published works. All such academic documents draw heavily on the ideas and findings of previous and current researchers available through various sources such as books, journals, theses, newspapers, magazines, government reports, or Internet sources. In all these cases, proper referencing is essential in order to ensure easy retrieval of information. Referencing is the name given to the method of showing and acknowledging the sources from which the author has obtained ideas or information.

Everything deep is also simple and can be reproduced simply as long as its reference to the whole truth is maintained. But what matters is not what is witty but what is true. Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Available as EPUB and PDF
Read on any device
Instant download
Own it forever
Compact, lightweight edition
Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
Free shipping worldwide - see info
Durable hardcover edition

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

AMA [American Medical Association] 2007. AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors (10 th Ed.). Oxford University Press, New York, 1024p.

Google Scholar

APA [American Psychological Association] 2013. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6 th Ed.). American Psychological Association, Washington DC, 272p.

Barrass, R. 2002. Scientists Must Write: A Guide to Better Writing for Scientists, Engineers and Students (2 nd Ed.). Routledge, London, 204p.

BSI [British Standards Institution] 1990. Recommendations for Citing and Referencing Published Material (2 nd Ed.). British Standards Institution (BS 5605:1990), 8p.

Cargill, M. and O’Connor, P. 2009. Writing Scientific Research Articles: Strategy and Steps. Wiley-Blackwell, 173p.

COA [Commonwealth of Australia] 2002. Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers (6 th Ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Brisbane, Australia, 550 p.

Cousens, R. 1987. Theory and reality of weed control thresholds. Plant Prot. Q. 2: 13–20

Craswell, G. 2004. Writing for Academic Success: A Postgraduate Guide. Sage Publications, London, 271p.

CSE [Council of Science Editors] 2014. Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (8 th Ed.): The University of Chicago Press, 722p.

Davis, M. 2005. Scientific Papers and Presentations. Academic Press, Massachusetts, 356p.

Day, R.A. and Gastel, B. 2006. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper (6 th Ed.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 320p.

Gustavii, B. 2008. How to Write and Illustrate a Scientific Paper (2 nd Ed.). Cambridge University press, Cambridge, 168p.

Hakansson, S. 1983. Competition and Production in Short-lived Crop Weed Stands: Density Effects. Report 127, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppasala, 85p.

ISSN [International Standards Serial Number].2017. The List of title word abbreviations [on line]. Available: http://www.issn.org/services/onlineservices/access-to-the-ltwa/ [Accessed 06 May 2018].

Leggett, G., Mead, C.D., Kramer, M.G., and Beal, R.S. 1985. Handbook for Writers. Prentice- Hall, New Jersey, 558p.

Lester, J.D. and Lester, J.D. Jr. 2009. Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide (13 th Ed.), Longman, 416p.

MLA [Modern Language Association of America] 2016. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (8 th Ed.) Modern Language Association of America, 146p

Neville, C. 2010. The Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism (2 nd Ed.). McGraw-Hill Education, 288 p.

Renu, S. and Thomas, C.G. 2000. Stale seedbed technique for the management of Sacciolepis interrupta in semi-dry rice. Indian J. Weed Sci. 32(3&4):146-149

Rubens, P. 2004. Science and Technical writing: A Manual of Style (2 nd Ed.). Routledge, New York, 427p.

Sheng, T.C. 1989. Soil Conservation for Small Farmers in the Humid Tropics. FAO Soils Bulletin No. 60. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 104p

Thomas, C. G. 2008. Forage Crop Production in the Tropics. Kalyani Publishers, Ludhiana, 333p.

Thomas, C. G., Abraham, C. T., and Sreedevi, P. 1997. Weed flora and their relative dominance in semi-dry rice culture. J. Trop. Agric. 35:51–53.

Thomas, C. G. 2010. Land Husbandry and Watershed Management. Kalyani Publishers, Ludhiana, 716p.

Turabian, K.L. 2007. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (9 th Ed.). The University of Chicago Press, 461p.

UChicago [University of Chicago] 2017. Chicago Manual of Style [CMOS].

University of Chicago Press, 1144p.

AMA style- http://www.amamanualofstyle.com/oso/public/index.html .

APA style- https://www.apastyle.org/manual

BibSonomy- https://www.bibsonomy.org/

Bibus - http://www.sourceforage.net/projects/bibus-biblio

Bookends-www. sonnysoftware.com/

CAS Source index search tool- http://cassi.cas.org/search.jsp

Citavi- https://citavi.com/

CiteULike- http://www.citeulike.org

EndNote- https://www.endnote.com/

FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations]. 2018. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018. Building Climate Resilience for Food Security and Nutrition. FAO, Rome, 181p. Available: http://www.fao.org/3/I9553EN/i9553en.pdf [Accessed 10 Oct. 2018].

Genamics JournalSeek- http://journalseek.net/

JabRef - http://jabref.sourceforge.net/

Journal database, NCBI- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals ISSN, LTWA- http://www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php .

Mendeley- https://www.mendeley.com

Papers- http://www.readcube.com/papers/

Qiqqa - http://www.qiqqa.com/

Refbase- http://www.refbase.net

RefWorks- https://www.proquest.com/

Scientific Style and Format (CSE) - https://www.scientificstyleandformat.org/Home.html

SciRef- http://sci-progs.com/

Web of Science journal abbreviations- https://images.webofknowledge.com/ images/help/WOS/A_abrvjt.html

Wikindx - https://sourceforge.net/ projects/wikindx/

Zotero- https://www.zotero.org/

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, Kerala, India

C. George Thomas

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. George Thomas .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this chapter

Thomas, C.G. (2021). References: How to Cite and List Correctly. In: Research Methodology and Scientific Writing . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64865-7_15

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64865-7_15

Published : 25 February 2021

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-030-64864-0

Online ISBN : 978-3-030-64865-7

eBook Packages : Education Education (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Find a journal
Track your research

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition)

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

In-Text Citations

Resources on using in-text citations in APA style

Reference List

Resources on writing an APA style reference list, including citation formats

Other APA Resources

Search This Site All UCSD Sites Faculty/Staff Search Term
Contact & Directions
Climate Statement
Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Social Psychology
Adjunct Faculty
Non-Senate Instructors
Researchers
Psychology Grads
Affiliated Grads
New and Prospective Students
Honors Program
Experiential Learning
Programs & Events
Psi Chi / Psychology Club
Prospective PhD Students
Current PhD Students
Area Brown Bags
Colloquium Series
Anderson Distinguished Lecture Series
Speaker Videos
Undergraduate Program
Academic and Writing Resources

Writing Research Papers

Citing References

In your research paper, whenever you refer to prior research or to ideas that were generated by others, you should cite the source or sources in the text and in a References section at the end of the paper. In the psychological sciences, typically references are cited using APA style (as specified by the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association ) .

For related information, please see the Formatting Research Papers and Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism sections of this website.

Citing References in APA Style

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association has detailed guidelines for the citing of different sources within the text ( in-text citations ) and in the References section. On this page we detail general guidelines and common cases of citing sources in APA style.

Please note that the following is an overview; for more in-depth information, referring to the Manual is recommended. Please also note that required reference styles and the specifics of citing references may vary across courses. Y ou should check with your instructor for any special referencing requirements.

In-Text Citations in APA Style

In APA style, references are cited in the text using the last name of the author(s) and the publication date. For example, if you are citing an article written by John Wixted in 2004, the in-text citation would typically be enclosed in parentheses as “(Wixted, 2004)”. For example:

Research in the fields of psychology and neuroscience provides support for the theory that forgetting often stems from retroactive interference (Wixted, 2004).

Alternatively, if you are referring directly to the name of the author in the text, then the name is followed by the year of publication. The year of publication is enclosed in parentheses. For example:

Wixted (2004) reviewed psychology and neuroscience research that provides support for the theory that forgetting often stems from retroactive interference.

If the reference has between two to five authors, then the last names of all authors are listed as part of the first in-text citation of that reference in the article. For example:

Taking practice tests has been shown to boost 8 th grade students’ memory of U.S. history facts, relative to a restudy control condition, on a final test administered 16 weeks later (Carpenter, Pashler, & Cepeda, 2009).

After that initial in-text citation, all subsequent in-text citations for that reference only list the last name of the first author followed by et al. For example:

The relative benefits of practice testing over restudy were larger on the final test administered 16 weeks later than on a final test administered 1 week later (Carpenter et al., 2009).

If the reference has more than five authors, the last name of the first author, followed by et al., is used for all in-text citations.

These examples represent among the most common cases of in-text citations; for further examples you might wish to consult the official APA Style website and the Purdue University Online Writing Lab’s guide to in-text citations in APA style.

