Need help with referencing using Biblatex APA style

apa-styleauthorbiblatexbibliographies

So I have been struggling with Biblatex for a few days. I seem to get the hang of it for the most part but I'm still confused and stuck concerning a few details.

this is my header:

%Bibliography
\usepackage[sorting=none]{biblatex} %Imports biblatex package not APA style
%\usepackage[sorting=none,style=apa]{biblatex} %APA style
\bibliography{sample} %Import the bibliography file

These are the first three references of my sample.bib:

@misc{Lindt1,
  author = {Ad Hoc},
  title = {Chocoladefabriken Lindt \& Sprüngli AG : Half Year            Results},
  year = {2021},
 
  %howpublished = "Available on \url{https://www.dgap.de/dgap/News/adhoc/lindt-spruengli-with-doubledigit-sales-growth-and-market-share-gains/?newsID=1466704,}",
  url ={https://www.dgap.de/dgap/News/adhoc/lindt-spruengli-with-doubledigit-sales-growth-and-market-share-gains/?newsID=1466704},
  note = {[Last visited: 17-12-2021]},
}

@misc{SOPP,
  author = {Europages},
  title = {SOPP INDUSTRIE GMBH - pack with love},
  year = {2021},
  note = {[Last visited: 18-12-2021]},
  % howpublished = "Available on \url{https://www.europages.co.uk/SOPP-INDUSTRIE-GMBH/00000005341101-001.html}",
   url ={https://www.europages.co.uk/SOPP-INDUSTRIE-GMBH/00000005341101-001.html}
}

@misc{STIR_In,
  author = {ST Integration \& Robotics},
  title = {Official company's Website},
  year = {2015},
  note = {[Last visited: 18-12-2021]},
  %howpublished = "Available on \url{https://www.st-ir.com/}",
   url ={https://www.st-ir.com/}
}

I was using the first line in the header and I thought howpublished looked better for me and that's why I added it.

This is how It looks with the first line. AKA:

\usepackage[sorting=none]{biblatex}

Clearly the order of things is messed up as I wanted the APA style:Author, year, title, publication or link.

This is how it looks when I use the second line of the header and comment the first. Meaning:

%Bibliography
%\usepackage[sorting=none]{biblatex} %Imports biblatex package not APA style
\usepackage[sorting=none,style=apa]{biblatex} %APA style
\bibliography{sample} %Import the bibliography file

It is the style I want but there are A few things that are just messed up:

Needed [last Visited on] to be the last thing in each line but couldn't
Author names are messed up. for example "ST Integration & Robotics" became what is shown in the picture. same with "Ad Hoc"
References in the whole document are no longer mentioned as 1,2… and are now the year of that citation ( 2015,2021 …) and are no longer shown in the bibliography page as the previous one before each citation.

I am trying to fix these errors and get it to work, but my knowledge is fairly small and I really could apreciate a nudge to the right direction.

Thank you very much

Best Answer

As others have already commented out, the style you are forced to employ has absolutely nothing to do with APA style.

If you have the chance to employ natbib/bibtex instead of biblatex/biber, I'd recommend that you do so, mainly because the unsrtnat bib style basically does all you need and want, including placing the contents of the note field ("[Last visited on ...]") at the very end.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{filecontents}[overwrite]{sample.bib}
@misc{Lindt1,
  author = {{Ad Hoc}},
  title = {{Chocoladefabriken Lindt \& Sprüngli AG}: Half Year Results},
  year = {2021},
  url ={https://www.dgap.de/dgap/News/adhoc/lindt-spruengli-with-doubledigit-sales-growth-and-market-share-gains/?newsID=1466704},
  note = {[Last visited: 17-12-2021]},
}
@misc{SOPP,
  author = {Europages},
  title = {{SOPP INDUSTRIE GMBH} --- pack with love},
  year = {2021},
  note = {[Last visited: 18-12-2021]},
   url ={https://www.europages.co.uk/SOPP-INDUSTRIE-GMBH/00000005341101-001.html}
}
@misc{STIR_In,
  author = {{ST Integration \& Robotics}},
  title = {Official company's Website},
  year = {2015},
  note = {[Last visited: 18-12-2021]},
   url ={https://www.st-ir.com/}
}
\end{filecontents}

