Reports, Standards, & Stand-Alone Documents: General Reference Format
This category includes reports, standards, and stand-alone documents found on the web (documents that are not part of a larger work). Technical and research reports, including those published by governments, task forces, and institutions, usually cover original research, but may not be peer reviewed. They are part of a body of literature sometimes referred to as the grey literature. Grey literature refers to both published and unpublished research material that is not available commercially. Use this format for standards, codes of practice, guidance notes, MSDS, issue briefs, working papers, and other corporate documents. Give the appropriate document number, if there is one, in parentheses. Informally published works (such as works in a pre-print archive, or self-archived works) also use this format; but note that you should use the full publication details if the work has a published version.
Many corporate reports have a group author (an organisation or government department) rather than an individual author. e.g. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Standards Australia.
Remember to include the report or document number, if there is one, after the title.
General form for online reports:
Author. (Date). Title of work (Report No. xxx). Retrieved from http://www.xxxx
If the publisher of an online report has not been identified as the author, then include the publisher as part of the retrieval statement: Retrieved from Agency Name website: http://www.xxxx (see example below of a government report with individual authors).
General form for print report:
Author. (Date). Title of work (Report No. xxx). Location: Publisher.
Where the author and publisher are identical, use the word Author as the name of the publisher.
Reports, Standards, & Stand-Alone Documents: Sample References
|
Source
|
In-text Reference
|
End-text Reference
(reference lists require hanging indent) |
| Government report (Print): Individual author/s |
(Dawkins, 1991) |
Dawkins, J. (1991). Australia’s language: The Australian language and literacy policy. Canberra, Australia: AGPS.
|
| Government report (online): Corporate author |
(Western Australia. Department of Health, 2017) |
Western Australia. Department of Health. (2017). Review of safety and quality in the WA health system: A strategy for continuous improvement. Retrieved from http://ww2.health.wa.gov.au
|
| Government Report (online): Individual authors |
(Stewart, Hedwards, Richards, Willis, & Higgins, 2014) |
Stewart, J., Hedwards, B., Richards, K., Willis, M., & Higgins, D. (2014). Indigenous youth justice programs evaluation. Retrieved from Australian Institute of Criminology website: http://www.aic.gov.au
Note: Online report: Include the name of the publishing organisation in the retrieval information when the publisher is not identified as the author.
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|
Government report available on government agency web site: referred to more than once.
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(Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2014)
Note: Use (ABS, 2014) in subsequent citations.
|
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2014). Young people with disability, 2012 (Cat. No. 4427.0). Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au
Note: Use the full author name Australian Bureau of Statistics in the end reference.
|
| Research or university report (print) |
(Froyland & Skeffington, 1993) |
Froyland, I. B., & Skeffington, M. (1993). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment strategy: A five year plan for the police force of Western Australia. Joondalup, Australia: Edith Cowan University, Centre for Police Research.
|
| Australian Bureau of Statistics: Online report |
(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009) |
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2009). Australian national accounts: National income, expenditure and product (Cat. No. 5206.0). Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au
|
| Standards Australia |
(Standards Australia, 2003) |
Standards Australia. (2003). Guide to residential pavements (AS3727-1993). Retrieved from http://www.standards.org.au
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If a document is only available from a database. e.g. ERIC Document available from the ERIC database. |
(Murphy, 2017) Murphy (2017) |
Murphy, D. D. (2017). MANTLE: An investigation of the non-text elements included in social studies textbooks. Retrieved from ERIC database. (ED574269)
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Technical or Research Report Reference
Technical or Research Report Reference
Learn how to format references for technical or research reports, including those published by governments, task forces, and institutions.
Academic Writer
© 2016 American Psychological Association.
Electronic Sources & Locator Information
Electronic Sources and Locator Information
Learn how to use the two types of electronic retrieval information found in references, digital object identifiers (DOIs) and uniform resource locators (URLs), including how to cite documents retrieved from research databases and websites.
Academic Writer
© 2016 American Psychological Association.