Reference Lists in APA Style

In APA style, each peer-reviewed article is listed in a References section towards the end of the research paper. Each reference of a journal article names the author(s), publication date, article title, name of journal, volume, and page number. For example ( note that hanging indents are not shown ):

Wixted, J. T. (2004). The psychology and neuroscience of forgetting. Annual Review of Psychology , 55 , 235-269.

Similarly, each reference of a book names the author(s), the editor(s) if applicable, book title, page numbers (if applicable), as well as publisher name and location. For example ( note that hanging indents are not shown ):

Healy, A. F., Wohldmann, E. L., & Bourne, L. E., Jr. (2005). The procedural reinstatement principle: Studies on training, retention, and transfer. In A. F. Healy (Ed.), Experimental cognitive psychology and its applications; experimental cognitive psychology and its applications (pp. 59-71). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

As with in-text citations, the above examples represent two common cases of including a source in a Reference list; there are many other cases. For further details on creating the References section, please see the Formatting Research Papers section of this website. You may also wish to consult the official APA Style website and the Purdue University Online Writing Lab’s guide to the References list in APA style.

Workshops and Downloadable Resources

For in-person discussion of the process of writing research papers, please consider attending this department’s “Writing Research Papers” workshop (for dates and times, please check the undergraduate workshops calendar).
How to Write APA Style Research Papers (a comprehensive guide) [ PDF ]
Tips for Writing APA Style Research Papers (a brief summary) [ PDF ]

Further Resources

How-To Videos

Writing Research Paper Videos

Databases and Search Engines (some may require connection to UCSD network)

Google Scholar
PubMed (NIH/NLM)
Web of Science

UCSD Resources on Finding and Evaluating Sources

UCSD Library Databases A-Z
UCSD Library Psychology Research Guide: Start Page
UCSD Library Psychology Research Guide : Finding Articles
UCSD Library Psychology Research Guide : Evaluating Sources
UCSD Library Psychology Research Guide : Managing Citations

External Resources

APA Style Guide from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
APA Tutorial on the Basics of APA Style
EasyBib Guide to Writing and Citing in APA Format
How to Create APA Tables and Figures from SUNY Cortland

Research Paper Structure
Formatting Research Papers
Using Databases and Finding References
What Types of References Are Appropriate?
Evaluating References and Taking Notes
Writing a Literature Review
Writing Process and Revising
Improving Scientific Writing
Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism
Writing Research Papers Videos

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Publications
Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

Advanced Search
Journal List
Acta Inform Med
v.21(3); 2013

The Importance of Proper Citation of References in Biomedical Articles

Group of publishers met in Vancouver in 1978 and decided to prescribe uniform technical propositions for publication. Adopted in the 1979 by the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, then the International Committee of Medical Journals Editors (ICMJE), whose review in 1982 entered the official application by 300 international biomedical journals. Authors writing articles for publication in biomedical publications used predominantly citation styles: Vancouver style, Harward style, PubMed style, ICMJE, APA, etc. The paper gives examples of all of these styles of citation to the authors in order to facilitate their applications. Also in this paper is given the review about the problem of plagiarism which becomes more common in the writing of scientific and technical articles in biomedicine.

1. INTRODUCTION

We live in an era of scientific and technical information explosion that are collected in the inexhaustible knowledge bases through millions of biomedical and other journals into on-line databases ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ). Science has made enormous achievements for our understanding of the world and for everyday life. We are witnessing extraordinary advancement of technology, knowledge and applied skills in our everyday life ( 1 ). Medicine, as one of the fundamental scientific branches during the last 50 years has experienced a boom in all its spheres. We can certainly say that this growth and progress is based on the number of results in the scientific research of researchers around the world and their mutual exchange. In the late twentieth and early twentyfirst century, to the general population became available information and communication technologies (ICT), primarily in the form of the Internet, which significantly simplify the exchange of information, knowledge and skills ( 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ). Due to the flourishing of ICT use which occurred during 90s of the twentieth century, when the scientific research in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) was significantly depressed by aggression and recovery from war and postwar development, the question is where are the B&H scientists within global scientific scene?

2. STEPS (PHASES) IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE

In order that a person devote itself to science and research, it is necessary to possess the following qualities: intelligence, skills of analysis and synthesis, the power of observation, perseverance, creativity, ethics and responsibility ( 2 ). After the selection of research topics, selecting mentors, associates in the project which is being implemented and the implementation of the research, follows the writing the article, using the definition of the methodological postulates. The concept of scientific research is based on the use of scientifically based principles by passing through the appropriate and necessary steps and division of certain sections of the final written presentation of the results of the study. Each paper is intended for publication in one of the indexed biomedical journal should contain title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusion and list of references used by appropriate citation ( 7 , 8 , 9 ).

Author Kathrin H. Jacobsen in her book: “Health Research Methods: a Practical Guide” (2102) ( 7 ) described 5 steps in process of health research – from idea to realization:

Identifying a Study Question,
Selecting a Study Approach,
Designing the Study and Collecting Data,
Analyzing Data,
Reporting Findings.

Writing a paper is a tedious job, however, following the established rules that work not only becomes much simpler, but also more accessible, which often results in the birth of the desire of researchers to write an article ( 11 , 12 ). Knowledge of the principles established by the process of scientific research demystifies the process. Decomposition process research into simpler trying to animate all those who can contribute to the advancement of medical science. Emphasizes the importance of pursuing the following five steps: identification of the main research questions, the selection of a scientific approach, study design and data collection, data analysis and presentation of the work ( 7 ). The first step in the process is exploring a variety of themes as the focus of research. The first step has multiple segments, such as: choice of the major topics of research, literature review, focusing on the question of research, drafting support team. The second step in the research is to select the main access study. Access can be: review or meta-analysis, correlation (ecological) studies, case series, crosssectional studies, case control studies, cohort studies, experimental studies or qualitative studies. The third step of the process of scientific research is the development and implementation of a detailed study plan. It is necessary to know how to create a protocol for primary, secondary and tertiary studies. Overview of developing proposals and flow. Primary studies require: a sample of the population, determination of the sample size, the development of questionnaires, surveys and interviews, additional assessment, ethical issues, ethical review and authorization. Secondary studies include existing data sets, and tertiary studies include a systematic review and meta-analysis. The fourth step in the research is the collection and analysis of data collected in the third step. Most researches require descriptive or comparative statistics. This step includes: management of data, descriptive statistics, comparative statistics and advanced biostatistics. The fifth and final step in the process is writing a research report and preparation for presentation and publication. In this step is described the structure of the article, quote, writing strategies, critical review, posters and presentations, choosing journals for publication, the process of teaching, examination and publication of the work and why publish? In order to discover something new, it should be: the average intelligence, the ability to analyze and synthesis, power of perception, desire, determination, creativity, ethics, responsibility and, most importantly, a pure intention to achieve a desired goal ( 7 ).

Author Bjorn Gustavii (2008) in his book “How to Write and Illustrate Scientific Papers” described three basic rules of writing ( 6 ):

Brevity – elementary rule of writing, not only to save publication space, but also because verbose writing obscures meaning and wastes the reader’s time and patients;
Logic and clarity – what you want to say should be o arranged that reader can follow your argumentation step by step;
Clean typing – make sure your manuscript looks carefully prepared; it may influence editors and referees in your favor.

3. THE BASIC COMPONENTS OF SCIENTIFIC-RESEARCH ARTICLE

Scientific articles in almost all cases have the follow structure: abstract, introduction, methods, results and discussion. For didactic reasons is formed the acronym IMRAD ( 8 , 9 , 10 ): I–Introduction, M–Methods (or Methods and Materials), R–Results, A–and D–Discussion and Conclusion.

Title of the paper should be as short as possible, as well as concise as possible in describing the content of the article. We can say that the title is a summary of an abstract ( 2 ). A good title should be: a) short, b) correct, c) a clear, d) complete, e) informing, d) attractive.

3.2. Name(s) of the authors and their institutions

It is necessary to specify the names and surnames (full texts) of the authors and co-authors who participated in editing of the article, and also their affiliations. Must be respected the instructions that journals require in which the article will be published (Instructions for authors).

3.3. Abstract

Abstract/Summary and Title can be written in two forms: Reference and Information. It can be written in author’s native language and English. The structure of the summary should look like this: introduction, goal, materials and methods, the location of the study, measuring the outcomes of the study, the results and conclusions.

3.4. Introduction

Introduction is part of the article with a list of already known facts, presented in order to inform readers on the topic and research issues. It also provides the reader with a basis on which the discussion later in the article was carried out. Writing an introduction has its own rules: a clear definition of the problem and why exactly this issue was explored. There is no need to explain what can be found in the textbooks, nor the terms of the title.

3.5. Materials and methods

Materials and methods describe how the study was conducted and what are the characteristics of the sample (experimental group, controls and their properties). It is necessary to explain what is researched, asked, tested as follows: sampling (random, consecutive, and representative), the sample size (patient gender, age), the control group, and the criteria for exclusion from the study, the control group–if any. It should be described how the research was done: type of study (prospective, retrospective or combined), data collection (surveys, inventory or check-up), the technique of measuring results (operative treatment, laboratory tests).

3.6. Results

The research results are usually most carefully read and should provide a detailed plan, well-documented and at the optimal dose. Results are the most important part of scientific research. Consequently it is essential that graphic and textual part of the article is clearly shown. Results can be displayed in tables or figures. The author(s) will decide on display mode, but never both tabular and chart form. It is essential that the relevant facts are highlighted and clearly displayed.

3.7. Discussion

Discussion is a critical review of the data described in the results. The results should be compared with other findings and discuss the theoretical and practical research outcome.

3.8. Conclusion

The conclusion seems logical sequence of the previous two sections, it does not recount results, but combines them in a clear and understandable context. Conclusion should be short, clear and precise. It is necessary to: make the final statement of what logically follows from the results of the work.

4. WAYS TO CITE REFERENCES

In scientific circles, the reference is the information that is necessary to the reader in identifying and finding used sources. The basic rule when listing the sources used is that references must be accurate, complete and should be consistently applied. On the other hand the quoting implies verbatim written or verbal repetition of parts of the text or words written by others that can be checked in the original text ( 4 ). There are several systems of citation and referencing, while the most commonly used systems are “author-date” (such as the Harvard system, APA, etc.) and numerical systems (such as CSA, IEEE, Vancouver style and others). Often, the preferred system of citation is depended on the scientific discipline in which the author writes. Thus the ways the references are written in an article about mathematics differ from the references in the article about biomedicine. Also, the authors are sometimes faced with the need to respect pre-set requirements for quoting sources from the institution, journal or publisher ( 1 , 2 , 6 , 8 , 13 ). For example, different requirements will be from higher education institutions in the use of reference in the thesis or doctoral dissertation, from the publisher requirements (e.g. journal) that is indexed in the databases (e.g., Web of Knowledge, Medline, Scopus, etc.). Each system includes a precisely defined set of rules for attribution in the text of scientific or professional work and a way of referring to them. The aim is to make it recognizable what, in the text, belongs to the author and what is taken from other authors/sources. Once adopted, one way of reference must be applied consistently throughout the text.

4.1. Harvard system of citing

Harvard system of references citation represents the most common method of citation in the natural and social sciences. This system is often referred to as the “author-date” system. The same category include the APA guidance system of references, which from the Harvard system essentially differs in how to use punctuation and conjunctions. Characteristic of Harvard system is listing only the basic information in the text (the author’s name, year of publication), while the complete data on the work is cited at the end in the chapter References/Literature. In medical science it can be customary to list references only from papers that are directly used (cited) in the text). During writing the author can read and study many articles, however, these sources are not mentioned in the literature, unless they are directly used ( 8 , 13 ).

4.2. Other standards for citing references in the text

Author during the preparation for the writing of specific article encounters with different types of secondary data. For example, the publication may be written by one, by several authors, and sometimes the authors are not listed but only the organization by which the work was published. With that in mind, when citing sources, to the publication is variously referred to in the text. During the writing operation, publishers may refer to different sources. In this review, article lists various examples of proper citation which is most commonly used when writing scientific and professional publications ( 8 , 13 ).

Citing references in the text we will discuss on the example that is recommended by ScopeMed– www.scopemed.org (Figure (Figure1 1 ):

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is AIM-21-3-148_F1.jpg

Abstract: Masic I. How to Search, Write, Prepare and Publish the Scientific Papers in the Biomedical Journals. Published in the journal Acta Inform Med, displayed at www.scopemed.org .

Masic I. How to Search, Write, Prepare and Publish the Scientific Papers in the Biomedical Journals. Acta Inform Med. 2011 Jun; [cited January 25, 2013]; 19(2): 68-79. doi:10.5455/aim.2011.19.68-79.

If we want to quote this article in article that we publish in an indexed journal that is covered by DBMS ScopeMed there are several recognized ways of quoting the text. The instructions on ScopeMed list of a few ways in which you can quote this text, in all styles, is seen in Figure Figure2 2 .

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is AIM-21-3-148_F2.jpg

Manners of citation, www.scopemed.org .

First manner of citation is Pubmed Style:

Masic I. How to Search, Write, Prepare and Publish the Scientific Papers in the Biomedical Journals. Acta Inform Med. 2012 Jun; 19(2): 68-79. doi:10.5455/aim.2011.19.68-79.

National Library of Medicine (NLM) recommends using standard ANSI/NISO Z39.29-2005 (R2010). Bibliographic References standard is the basic format for Pubmed/MEDLINE citation. The last item in the above quotation is the unique identification number in the PubMed database and status citations indexed in MEDLINE. NLM has changed a way of citation - that first is cited the author and title of the work (in November 2008).

Another way of quoting is using Web Style:

Masic I. How to Search, Write, Prepare and Publish the Scientific Papers in the Biomedical Journals. www.scopemed.org/?mno=20169 [Access: January 25, 2013]. doi:10.5455/aim.2011.19.68-79.

This method of citation is different from others in that after the basic information about the author and the work includes a web address. Commonly used at online portals, web sites, etc.

Third way of citation: AMA (American Medical Association) Style:

Masic I. How to Search, Write, Prepare and Publish the Scientific Papers in the Biomedical Journals. Acta Inform Med. 2011; 19(2): 68-79. doi:10.5455/aim.2012.19.68-79.

AMA citation rules recommend the use of full names of the first six authors and co-authors, if there are more than 6, we write the first three and add “et al”.

Most commonly it is recommended to use Vancouver/ICMJE Style:

Masic I. How to Search, Write, Prepare and Publish the Scientific Papers in the Biomedical Journals. Acta Inform Med. (2011), [cited January 27, 2013]; 19(2): 68-79. doi:10.5455/aim.2012.19.68-79.

4.3. Citing references in other biomedical scientific publications

Basic bibliographic elements are: author/s, title, journal title, numerical data on the journal, city of publisher and year of publication, data on the quoted unit (references). References could be cited one time in the text and second time as the list of references at the end of the article. Reference in the text by Arabic numerals starting with 1 and a list of references entered in the order of appearance in the text. Certain types of data separated with the original punctuation symbols that are standard profiled, design references highlighted in red. From this structure we use bibliographic elements that appear in described publication, and all the others are omitted. When omitting an element of bibliographic description do not use punctuation symbol that precedes it ( 2 , 8 ). For example, if the publication has no subtitle we will not use the semicolon character that preceded the subtitle of the work, but after the title place the point that marks the end of each group of data.

4.4. Basic structure of the reference

As a space character is used as an underscore (_).

Printed an article from a journal

First author,_Second author,_... Sixth author_et_al._Title:_Subtitle._journal name._year; volume (issue or number_Pt_number)_Suppl _number:pages from—to .

Masic I. Plagiarism in Scientific Publishing. Acta Inform Med. 2012 Dec; [cited May 17, 2013]; 20(4): 208-213. doi:10.5455/aim.2012.20.208-213.

More than six authors

Stipetić J, Čelebić A, Baučić I, Lazić B, Komar D, Bratolić V, et al. Analysis of occlusal contacts in different types of prosthodontics appliance: Eichner classification: presence RCP-ICP slide and the type of occlusion. Coll Antropol. 2001; 25: 311-6.

Printed book

First author,_Second author,_... Sixth author_et_al._Book title:_Subtitle. _volume._City:_First publisher,_Second publisher;_year .

Rang HP, Dale MM, Ritter JM, Moore PK. Pharmacology. 5th ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 2001.

Electronic materials – Compact Disc

Authors/editors._Article title:_Article subtitle._volume._[CDROM]._City: _Publisher;_year .

Ash MM, Nelson SJ. Wheeler’s dental anatomy, physiology and occlusion [CD-ROM]. 8th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders; 2003.

Electronic materials – article

Authors._Article title:_Article subtitle._journal name_[serial on the Internet]._year_motnh_ [cited_year_month_day]; volume (issue): [about x p.]._Available from:_web adress .

