Bibliography and APA referencing
APA style lists sources as author, year, title, source. In the text you cite (Author, Year); the full reference goes in an alphabetical list at the end.
Bibliography or reference list?
Many colleges still call this last section 'Bibliography'. Follow your department's rule, but keep one style throughout. All names, titles and links below are invented for practice.
APA 7 reference formats (invented examples)
| Source | Format | Example | Put in italics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Book | Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book (ed.). Publisher. | Raman, K. S. (2021). Nutrition research made simple (2nd ed.). Sample Academic Press. | Book title |
| Journal article | Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, volume(issue), pages. DOI link | Devi, M., & Iyer, S. (2022). Iron status of adolescent girls in an imaginary town. Journal of Sample Nutrition Studies, 14(2), 45-53. https://doi.org/10.0000/jsns.2022.142 | Journal name and volume number |
| Edited book chapter | Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pp. first-last page). Publisher. | Nair, P. (2020). Diet surveys in rural homes. In L. Menon & R. Das (Eds.), Field methods in community nutrition (pp. 112-130). Sample House. | Book title (not the chapter title) |
| Webpage | Author or Organisation. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Site Name. URL | Healthy Plate Forum. (2023, March 8). Simple steps to a balanced thali. https://www.example.org/balanced-thali | Title of the page |
In-text citations
| Authors | In brackets (parenthetical) | In the sentence (narrative) |
|---|---|---|
| One author | (Raman, 2021) | Raman (2021) found that... |
| Two authors | (Devi & Iyer, 2022) | Devi and Iyer (2022) reported... |
| Three or more authors | (Kumar et al., 2019) | Kumar et al. (2019) showed... |
| Group author | (Sample Dietetics Society [SDS], 2023) the first time, then (SDS, 2023) | Sample Dietetics Society (SDS, 2023), then SDS (2023) |
| Direct quotation | (Raman, 2021, p. 45) | Raman (2021) wrote that "..." (p. 45). |
Rules to remember
- Arrange the list alphabetically by the first author's surname. Give initials, not first names.
- Use '&' before the last author in the reference list and inside brackets; use 'and' in the running text.
- Name both authors every time for two authors; for three or more, use the first author + et al. from the first citation.
- Use sentence case for book, chapter and article titles: capitalise only the first word, the first word after a colon and proper nouns.
- Italicise the book title, the journal name and the volume number, but not article or chapter titles.
- Give the DOI as a link when there is one. APA 7 leaves out the publisher's city.
- For a webpage, leave out the site name when it is the same as the author. No date? Write (n.d.).
- Use a hanging indent (second and later lines indented 1.27 cm, or 0.5 inch) and double spacing.
Nutrition dissertations cite journal articles (for example on anaemia or diabetic diets), ICMR-NIN reports and websites of health bodies. Citing each one properly shows where every fact comes from and helps you avoid plagiarism, which many colleges check with software.
2 marks: “What is a bibliography?” A list of the sources consulted for a study, written in one standard style and arranged alphabetically at the end of the report.
5 marks: “Give the APA format for a book and a journal article, with an example of each.” Book: Author, A. A. (Year). Title (ed.). Publisher. Article: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title. Journal, volume(issue), pages. DOI. Add an example of each and say what goes in italics.
10 marks: “What is a bibliography? Explain the APA style of citing references, with examples.” Define bibliography and reference list. Give formats and examples for a book, journal article, edited chapter and webpage, then in-text rules for one, two and three or more authors.
Every APA reference answers Who? When? What? Where?: author, (year), title, source.