APA Formatting: Other Languages & Appendices

This section contains information on how to reference sources that are not in English.

Te Reo Māori is NOT considered a foreign language so these rules do not apply to works in Māori. Click on the Te Reo Māori tab for information on how to reference Māori sources in APA.

Books Translated to English

With translated books, include both the original publication year and the year of the translated book.  If you have an English translation of a foreign work, you use the language of the version you read (English), and acknowledge the translator.  The in-text citation is the name of the author, not the translator.

In-text citation

Reference List

Transliterate a book title into the Roman alphabet if the book uses a different alphabet such as Arabic, Chinese and Hindi (e.g. Zhōngguó fùnǚ for 中国妇女). Include any macrons or accent marks. Note that Pinyin is the official romanisation system for Standard Mandarin Chinese.

Author in a Foreign Language

Keep the author's name in the original language even if the title is in English.

In-text citation

Reference List

Title in a Foreign Language

When the title is not in English, include a translation of the title in square brackets [ ].

In-text citation

Reference List

Foreign Language Films

When the title is not in English, include a translation of the title in square brackets [ ].

In-text citation

Reference List

An appendix is a section of an assignment that includes materials supporting the essay. It may include images, tables, or survey questions.  It should only be included when necessary to add context helping the reader to understand your argument or research. They would be included at the end of your work and would be categorized alphabetically (e.g. Appendix A, Appendix B, etc.)

The way that an item in your appendix would be referenced depends on if it is your work, someone else's work, or adapted from somewhere else.

Appendix is your own work

If it is your own work in the appendix (e.g. survey questions or an image you may have created), you would not include it in the reference list, you would only refer to it in text by the appendix number like so:

Appendix item is from another source

If the appendix item is another source, you would refer to it in text by its label, but also include an in-text citation and reference list entry. The reference list entry would look exactly like a regular entry and not require any mention of it being an appendix item.

The in-text citation might look like so:

Appendix item has been adapted from another source

When you have used an appendix item in your work but adapted it, you need to mention that in your text, plus include an in-text citation and reference list entry, like so: