In text citations using "et al." when the first author is the same

The question:

"I'm using Harvard, and I have two sources with the same first author and the same year but different contributing authors.  In text, both would be (Cass, 2004).  Can I make one 2004a and the other 2004b? Or can I not do this because they have different contributing authors? If not, how do I differentiate between these two sources when in text referencing?"

The answer:

With in-text citations, you keep adding authors until the citations are clearly unique.  So, if you have the same first author, but different second authors, you would have (Cass, Cunningham et al., 2004) and (Cass, Devitt et al., 2004).

If the first two authors were the same, you’d add the third author to your in-text referencing – and so on.


The only time you use the 2004a/2004b option is if all of your authors are identical – the exact same authors in the exact same pattern.

Referencing information from databases in AMA

The Question:

How do you reference information from a database like MIMS or AusDI?

The Answer:

With databases like these, you have the option of referencing a particular entry in the database or referencing the database as a whole.

If you referenced your entry, it would follow the same pattern as AusDI in the examples on the guide, and it would look like this:

1. Pevaryl for athlete’s foot [product information]. In: MIMS Online. St Leonards, Australia: MIMS Australia.  https://www-mimsonline-com-au.elibrary.jcu.edu.au. Updated August 11, 2011. Accessed May 1, 2014.

Some notes:

• When citing an entry, like this, the pattern bares more in common with a book chapter than a web site, but it still needs the dates that you would use for a web site.
• If there was a clear date of publication given for the database (not just a copyright year), you would include the year (or year range) after the publisher, just like you would in a book:
  e.g. St Leonards, Australia: MIMS Australia; 2006-2014.
• You need to ask your lectures if they wants you to include the full link back to the record.  Generally speaking, you don’t use a URL that includes a search-string if you can avoid it (they tend to be long, ugly and unstable), which is why I abbreviated the URL to just the address for this database.
• And you can skip the [product information] part if you want - especially if you took information from several subpages concerning the same entry.

If you referenced the database as a whole, it would look like this:

1. MIMS Online. St Leonards, Australia: MIMS Australia; 2014.  https://www-mimsonline-com-au.elibrary.jcu.edu.au. Accessed May 1, 2014.

Some notes:

• The standard reference pattern for a complete database looks a bit like a cross between a book pattern and a web site.  Just like a web site, the title of the database is not italicised in this case.  Just like a book, there is a place of publication and a publisher
• If you can't find a place of publication and publisher, click on the "about" page for the database and find the company responsible and their head offices.  Use the city for their offices as your place of publication, and the company as your publisher.
• Since there is less likely to be a clear "last updated" date for the database as a whole, rather than an individual entry, the copyright date is probably going to be your "year of publication".  Put it exactly where you would put the year for a book.

But you’re probably better off citing the entry, as it’s more precise and helps the person who may be trying to find your information.

APA in blogs

If you need to us APA citations in blogs, you may find that you can't make the hanging indent work.

Your lecturer may be okay with this if you talk to them (especially if you aren't very technologically minded), but if you know a little about html code and want to make your reference lists look more professional, use the following code:

REFERENCES
<div style="padding-left: 4em; text-indent: -4em;">

<p>...first reference...</p>
<p>...second reference...</p>
<p>...etc...</p>
</div>

(with thanks to Moonflowerdragon, for making it nice and simple).

This will make your references look like this:

Moonflowerdragon. (2010). HTML code for hanging indents for APA style reference list. Retrieved from http://moonflowerdragon.blogspot.com.au/2010/06/html-code-for-hanging-indents-for-apa.html

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Book chapters - APA: multiple editors

The Question:

How do you format book chapters if there are more than three editors?

The Answer:

If there are up to five editors, you list all of the editors (with an & between the last two):

T. Frogmouth, S. Goose, B. Swallow & B. Heron (Eds.)

If there are six or more editors, list the first editor followed by et al.:

T. Frogmouth et al. (Eds.)

The Example:

(Less than six):

Stone-Curlew, B. (2013). Stillness as a form of defence. In T. Frogmouth, S. Goose, B. Swallow & B. Heron (Eds.), Camouflage:  The essential life skill (pp. 84-102). Birdsville, Australia: Crazy Chook Press.

(Six or more):

Stone-Curlew, B. (2013). Stillness as a form of defence. In T. Frogmouth et al. (Eds.), Camouflage:  The essential life skill (pp. 84-102). Birdsville, Australia: Crazy Chook Press.