(1)

for APSS2S05 Promotion of Children and Adolescent Development

on Referencing in Academic Writing (with APA 6th edition)

Where is the citation?

In an academic reflective essay, besides reflections on your own experience, you should also
include outside sources as part of your evaluation of your service experience. This will help
you strengthen your claims.

In academic writing, a citation must be well integrated into the body paragraph. The
following formula can help you integrate citations logically into your paragraphs as you
become a more sophisticated academic writer:

PARAGRAPH EXPLANATION
Connecting sentence, linking the citation
with the main idea
#1: TOPIC SENTENCE
Citation (You must include the Authors
surname and the year of publication for
#2: ELABORATION integral citations)

Connecting sentence explaining why the

citation is relevant/interesting. (You
might not need a connecting explanation
#3: Citation before AND after)

#4: ELABORATION

#5: CONCLUDING SENTENCE

Question:
What theories and concepts have you read in this subject? And what theories and concepts
have you encountered in your further reading? Can you include any of them in your
reflection?

English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 1

 APA 6th edition: Citation with one or multiple authors

Type of citation
Integral Non-integral
Number of First citation in Subsequent First citation in Subsequent
authors text citations in text text citations in text
Chan (2010) Chan (2010)
One author (Chan, 2010) (Chan, 2010)
claims claims
Chan and Leung Chan and Leung
(Chan & Leung, (Chan & Leung,
Two authors (2010) suggest (2010) suggest
2010) 2010)

Tsui, Leung and
Tsui et al. (2010) (Tsui, Leung, & (Tsui et al.,
Three authors Collins (2010)
find Collins, 2010) 2010)
find
Wong, Lam,
Wong et al. (Wong, Lam,
Collins and (Wong et al.,
Four authors (2010) mention Collins, & Smith,
Smith (2010) 2010)
2010)
mention
Preston, Lee,
(Preston, Lee,
Chan, Smith and Preston et al. (Preston et al.,
Five authors Chan, Smith, &
Au (2010) report (2010) report 2010)
Au, 2010)

Six or more Finney et al. Finney et al. (Finney et al., (Finney et al.,
authors (2010) assert (2010) assert 2010) 2010)
Hong Kong
Groups (easily (Hong Kong
Housing
identified by HKHA (2008) Housing
Authority (HKHA, 2008)
abbreviation) as notes Authority
(HKHA, 2008)
authors [HKHA], 2008)
notes
Groups (no
Animals Asia Animals Asia (Animals Asia, (Animals Asia,
abbreviation) as
(2007) defines (2007) defines 2007) 2007)
authors
With page
number for Chan (2010, p. 15) claims (Chan, 2010, p. 15)
quotation

English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 2

 APA 6th edition: A short referencing guide

Type of
In-text references Reference list
source
Surname of author, Surname of author, initials. (Year). Title. City of
year of publication, publication: Publisher.
page number (for
direct quotations)
Books
Example:
Frankl (1964) Frankl, V. E. (1964). Man's search for meaning: An
maintains that ... introduction to logotherapy. London: Hodder &
Stoughton.

Surname of author, Surname of author, initials. (Year). Title of the article.

year of publication, Name of Journal, Volume number(Issue number),
page number (for Page numbers.
direct quotations)

(use et al. when

citing 6 or more
authors the first
time; 3 or more
Journals
authors the second
(printed
time)
copies)
Examples:
Moseley, Elliott, Moseley, D., Elliott, J., Gregson, M., & Higgins, S. (2005).
Gregson and Higgins Thinking skills frameworks for use in education and
(2005) argue that ... training. British Educational Research Journal, 31(3),
367390.
Moseley et al.
suggest that ...

Surname of author, Surname of author, initials. (Year). Title of the article.

year Name of Journal, Volume number(Issue number),
Page numbers. doi

Electronic Example:
journals (with and this has been Lau, P. S. Y., & Wu, F. K. Y. (2012). Emotional competence
DOI) proposed by Lau as a positive youth development construct: A
and Wu (2012) who conceptual review. The Scientific World Journal,
2012. doi:10.1100/2012/975189

English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 3

 Organisation, year, Organisation. (Year). Title of article. Retrieved from url
(paragraph number
for direct
quotations, if no
page number is
given)
Internet
sources Example: Social Welfare Department of the Hong Kong Special
(electronic Information from Administrative Region. (2013). Social Welfare
only sources) the Social Welfare Services in Figures. Retrieved from
Department of the http://www.swd.gov.hk/doc/res_stat/swdfig2013.pd
Hong Kong Special f
Administrative
Region (2013)
shows ...

Cite the author(s) of Surname of author, Initials. (Year). Title of chapter.

the chapter in the Initials, Surname of Editor (Ed.), Title of book (page
text of your paper, numbers of chapter). City of publication: Publisher.
not the author(s) of
the book.
Chapter in
edited book
Example:
Tesser (2003) states Tesser, A. (2003). Self-Evaluation. In M. R. Leary & J. P.
that ... Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (pp.
275-290). New York: Guilford Press.

Surname of author, Surname of author, Initials. (Year, Date). Title of article.

year. Name of newspaper, p. #.

Newspaper Example:
(with author) Van der Kamp Van der Kamp, J. (2012, April 1). Just leasing more land
(2012) believes wont open up the property market. Sunday
that ... Morning Post, p. 15.

If no author is Title of article. (Year, Date). Name of Newspaper, p. #.

designated, cite the
first few words of
the title, and the
Newspaper year.
(no author)
Example:
Put pedestrians Put pedestrians first, not cars. (2012, April 1). Sunday
first (2012) ... Morning Post, p. 14.

You can always refer to http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/referencing/APA.aspx for a complete referencing

guide for APA 6th edition.

English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 4