Masic I. How to Search, Write, Prepare and Publish the Scientific Papers in the Biomedical Journals. www.scopemed.org/?mno=20169 [Access: January 25, 2013]. doi:10.5455/aim.2012.19.68-79.

Electronic materials – book

Authors/editors._Article title:_Article subtitle._volume_[monograph on the Internet]._City:_publisher;_year_[cited_year_month_day]. _ Available from:_web address .

Lukač J. Klinička imunologija: nastavno pomagalo za studente Stomatološkog fakulteta Sveučulišta u Zagrebu [monograph on the Internet]. Zagreb: Stomatološki fakultet; 2004 [cited 2005 Jun 20]. Available from: http://www.sfzg.hr/files/user/isamija/Klinicka_imunologija_skripta.doc

4.5. Citing books, monographs, textbooks, dissertations

Author/s: Up to six authors are listed and all the others are listed as et al. First is listed the last name, followed by initial(s) of the first name. More initials of the same person name are written without spaces.

Editor/s: listed in the identical manner authors and adds a tag editor(s). Title and subtitle of the article: transcribed from the original and each separated by the colon. Only the first word of the title and names (personal, geographic, etc.) should be written with a capital letter.

Journal title: By the official acronym of the Index Medicus that is available online through PubMed interface at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ . In the Search field select Journals database and then enter in the field the full name of the journal. Abbreviation will be listed in field Title Abbreviation. Last word of journal titles ending with point.

Numerical data of the journal: by Arabic numerals enter data in the following order: year, volume, issue, part, supplement, pages. Number of individual issue is entered in parentheses and is obligated to enroll if pagination (numbering) of each individual issue starting from 1. To mark a part of individual issue is used abbreviation Pt. in parentheses. To list supplement use the abbreviation Suppl. and add a number or other designation if any. Pages of the article are written from first to last and without repeating the common parts.

All numerical data are mutually separated by punctuation symbols without spaces except the mark Pt. and Suppl.

Edition of the book (except the first): written by English spelling for item numbers and adds ed. If there is additional information about the volume, the words are transferred from the template. Ordinal number of the volumes of the book (if it is published in several volumes) by an expression vol.

City of publishing: Enter the first city listed in the original and for the other is added etc...

Publisher/s: are transcribed from the original. If the institution is listed as the publisher and its organizational part, the data is separated by a comma. Date of publishing: is transcribed from the title page and if publication year is not specified written is a year copyright. Book Pages: listed only when we quote part of the book, preceded by the label.

Dissertation: to dissertation is referred to as the angular brackets, and put the title (or subtitle) of the work. Pages refer to the total number of pages of the dissertation.

5. PLAGIARISM

The biggest problem which participants in the academic process encountered is plagiarism ( 9 , 10 , 11 ). This is one of the most common ways of compromising the academic integrity of the author and cause of constant conflict in scientific-research sphere of interest. Copy, use or otherwise exploitation of other people’s ideas, words or creations, without citing sources in an appropriate form is prohibited. It is not enough to change a few words in a phrase from the source material into “own words”. Change the order of words in a sentence is also not acceptable, as well as the use of synonyms, such as changes from the “air” to “atmosphere”.

When writing papers it is possible to use other people’s words and ideas, but with mandatory labeling and reference to the source from which these words and ideas are taken. People who read can even in the very sentences recognize whether something is written in original work or just taken as a piece from another text. The references, as an indispensable part of any scientific and professional work, contribute to the quality of work, speaks of the sources used and thus the depth of information on the subject by which the work is dedicated. The process of preparation of each work should begin by consultations with existing resources, potential research and then writing the work giving it a personal stamp.

There are many different definitions of plagiarism. Plagiarism (Latin plagium-kidnapping) is a transcription of other people’s works and illegal appropriation of another’s spiritual property ( 13 ). Plagiarist (Latin Plagiarius - thief, kidnapper) is illegal trespassing spiritual property that and uses other people’s ideas, opinions or theories, either literally, or paraphrased, which does not mention the author and source of information. Such a “copy-paste” act constitutes theft of authorship, which is completely unacceptable in scientific, technical articles or in books, monographs, specialist or graduate student papers. In the wider academic community, plagiarism is a serious breach of ethical standards and a disciplinary liability and sanctions of various types and weights ( 8 ). There is a dilemma: who, on what basis (criteria, standards, rules), when and how should someone be declared as plagiarist or which someone’s scientific work or part of that work to declare as plagiarism. Then, which institutions or which scientific body committee at the national or international level, when plagiarism is proven, can sanction someone and what are the sanctions. It is necessary to work on improvement of the mechanisms for early and sophisticated plagiarism detection through software applications, which in the foreseeable future must become compulsory for every editor of an indexed journal to use. A transparent database in which disclosed plagiarism (“black list of plagiators”) could be found should be made at the international level. This would impact on the prevention of plagiarism (“principle of fear from possible sanctions”). Here will be mentioned one of examples published by CEON ( www.ceon.rs ) ( 17 ):

“For practical and economic reasons, plagiarism was checked only in the papers of Serbian authors. For the same reasons, in DRUNPP journals this was done for authors who published more than five papers in analyzed period. This criterion ensured a sufficient number of papers for determining the incidence of plagiarism but, due to the selection of authors publishing in DRUNPP journals, the results obtained for these two and control journals (Table (Table1) 1 ) should not be understood as mutually strictly comparable ( 17 )”.

Plagiarized papers of Serbian authors (Šipka P. 2012, p.25). Explanation of abbrevation : OK = Plagiarism-free paper; N/A = Unavailable articles; A = Mild self-plagiarism; A+ = Crudeself-plagiarism; P = Mild plagiarism; P+ = Crude plagiarism ( 17 )

“However, even if this restriction is taken into account, it is obvious that plagiarism is more frequent in DRUNPP journals. Cases of crude plagiarism and self-plagiarism (A+ and P+) were found practically only in HealthMed and TTEM. For an orientation, by using the same criteria in 2010 we found about the same level of plagiarism in Serbian non-WoS journals ( 15 , 16 ), but meanwhile, thanks to CEON/CEES activities, this was reduced to much lower levels. All in all, the results strongly suggest that two DRUNPP journals and a group of authors from a few Serbian academic institutions are organized into an arrangement that has to be labeled as “joint unethical enterprise”. Its rationale seems to be quite simple. Some authors are allowed to publish limitlessly without regular reviewing in journals of formally high international prestige. This brings them quite tangible benefits (so called points) important for their careers and incomes. In return, the editors collect from them a substantial amount of money for fictitious editing job and, on top of this, as a sort of tip, some fictitious citations to help their journals maintaining the status of highly esteemed publications. What this enterprise makes extraordinary and unprecedented, are clear signs of forced collections of this non-monetary fee: if authors in their citing role are not sufficiently generous, editors simply snatch their “deserved” tip forcefully, by adding themselves some impact inflating self-citations to the paper reference lists. Being practical people, in order to protect themselves from crossing the self-citation rate limits, they occasionally put citations onto other DRUNPP journal account ( 17 ).”

“The economic dimensions of the phenomenon are equally impressive. In just a few years DRUNPP journals grew from anonymous to the most popular international journals in neighboring Serbia, attracting a fastgrowing number of papers, and collecting even faster-growing publication charges. The spending of Serbian authors on publishing in the two journals in 2012 only was predicted to exceed €200.000 ( 18 ), an amount that has to be regarded a serious burden for the national R&D budget in crisis and a fortune for the family of editors. There are many signs that the family business is on the right track. The same publisher created recently two additional medical journals ( 19 , 20 ), with the same editor on board, and with unveiled intention to bring them to the same official (WoS/JCR) status and price level. Also, the international online “round-a-clock” conference is already here ( 21 , 22 ) to round up the “production line”.”

6. MEDICAL JOURNALS IN B&H

In B&H there are series of biomedical journals which are indexed in international databases. Table Table2 2 shows a series of indexed biomedical journals published in Bosnia and Herzegovina ( 14 , 15 ). It is assumed that the most cited scholars and experts in the academic community, who have published their research results in one of the journals indexed in the reference world recognized online databases, whose articles are available for scientific validity. This all through their representation in the form of abstracts or full article on the website of these on-line databases. For example, the current reference and quality of scientific B&H medical science we will take in the current analysis involved 10 academics from Academy of Sciences and Arts of B&H from the Department of Medical Sciences, for which we should say that are “most scientific” part of our academic community in the field of biomedicine. Used are sources from the current 4 most cited world-renowned databases: ISI Web of Knowledge, SCOPUS, EMBASE and PubMed ( 3 , 22 ). Analyzed is the number of published papers on the basis of two criteria: a) tested scientist as first author and co-author in published papers in indexed those journals; b) scientist examined with citations of their articles as author and co-author by other authors of published papers in indexed journals in mentioned databases (Table (Table3 3 ).

