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. 

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Lecture notes / PowerPoint slides

Although you must reference anything you use which is not your own work in order to avoid being accused of plagiarism, you will find that many departments at Portsmouth do not allow you to use your lecture notes as sources for your essays. It is good academic practice to use the reading list and any slides or notes which your lecturer has given you, and turn to the sources listed in these when writing your essay. If your lecturer has not indicated where they got their information, and you want to use it, ask them for their source. 

In a situation where lecture notes or slides contain specific information which is only available from a lecturer, via Moodle, or from someone who took notes during a lecture, you should treat this as a personal communication as the source will not necessarily be accessible to your reader or marker.  

However sites such as SlideShare have increased in popularity, and the guidance below shows how to reference lecture notes or PowerPoint slides published on the web.

 

Reference

Author, Initials. (Year, Month Date of publication). Title [PowerPoint slides / Lecture notes]. Name of website / Institution. https://doi.org/ or URL 

Clare, A. (2014, July 23). Gamification for learning and development [PowerPoint slides]. SlideShare. https://www.slideshare.net/WeroCreative/gamification-for-learning-and-development-ccce-presentation

 

In-text Citation

If you are using information from a specific slide, you can indicate this in your citation.

This can be explained as... (Clare, 2014, slide 12)

According to Clare (2014, slide 12)...

 

Interviews

You should reference the source that the interview appears in. If a transcript appears in a book, follow the referencing guidelines for a book. If a transcript appears on a webpage, follow the referencing guidance for a webpage.

If you watched the speech online (for example, YouTube) use the appropriate reference format for that source. 

If you interviewed another person as part of your research, and they agreed to be quoted in your work, cite this as a personal communication in your text.

Do not include this in your reference list, as there is no copy of the information available for the reader to use.

 

In-text Citation

The curator noted the important discoveries she made within the documents (H. Raven, personal communication, April 3, 2018).

 

If interviewees were speaking confidentially, do not include a citation.

 

In-text Citation

Fourteen of the twenty interviewees expressed concerns about steroid use in teenagers.

 

Speeches

You should reference the source that the speech appears in. If a transcript appears in a book, follow the referencing guidelines for a book. If a transcript appears on a webpage, follow the referencing guidance for a webpage.

If you heard the speech live, and there is no written or audio recording, reference as follows:

 

Reference

Author, Initials. (Year, Month Date speech was given). Title [Speech]. Location.

 

In-text Citation

It was claimed that... (Author, Year)

In their speech, Author (Year) claimed that... 

 

Press releases

Include the type of material in square brackets after the title. 

 

Reference

Author/organisation. (Year, Month Date of publication). Title [Description]. https://doi.org/ or URL

Wightlink. (2021, April 29). Commuters return to Wightlink’s FastCats [Press release]. https://www.wightlink.co.uk/press-releases/commuters-return-to-wightlinks-fastcats

 

In-text Citation

It was reported that... (Wightlink, 2021).

Wightlink (2021) reported that... 

 

Personal communications

APA classes all source that cannot be obtained by a reader or marker, including intranet documents, internal company documents, unrecorded and unpublished interviews, conversations, emails and notes you make during lectures as 'personal communications'.

No personal communications are included in your reference list; instead, parenthetically cite the communicator's name, the phrase 'personal communication', and the date of the communication in the format Month Day, Year in your main text only.

 

In-text citation

The email stated that the company accepted an error had been made (P. Smith, personal communication, August 17, 2019).