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	Psychology Laboratory Report Writing

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9: References

The reference section, which follows the Discussion, includes all the sources that have been referred to throughout the laboratory report.

The reference section of a psychology laboratory report:

• Is not a bibliography that lists everything you have read, unlike some disciplines;
• Is an acknowledgement of all the sources that have been referred to throughout the report. Any non-original statement you make in your report should always be supported with reference to the source from which it derived. Such non-original statements can take the form of direct quotes (when you use the words of another author) or indirect references (as in the case when you refer to another author’s ideas, using your own words.
• Is arranged in alphabetical order, according to the surname of the first author, following APA (American Psychological Association) guidelines.

It is important to familiarise yourself with, and to apply, the conventions for the citing of references throughout your laboratory report and for the inclusion of those cited works in the reference section.

First, citations in the text most often appear in one of the following forms:

• Anderson (2001) argued that ……
  It has been claimed that …… (Anderson, 2001).

Whenever you cite the ideas or the work authored by more than one person, you should list all authors the first time (for example, Anderson, Green, Smith, and Brown, 2002). Subsequent references, however, identify only the first author, and the remaining authors are acknowledged as "et al" (for example, Anderson et al, 2002).

In the reference section,

citations from journal articles are cited in the following way:

• Foote, W. E., Goodman-Delahunty, J. (1999). Same-sex harassment: Implications of the Oncale decision for forensic evaluation of plaintiffs. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 17(1), 123-139.

  Huon, G. F., Piira, T., Hayne, A., Strong, K. G. (2002). Assessing body and eating peer-focused comparisons: The dieting peer competitiveness (DPC) Scale. European Eating Disorders Review, 10(6), 428-446.

Citations from books are cited in the following way:

• Forgas, J. P., Williams, K.D., & Wheeler, L.  (Eds.) (2001). The social mind: Cognitive and motivational perspectives on interpersonal behaviour. New York: Cambridge University Press.

  Thompson, J. K., & Heinberg, L. J., Altabe, M., & Tantleff-Dunn, S. (1999). Exacting Beauty: Theory, assessment, and treatment of body image disturbance. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.

Citations from book chapters are cited in the following way:

• Bryant, R. A., & Harvey, A. G. (1999). Acute stress disorder following motor vehicle accidents. In Hickling, E. J., & Blanchard, E.B. (Eds), The international handbook of road traffic accidents & psychological trauma: Current understanding, treatment and law. (pp. 29-42). New York: Elsevier Science. 

  Gillam, B. (1998). Illusions at century's end. In Hochberg, J. (Ed), Perception and cognition at century's end. Handbook of perception and cognition (2nd ed.). (pp. 95-136). San Diego: Academic Press. 

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Last updated March 30, 2004 | Site credits and information Site contacts - content: Prof. Gail Huon School of Psychology, construction: Belinda Allen EDTeC © The University of New South Wales 2004