There is no one referencing style at the University of Melbourne. Its Library publishes Re:cite, the guide to the styles commonly used at Unimelb, and says the course or the subject coordinator decides which applies (University of Melbourne Library, n.d.-n). Re:cite covers seven styles and no longer advises on Harvard.
EdCitation is not affiliated with the University of Melbourne; this follows its public library guide, checked on 2 October 2026. EdCitation publishes this guide, and its last two sections show, word for word, the output of its free Cite a source and Verify references on Re:cite's own examples, with the fixes still left to you. Our guide to referencing at Australian universities sets Melbourne beside nine others.
Which referencing style does the University of Melbourne use?
Whichever your subject guide or coordinator sets. Where you may choose, Re:cite says "APA is a good choice" for citations in the text and recommends Chicago A for footnotes (University of Melbourne Library, n.d.-m). The table gathers what Melbourne's pages say about each style.
| Style on Re:cite | Based on | What Melbourne's pages say | Source page |
|---|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | Publication Manual, 7th edition | Social sciences, education, commerce, nursing; preferred for Education's graduate coursework; one of two styles in Architecture, Building and Planning | University of Melbourne Library (n.d.-b); Library (n.d.-g); Library (n.d.-c) |
| Chicago A (notes) | Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed. | Humanities and social sciences; the recommended footnote style; the other Architecture style | University of Melbourne Library (n.d.-e); Library (n.d.-m); Library (n.d.-n) |
| Chicago B (author-date) | Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed. | Named with APA as the alternative to Harvard | University of Melbourne Library (n.d.-f); Library (n.d.-k) |
| MLA | MLA Handbook Plus, 9th edition | Literature, languages, cultural studies | University of Melbourne Library (n.d.-k); Library (n.d.-n) |
| AMA (Vancouver) | AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition | Medicine and health sciences | University of Melbourne Library (n.d.-a) |
| IEEE | No edition named | Electronics, engineering, telecommunications, computing, IT | University of Melbourne Library (n.d.-k) |
| AGLC | Australian Guide to Legal Citation, 4th edition | Melbourne Law School | University of Melbourne Library (n.d.-i) |
| Harvard | Not updated in over 15 years | No longer advised | University of Melbourne Library (n.d.-k) |
What the faculty guides add
- Education. APA 7th is "the preferred style for the Faculty of Education graduate coursework programs", and the guide points to Re:cite's page for organisations' web pages when citing curriculum documents (University of Melbourne Library, n.d.-g).
- Law. Melbourne Law School uses AGLC4, a footnote style that the Melbourne University Law Review publishes together with the Melbourne Journal of International Law (University of Melbourne Library, n.d.-i).
- Architecture, Building and Planning. Two styles are recommended: Chicago A for footnotes and APA for citations in the text (University of Melbourne Library, n.d.-c).
- Engineering. Re:cite's FAQ lists engineering under APA 7, while its styles page gives engineering to IEEE (University of Melbourne Library, n.d.-k, n.d.-n). Ask which your subject wants.
We read the Education, Law and Architecture guides; other faculties rest on Re:cite's descriptions.
Is Harvard still accepted at Melbourne?
Not by the Library. Re:cite's styles page states that the Library no longer advises on Harvard, a style it describes as more than 15 years without an update, and suggests APA or Chicago B instead (University of Melbourne Library, n.d.-k). Another Re:cite page, on choosing a style, still lists Harvard among those it covers (University of Melbourne Library, n.d.-m); the styles page is the current word.
What are Melbourne's APA 7 rules?
Melbourne's APA 7 is the Publication Manual, 7th edition, with three local touches: Australian legal sources in AGLC4 form, access dates when a source shows no other date, and home-page addresses for some web pages (University of Melbourne Library, n.d.-b). Our APA 7 in-text citations guide covers the general rules.
In the text
- Family name and year in brackets, (Coates, 2005); et al. whenever a work has three or more authors, first citation included, (Ng et al., 2007).
- "&" inside brackets, "and" in your sentence; several works in alphabetical order, separated by semicolons.
- A page for every quotation, (Miller, 1994, p. 276); "para." when there are no pages; a heading and paragraph number when there are neither.
- Quotations over 40 words go in an indented block of about 1.27 cm, without quotation marks.
- A group author in full. Re:cite allows a well-known abbreviation only when you cite the group at least three times: (OECD, 2007).
- No author: the title and year, in title case even if the list uses sentence case.
- A whole website: its address in brackets in the text, with no list entry. A web page with a full date: the year only in the text.
In the reference list
- List all authors to 20. With 21 or more, give 19, an ellipsis, then the final author, with no "&" (University of Melbourne Library, n.d.-h).
- Sentence case for article and book titles; journal titles in full, in title case and italics, with an italic volume; "Article" and its number where there are no pages.
- The edition in brackets after the title, (2nd ed.), and no place of publication (University of Melbourne Library, n.d.-d).
- A DOI as an https://doi.org/ link; failing that a stable URL; never a database's URL.
- Page ranges in full: 132-135, not 132-5. Double spacing and a hanging indent.
- Australian and international legal materials in AGLC4 form, because the Bluebook that APA names is, in Re:cite's words, "unsuitable for use in Australia".
Access dates and web addresses
Re:cite's pages differ here. The quick guide says an access date is needed only when the source shows no other date, or when the lecturer asks for one. The web page guide asks for "Retrieved Month Day, Year, from" only when the content is likely to change, and prefers a site's home page address to a deep one, except for media and government sites (University of Melbourne Library, n.d.-l). The sample reference list gives an undated manifesto "Retrieved August 9, 2020, from". For an undated page that may change, a retrieval date satisfies every version; otherwise ask your coordinator.
Re:cite examples that break Re:cite's rules
Copy the templates and the stated rules, not every example. On the pages we read:
- The journal article page's third example, "Blake MR, Boelsen-Robinson T…", is set in a numbered style, not APA.
- Its quotation from Welch and Venkateswaran cites "p. 4" of an article printed on pages 1121–1126.
- The APA 7 page's reference list advice prints Pascoe's 2023 article with capitals and one author; the DOI's record names three authors, so the entry needs no "a" beside Pascoe's single-author paper of that year.
- The same page's formatting example is a 6th-edition entry ending "Washington D.C: Author."
How do you reference at Melbourne Uni in APA 7?
Follow Re:cite's template for each kind of source. This worked example takes two articles, a book and an Australian web page from Re:cite's examples, one of them corrected. In the text:
Welch and Venkateswaran (2009) examine the sustainability of wind energy, and Pascoe et al. (2023) synthesise qualitative studies of social workers' experience of bureaucracy. Hassan (2004) writes on media and politics in the network society. The Year 7 English achievement standard is set nationally (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], n.d.); later citations read (ACARA, n.d.).
In the reference list, double-spaced with hanging indents:
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (n.d.). English – Year 7. https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/learning-areas/english/year-7
Hassan, R. (2004). Media, politics and the network society. Open University Press.
Pascoe, K. M., Waterhouse-Bradley, B., & McGinn, T. (2023). Social workers’ experiences of bureaucracy: A systematic synthesis of qualitative studies. The British Journal of Social Work, 53(1), 513–533. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcac106
Welch, J. B., & Venkateswaran, A. (2009). The dual sustainability of wind energy. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 13(5), 1121–1126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2008.05.001
The curriculum page shows no date, so it takes n.d., and it carries the title as the page now shows it; Re:cite's example still reads "English: Year seven" and, like ours, gives no site name. The [ACARA] abbreviation is worth adding only if you cite the authority three times or more. Pascoe's article lists all three authors, though the text uses et al.
Which EdCitation style comes nearest, and what needs fixing by hand?
Five of Re:cite's seven styles have a near match among the six EdCitation builds. The edits below are the ones our runs called for.
| Melbourne style | Start from | Edit by hand |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | APA 7 | Undated web page: delete "Retrieved … from" unless your subject wants access dates; correct the page's title and author in the form; add an abbreviation in square brackets at the first citation. Journal articles needed nothing. |
| AMA (Vancouver) | Vancouver | Drop the month; give the page range in full; write "doi:" with no space and no final full stop; italicise the journal; for a web page, replace "[Internet]" and "[cited …]. Available from:" with "Accessed Month Day, Year." |
| Chicago B | Chicago 18 author-date | Same edition. Beyond six authors, Re:cite lists three and et al.: check the list. |
| MLA | MLA 9 | Same edition; compare with Re:cite's examples. |
| IEEE | IEEE | Compare with Re:cite's examples. |
| Chicago A, AGLC | Not built | Neither is built by EdCitation; follow Re:cite's templates. |
A Melbourne reference list in six steps
- Check your subject guide for the style; if it names none, ask the coordinator.
- Search for reading in Find sources, which covers about 300 million published works, by topic or by the claim a sentence needs.
- Paste each DOI, ISBN or page address into EdCitation's Cite a source and choose the style your subject sets, or the nearest one.
- On a web page, fix the author, title and date in the form before building the entry.
- Apply the edits from the table, using Re:cite's template for that kind of source.
- Paste the whole list into Verify references and settle each "check this" against the source itself.
What happened when we ran Re:cite's examples through EdCitation?
Start a Melbourne list in Cite a source, the best tool for this job because it does not compose references at all. Each entry is built from the publisher's record (for a web page, from the page itself), set in any of six styles (APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE, Vancouver) and screened for retraction; on Re:cite's own journal example, the APA output matched letter for letter. Re:cite asks for the same care: its page on generators says their output must be cross-checked against Re:cite, and warns that references from GenAI tools can "be completely made up" (University of Melbourne Library, n.d.-j). Cite a source is free and needs no account. Nothing in a Melbourne assignment is drafted by EdCitation: the student reads the sources, argues the case and writes each sentence, and the tool supplies the published record behind every entry. Our runs, on 2 October 2026, covered three DOIs and one Australian web page.
Three DOIs and a curriculum page in Cite a source
For DOI 10.1016/j.rser.2008.05.001, APA 7 returned Re:cite's own example word for word:
Welch, J. B., & Venkateswaran, A. (2009). The dual sustainability of wind energy. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 13(5), 1121–1126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2008.05.001
For DOI 10.1093/bjsw/bcac106, APA returned "Pascoe, K. M., Waterhouse-Bradley, B., & McGinn, T. (2023). Social workers’ experiences of bureaucracy: A systematic synthesis of qualitative studies.", with the three authors and the sentence case that Re:cite's example lacks.
Re:cite's AMA example by Tian and colleagues (DOI 10.1038/s41591-023-02296-6) came back in Vancouver ending "Nat Med. 2023 May;29(5):1221-31. doi: 10.1038/s41591-023-02296-6.", against Re:cite's "Nat Med. 2023;29(5):1221-1231. doi:10.1038/s41591-023-02296-6". Our Vancouver referencing guide covers the NLM version of the style.
For the curriculum page's address alone, APA returned "F-10 curriculum | V9 Australian curriculum. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2026, from" and the address: the title came from the site's general page title, not the page's heading. With the title corrected to "English – Year 7" and the authority entered as an organisation in the form, APA returned:
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (n.d.). English – Year 7. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/learning-areas/english/year-7
Keep the retrieval date if your subject follows the quick guide on undated pages, or delete it to match Re:cite's example. Vancouver gave "[Internet]. [cited 2026 Oct 2]. Available from:", where Melbourne's AMA would read "Accessed October 2, 2026."
