APA System

APA Style was first developed 80 years ago by a group of social scientists who wished to establish sound standards of communication. It is now widely used by the Psychology profession and other related disciplines.

Psychology students should use referencing guidelines laid out in the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. The full APA Style guide covers information on writing style and display of scientific results as well as citation and referencing.

Publication Manual Image


The Library holds copies of the Manual as well as other supporting APA publications. Use Library Search to check current availability.

The Psychology Department have produced a short Citation and Referencing Guide covering the basics of APA referencing style which students should refer to.

Additional information can be found on the APA Style website which includes an introductory tutorial and a set of Frequently Asked Questions covering referencing

Managing your references:

RefWorks is a bibliographic management service accessible via the Library website which can help you keep track of your references and create reference lists in the APA style. You will need to register the first time you use RefWorks. Full details can be found on our RefWorks page. To output your references in the correct format, you will need to select APA 6th edition using the Output Style Manager within RefWorks.