The RSNZ referencing style is similar to APA, in that an author/date in-text citation is required. The citation should only consist of the author(s) surname(s) and date of publication in closed parentheses, without any punctuation inbetween, like so -
(Smith 2020)
In-text references should immediately follow the word, title or phrase to which it is directly relevant, rather than appearing at the end of a quote or sentence, like so -
The most recent report (Smith 2020) on the contamination ...
If directly quoting, speech marks are required immediately before and after the quotation, as well as a page number (or numbers), like so -
Jones (2022) stated "RCNZ referencing is fun" (p. 14)
OR
RCNZ referencing is fun (Jones 2022, p. 14)
Page range
If referencing a page range instead of a single page, use a dash in-between the page numbers, like so -
(Jones 2022, p. 14-17)
If several in-text citations occur in the same sentence or paragraph, list them in chronological order from earliest to latest.
Same author
If the citations come from the same author, list the years in the same parentheses separated by commas, like so -
Stephenson's studies (2000, 2003) all point to "..."
Different authors
If the citations are from different authors, list the citations chronologically in the same parentheses, like so -
(Stephenson 2003; Jones 2006)
Same year
If the citations are from the same year, sequence them from the month published, however if that information is unavailable, alphabetically by author names, like so -
(Smith 2002; Tindall 2002).
Same year and surname
If the citations are published in the same year, and the authors have the same surname, include the first initials in the in-text citation and list them alphabetically, like so -
(Jackson B 2010; Jackson K 2010).
Same author and year
If you have more than one source written by the same author and published in the same year, include a,b,c after the year. They should be listed chronologically by the sequence of publication, or if that information is unavailable, alphabetically by the article title, like so -
(McGuire 2021a, 2021b)
Non-identical groups of authors with the same first author(s)
If you have several sources written by a group of authors that are not identical except for the first author (or authors), cite the surname of the first author, plus as many co-authors as needed to distinguish the references, followed by et al., like so -
(Jefferson, Washington, et al. 2005) and (Jefferson, Washington, Prince, et al. 2005)
For a source with one author, put their surname and the year of publication into parentheses, like so -
(Jones 2022)
OR
Jones (2022)
For a source with two authors, list them in the in-text citation according to how they are listed in the source, like so -
(Peterson and Johnson 2023)
OR
Peterson and Johnson (2023)
If both authors have the same surname, include their initials in the reference, like so -
(Johnson M and Johnson L 2023).
For a source with three or more authors, list the first authors name, followed by et al. (latin for and others) before the year of publication, like so -
(Tramway et al. 2023)
OR
Tramway et al. (2023)
If an organization/company is listed as the author of a source, an abbreviated version of the company came can be used in the reference if that source is referenced frequently, like so -
In-text reference - (DOC 2020)
Reference list - [DOC] Department of Conservation (NZ). 2020.
If the source is referenced infrequently, use the full name of the organization, like so -
(Department of Conservation 2020).
If the author of a source cannot be determined, begin the in-text citation with the first word or words of the title, just enough to distinguish it from any other sources, like so -
(Bateman's Encyclopedia 2023)
Note: Be cautious if you are referencing a source without an author, as you do not know if the author is an expert on the topic. Find the author of any sources you reference if at all possible.
If you are referencing a source that has no date, place the words 'date unknown' within square brackets in the in-text citation, like so -
(Rowell [date unknown]).
Personal communications (e.g. letters, emails etc.) are only cited in text, they do not have a reference list entry, and may look like so -
The yellow-eyed penguin numbers were dwindling in the area (2017 email from SJ Peterson to me; unreferenced, see "Notes")