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APA guidelines (7th) ENG: Reference managers

A detailed explanation of the latest edition of the APA guidelines, with lots of examples. This LibGuide is in English.

Reference managers

A reference manager is a web-based program that allows you to collect, store, organize and manage source citations (references).

Benefits of a reference manager:

  • References are stored online and can be imported without manual entry.
  • Attachments, e.g. the pdf file of an article, can be added to the references.
  • References can be shared with others.
  • Add source references directly into your article, report, etc. in APA style or any other desired style.  

Well-known reference programs are Endnote, Mendeley, Refworks and Zotero.
Mendeley and Zotero are free.

Refworks is free to use through Avans. 

Tools for source citation

 

In many search engines (in databases or catalogs), you can automatically generate a source reference.

If not, you still have all the data you need, together in one place, to generate a reference by yourself.

 

Catalog (e.g. WorldCat)

  • For each catalog item, a bar with options appears.
  • Choose "Cite", a window with options will appear.
  • You can now export the source description to reference mangers like EndNote or RefWorks or choose a citation style from the drop-down menu.
  • Choose APA 7th and copy the description that appears below it.

Note: always check that the automatic source citation is complete and conforms to the guidelines!

 

 
Google Scholar:

Each search result is presented with a bar with various options directly below it. 

Choose the quotation marks icon in the bar:

  • A screen appears with the bibliographic description of the article in 3 styles, including APA;
  • Select the description in APA style and copy & paste it into the source list of the document you are writing,
  • Be sure to check the data for completeness,
  • You can also export the article to a reference manager to add to your document later.

 

 

Scribbr has a handy app APA Citation Generator for creating and saving source citations and references.

  • Choose the right type of publication.
  • Look up a publication (title or DOI)
  • Scribbr automatically fills in all the data. Do check that everything is correct.
  • If Scribbr cannot find the publication fill in all data yourself.
  • Click on 'Generate source'.