Each entry in the reference list has four elements:
Author(s)
Date of publication
Title and edition
Source
To make it easy to remember, think of the four “W’s”:
Who – Author(s)
When – Date
What – Title
Where – Source or publishing information for books
Authors are typed in inverted form, surname first and then initials.
Examples:
Mabaso, T.P.P.
Nesselroade, K.P., Jr.
Saeej, S.P.
Van Aarde, M.N.
Only the most recent date or copyright date must be given. If you cannot determine a date, an approximate date must be given:
| 2015 or 2016 | When one or the other date is correct. |
| 1997? | The probable date. |
| s.a. | sine anno – without date. When the year is absolutely unknown – use only in highly exceptional cases. |
Except for literary or classical works do not mention reprints as the content has not changed.
For literary works it may be informative to give the date of the reprint together with the original date (if available).
Dickens, C. 1892, 1903 printing. The adventures of Oliver Twist. London: Richards.
Text reference:
(Dickens, 1892, 1903 printing).
Dates with Roman numerals must be changed to Arabic numerals. See the table below:
| Symbol | Value |
|---|---|
| I | 1 |
| V | 5 |
| X | 10 |
| L | 50 |
| C | 100 |
| D | 500 |
| M | 1000 |
When symbols with lower value are placed before those with higher value, they are subtracted from the higher value. When symbols with lower value are placed after those with higher value, they are added to the higher value. MMIX is therefore 2009 and MMXIX is 2019.
The title of the source is typed in italics.
Use the complete wording of the title as it appears on the title page of the publication. Capital letters are used according to the language rules of
the specific language. A subtitle is preceded by a colon and starts with a small letter.
Norton, K. 2016. Singing and wellbeing: ancient wisdom, modern proof. New York, NY: Routledge.
Text reference:
(Norton, 2016:63-65, 68).
For multi volume books (sets) where each volume has an individual title, give the title as follow:
Donne, J. 2008. The poems of John Donne. Vol. 2, Religion poems, wedding celebrations, verse epistles to patronesses, commemorations and anniversaries, edited by R. Robbins. New York: Longman.
Text reference:
(Donne, edited by Robbins, 2008:103).
When a title is in a foreign language, give the title in that language, followed by the translated title in square brackets [ ].
Mathis, M. & Briand, S. 2019. Le changement climatique, les épidémies et l’importancede la médecine des voyages [Climate change, epidemics and the importance of travel and tropical medicine]. Revue Medicale Suisse, 15(649):898-900.
Text reference:
(Mathis & Briand, 2019:898).
Always mention the edition of a book. The first edition is not mentioned.
Use the following example abbreviations:
| English | 2nd ed. / 3rd ed. / 4th ed. |
| Afrikaans | 2de uitg. / 8ste uitg. |
| German | 2. Aufl. |
| Dutch | 3de dr. |
Widmaier, E.P., Raff, H. & Strang, K.T. 2016. Vander’s human physiology: the mechanisms of body function. 14th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Text reference:
(Widmaier et al., 2016:168).
Give only the town or city of publication, not the country. If more than one place is mentioned on the book, give the one mentioned first in the language as it appears on the title page. If no place can be traced, use S.l. (sine loco – without place).
Optional: The name of a state in the US may be used in abbreviated form after the city. Be consistent in applying this rule throughout your reference list if you choose to do so. Use the following table:
| Alabama | AL | Montana | MT |
| Alaska | AK | Nebraska | NE |
| Arizona | AZ | Nevada | NV |
| Arkansas | AR | New Hampshire | NH |
| California | CA | New Jersey | NJ |
| Colorado | CO | New Mexico | NM |
| Connecticut | CT | New York | NY |
| Delaware | DE | North Carolina | NC |
| District of Columbia | DC | North Dakota | ND |
| Florida | FL | Ohio | OH |
| Georgia | GA | Oklahoma | OK |
| Hawaii | HI | Oregan | OR |
| Idaho | ID | Pennsylvania | PA |
| Illinois | IL | Rhode Island | RI |
| Indiana | IN | South Carolina | SC |
| Iowa | IA | South Dakota | SD |
| Kansas | KS | Tennessee | TN |
| Kentucky | KY | Texas | TX |
| Louisiana | LA | Utah | UT |
| Maine | ME | Vermont | VT |
| Maryland | MD | Virginia | VA |
| Massachusetts | MA | Washington | WA |
| Michigan | MI | West Virginia | WV |
| Minnesota | MN | Wisconsin | WI |
| Mississippi | MS | Wyoming | WY |
| Missouri | MO |
Give the name of the publisher in the shortest possible form. Omit unnecessary words such as “Inc.”, “Co.”, “Publishing” and “Sons”. If more than one publisher is mentioned, give the one mentioned first. If no publisher is mentioned, the abbreviation s.n. (sine nomine – without publisher) is used.
If the author and publisher are the same person or institution, the name of the publisher is omitted and only the town or city is given.
If a book is part of a well-known series, the title and number of the series are placed in brackets at the end of the reference. For certain subject areas, e.g. Theology the series in which a book is published gives authority to the publication.
