Examples: APA style

Each thesis contains a bibliography in which you name the sources used. Most educational institutions use APA referencing style for this. Citation for a book is structured differently than that for a scientific article or a website. Don't worry, these APA-style examples will get you started.

 

The citation of sources is important in a thesis. If you do not cite your sources correctly, you may (unintentionally) commit plagiarism. That is why it is so important to mention the sources you use in two places in your thesis:

1. in the bibliography at the end of your thesis;
2. in the running text exactly where you have used the source.

A source for your thesis can take any form. It is often an article from a scientific journal or a book, but a newspaper report, folder or web page can also be a source. Each of those types of sources requires a different form of citation.

 

Elsewhere on our website, you will find the basic rules for the APA referencing style (7th edition). In short, a source reference for a scientific article looks like this:

In running text:

This research shows that … (name author, year of publication, possibly page numbers)

Name of author (year of publication, possibly page numbers) discovered that…

In the bibliography:

Last name author, initials. (year of publication). Title publication. Magazine title, edition(volume), page numbers. https://doi.org/…

Is the DOI unknown? State the URL instead, provided it is known.

Is the volume of the edition unknown? Then you omit the brackets and the volume number.

For example:

Van der Linden, PM (2019). How does moving houses affect a child's development? Journal of Pedagogy, 172(5), 140-156. https://doi.org/…

Once you have mastered these basic rules, you will notice that the same information is not available for every source. For example, for a scientific publication you must also state the journal title and page numbers, while for a book you must state the publisher and place of publication.

To help you gain a clear picture of the above, we'll give you some APA-style examples. These help you to make a correct APA citation for the most common sources.

 

Many scientific publications and other sources are written by more than one author. In that case, the APA-style citation will look slightly different.

If there are multiple authors, list them all in the running text. You distinguish the authors in both the bibliography and in the running text with commas. Place an & sign between the last two authors.

Two authors

For two authors, it looks like this:

Bibliography:

Van Dijk. P.O., & Lieshout, R. (2018).

In the text:

(Van Dijk & Lieshout, 2018)

Van Dijk and Lieshout (2018) say that…

Three to five authors

Are there more than two authors? Then the references look like this:

Bibliography:

Van Dijk, PO, Lieshout, R., Van Dam, IM & Wessels, P. (2018).

In the text (first reference):

(Van Dijk, Lieshout, Van Dam & Wessels, 2018)

Van Dijk, Lieshout, Van Dam and Wessels (2018) discovered in their research that…

In the text (following references):

(Van Dijk et al., 2018)

Also the research of Van Dijk et al. (2018) ...

Six or seven authors

With six or seven authors, the list of authors becomes very long. That is why you do not have to mention all authors in the running text, but always use 'et al.'. Your references look like this:

Bibliography:

Van Dijk, PO, Lieshout, R., Van Dam, IM & Wessels, P., Arends, B., Kenmer, YU (2018).

In the text:

(Van Dijk et al., 2018)

Van Dijk et al. (2018) researched this and…

More than seven authors

If there are more than seven authors, you only need the first six authors and the last author mentioned in the bibliography. You put three dots between the first six and the last author.

Bibliography:

Van Dijk, PO, Lieshout, R., Van Dam, IM & Wessels, P., Arends, B., Kenmer, YU, … Steffens, N. (2018).

In the text:

(Van Dijk et al., 2018)

This is also apparent in the results of the study that Van Dijk et al. (2018)...

A standard APA-style example for a journal article is as follows:

In text:

(Grezel, 2013)

Grezel (2013) argues for…

In bibliography:

Grezel, E. (2013). 'Listening and language’: Improving the connection between secondary education and secondary education through language tests?'. Living Languages ​​Magazine, 100(2), 4-8.

It is also possible that a scientific article has not (yet) been published. In that case, you state in the source reference that it is an “Unpublished manuscript”. You then italicize the title of the manuscript. Where possible, add the university that the author in question works at.

The citation in the text then looks like this:

In text:

(Fossen, 2019)

Fossen (2019) found that…

In bibliography:

Fossen, BR (2019). What influence does the place of residence have on the well-being of people? [Unpublished Manuscript]. Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogy, Free University Amsterdam.

Are you referring to a book? Then the APA style reference looks like this:

In text:

(D'hanens & Vanderstraeten, 2020)

D'hanens and Vanderstraeten (2020) state …

In bibliography:

D'hanens, K. & Vanderstraeten, B. (2020 ). Scoring with creative content on social media. Politeia.

APA style example for web page

What is characteristic of a source reference of a web page is that you must also state when you consulted this web page. It is important to know the date as the author can change the online information at any time. You also state the URL.

Is the date of publication unknown? Then write 'n.d.' (no date) in place of the year. Is the author of the webpage unknown? In that case, state the institution's name instead of the author's name.

In text:

(Diabetesfonds, n.d.)

According to the Diabetesfonds (n.d.) ...

In bibliography:

Diabetesfonds (n.d.). Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetesfonds. Retrieved May 20,

2022, from https://www.diabetesfonds.nl/over-diabetes/heb-ik-diabetes/symptomen-van-diabetes-type-2

Are you citing another thesis? Use the following format to cite the source for your thesis:

In text:

(De Roo, 2020)

De Roo (2020) found in her research that…

In bibliography:

De Roo, A. (2020). Social media, an addiction? [Bachelor's thesis, University of Groningen]. Student Theses UB RUG.

Finally, you always mention the thesis database (such as 'Student Theses UB RUG') from which you have obtained the thesis.

Are you referring to a report from the government or another organization? In that case, indicate when you consulted the report and (in the case of an online report) state the URL.

For example, the citation may look like this:

In text:

(CBS, 2020, p. 5)

This can also be understood from the CBS report (2020, p. 5) ...

In bibliography:

CBS. (2020). Results report - Groningen housing market. CBS. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/publicatie/2020/12/resultsrapport-woningmarkt-groningen

Have you checked your thesis down to each comma?

Citing your source is not the only thing that comes with writing your thesis. It is quite a lot of work to write a thesis. It is not surprising that sometimes there are a few remaining spelling errors here and there.

This is not a problem: our editors can correct these mistakes for you during a final check. They will happily review your thesis!