Citing And Referencing: Abbreviations Used In Referencing

1. Home
2. Subject guides
3. Citing and referencing
4. Abbreviations used in referencing

Search this Guide Search Citing and referencing: Abbreviations used in referencing A guide to the styles recommended by Monash schools and departments for students and researchers

• Home
• APA 7th Toggle Dropdown
  • In-text citations
  • Reference list
  • Books and book chapters
  • Journals/Periodicals
  • Newspapers/Magazines
  • Government and other reports
  • Legal sources
  • Websites and social media
  • Audio, music and visual media
  • Conferences
  • Dictionaries/Encyclopedias/Guides
  • Theses/Dissertations
  • University course materials
  • Company and Industry reports
  • Data sets
  • Patents and Standards
  • Tables and Figures
  • Abbreviations used in referencing
  • Medicine and Health sources
  • Foreign language sources
  • Music scores
• AGLC4
• Chicago 17th (A) Notes Toggle Dropdown
  • Books
  • Journals and periodicals
  • Government sources
  • News sources
  • Web and social media
  • Games and apps
  • Ancient and sacred sources
  • Primary sources
  • Audiovisual media and music scores
  • Images and captions
  • University lectures, theses and dissertations
  • Interviews and personal communication
• Chicago 17th (B) Author-Date Toggle Dropdown
  • Books
  • Journals and periodicals
  • Government sources
  • News sources
  • Web and social media
  • Games and apps
  • Ancient and sacred sources
  • Archival material
  • Audiovisual media and music scores
  • Images and captions
  • University lectures, theses and dissertations
  • Interviews and personal communication
• Harvard Toggle Dropdown
  • In-text citations
  • Reference list guidelines
  • Books
  • Journal articles
  • Government and industry publications
  • Legal sources
  • Websites, newspaper and social media
  • Conference papers, theses and university material
  • Video and audio
  • Images, graphs, tables, data sets
  • Personal communications
• MLA 9th Toggle Dropdown
  • In-text Citations
  • Books
  • Journals / Periodicals
  • Websites
  • Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
  • Interviews and lectures
  • Music Scores / Recordings
  • Film / Video Recording
  • Television / Radio Broadcast
  • Newspapers
  • Artworks
  • Online Communication / Social Media
  • Live Performances
  • Theses
  • Reviews
  • Government and Organisation Publications
• Vancouver 2022 Toggle Dropdown
  • In-text citations
  • Reference list guidelines
  • Journal articles
  • Books
  • Medicine & health sources
  • Government/organisational/technical reports
  • Images, graphs, tables, figures & data sets
  • Websites newspaper & magazine articles, socia media
  • Conferences, theses & university materials
  • Legal sources
  • Personal communication & confidential unpublished material
  • Video, audio & other media
• Generative AI
• Indigenous knowledges

APA Contents

• Introduction to APA style
• In-Text Citations
• Abbreviations
• Audio and Visual media
• Books
• Conferences
• Data files
• Dictionaries/Encyclopedias/Guides
• Government and other reports
• Company and Industry reports
• Journals/periodicals
• Legal sources
• Newspapers/Magazines
• Patents and Standards
• Tables and figures
• Theses/Dissertations
• University course materials
• Websites and social media
• Sample reference list

Abbreviations

Notes:

• Standard abbreviations can be used in your citations.
• Some of the more commonly used examples of abbreviations are listed below.

And others

Format	et al. This means 'and others'. It is used in in-text citations where there are 3 or more authors. NOTE: full stop after 'al.' not after 'et'
Example	3 to 5 authors (Alberto, Jacobi & Keating, 1993) for the first citation and (Alberto et al., 1993) in subsequent citations. 6 or more authors (Szerman et al., 2005)

Compiled or custom textbook

Format	Comp. Compiled or custom textbooks are created to support specific units.
Example	Jones, T. S. (2012). Over the rainbow. In B. Smith (Comp.), Readings for ABC1001 (pp 10-20)

Edition

Format	ed. For the edition of a book
Example	Ibn Abdulaziz, T. (2004). Drugs and life (4th ed.).

Editor(s)

Format	Ed. or Eds. When a book includes editors rather than authors
Example	Robinson, D. N. (Ed.). (1992).

No date

Format	n.d. For sources that do not have a date of publication, substitute ‘n.d.’ (no date) after the name of the author.
Example	In-text citation (Southey, n.d.) End-text reference Southey, R. (n.d.). The life of Nelson. London, England: Blackie.

No page numbers

Format	n.p. No page numbers
Example	Mathews' use of...(2010, n. p.).
Format	NOTE: For electronic sources without page numbers use: approximate page number (p. 3 of 9); or paragraph number for short text (para. 2); or the heading given in the source for the particular section.
Example	The ABS (2004, p. 1 of 4) defines residents as 'economic entities (persons, organisations or enterprises) which have a closer association with the territory of Australia than with any other territory'. OR Flitton (2012, para. 1) reports 'Australia is about to confront the biting reality of US military decline'.

Number

Format	No. Use in your end text referencing when the resource incorporates a number that represents the accession, order, catalogue, etc number
Example	Australian national accounts: National income, expenditure and product (Cat. No. 5206.0). Dissertation Abstracts International. (University Microfilms No. 82-06, 181).

Page(s)

Format	p. or pp. These are included in the in-text citation. If one page number is being referred to, use the abbreviation p. for page. If there are multiple pages use pp. to represent pages.
Example	(Ezzy, 2002, p. 30) According to Gibbs (2009, pp. 34-35)

Paragraph

Format	para. For electronic sources that do not provide page numbers, use the paragraph number and, if available, preceded by the abbreviation ‘para.’
Example	(Clarkson, 2001, para. 2)

Revised edition

Format	Rev. ed. Used in end-text referencing when item is identified as being a revised edition
Example	Referencing guide (14th Rev. ed.).

Translator(s)

Format	Trans. Name the translator or editor only in the end-text reference, immediately following the title. In the case of translated works, cite the title in its translated form, not in its original form.
Example	In-text citation (Genet, 1966, p. 61) End-text reference Genet, J. (1966). The balcony (B. Frechtman, Trans.). London, England: Faber.

Volume(s)

Format	Vol. or Vols. Include in end text referencing if books include volume information
Example	Robinson, A. (1994). The principals of genetics and heredity. In The new encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 19, pp. 699-740). Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica.