Can I abbreviate a classical book title or well-known organisation name in an in-text citation?
Yes, This issue is particularly relevant when referring to the Bible frequently, using a version with a long title and sometimes a sub-title. In the examples below, check the copyright page of the version you are referring to and insert your Bible's details. For more information about referencing the Bible, see How to reference the Bible.
Narrative citation first time cited
The Bible is cited as though it is a book with no author. The title is used in the place of the author.
Narrative citation for second and following citations
Parenthetical citation first time cited
Parenthetical citation for second and following citations
The examples below demonstrate the abbreviation of an organisational name used as a group author.
Narrative citation example
Parenthetical citation example
After the use of the full name followed by the abbreviation in the first citation, the abbreviation "APA" can be used in the remainder of the document.
More information -- Abbreviations
More information -- How to reference the Bible
More information -- Group author
References by the same author(s) with the same publication date are arranged alphabetically by title (excluding A or The). Place lowercase letters--a, b, c, and so forth--immediately after the year, within the parentheses.
Baheti, J. R. (2001a). Control ...
Baheti, J. R. (2001b). Roles of ...
See also the references to Cooling's work in the Sample Reference List .
Once you know the order of the reference list (by title), use the publication year with the lower-case letter for in-text citations, e.g. (Cooling, 2017a; 2017b).
(American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 303-306)
When should I use italics?
Use italics for:
Do not use italics for:
More information on the APA website
(pp. 170-172)
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).
Can I reference a dissertation/thesis?
Dissertation is a North American term for the long research papers written by students undertaking post-graduate degrees at university. In Australia the term thesis is commonly used instead of dissertation.
The principle is to use scholarly, peer-reviewed, published journal articles and authoritative books by those published researchers. If you have searched EBSCO, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and the Recommended Readings for the unit for sources, and wish to reference a thesis, that is appropriate as long as the balance of sources are peer-reviewed journal articles and authoritative books.