Subject guides: CDU APA Referencing: Pre-Submission Checklists

1	Have you checked if your lecturer has any special referencing requirements, for example, page numbers for all citations or no hyperlinks?
	If your lecturer states specific requirements for referencing, these override CDU APA style. Check in your Learnline unit information or with your lecturer directly.

2	Have you cited all resources used?
	Whenever you use information from a resource in your text, an in-text citation is needed to show your reader where you found the information.

Have you used an appropriate level of citation?

Consider the number of resources you have used for the assignment (always follow your lecturer’s guidelines). When using information from a source, provide an in-text citation.

See Appropriate Levels of Citation: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/appropriate-citation

Have you correctly used parenthetical and narrative citations?

Parenthetical citation: The author and the date, appear in parentheses (brackets) separated by a comma. A parenthetical citation can appear within or at the end of a sentence.
Example: Workplace health is a significant social problem (Schofield & Germov, 2019).

Narrative citation: The author is incorporated into the text as part of the sentence and the date appears in brackets immediately after the author’s name.
Example: Schofield and Germov (2019) state workplace health is a significant social problem

Quotes of fewer than 40 words: Are your quotes in double quotation marks, and have you included the page or paragraph number in the in-text citation?

When words are not your own (quotes), you must clearly signal this in the text with quotation marks, or you will be plagiarising.

See APA: Quotations for examples: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/quotations

Quotes of more than 40 words: Is this quote necessary, or could you summarise/paraphrase the text? Have you followed the rules for formatting a quote of 40 words or more?

Treat a quote of 40 words or more as a block quote. Omit quotation marks and start the quote on a new line. Indent the whole block. Add a citation after the final punctuation.

See APA: Quotations for examples: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/quotations

Have you changed a quote to make it fit grammatically or because it contains irrelevant or unnecessary information? Have you followed the APA guidelines for changing a quote?

When leaving out information in a quote, insert an ellipsis (three dots). When adding or slightly changing words within a quote for reasons of grammar or clarity, indicate the change with square brackets.

Example: “Drug prevention … [efforts] backed this up” (Gardner, 2007, p. 49).

Do you need to use a specific part/section of a resource with no page number?

If you don’t have a page number, you can use a section number, paragraph number, or the identifier/title the resource uses in its place. For example:

(ACARA, n.d., ACELA1443), (Bueler, 2000, para. 5), (NMBA, 2016, Standard 3.1, p. 4)

Have you followed the ‘et al.’ rule when citing 3 or more authors?

When citing a resource with three or more authors, only show the first named author, followed by et al. (et al. means ‘and others’).

Example: (Smith et al., 2019) / According to Smith et al. (2019) families are …

10	If you have two in-text citations in one parenthesis, are they in alphabetical order and separated by a semi colon?
	Example: (Miller, 2018; Smith, 2015)

Have you used information that was already cited from another resource (secondary citation)? Have you checked if you could access the original resource?

If you can’t access the original source to read, cite the work as a secondary citation.

For example: You read Lister’s article, which refers to Miller’s ideas. If you can’t find Miller’s work, cite the ideas like this: … of social justice (Miller, 1984, as cited in Lister, 2007) OR Miller’s (1984) simple definition of social justice (as cited in Lister, 2007) …

You include the Lister article in your reference list:
Lister, R. (2007). Social justice. Benefits, 15(2), 113–125. https://doi.org/10.33.44.555/list

12	Have you explained all your abbreviations before using them?
	It is possible to use an abbreviated version of an organisational author in the text or a citation, but you must use it in full the first time. In-text example: (World Health Organization [WHO], 2014). Your reference list should always include the author’s full name, no abbreviation.

13	Do your references appear at the end of your document, on a new page?
	References are listed at the end of your document. Insert a page break to start the references on a new page.

14	Are your references headed by the title References, centred and bold?
	This is the exact formatting required.

15	Are your references in alphabetical order by first-named author or title if there is no author?
	Sequentially top to bottom. Ignore the words ‘A’, ‘An’, and ‘The’ when alphabetising by title.

16	Are your references double-spaced?
	Regardless of the spacing required for assignments, references must be double-spaced.

17	Are your references left aligned?
	Regardless of the alignment required for assignments, you must align the references.

18	Do your references have a hanging indent of 5-7 spaces?
	FAQ What is a hanging indent? http://libanswers.cdu.edu.au/faq/263686 FAQ How to create a hanging indent? http://libanswers.cdu.edu.au/faq/263688

19	Have you followed CDU APA rules including punctuation, spaces, italics, parenthesis, etc.?
	Video – Punctuation Pitfalls: https://youtu.be/vjQMGTAVvqw

20	Have you followed the rule of capitalisation for your titles and journal titles?
	In titles and subtitles, capitalise only the first letter of the first word of the title, the subtitle and proper nouns. Watch the video A capital idea: https://youtu.be/DAaYJVY1rRI.

Do all your references have a matching in-text citation and vice versa?

References cited in-text must appear in the reference list and vice versa. The only exceptions to this rule are ‘Personal communication’ and ‘Traditional knowledge’.

The reference entry has all the information your reader needs to find the source.

Have you provided a DOI or URL for online resources, and are they hyperlinked?

Whenever you access a resource online, you must provide a DOI or URL to help your reader find the resource. If the resource is found in the CDU Library and does not have a DOI, do not include a URL.

FAQ: What is a DOI and where can I find it? https://libanswers.cdu.edu.au/faq/136259

All URLs and DOIs should be hyperlinked (clickable), e.g., https://www.cdu.edu.au/library/

23	Have you changed all your DOIs to the correct format?
	DOI on article: doi:10.1037/arc0000014 DOI changed to: https://doi.org/10.1037/arc0000014

24	Have you shortened URLs that are longer than two lines using a URL shortening service?
	Try https://tinyurl.com/. Reminder: check ALL URLs work before submitting

For authors with multiple middle names, only include the first two initials.

Example: Robert Mark Smith = Smith, R. M.

Example: Ruby Mary Ann Sanderson = Sanderson, R. M.

If your resource did not have a date, did you use n.d. (no date)?

Example of reference: Author. (n.d.). Title. Publisher. DOI/URL

Example of in-text citation: (Author, n.d.)

If you have resources with the same author, but different dates, have you listed the references in chronological order (oldest first)?

Example of reference list entry:

Jones, J. (2012). Travel tips. Publisher. http://doi.org/...

Jones, J. (2016). Worst holidays ever. Publisher. http://doi.org/...

If you have resources with the same author and the same date, have you added a letter after the date? Have you added the same letter in the matching in-text citation?

Example of reference list entry:

Smith, J. (2014a). Best food ever. Publisher. http://doi.org/...

Smith, J. (2014b). Chocolate is great. Publisher. http://doi.org/...

If you have resources with the same author and no date, have you added a hyphen and a letter after n.d.? Have you added the same hyphen-letter in the in-text citation?

Example of reference:

St John. (n.d.-a). Burns. URL

St John. (n.d.-b). Scalds. URL

Do you have multiple resources with 3+ authors where the first named author is the same, and the resources have the same date?

Smith, A., Butler, J., Jones, T., & Walker, T. (2017).

Smith, A., Butler, J., Miller, S., Lowe, K., & Turner, J. (2017)

Both these citations shorten to (Smith et al., 2017). To avoid confusion when citing them both, cite them as follows:

(Smith, Butler, Jones, et al., 2017)
(Smith, Butler, Miller, et al., 2017)

Have you used personal communications like conversations, personal interviews, phone conversations, emails, etc. as resources for your assignment?

‘Personal communications’ are resources that are accessible to you, but not your reader.

For this reason, you only cite them in-text, without including a reference.

See the Personal communication & Traditional Knowledges page for more information.

Video: Personal Communication https://youtu.be/TPKxKYVzXzw

Have you used Traditional Knowledge or Oral Traditions that are not accessible by your reader, as a resource in your assignment?

If you speak with an Indigenous person directly, follow the ‘personal communication’ in-text citation example. There are some additional elements you need to include in the in-text citation, but still, no reference entry is included.

See the Personal communication & Traditional Knowledges page for more information.