Seven Re:cite examples through Verify references
We pasted seven entries exactly as Re:cite prints them. Verify references answered:
- Welch and Venkateswaran, and Pascoe's single-author paper: verified, "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches."
- Pascoe's 2023 article as Re:cite prints it, with one author: "check this", "The publisher's record also names Waterhouse-Bradley and McGinn, who are not in your entry. Check the authors."
- Kalnay and colleagues (1996) and Tengan and Aigbavboa (2017), each with a short DOI: verified, "Title, year and first author match a published record."
- The curriculum page: "check this", "The address works, but the page there has a different title. Check it is the page meant." The page is correct; its heading now reads "English – Year 7".
- Castells, End of millennium, 2nd edition, 2000: "check this", "A record with this title exists, but it was published in 2010, not 2000." That record is Wiley's 2010 printing, whose own edition history lists Blackwell's second edition of 2000, so Re:cite's entry stands.
Both "check this" results here were correct entries, which is why each one is worth opening rather than deleting. To check a finished paper in one go, References from a file (Pro, $8 a month) reads the upload, checks every reference and pairs each in-text citation with its entry, while Mechanics QA checks spacing and the reference list against the APA 7 student paper; see pricing.
Quick questions
Does the University of Melbourne accept Harvard referencing?
The Library no longer gives Harvard advice and suggests APA or Chicago B instead. A subject that still asks for Harvard sets its own rules, so follow its instructions.
What is Re:cite at the University of Melbourne?
Re:cite is the Library's guide to citing and referencing, with templates and examples for seven styles, from AMA (Vancouver) for health to AGLC for law.
Which style should I use at Melbourne Uni if I can choose?
Re:cite calls APA a good choice where citations sit in the text, and recommends Chicago A where they go in footnotes.
Do I need access dates in Melbourne APA 7?
Usually not. Re:cite asks for a retrieval date when a source shows no other date or is likely to change, or when your lecturer requires one.
Can EdCitation build AGLC or Chicago A for Melbourne?
No. The six styles in EdCitation's Cite a source are Harvard, IEEE, Vancouver, APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago 18 author-date, so Melbourne's AGLC4 footnotes and Chicago A notes are typed by hand from Re:cite's templates.
Will EdCitation write part of my Melbourne assignment?
No. EdCitation finds the published record behind each reference and checks the list; every idea and every sentence of the assignment are yours.
References
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-a). AMA (Vancouver). Re:cite. https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/referencing-styles/vancouver
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-b). APA 7. Re:cite. https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/referencing-styles/apa7
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-c). Architecture, Building and Planning: Referencing and sources. Library Guides. https://unimelb.libguides.com/abp/referencing
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-d). Book. Re:cite. https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/referencing-styles/apa7/books-and-book-chapters/book
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-e). Chicago A (footnote). Re:cite. https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/referencing-styles/chicago-a
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-f). Chicago B (author-date). Re:cite. https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/referencing-styles/chicago-b
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-g). Higher Education: Referencing & citing. Library Guides. https://unimelb.libguides.com/higher-ed/referencing
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-h). Journal article with DOI. Re:cite. https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/referencing-styles/apa7/journal-and-magazine-articles/electronic-journal-with-doi
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-i). Law Students' Library Guide: Referencing. Library Guides. https://unimelb.libguides.com/LAW-Student/referencing
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-j). Reference generators. Re:cite. https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/reference-management-software/options-for-managing-references/citation-generators
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-k). Referencing styles. Re:cite. https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/referencing-styles
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-l). Web pages with a group or organisational author. Re:cite. https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/referencing-styles/apa7/webpages/web-pages-group-or-organisational-author
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-m). Which citation style? Re:cite. https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/reference-management-software/options-for-managing-references/which-citation-style
- University of Melbourne Library. (n.d.-n). Which reference style should I use? Re:cite. https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/help/faqs/choosing-a-referencing-style/which-reference-style-should-i-use