APA 7
APA 7th Edition is the most commonly used referencing style here at the University of Portsmouth. Below you will find general guidance on how to reference and cite using APA 7th Edition, as well as examples for the specific sources you are likely to use in your assignments.
Your department or lecturer may prefer you to reference sources differently from the guidance given here. Always follow the requirements of your department or lecturer.
External visitors are welcome to use this guide, but note that your institution's requirements may differ from those suggested here.
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Page numbers and in-text citations
If you are using a direct quote from a source, you should always include a page number where available. Pagination should be copied exactly as it is presented on the document, so if a section of a book uses roman numerals for example, use those in your citation.
The APA manual states that although you are not required to provide a page or paragraph number in the citation for paraphrased information, you may include one in addition to the author and year when it would help interested readers locate the relevant passage within a long or complex work (e.g. a book).
We have included examples of in-text citations with and without page numbers in our guidance to show how these would be done.
Some lecturers have specific preferences about the use of page numbers in citations, so if you are in any doubt, please check with the lecturer who will be marking your work.
Citing from a source without page numbers
To quote from a publication with no page numbers (which could include dynamic ebooks in epub format, where the font size is not fixed and so pagination is not standard), you will need to provide your reader with another way of locating the relevant part of the source.
If the source is a webpage, or a short printed pamphlet, you can use paragraph numbers in place of pages. You may need to count the paragraphs manually if they are not numbered in the source. You should use para. in place of p. to show this is what you are doing:
(Smith, 2019, para. 7)
Smith (2019, para. 7) argues that...
Alternatively, if there are distinct sections in the source, you can use these to point your reader to the information you are using:
(Gecht-Silver & Duncombe, 2015, Osteoarthritis section)
If the work is particularly long, you can combine these two approaches to make it easier for your reader to locate the information:
(DeAnglis, 2018, Musical Forays section, para. 4)