Biomedical journals printing in Bosnia and Herzegovina indexed in on-line databases in 2013

Number of published papers in indexed journals and number of citations in on-line databases of academicians of Department of Medical Sciences of Acadamy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina in ISIWoK, SCOPUS, EMBASE and PubMed (accessed on May 20th, 2013) (alphabetic order). Explanation od abbreviation: A-Author,C-Citations, Co-A–Co-Authors

7. SCIENTOMETRICS

Scientometrics is the science of measuring and analyzing science. In practice, Scientometrics often uses bibliometric methods for measuring the impact of scientific publications. Modern Scientometrics is based largely on the work of Derek J. de Solla Price and Eugene Garfield. Garfield founded ISI – Institute for Scientific Information and is considered to be the father of scientometrics and methods of evaluation of scientific publications. Research Methods of scientifically important publications include qualitative and quantitative methods and computer analysis approach ( 6 , 8 , 13 ). Garfield has been striving to mathematical representation, so he developed several factors that allow the assessment value and importance of scientific publications, including the most important impact factor (IF) and the H-index. Each article has its impact factor. Impact factor shows how much scientific paper, published in a magazine is quoted. Title of the scientific paper contains a brief description of the content. Impact Factor (IF) in the academic journal is a measure that reflects the average number of citations of articles published in the journal. Impact factor is used to compare different journals in a particular area. In a given year, the impact factor (IF) of the journal is the average number of citations received per paper published in that journal during the previous two years. For example, if a journal IF = 3 in 2008, then the articles published in 2006 and the 2007 had three citations on average in 2008. (Figure (Figure3 3 and Table Table5 5 )

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is AIM-21-3-148_F3.jpg

h-index from a plot of decreasing citations for numbered paper.

The table explains where’s the position of B&H in the world today in all areas that are represented in scientific research work since the 1996-2011 years

IF for the 2008 of an journal will be calculated as follows: A = number of cited articles published in 2006 and 2007 in indexed journals during the 2008 B = the total number of articles published by the journal in 2006 and 2007. 2008 IF = A/B.

H-index is an index that attempts to measure the productivity and impact of published work of scientists. The index is based on the basis of the most cited papers and the number of citations that papers received in other publications. Th is index can also be applied to the productivity and impact of a group of scientists, such as department or faculty, as well as journal. H-index proposed by Jorge E. Hirsch, a physicist at UCSD, as a tool for determining the relative quality ( 7 , 22 ). The index is based on the distribution of citations received by a given researcher’s publications. Hirsch writes: A scientist has index h if h of his/her N p papers have at least h citations each, and the other (N p – h) papers have no more than h-citations each. In other words, a scholar with an index of h has published h papers each of which has been cited in other papers at least h times. Thus, the h-index reflects both the number of publications and the number of citations per publication. The index is designed to improve upon simpler measures such as the total number of citations or publications ( 22 ).

The index works properly only for comparing scientists working in the same field; citation conventions differ widely among different fields.

From Table Table4. 4 . It is clear that the h-index of the oldest biomedical journal Medical Archives is significantly higher with h-index of 10, which means that the scientist who in this magazine published 10 papers have at least 10 citations for each work in other journals.

Presentation of biomedical journals in B&H ordered by the h-index values in 2012

Conflict of interest

None declared.

Home » Research Paper – Structure, Examples and Writing Guide

Research Paper – Structure, Examples and Writing Guide

Table of Contents

Research Paper

Definition:

Research Paper is a written document that presents the author’s original research, analysis, and interpretation of a specific topic or issue.

It is typically based on Empirical Evidence, and may involve qualitative or quantitative research methods, or a combination of both. The purpose of a research paper is to contribute new knowledge or insights to a particular field of study, and to demonstrate the author’s understanding of the existing literature and theories related to the topic.

Structure of Research Paper

The structure of a research paper typically follows a standard format, consisting of several sections that convey specific information about the research study. The following is a detailed explanation of the structure of a research paper:

The title page contains the title of the paper, the name(s) of the author(s), and the affiliation(s) of the author(s). It also includes the date of submission and possibly, the name of the journal or conference where the paper is to be published.

The abstract is a brief summary of the research paper, typically ranging from 100 to 250 words. It should include the research question, the methods used, the key findings, and the implications of the results. The abstract should be written in a concise and clear manner to allow readers to quickly grasp the essence of the research.

Introduction

The introduction section of a research paper provides background information about the research problem, the research question, and the research objectives. It also outlines the significance of the research, the research gap that it aims to fill, and the approach taken to address the research question. Finally, the introduction section ends with a clear statement of the research hypothesis or research question.

Literature Review

The literature review section of a research paper provides an overview of the existing literature on the topic of study. It includes a critical analysis and synthesis of the literature, highlighting the key concepts, themes, and debates. The literature review should also demonstrate the research gap and how the current study seeks to address it.

The methods section of a research paper describes the research design, the sample selection, the data collection and analysis procedures, and the statistical methods used to analyze the data. This section should provide sufficient detail for other researchers to replicate the study.

The results section presents the findings of the research, using tables, graphs, and figures to illustrate the data. The findings should be presented in a clear and concise manner, with reference to the research question and hypothesis.

The discussion section of a research paper interprets the findings and discusses their implications for the research question, the literature review, and the field of study. It should also address the limitations of the study and suggest future research directions.

The conclusion section summarizes the main findings of the study, restates the research question and hypothesis, and provides a final reflection on the significance of the research.

The references section provides a list of all the sources cited in the paper, following a specific citation style such as APA, MLA or Chicago.

How to Write Research Paper

You can write Research Paper by the following guide:

Choose a Topic: The first step is to select a topic that interests you and is relevant to your field of study. Brainstorm ideas and narrow down to a research question that is specific and researchable.
Conduct a Literature Review: The literature review helps you identify the gap in the existing research and provides a basis for your research question. It also helps you to develop a theoretical framework and research hypothesis.
Develop a Thesis Statement : The thesis statement is the main argument of your research paper. It should be clear, concise and specific to your research question.
Plan your Research: Develop a research plan that outlines the methods, data sources, and data analysis procedures. This will help you to collect and analyze data effectively.
Collect and Analyze Data: Collect data using various methods such as surveys, interviews, observations, or experiments. Analyze data using statistical tools or other qualitative methods.
Organize your Paper : Organize your paper into sections such as Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. Ensure that each section is coherent and follows a logical flow.
Write your Paper : Start by writing the introduction, followed by the literature review, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. Ensure that your writing is clear, concise, and follows the required formatting and citation styles.
Edit and Proofread your Paper: Review your paper for grammar and spelling errors, and ensure that it is well-structured and easy to read. Ask someone else to review your paper to get feedback and suggestions for improvement.
Cite your Sources: Ensure that you properly cite all sources used in your research paper. This is essential for giving credit to the original authors and avoiding plagiarism.

Research Paper Example

Note : The below example research paper is for illustrative purposes only and is not an actual research paper. Actual research papers may have different structures, contents, and formats depending on the field of study, research question, data collection and analysis methods, and other factors. Students should always consult with their professors or supervisors for specific guidelines and expectations for their research papers.

Research Paper Example sample for Students:

Title: The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health among Young Adults

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the impact of social media use on the mental health of young adults. A literature review was conducted to examine the existing research on the topic. A survey was then administered to 200 university students to collect data on their social media use, mental health status, and perceived impact of social media on their mental health. The results showed that social media use is positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. The study also found that social comparison, cyberbullying, and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) are significant predictors of mental health problems among young adults.

Introduction: Social media has become an integral part of modern life, particularly among young adults. While social media has many benefits, including increased communication and social connectivity, it has also been associated with negative outcomes, such as addiction, cyberbullying, and mental health problems. This study aims to investigate the impact of social media use on the mental health of young adults.

Literature Review: The literature review highlights the existing research on the impact of social media use on mental health. The review shows that social media use is associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and other mental health problems. The review also identifies the factors that contribute to the negative impact of social media, including social comparison, cyberbullying, and FOMO.

Methods : A survey was administered to 200 university students to collect data on their social media use, mental health status, and perceived impact of social media on their mental health. The survey included questions on social media use, mental health status (measured using the DASS-21), and perceived impact of social media on their mental health. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis.

Results : The results showed that social media use is positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. The study also found that social comparison, cyberbullying, and FOMO are significant predictors of mental health problems among young adults.

