Select a tab to view the general rules and examples for course material sources
General notes:
If lecture notes or PowerPoint slides are only available online via Blackboard (and not publicly accessible any other way) APA suggests treating them as personal communication and including the reference in-text only. As it can be difficult to know for sure if this is the case, the Library suggests following the patterns outlined below. This also allows for full referencing of any documents used.
The general format for references to lecture notes, PowerPoints, etc., is:
Reference list examples:
Course readers and compiled textbooks (or 'custom book editions') are collections of chapters (and/or articles) specifically chosen by course coordinators as readings for their subjects. These are specially printed for the course and then made available for sale.
How can I tell if I have a course reader or compiled textbook?
Course readers are the more obvious of the two types of books and will include your course code on the cover.
Compiled textbooks will often look more like a standard book from a regular publisher. Look for the wording "custom book" and "University of Newcastle" in prominent locations to identify them. Compiled textbooks will often also have "Compiled by ..." on the book (some may have "Edited by ..." instead).
How do I reference from these types of books?
Referencing from one of these books requires that you use the referencing information of the source being reprinted, rather than citing from the course reader or compiled textbook itself.
The required referencing information can usually be found either on the chapter/section itself or in the front of the compilation. Remember that the referencing style used in the compilation may be different to your required referencing style and that parts of the reference might be missing.
Once you have checked what type of resource has been reprinted (e.g. article, chapter from an edited book, etc.), refer to the appropriate pages on this guide.
N.B.: Be careful to quote the page numbers from the original source, not the running page numbers from the compilation. Usually the compilation numbers are easy to differentiate as they are in a banner along the top or bottom of the page.
Example compiled textbook
The compiled textbook in-hand is 'Managing Under Uncertainty'. It is made up of chapters reprinted from other books.
APA says to reference the original content being reprinted, not the compiled textbook - so reference the chapter from its original source, not from 'Managing Under Uncertainty'.
As an example, Chapter 2 shows that it was reprinted from 'Management: A Focus on Leaders' by A. McKee, so reference the chapter as if you read it in the original book by McKee.
Note that in these compilations some chapters may be from books (where the authors have written the whole thing), while others may be chapters from edited books (where each chapter has different authors) - you will need to confirm this for the correct referencing. The information for journal articles will usually be clearer.
If course outlines or notes are only available online via Blackboard (and not publicly accessible any other way) APA suggests treating them as personal communication and including the reference in-text only. As it can be difficult to know for sure if this is the case, the Library suggests following the patterns outlined below. This also allows for full referencing of any documents used.
These can be treated in a similar style to books and ebooks:
Reference list examples:
There may be times when you need to reference forum posts in Blackboard (or elsewhere) written by yourself or others. As these forum posts will most likely be available to your lecturer and others in the course, they should be referenced appropriately to show your source/s.
For material only available online via Blackboard (and not publicly accessible any other way) APA suggests treating them as personal communication and including the reference in-text only. As it can be difficult to know for sure if this is the case, the Library suggests following the patterns outlined below. This also allows for full referencing of any material used.
The general format of a reference for a discussion forum post is:
