Massey University referencing rests on one set of pages: the referencing section of Massey's study and assignment support guides, where the old OWLL addresses now lead. APA 7 is the default. The pages also teach Chicago 18 and MLA 9, with shorter notes on Harvard, legal citation, the New Zealand Veterinary Journal style and Vancouver (Massey University, n.d.-j). They carry one caveat: a course, department or school may set its own conventions, and theirs come first.
EdCitation is not affiliated with Massey University; this follows its public library guide, checked on 2 October 2026. This is an EdCitation guide. Near the end we put Massey's examples and other New Zealand sources through two free tools, Cite a source and Verify references, and quote the results. Our guide to referencing at New Zealand and Irish universities sets Massey beside its neighbours.
Which referencing style does Massey University use?
APA 7, unless your course names another: Massey's APA page names it as the style most used across the university (Massey University, n.d.-b). The table lists every style Massey's pages cover.
| Style | Edition or basis | What Massey's pages say | Source page | In EdCitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| APA | 7th edition | Most common; full guide | Massey University (n.d.-b) | APA 7 |
| Chicago | 18th edition, notes or author-date | Full guide | Massey University (n.d.-f) | Author-date only |
| MLA | 9th edition | Full guide | Massey University (n.d.-h) | MLA 9 |
| Harvard | Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers, 6th edition | Used less often | Massey University (n.d.-i) | Cite Them Right Harvard, edited by hand |
| Legal | New Zealand Law Style Guide; Australian Guide to Legal Citation | Law courses | Massey University (n.d.-i) | Not built |
| NZ Veterinary Journal | The journal's own | Bold names, year last | Massey University (n.d.-i) | Not built |
| Vancouver | NLM's Citing Medicine | Biomedicine; rare at Massey | Massey University (n.d.-i) | Vancouver |
| Oxford | Modified Oxford, footnotes | Parts of the School of Humanities | Massey University (2018) | Not built |
Which colleges and subjects use which style?
Massey's current pages do not assign styles to colleges. An older OWLL page, last updated on 26 February 2020, does so by discipline: APA in Education, Business and some Social Sciences and Humanities; MLA in English and Media Studies; Oxford in History, Philosophy and Classics; Harvard and Chicago in some individual disciplines (Massey University, 2020b). Treat that list as a hint and your course guide as the rule.
Is OWLL still Massey's referencing guide?
Not as a separate site: on 2 October 2026 the OWLL referencing address redirected to Massey's referencing page. Older OWLL copies still load on a Massey tutorials server, and their Chicago page teaches the 17th edition (Massey University, 2020a). Follow the massey.ac.nz pages.
What are Massey's APA 7 rules?
Massey teaches the seventh edition with a few house choices, listed here; for APA's own rules, read our guide to APA 7 in-text citations.
Citations in the text
- With three authors or more, give the first author's surname and et al. every time, the first citation included. If two works would then look alike, add names until they differ (Massey University, n.d.-c).
- "And" in a sentence, "&" in brackets; works sharing one bracket run alphabetically, with semicolons between them.
- A page number for every quotation, as "p.", never "pg." Many lecturers want one in every citation, Massey adds, so ask. Unpaginated sources take "para."; never an e-reader's location number.
- A group author in full first, its abbreviation in square brackets: (Ministry of Education [MOE], 1996), then (MOE, 1996).
- Emails, interviews and lectures are personal communications, in the text only. AI output is credited to its maker: (OpenAI, 2023).
The reference list
- Every author up to 20; with 21 or more, the first 19, an ellipsis and the last.
- Organisations in full: Ministry of Health, never MoH.
- Sentence case for titles, title case for journals; italicise the journal and volume, not the comma or issue.
- A DOI for every work that has one, even read in print, as an https:// link with no full stop after it. No place of publication.
- A 1.27 cm hanging indent. Massey University (n.d.-j) asks for single-line spacing with an empty line between entries, where the APA manual double-spaces; your course decides.
- No ezproxy links, which need a Massey login: give the journal's or publisher's home page (Massey University, n.d.-l).
Web pages and retrieval dates
Massey University (n.d.-m) asks for the most specific date a page gives, preferring "last updated", and a retrieval date only for content likely to change: dictionary entries, social media, generated maps, pages updated often. Name the site only when a person is the author. On a government page, the most specific agency is the author and a parent agency the source.
Copy Massey's rules, not every example
A four-author clinical book is cited as (Crisp, 2020), where Massey's rule gives (Crisp et al., 2020). The reference list page prints the Castles, Curtin and Vowles article under other names, and dates Durie's book 2013 with that article's DOI (Massey University, n.d.-d); the runs below show both.
How does Massey say to cite te reo Māori and New Zealand government sources?
Massey sets rules for bilingual organisations, Māori knowledge, Acts and reports; for te reo Māori titles it gives examples only.
Te reo Māori names, titles and knowledge
- A bilingual organisation keeps the source's order, its names separated by a hyphen; Massey prints a dash: Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora (Massey University, n.d.-d). If a document gives only the English name, cite that; if both, cite both (Massey University, n.d.-n). Two of Massey's examples have no separator, so pick one form and keep it.
- Te reo Māori titles appear as printed, with no bracketed translation, as in Te Whāriki: Early childhood curriculum. No page states a rule; Waikato's is in our New Zealand and Irish guide.
- Capitals for Māori, Pākehā, named iwi and hapū, and terms such as Traditional Knowledge; macrons kept; Māori words italicised in English writing unless common, such as haka and whānau (Massey University, n.d.-a). Te Rau Tauawhi, the Māori Student Centre, helps with referencing assignments written in te reo Māori.
- Traditional Knowledge that is published or recorded is cited like any publication. Knowledge a reader cannot find goes in the text only: the person's name, iwi or hapū, "personal communication" and the date, with their consent and their check of accuracy (Massey University, n.d.-c).
New Zealand government documents and legislation
- Acts. Short title and year, then an open address: Resource Management Act 1991 and its legislation.govt.nz link; in the text, name and year. Massey University (n.d.-n) notes APA has no New Zealand legislation format.
- Reports and fact sheets. Cite them like a book: the ministry as author unless another is named, no publisher when it is the author, a report number in brackets, and [Fact sheet] or [Press release] where needed.
- Cases and Hansard. These follow the New Zealand Law Style Guide (Massey University, n.d.-i), which EdCitation does not build: type them by hand.
How do you reference at Massey in APA 7?
Use Massey's template for each kind of source. Five sources, in Massey's form; in the text:
Castles et al. (2006) compare public policy in Australia and New Zealand, and Durie (2003) sets out a vision for Māori futures. Hunter and Cook (2020) describe the emotional labour of Māori nurses. Guidance on vaccines is in the Immunisation Handbook (Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora, 2026), and an Act is cited by short title and year, as with the Resource Management Act 1991.
The reference list, single-spaced with an empty line between entries:
Castles, F. G., Curtin, J., & Vowles, J. (2006). Public policy in Australia and New Zealand: The new global context. Australian Journal of Political Science, 41(2), 131–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361140600672394
Durie, M. (2003). Ngā kāhui pou: Launching Māori futures. Huia Publishers.
Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora. (2026). Immunisation handbook (Version 2). https://www.healthnz.govt.nz/health-professionals/guidance-standards/topic/immunisation/immunisation-handbook
Hunter, K., & Cook, C. (2020). Cultural and clinical practice realities of Māori nurses in Aotearoa New Zealand: The emotional labour of Indigenous nurses. Nursing Praxis in Aotearoa New Zealand, 36(3), 7–23. https://doi.org/10.36951/27034542.2020.011
Resource Management Act 1991. http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1991/0069/latest/whole.html
Durie's entry follows Massey's books page (Massey University, n.d.-k). The handbook's page now reads "2026, version 2"; Massey's 2024 example gives version 6 and an address that redirects here.
Which EdCitation style matches Massey's, and what do you fix by hand?
EdCitation builds six styles, and five of Massey's have a near match; Massey's others are typed by hand.
| Massey style | Start from | Change by hand |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | APA 7 | Single spacing with empty lines, if your course follows Massey's page; a bilingual organisation typed in as the author; version or report numbers added; "Retrieved … from" deleted unless the page is likely to change; each author checked against the article's page. |
| Chicago author-date | Chicago 18 | Same edition; compare page ranges with Massey's examples, which print them in full. |
| MLA | MLA 9 | Same edition; compare with Massey's examples. |
| Massey Harvard | Harvard | Year unbracketed, commas throughout, initials without full stops, "Vol." and "no.", no "Available at:", every author named, no comma in the citation. |
| Vancouver | Vancouver | Compare with NLM's Citing Medicine. |
| Legal, NZ Veterinary Journal, Chicago notes, Oxford | Not built | Type from Massey's examples. |
Turning EdCitation's Harvard into Massey's
EdCitation's Harvard follows Cite Them Right. For the Castles DOI it returned:
Castles, F.G., Curtin, J. and Vowles, J. (2006) ‘Public policy in Australia and New Zealand: The new global context’, Australian Journal of Political Science, 41(2), pp. 131–143. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10361140600672394.
In the order of Massey's Harvard example, cited as (Castles, Curtin & Vowles 2006):
Castles, FG, Curtin, J, & Vowles, J, 2006, ‘Public policy in Australia and New Zealand: The new global context’, Australian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 131-143, https://doi.org/10.1080/10361140600672394
A Massey reference list in six steps
- Find the style in your course guide, which outranks Massey's general pages.
- Look for reading with Find sources: it searches about 300 million published works, by topic or by the claim you need to support.
- Give EdCitation's Cite a source a DOI, ISBN or web address, in your course's style.
- On a web page, fix any wrong author, title or date in the form, then build the entry.
- Apply the Massey edits from the table.
- Run the finished list through Verify references, and open the source behind every "check this".
What did EdCitation return on Massey sources?
Cite a source is the right place to start a Massey list because it never composes a reference. It looks each one up in the record the publisher deposited (a web page is read directly), screens it for retraction, and sets it in any of six styles: APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver. That is how it corrected two of Massey's own examples below. Massey University (n.d.-g) asks the same of any tool: know your style well enough to check and edit its output. Neither tool needs an account or a payment. And EdCitation writes no part of anyone's paper, at Massey or elsewhere: you do the reading and the arguing, and every sentence is your own. We ran everything below on 2 October 2026.
Six sources through Cite a source
- Castles and colleagues, 10.1080/10361140600672394. APA 7 returned the worked example's entry word for word, with (Castles et al., 2006), settling the names Massey prints two ways.
- Gelkopf and colleagues, 10.1037/1072-5245.15.2.117. APA began "Gelkopf, M., Ryan, P., Cotton, S. J., & Berger, R. (2008). The impact of “training the trainers” course", with a word and an initial Massey's version lacks.
- McGruer and colleagues, 10.1071/hc18079. APA gave "Māori lived experience of osteoarthritis: A qualitative study guided by Kaupapa Māori principles.", macrons and capitals intact.
- Hunter and Cook, 10.36951/27034542.2020.011. APA began "Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, Hunter, K., Cook, C., & Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. (2020)." The publisher deposited the two institutions as authors, and the record was copied as deposited. The journal's page names only Hunter and Cook, adds "in" to the journal's name and capitalises Indigenous: fix those by hand.
- Wallbank's book, 10.4324/9781003190189. APA added "(2nd ed.)", which the record gives and Massey's example omits, but printed "writing at University": lower the capital.
- The Immunisation Handbook's address. APA first gave "Immunisation handbook. (n.d.). Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from" and the address. With Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora entered as an organisation and the date as 2026, it gave "Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora. (2026). Immunisation handbook." and the address, as Massey's template has it. Only "(Version 2)" remained.
Massey's bilingual example at health.govt.nz and the Act at legislation.govt.nz returned "That page could not be read. Some sites block automated readers." Type those from Massey's templates.
Verify references on six of Massey's examples
We pasted six entries exactly as Massey prints them. Verify references found two verified and four to check:
- Hazledine and Quiggan: "check this", "The DOI and title are right, but the first author differs. Check the names."
- Durie (2013) with the article's DOI: "check this", "This is the same work as entry 1. A reference list gives each work once." Delete the DOI; the book is 2003.
- Gelkopf and colleagues: "check this", giving the record's title and "Copy the title from the record."
- Wallbank: verified, "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches."
- Thomson and colleagues, linked to the journal's home page: "check this", "The address works, but the page there has a different title." Massey prefers a home page to an ezproxy link, so the entry stands.
- The 2024 handbook at its old address: verified, "The page is at this address, and its title matches." Its year and version have since changed.
Once the paper is written, upload it to References from a file (Pro, $8 a month; see pricing): every reference is checked and every citation in the text is matched to the list. A free account keeps lists that download as Word, BibTeX or RIS; see moving references between EdCitation, Zotero, EndNote and Mendeley.
Quick questions
What referencing style does Massey University use?
APA 7 is the most common, according to Massey's referencing pages, which also cover Chicago 18, MLA 9, Harvard, legal styles, the NZ Vet Journal style and Vancouver.
Is OWLL still Massey's referencing guide?
OWLL's addresses now redirect to Massey's referencing pages. The older OWLL copies we read date from 2018 to 2020.
When do I use et al. in Massey APA 7?
For three or more authors, in every citation from the first. The reference list names every author up to 20.
Does Massey want retrieval dates in APA?
Only for content likely to change, such as dictionary entries, social media posts and pages updated often. Most web pages need none.
How do I cite Manatū Hauora or another bilingual organisation at Massey?
Give both names in the source's order, separated by a hyphen: Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora. In EdCitation's Cite a source, type it in the author field as an organisation.
Can EdCitation build NZLSG, the NZ Vet Journal style or Chicago footnotes?
No. EdCitation builds six styles: APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver. Type Massey's legal, veterinary, Oxford and Chicago notes formats by hand.
References
- Massey University. (n.d.-a). Academic writing in te reo Māori. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/study-and-assignment-support-and-guides/academic-writing/writing-your-assignment-in-te-reo-m%C4%81ori/
- Massey University. (n.d.-b). American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/study-and-assignment-support-and-guides/academic-writing/referencing/american-psychological-association-referencing-style/
- Massey University. (n.d.-c). APA in-text citations. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/study-and-assignment-support-and-guides/academic-writing/referencing/american-psychological-association-referencing-style/apa-in-text-citations/
- Massey University. (n.d.-d). APA reference list. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/study-and-assignment-support-and-guides/academic-writing/referencing/american-psychological-association-referencing-style/apa-reference-list/
- Massey University. (n.d.-e). Author-date reference list in Chicago style. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/study-and-assignment-support-and-guides/academic-writing/referencing/chicago-manual-of-style-referencing-style/chicago-manual-of-style-reference-list/
- Massey University. (n.d.-f). Chicago Manual of Style referencing style. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/study-and-assignment-support-and-guides/academic-writing/referencing/chicago-manual-of-style-referencing-style/
- Massey University. (n.d.-g). Guide to referencing software and tools. Library. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/library/referencing-software-and-tools/guide-to-referencing-software-and-tools/
- Massey University. (n.d.-h). Modern Language Association (MLA) referencing style. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/study-and-assignment-support-and-guides/academic-writing/referencing/modern-language-association-referencing-style/
- Massey University. (n.d.-i). Other referencing styles. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/study-and-assignment-support-and-guides/academic-writing/referencing/other-referencing-styles/
- Massey University. (n.d.-j). Referencing. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/study-and-assignment-support-and-guides/academic-writing/referencing/
- Massey University. (n.d.-k). Referencing books in APA. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/study-and-assignment-support-and-guides/academic-writing/referencing/american-psychological-association-referencing-style/referencing-books-in-apa/
- Massey University. (n.d.-l). Referencing journals in APA. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/study-and-assignment-support-and-guides/academic-writing/referencing/american-psychological-association-referencing-style/referencing-journals-in-apa/
- Massey University. (n.d.-m). Referencing online material in APA. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/study-and-assignment-support-and-guides/academic-writing/referencing/american-psychological-association-referencing-style/referencing-online-material-in-apa/
- Massey University. (n.d.-n). Referencing other material in APA. https://www.massey.ac.nz/study/study-and-assignment-support-and-guides/academic-writing/referencing/american-psychological-association-referencing-style/referencing-other-material-in-apa/
- Massey University. (2018, August 10). Oxford style. OWLL. https://academictutorials.massey.ac.nz/referencing/oxford-style.php
- Massey University. (2020a, March 9). Chicago style. OWLL. https://academictutorials.massey.ac.nz/referencing/chicago-style.php
- Massey University. (2020b, February 26). Referencing styles. OWLL. https://academictutorials.massey.ac.nz/referencing/referencing-styles.php