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APA 7th Style:  Critical appraisal tools

UON Library guide for the APA 7th referencing style

Critical Appraisal Tools

 

There are a number of critical appraisal tools that are designed to be used when reading and evaluating research and clinical studies.  We have included examples of how to reference some of the common tools here.

 

 

Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklists

 

General Notes:

  • The CASP checklists should be referenced as online documents.  An example is provided below using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) systematic review checklist.

  • The titles of the CASP checklists are provided on their download page.  The titles should always be italicised.

  • As the title of each checklist is clear there is no need for a description in square brackets as with some online documents.

  • Online documents do not require the words 'Retrieved from' before an access link.  This is a major revision for APA 7. 

  • Do not include a full-stop after the URL at the end of the reference.

  • APA allows for links to be either plain text or 'active'. See the official APA Style Blog for more information.

  • Note that some information from CASP is embedded in the pages of their site (i.e. not as a downloadable document). If this information is cited, the reference would need to be done as a web page. 
CASP checklists

Corporate Author. (Year). Title of document: Subtitle. https://www...

Reference list entry:

Critical Appraisal Skills Programme. (2018). CASP systematic review checklist. https://casp-uk.net/casp-tools-checklists/

In-text citation:

(Critical Appraisal Skills Programme, 2018)

Where more than one checklist is needed for referencing, refer to the information under Year/Date on the page for the Reference list.

Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) checklists

 

General Notes:

  • The JBI checklists should be referenced as online documents.  An example is provided below using the Checklist for systematic reviews.

  • Use the full name of the organisation as the author, i.e. Joanna Briggs Institute, not JBI.

  • The title has been taken from the first page of the document.  The titles should always be italicised.

  • As the title of each checklist is clear there is no need for a description in square brackets as with some online documents.

  • Online documents do not require the words 'Retrieved from' before an access link.  This is a major revision for APA 7. 

  • Do not include a full-stop after the URL at the end of the reference.

  • APA allows for links to be either plain text or 'active'. See the official APA Style Blog for more information.

  • For other JBI documents, see JBI tab on the page for Health resources
JBI checklists

Corporate Author. (Year). Title of document: Subtitle. https://www...

Reference list entry:

Joanna Briggs Institute. (2017). Checklist for systematic reviews and research syntheses. https://joannabriggs.org/ebp/critical_appraisal_tools

 

In-text citation:

(Joanna Briggs Institute, 2017)

Where more than one checklist is needed for referencing, refer to the information under Year/Date on the page for the Reference list.

STROBE Statement checklists

 

General Notes:

  • While the STROBE checklists would normally be referenced as online documents, STROBE requests that specific references for articles published on the STROBE Statement are used rather than links from their website.

  • The most recent article from the list is used in the example below.  The full list of acceptable STROBE articles can be found here.

  • Do not include a full-stop after the DOI at the end of the reference.

  • APA allows for links to be either plain text or 'active'. See the official APA Style Blog for more information.
STROBE Statement

1st Author Surname, Initial., 2nd Author Surname, Initial., 3rd Author Surname, Initial., 4th Author Surname, Initial., 5th Author Surname, Initial., & 6th Author Surname, Initial. (Year). Article title: Subtitle. Journal Title, Volume(Issue), Page-Page. https://doi.org/10.xxxx

Reference list entry:

von Elm, E., Altman, D. G., Egger, M., Pocock, S. J., Gotzsche, P. C., & Vandenbroucke J. P. (2008). The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement: Guidelines for reporting observational studies. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 61(4):344-349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2007.11.008

 

In-text citation:

As the article above has 6 authors, a shortened in-text citation is used:

(von Elm et al., 2008)

Tools from Cochrane Handbooks

 

General Notes:
Cochrane Handbook Tools

Reference as you would a chapter in an edited book

Reference list entries:

Higgins, J. P. T., Savović, J., Page, M. J., Elbers, R. G., & Sterne, J. A. C. (2019). Chapter 8: Assessing risk of bias in a randomized trial. In J. P. T. Higgins et al. (Eds.), Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions (Version 6.0). Cochrane. https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-08

Reitsma, J. B., Rutjes, A. W. S., Whiting, P., Vlassov, V. V., Leeflang,  M. M. G., & Deeks, J. J. (2009). Assessing methodological quality. In J. J. Deeks, P. M. Bossuyt, & C. Gatsonis (Eds.), Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy. Cochrane Collaboration. https://methods.cochrane.org/sdt/handbook-dta-reviews

 

In-text citation:

As the chapters above both have more than 3 authors, a shortened in-text citation is used:

(Higgins et al., 2019)

(Reitsma et al., 2009)

PEDro scale

 

General Notes:

  • The PEDro scale should be referenced as an online document.

  • As there is no author listed on the document, the title (in italics) has been moved to the front of the reference (note the capitalisation).

  • While not as clear as some of the other checklists on this page, there probably isn't a need for a description in square brackets after the title.

  • Online documents do not require the words 'Retrieved from' before an access link.  This is a major revision for APA 7. 

  • Do not include a full-stop after the URL at the end of the reference.

  • APA allows for links to be either plain text or 'active'. See the official APA Style Blog for more information.
PEDro scale

Title of document. (Year). https://www...

Reference list entry:

PEDro scale. (1999). http://www.pedro.org.au/wp-content/uploads/PEDro_scale.pdf

 

In-text citation:

As there is no author listed, the italicised title is used for the citation:

(PEDro scale, 1999)

Downs & Black checklist for measuring study quality

 

General Notes:

  • The Downs & Black checklist is part of an article published in 1998, so should be referenced as a journal article.

  • Note that while no DOI is listed on the PDF, one has been retroactively added to the article within the hosting database, so it should be included in the reference.

  • Do not include a full-stop after the DOI at the end of the reference.

  • APA allows for links to be either plain text or 'active'. See the official APA Style Blog for more information.
Downs & Black checklist

1st Author Surname, Initial., & 2nd Author Surname, Initial. (Year). Article title: Subtitle. Journal Title, Volume(Issue), Page-Page. https://doi.org/10.xxxx

Reference list entry:

Downs, S. H., & Black, N. (1998). The feasibility of creating a checklist for the assessment of the methodological quality both of randomised and non-randomised studies of health care interventions. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 52(6), 377-384. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.52.6.377

 

In-text citation:

(Downs & Black, 1998)

Help and Information

Subjects: Referencing