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APA 7th

APA (American Psychological Association) 7th edition is an author-date referencing style requiring an in-text citation within the text of your document and a related entry in a reference list at the end of your document.

Music album or song - reference list

No date: If there is no year of publication, use the abbreviation (n.d.) for no date.

Title of album: For albums and songs, the Title of album is in italics and is in sentence case, i.e. capitalise the first letter of the first word and the first word after a colon. Capitalise proper nouns. 

Title of song: The title of the song is in normal font and sentence case.

For more information on reference list format and style, see General information - basics of referencing.

Format

Recording artist. (Year of publication). Title of album [Description]. Label.

Composer. (Year of publication). Title of album [Description]. Label. (Original work published year).

Note: For classical works, provide the composer as the author. After the description, add the individual or group who recorded the version you listened to. At the end of the reference, provide the original composition date.

Examples

Adele. (2021). 30 [Album]. Columbia Records.

Beethoven, L. van. (1986). Wind music: Classical winds on original instruments [Album recorded by David Wilkins]. Amon Ra Records. (Original work published 1791-1796).

Format

Recording artist. (Year of publication). Title of song [Description]. On Title of album. Label.

Composer. (Year of publication). Title of song [Description]. On Title of album. Label. (Original work published year).

Note: For classical works, provide the composer as the author. After the description, add the individual or group who recorded the version you listened to. At the end of the reference, provide the original composition date.

Examples

Six60. (2022). Tahi [Song]. On Castle St. Massive Entertainment.

Strauss, R. (1968/1996). Main title: Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus spake Zarathustra) [Song recorded by The Vienna Philharmonic]. On 2001: A space odyssey. Turner Entertainment; EMI Records. (Original work published 1896).

Music album or song - in-text citations

Parenthetical citation: When you use another person’s ideas or words in your text, include the author’s name and publication date in brackets, generally at the end of the sentence,  e.g. ... services closer to home (Bishop, 2024).

Narrative citation: If you use the author’s name as part of a sentence, include the date of publication in brackets, generally at the beginning of the sentence, e.g. Bishop (2024) argued that time was ...

Parenthetical citation

... in a recent broadcast (Tennant, 2013). Another view, according to Tennant (2013), was that ...

Note: If you use a parenthetical citation the first time, followed by a narrative citation, you need to repeat the date.

Narrative citation

In a recent broadcast, Tennant (2013) suggested that ... Another view, according to Tennant, was that ...

Note: If you use a narrative citation the first time, followed by another narrative citation, you can omit the date. But, if you use a parenthetical citation the next time, you must include the date.

Parenthetical citation

Use ‘&’ between the authors' surnames when they are enclosed within brackets. Use ‘and’ when they form part of the sentence.

... in a recent study (Holt & Wilkinson, 2016). Another finding, according to Holt and Wilkinson (2016), was that ...

Note: If you use a parenthetical citation the first time, followed by a narrative citation, you need to repeat the date.

Narrative citation

In a recent study, Holt and Wilkinson (2016) showed that ... Another finding, according to Holt and Wilkinson, was that ...

Note: If you use a narrative citation the first time, followed by another narrative citation, you can omit the date. But, if you use a parenthetical citation the next time, you must include the date.

Parenthetical citation

Cite only the surname of the first author followed by ‘et al.’

... in a recent study (Cole et al., 2010). Another finding, according to Cole et al. (2010), was that ...

Note: If you use a parenthetical citation the first time, followed by a narrative citation, you need to repeat the date.

Narrative citation

In a recent study, Cole et al. (2010) showed that ... Another finding, according to Cole et al., was that ...

Note: If you use a narrative citation the first time, followed by another narrative citation, you can omit the date. But, if you use a parenthetical citation the next time, you must include the date.

Use the name of the group as it appears in your reference list. However, the group name can be abbreviated. The first time, cite the full name with the abbreviation. Subsequently, only use the abbreviation. If the reader could be confused by the abbreviation use the full group name each time.

Parenthetical citation

... in a recent study (Education Scotland, 2016). Another finding, according to Education Scotland (2016), was that ...

Note: If you use a parenthetical citation the first time, followed by a narrative citation, you need to repeat the date.

Narrative citation

In a recent study, Education Scotland (2016) showed that ... Another finding, according to Education Scotland, was that ...

Note: If you use a narrative citation the first time, followed by another narrative citation, you can omit the date. But, if you use a parenthetical citation the next time, you must include the date.

For the title of the article with no author, use Title Case  with double quotation marks. For a long title, use only the first few words.

Parenthetical citation

Companies are more successful with leaders whose skills fit the particular challenges of the job (“When Hiring Execs,” 2017).

Note: If you use a parenthetical citation the first time, followed by a narrative citation, you need to repeat the date.

Narrative citation

The article “When Hiring Execs” (2017) suggests that you ascertain personality attributes, skills and appropriate experiences of executives as leaders before hiring.

Note: If you use a narrative citation the first time, followed by another narrative citation, you can omit the date. But, if you use a parenthetical citation the next time, you must include the date.

In the reference list

Use sentence case, i.e. only capitalise the first word of the title, the first word of a subtitle or the first word after a colon, and proper nouns.

Example

When hiring execs, context matters most. (2017). Harvard Business Review, 95(5), 20-22.

If there is no date provided, use n.d. (for 'no date') where you'd normally put the date.

Parenthetical citation

Using second-generation biofuels may be a solution to the food vs. fuel debate (Jones & Bob, n.d.).

Note: If you use a parenthetical citation the first time, followed by a narrative citation, you need to repeat the date.

Narrative citation

Jones and Bob (n.d.) have developed the next generation of biofuels from the inedible components of food crops.

Note: If you use a narrative citation the first time, followed by another narrative citation, you can omit the date. But, if you use a parenthetical citation the next time, you must include the date.

In the reference list

Use sentence case, i.e. only capitalise the first word of the title, the first word of a subtitle or the first word after a colon, and proper nouns.

Example

Jones, R. B., & Bob, J. (n.d.). First-generation biofuel technologies vs food crops used to produce ethanol. Journal of Fuels and Combustibles, 5(5), 224-228.