Discussion : The study’s findings suggest that social media use has a negative impact on the mental health of young adults. The study highlights the need for interventions that address the factors contributing to the negative impact of social media, such as social comparison, cyberbullying, and FOMO.

Conclusion : In conclusion, social media use has a significant impact on the mental health of young adults. The study’s findings underscore the need for interventions that promote healthy social media use and address the negative outcomes associated with social media use. Future research can explore the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing the negative impact of social media on mental health. Additionally, longitudinal studies can investigate the long-term effects of social media use on mental health.

Limitations : The study has some limitations, including the use of self-report measures and a cross-sectional design. The use of self-report measures may result in biased responses, and a cross-sectional design limits the ability to establish causality.

Implications: The study’s findings have implications for mental health professionals, educators, and policymakers. Mental health professionals can use the findings to develop interventions that address the negative impact of social media use on mental health. Educators can incorporate social media literacy into their curriculum to promote healthy social media use among young adults. Policymakers can use the findings to develop policies that protect young adults from the negative outcomes associated with social media use.

References :

Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2019). Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: Evidence from a population-based study. Preventive medicine reports, 15, 100918.
Primack, B. A., Shensa, A., Escobar-Viera, C. G., Barrett, E. L., Sidani, J. E., Colditz, J. B., … & James, A. E. (2017). Use of multiple social media platforms and symptoms of depression and anxiety: A nationally-representative study among US young adults. Computers in Human Behavior, 69, 1-9.
Van der Meer, T. G., & Verhoeven, J. W. (2017). Social media and its impact on academic performance of students. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 16, 383-398.

Appendix : The survey used in this study is provided below.

Social Media and Mental Health Survey

How often do you use social media per day?
Less than 30 minutes
30 minutes to 1 hour
1 to 2 hours
2 to 4 hours
More than 4 hours
Which social media platforms do you use?
Others (Please specify)
How often do you experience the following on social media?
Social comparison (comparing yourself to others)
Cyberbullying
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)
Have you ever experienced any of the following mental health problems in the past month?
Do you think social media use has a positive or negative impact on your mental health?
Very positive
Somewhat positive
Somewhat negative
Very negative
In your opinion, which factors contribute to the negative impact of social media on mental health?
Social comparison
In your opinion, what interventions could be effective in reducing the negative impact of social media on mental health?
Education on healthy social media use
Counseling for mental health problems caused by social media
Social media detox programs
Regulation of social media use

Thank you for your participation!

Applications of Research Paper

Research papers have several applications in various fields, including:

Advancing knowledge: Research papers contribute to the advancement of knowledge by generating new insights, theories, and findings that can inform future research and practice. They help to answer important questions, clarify existing knowledge, and identify areas that require further investigation.
Informing policy: Research papers can inform policy decisions by providing evidence-based recommendations for policymakers. They can help to identify gaps in current policies, evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, and inform the development of new policies and regulations.
Improving practice: Research papers can improve practice by providing evidence-based guidance for professionals in various fields, including medicine, education, business, and psychology. They can inform the development of best practices, guidelines, and standards of care that can improve outcomes for individuals and organizations.
Educating students : Research papers are often used as teaching tools in universities and colleges to educate students about research methods, data analysis, and academic writing. They help students to develop critical thinking skills, research skills, and communication skills that are essential for success in many careers.
Fostering collaboration: Research papers can foster collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers by providing a platform for sharing knowledge and ideas. They can facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships that can lead to innovative solutions to complex problems.

When to Write Research Paper

Research papers are typically written when a person has completed a research project or when they have conducted a study and have obtained data or findings that they want to share with the academic or professional community. Research papers are usually written in academic settings, such as universities, but they can also be written in professional settings, such as research organizations, government agencies, or private companies.

Here are some common situations where a person might need to write a research paper:

For academic purposes: Students in universities and colleges are often required to write research papers as part of their coursework, particularly in the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities. Writing research papers helps students to develop research skills, critical thinking skills, and academic writing skills.
For publication: Researchers often write research papers to publish their findings in academic journals or to present their work at academic conferences. Publishing research papers is an important way to disseminate research findings to the academic community and to establish oneself as an expert in a particular field.
To inform policy or practice : Researchers may write research papers to inform policy decisions or to improve practice in various fields. Research findings can be used to inform the development of policies, guidelines, and best practices that can improve outcomes for individuals and organizations.
To share new insights or ideas: Researchers may write research papers to share new insights or ideas with the academic or professional community. They may present new theories, propose new research methods, or challenge existing paradigms in their field.

Purpose of Research Paper

The purpose of a research paper is to present the results of a study or investigation in a clear, concise, and structured manner. Research papers are written to communicate new knowledge, ideas, or findings to a specific audience, such as researchers, scholars, practitioners, or policymakers. The primary purposes of a research paper are:

To contribute to the body of knowledge : Research papers aim to add new knowledge or insights to a particular field or discipline. They do this by reporting the results of empirical studies, reviewing and synthesizing existing literature, proposing new theories, or providing new perspectives on a topic.
To inform or persuade: Research papers are written to inform or persuade the reader about a particular issue, topic, or phenomenon. They present evidence and arguments to support their claims and seek to persuade the reader of the validity of their findings or recommendations.
To advance the field: Research papers seek to advance the field or discipline by identifying gaps in knowledge, proposing new research questions or approaches, or challenging existing assumptions or paradigms. They aim to contribute to ongoing debates and discussions within a field and to stimulate further research and inquiry.
To demonstrate research skills: Research papers demonstrate the author’s research skills, including their ability to design and conduct a study, collect and analyze data, and interpret and communicate findings. They also demonstrate the author’s ability to critically evaluate existing literature, synthesize information from multiple sources, and write in a clear and structured manner.

Characteristics of Research Paper

Research papers have several characteristics that distinguish them from other forms of academic or professional writing. Here are some common characteristics of research papers:

Evidence-based: Research papers are based on empirical evidence, which is collected through rigorous research methods such as experiments, surveys, observations, or interviews. They rely on objective data and facts to support their claims and conclusions.
Structured and organized: Research papers have a clear and logical structure, with sections such as introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. They are organized in a way that helps the reader to follow the argument and understand the findings.
Formal and objective: Research papers are written in a formal and objective tone, with an emphasis on clarity, precision, and accuracy. They avoid subjective language or personal opinions and instead rely on objective data and analysis to support their arguments.
Citations and references: Research papers include citations and references to acknowledge the sources of information and ideas used in the paper. They use a specific citation style, such as APA, MLA, or Chicago, to ensure consistency and accuracy.
Peer-reviewed: Research papers are often peer-reviewed, which means they are evaluated by other experts in the field before they are published. Peer-review ensures that the research is of high quality, meets ethical standards, and contributes to the advancement of knowledge in the field.
Objective and unbiased: Research papers strive to be objective and unbiased in their presentation of the findings. They avoid personal biases or preconceptions and instead rely on the data and analysis to draw conclusions.

Advantages of Research Paper

Research papers have many advantages, both for the individual researcher and for the broader academic and professional community. Here are some advantages of research papers:

Contribution to knowledge: Research papers contribute to the body of knowledge in a particular field or discipline. They add new information, insights, and perspectives to existing literature and help advance the understanding of a particular phenomenon or issue.
Opportunity for intellectual growth: Research papers provide an opportunity for intellectual growth for the researcher. They require critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity, which can help develop the researcher’s skills and knowledge.
Career advancement: Research papers can help advance the researcher’s career by demonstrating their expertise and contributions to the field. They can also lead to new research opportunities, collaborations, and funding.
Academic recognition: Research papers can lead to academic recognition in the form of awards, grants, or invitations to speak at conferences or events. They can also contribute to the researcher’s reputation and standing in the field.
Impact on policy and practice: Research papers can have a significant impact on policy and practice. They can inform policy decisions, guide practice, and lead to changes in laws, regulations, or procedures.
Advancement of society: Research papers can contribute to the advancement of society by addressing important issues, identifying solutions to problems, and promoting social justice and equality.

Limitations of Research Paper

Research papers also have some limitations that should be considered when interpreting their findings or implications. Here are some common limitations of research papers:

Limited generalizability: Research findings may not be generalizable to other populations, settings, or contexts. Studies often use specific samples or conditions that may not reflect the broader population or real-world situations.
Potential for bias : Research papers may be biased due to factors such as sample selection, measurement errors, or researcher biases. It is important to evaluate the quality of the research design and methods used to ensure that the findings are valid and reliable.
Ethical concerns: Research papers may raise ethical concerns, such as the use of vulnerable populations or invasive procedures. Researchers must adhere to ethical guidelines and obtain informed consent from participants to ensure that the research is conducted in a responsible and respectful manner.
Limitations of methodology: Research papers may be limited by the methodology used to collect and analyze data. For example, certain research methods may not capture the complexity or nuance of a particular phenomenon, or may not be appropriate for certain research questions.
Publication bias: Research papers may be subject to publication bias, where positive or significant findings are more likely to be published than negative or non-significant findings. This can skew the overall findings of a particular area of research.
Time and resource constraints: Research papers may be limited by time and resource constraints, which can affect the quality and scope of the research. Researchers may not have access to certain data or resources, or may be unable to conduct long-term studies due to practical limitations.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

How to Cite Research Paper – All Formats and...

Data Collection – Methods Types and Examples

Delimitations in Research – Types, Examples and...

Research Paper Format – Types, Examples and...

Research Process – Steps, Examples and Tips

Research Design – Types, Methods and Examples

Best Practices When Referring to Different Sections Within a Paper

Referring a reader to another part of your paper can be an effective way to tie together different parts of the whole paper and point them to places where they can review an explanation or move forward to read more details on a particular topic of interest. The goal is to acknowledge that you have discussed a topic earlier or allow the readers to anticipate reading further details about it later on in the paper. Since readers mostly move back and forth in the text looking for more information, it is important to offer a quick, simple reference for them to find the information they are looking for. This is particularly true for authors of lengthier works such as books or dissertations, or works that include a large number of examples, tables, or figures.

Using Numbers

A good way to inform readers that they should refer to a certain section of your paper is to number all the sections (and even subsections). This enables you to mention things like “ As I discussed in Section 2… ” or “ See Section 5.7 for more details. ”

Numbering tables and figure is the norm. It is also a good idea to number any examples for easy reference. Relying on phrases such as “this example” or “the example below” can be very confusing if there are multiple examples on the same page, especially if several examples appear immediately above and below the sentence.

Using Headings

Another strategy is to refer to sections by their names or headings. This is appropriate for cases when you choose not to number the sections of the paper or when you are following a style guide that does not use section numbers. For example, sections are not numbered in APA style . In this case, readers should be clearly informed where they can find the information. For instance, you might write “ As found in the Literature Review … ” or “ This topic will be explained further in the Discussion. ”

Avoiding Page Numbers

Do not mention page numbers as this will make the text incorrect if it is ever reprinted in a layout that changes the page numbers (e.g., different binding or page size) or if it is published online, where there are no page number. Consider the different forms of media in which the paper will appear.

Related: Need instant academic writing tips on your cell phone? Download the FREE Enago Academy mobile app now!

Avoiding Vague Phrases

Using vague phrases like “ This will be explained later ” does not help in informing the readers about where to find the information and hence should be avoided. If possible, try avoiding phrases that involve “above” or “below,” as in “ See the section below. ” These words point readers quite literally to a space above or below the sentence they are reading. If the book is printed in a way such that the information you are referring to appears on the previous page or the following page, it would not make sense for readers to look above or below.

However, it is acceptable to use phrases like “ as mentioned ” or “ as I discussed earlier ” if you are referring to something within the same section or to a broader theme that appears in the paper (not necessarily specific information in one section). This is appropriate when you are repeating information in order to lead into a new argument or line of thought, and would like to acknowledge that you are aware of the brief repetition. The goal when using such phrases is not to point the readers backward or forward in the text but to remind them of an argument for the purpose of developing the discussion. If you are in doubt, always consider whether it would help readers to have a fuller phrase like “ as mentioned in the Introduction” or “ as I discussed in Section 4. ”

Rate this article Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Enago Academy's Most Popular Articles

AI in Academia
Infographic
Manuscripts & Grants
Reporting Research
Trending Now

Can AI Tools Prepare a Research Manuscript From Scratch? — A comprehensive guide

As technology continues to advance, the question of whether artificial intelligence (AI) tools can prepare…

difference between abstract and introduction

Abstract Vs. Introduction — Do you know the difference?

Ross wants to publish his research. Feeling positive about his research outcomes, he begins to…

Old Webinars
Webinar Mobile App

Demystifying Research Methodology With Field Experts

Choosing research methodology Research design and methodology Evidence-based research approach How RAxter can assist researchers

Manuscript Preparation
Publishing Research

How to Choose Best Research Methodology for Your Study

Successful research conduction requires proper planning and execution. While there are multiple reasons and aspects…

Top 5 Key Differences Between Methods and Methodology

While burning the midnight oil during literature review, most researchers do not realize that the…

How to Draft the Acknowledgment Section of a Manuscript

Discussion Vs. Conclusion: Know the Difference Before Drafting Manuscripts

Sign-up to read more

Subscribe for free to get unrestricted access to all our resources on research writing and academic publishing including:

2000+ blog articles
50+ Webinars
10+ Expert podcasts
50+ Infographics
10+ Checklists
Research Guides

We hate spam too. We promise to protect your privacy and never spam you.

I am looking for Editing/ Proofreading services for my manuscript Tentative date of next journal submission:

As a researcher, what do you consider most when choosing an image manipulation detector?

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

View all journals
Explore content
About the journal
Publish with us
Sign up for alerts
09 May 2024

Cubic millimetre of brain mapped in spectacular detail

Carissa Wong

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rendering based on electron-microscope data, showing the positions of neurons in a fragment of the brain cortex. Neurons are coloured according to size. Credit: Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University). Renderings by D. Berger (Harvard University)

Researchers have mapped a tiny piece of the human brain in astonishing detail. The resulting cell atlas, which was described today in Science 1 and is available online , reveals new patterns of connections between brain cells called neurons, as well as cells that wrap around themselves to form knots, and pairs of neurons that are almost mirror images of each other.

The 3D map covers a volume of about one cubic millimetre, one-millionth of a whole brain, and contains roughly 57,000 cells and 150 million synapses — the connections between neurons. It incorporates a colossal 1.4 petabytes of data. “It’s a little bit humbling,” says Viren Jain, a neuroscientist at Google in Mountain View, California, and a co-author of the paper. “How are we ever going to really come to terms with all this complexity?”

Slivers of brain

The brain fragment was taken from a 45-year-old woman when she underwent surgery to treat her epilepsy. It came from the cortex, a part of the brain involved in learning, problem-solving and processing sensory signals. The sample was immersed in preservatives and stained with heavy metals to make the cells easier to see. Neuroscientist Jeff Lichtman at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his colleagues then cut the sample into around 5,000 slices — each just 34 nanometres thick — that could be imaged using electron microscopes.

Jain’s team then built artificial-intelligence models that were able to stitch the microscope images together to reconstruct the whole sample in 3D. “I remember this moment, going into the map and looking at one individual synapse from this woman’s brain, and then zooming out into these other millions of pixels,” says Jain. “It felt sort of spiritual.”

Rendering of a neuron with a round base and many branches, on a black background.

A single neuron (white) shown with 5,600 of the axons (blue) that connect to it. The synapses that make these connections are shown in green. Credit: Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University). Renderings by D. Berger (Harvard University)

When examining the model in detail, the researchers discovered unconventional neurons, including some that made up to 50 connections with each other. “In general, you would find a couple of connections at most between two neurons,” says Jain. Elsewhere, the model showed neurons with tendrils that formed knots around themselves. “Nobody had seen anything like this before,” Jain adds.

The team also found pairs of neurons that were near-perfect mirror images of each other. “We found two groups that would send their dendrites in two different directions, and sometimes there was a kind of mirror symmetry,” Jain says. It is unclear what role these features have in the brain.

Proofreaders needed

The map is so large that most of it has yet to be manually checked, and it could still contain errors created by the process of stitching so many images together. “Hundreds of cells have been ‘proofread’, but that’s obviously a few per cent of the 50,000 cells in there,” says Jain. He hopes that others will help to proofread parts of the map they are interested in. The team plans to produce similar maps of brain samples from other people — but a map of the entire brain is unlikely in the next few decades, he says.

“This paper is really the tour de force creation of a human cortex data set,” says Hongkui Zeng, director of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. The vast amount of data that has been made freely accessible will “allow the community to look deeper into the micro-circuitry in the human cortex”, she adds.

Gaining a deeper understanding of how the cortex works could offer clues about how to treat some psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. “This map provides unprecedented details that can unveil new rules of neural connections and help to decipher the inner working of the human brain,” says Yongsoo Kim, a neuroscientist at Pennsylvania State University in Hershey.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01387-9

Shapson-Coe, A. et al. Science 384 , eadk4858 (2024).

Article Google Scholar

Download references

Reprints and permissions

Neuroscience

Temporal multiplexing of perception and memory codes in IT cortex

Article 15 MAY 24

Volatile working memory representations crystallize with practice

Evolution of a novel adrenal cell type that promotes parental care

Organoids merge to model the blood–brain barrier

Research Highlight 15 MAY 24

How does ChatGPT ‘think’? Psychology and neuroscience crack open AI large language models

News Feature 14 MAY 24

Brain-reading device is best yet at decoding ‘internal speech’

News 13 MAY 24

Research Associate - Metabolism

Houston, Texas (US)

Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)

Postdoc Fellowships

Train with world-renowned cancer researchers at NIH? Consider joining the Center for Cancer Research (CCR) at the National Cancer Institute

Bethesda, Maryland

NIH National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Faculty Recruitment, Westlake University School of Medicine

Faculty positions are open at four distinct ranks: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Full Professor, and Chair Professor.

Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

Westlake University

PhD/master's Candidate

PhD/master's Candidate Graduate School of Frontier Science Initiative, Kanazawa University is seeking candidates for PhD and master's students i...

Kanazawa University

Senior Research Assistant in Human Immunology (wet lab)

Senior Research Scientist in Human Immunology, high-dimensional (40+) cytometry, ICS and automated robotic platforms.

Boston, Massachusetts (US)

Boston University Atomic Lab

Quick links

Explore articles by subject
Guide to authors
Editorial policies

IMAGES

Essay Basics: Format a References Page in APA Style
How to Do a Reference Page for a Research Paper: 11 Steps
Chapter 37: Formatting an APA Style Paper
Research Paper Format
13.1 Formatting a Research Paper
How to Write a Research Paper in APA Format

VIDEO

Using the Reference Center in Academic Writer
What to avoid in writing the methodology section of your research
Research Article writing Workshop Part 2: Writing Introduction and Abstract
How to Find Articles from a Reference List
How to write an introduction?
How to add a heading for references on Wikipedia

COMMENTS

13.3 Creating a References Section
Formatting the References Section: APA General Guidelines. 1. Include the heading References, centered at the top of the page. The heading should not be boldfaced, italicized, or underlined. 2. Use double-spaced type throughout the references section, as in the body of your paper. 3.
Reference List: Basic Rules
Reference List: Basic Rules. This resourse, revised according to the 7 th edition APA Publication Manual, offers basic guidelines for formatting the reference list at the end of a standard APA research paper. Most sources follow fairly straightforward rules. However, because sources obtained from academic journals carry special weight in research writing, these sources are subject to special ...
References in Research
Journal Articles. References to journal articles usually include the author's name, title of the article, name of the journal, volume and issue number, page numbers, and publication date. Example: Johnson, T. (2021). The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health. Journal of Psychology, 32 (4), 87-94.
16.3: Creating a References Section (Part 1)
Formatting the References Section: APA General Guidelines. 1. Include the heading References, centered at the top of the page. The heading should not be boldfaced, italicized, or underlined. 2. Use double-spaced type throughout the references section, as in the body of your paper. 3.
Reference section
The reference section is an important part of a researched academic paper. This page looks at what a reference section is, explains the difference between a reference section and a bibliography, and finally looks at reference section formats for the three most common referencing conventions, namely Harvard, APA (7th edition) and MLA (8th edition).
Setting Up the APA Reference Page
On the APA reference page, you list all the sources that you've cited in your paper. The list starts on a new page right after the body text. Follow these instructions to set up your APA reference page: Place the section label "References" in bold at the top of the page (centered). Order the references alphabetically. Double-space all text.
References
References provide the information necessary for readers to identify and retrieve each work cited in the text. Check each reference carefully against the original publication to ensure information is accurate and complete. Accurately prepared references help establish your credibility as a careful researcher and writer. Consistency in reference ...
Conduct a reference search and format your reference section
Delve into the essential skills of conducting a thorough reference search and formatting your reference section. Whether you're a student working on an academic paper or a researcher submitting a manuscript, a well-organized and accurate reference section is crucial. We will guide you through the process of conducting effective reference ...
Academic Guides: Reference List: Common Reference List Examples
If you cite from a specific portion of the catalog in your paper, indicate the appropriate section and paragraph number in your text:...which reflects the commitment to social change expressed in Walden University's mission statement (Walden University, 2020, Vision, Mission, and Goals section, para. 2). And in the reference list: Walden ...
PDF Reference Guide
academic research databases. Include a URL for ebooks from other websites. Do not put a period after the DOI or URL. Does the book have an edition or volume number? If so, include the number in parentheses after the title but before the period. If both, show edition first and volume second, separated by a comma. Do
A Quick Guide to Harvard Referencing
When you cite a source with up to three authors, cite all authors' names. For four or more authors, list only the first name, followed by ' et al. ': Number of authors. In-text citation example. 1 author. (Davis, 2019) 2 authors. (Davis and Barrett, 2019) 3 authors.
How To Write Your References Quickly And Easily
In general, a reference will include authors' names and initials, the title of the article, name of the journal, volume and issue, date, page numbers and DOI. On ScienceDirect, articles are linked to their original source (if also published on ScienceDirect) or to their Scopus record, so including the DOI can help link to the correct article.
References: How to Cite and List Correctly
If a single reference points to more than one source, list the source numbers in a series, for example, as 1,3,6. Use a dash to separate more than two numbers as 1−3, if these form a sequence. However, use a comma to separate two numbers as 1,3 (without space in between), if these do not form a sequence.
APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition)
Reference List. Resources on writing an APA style reference list, including citation formats. Basic Rules Basic guidelines for formatting the reference list at the end of a standard APA research paper Author/Authors Rules for handling works by a single author or multiple authors that apply to all APA-style references in your reference list ...
Formatting References for Scientific Manuscripts
The most common types of references include journal article, book, book section or chapter, dissertation, monograph, and webpage. As an example, for a journal article, the parts of a reference in the sequence include authors, article title, journal title, date of publication, volume, issue, and location/pagination.
APA Formatting and Citation (7th Ed.)
Throughout your paper, you need to apply the following APA format guidelines: Set page margins to 1 inch on all sides. Double-space all text, including headings. Indent the first line of every paragraph 0.5 inches. Use an accessible font (e.g., Times New Roman 12pt., Arial 11pt., or Georgia 11pt.).
Citing References
Citing References. In your research paper, whenever you refer to prior research or to ideas that were generated by others, you should cite the source or sources in the text and in a References section at the end of the paper. In the psychological sciences, typically references are cited using APA style (as specified by the Publication Manual of ...
The Importance of Proper Citation of References in Biomedical Articles
Writing a paper is a tedious job, however, following the established rules that work not only becomes much simpler, but also more accessible, which often results in the birth of the desire of researchers to write an article (11, 12).Knowledge of the principles established by the process of scientific research demystifies the process.
Research Paper
The methods section of a research paper describes the research design, the sample selection, the data collection and analysis procedures, and the statistical methods used to analyze the data. ... Citations and references: Research papers include citations and references to acknowledge the sources of information and ideas used in the paper. They ...
Best Practices When Referring to Different Sections Within a Paper
Using Numbers. A good way to inform readers that they should refer to a certain section of your paper is to number all the sections (and even subsections). This enables you to mention things like " As I discussed in Section 2… " or " See Section 5.7 for more details. Numbering tables and figure is the norm.
How to Write an APA Methods Section
How to Write an APA Methods Section | With Examples. Published on February 5, 2021 by Pritha Bhandari.Revised on June 22, 2023. The methods section of an APA style paper is where you report in detail how you performed your study. Research papers in the social and natural sciences often follow APA style.
How To Cite a Research Paper in 2024: Citation Styles Guide
But, creating a reference section for your paper or dissertation can be a tedious task. As such, this article should serve as your guide on how to reference a research paper in popular formats: APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, and the IEEE style. A list of digital tools that can make citation easier and a quick tutorial will also be provided. This ...
Cubic millimetre of brain mapped in spectacular detail
Credit: Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University). Renderings by D. Berger (Harvard University) Researchers have mapped a tiny piece of the human brain in astonishing detail.
Full article: Editorial introduction
The two papers in the featured section discuss the development of Marxian money theory in the tradition of the Uno School.Ehara and Imai follow ... Yamaguchi and Obata, questioned these assumptions, which are characteristic of Uno's three-level approach. Yamaguchi (Citation 1985) ... Research paper section. Arne Heise, Keynes and the drunkard ...
How to cite Articles in Researchgate?
How can we add citation on research gate? Question. 65 answers. Asked 5th Jun, 2020; Mohd Saif Khan; ... When and how to cite a research paper? Question. 45 answers. Asked 19th Dec, 2017;