\usepackage[numbers,sort&compress]{natbib}
\bibliographystyle{unsrtnat}
%\usepackage[sorting=none]{biblatex}
%\addbibresource{sample.bib} % <-- use \addbibresource, not \bibliography

\usepackage{xurl} % allow arbitrary line breaks in URL strings
\usepackage[colorlinks,allcolors=blue]{hyperref}

\begin{document}
\cite{Lindt1,STIR_In,SOPP}

\bibliography{sample}
%\printbibliography
\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Mimic BibTeX “apalike” with BibLaTeX – (biblatex-apa broken?)

I've been able to answer my own question using various hacks I found on tex.sx. As @PLK pointed out, there appears to be a compatibility issue with polyglossia and Biblatex, but among all the styles I tried this issue is only visible with the APA style. So I am using authoryear-comp instead that suits the requirements I stated. This might be useful for anyone wanting a simple, apalike style, particularly when using Mendeley.

Citations: cite: year in parentheses or citep: Author-Year separated by coma) -> \let\citealp\cite \let\cite\textcite
If using hyperlink, creating link for the full citation and not just the year. -> Answer from @Audrey, see MWE below.
Use of et al. when more than 2 authors. -> maxcitenames=2
Bibliography: Only initials for first/middle name. -> giveninits=true, uniquename=init
Last name, First name -> \DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{family-given}
Never use et al. -> maxbibnames=99
Only show year, even when month is specified -> \AtEveryBibitem{% \clearfield{month}{}% \clearlist{language}{}% } (also omits the language field)
Never show URL (retrieved from...) -> url=false, doi=false, isbn=false, eprint=false
Issue in parentheses, next to volume -> see MWE below.

There are also some other tweaks in the MWE below, such as using "cited" instead of "cit." for backrefs, removing "in:" for articles, increasing vertical space for bib items.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\hypersetup{%
    colorlinks=true, 
    citecolor=blue} 

\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setmainlanguage[variant=british]{english}

\usepackage{csquotes}

\PassOptionsToPackage{
        natbib=true,
        style=authoryear-comp,
        hyperref=true,
        backend=biber,
        maxbibnames=99,
        giveninits=true,
        uniquename=init,
        maxcitenames=2,
        parentracker=true,
        url=false,
        doi=false,
        isbn=false,
        eprint=false,
        backref=true,
            }   {biblatex}
\usepackage{biblatex}
\DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{family-given} 

% remove "in:" from articles. Thanks to Herbert.
\renewbibmacro{in:}{%
  \ifentrytype{article}{}{%
  \printtext{\bibstring{in}\intitlepunct}}}

% mit "month" and "language" from Bibliography
\AtEveryBibitem{%
  \clearfield{month}{}%
  \clearlist{language}{}%
  }

% some natbib backwards compatibility 
\let\citealp\cite
\let\cite\textcite

% increase vertical space between bibliography items.
\setlength\bibitemsep{0.5ex}
\setlength\bibnamesep{1.2ex}

% Comma before and after journal volume. Thanks to lockstep.
\renewbibmacro*{volume+number+eid}{%
  \setunit*{\addcomma\space}% NEW
  \printfield{volume}%
  \printfield{number}%
  \printfield{eid}}
  \DeclareFieldFormat[article]{number}{(#1)}% number of a journal

% Citation Hyperlinks (not just years), thanks to Audrey.
\makeatletter
\renewbibmacro*{cite}{% Based on cite bib macro from authoryear-comp.cbx
  \iffieldundef{shorthand}
    {\ifthenelse{\ifnameundef{labelname}\OR\iffieldundef{labelyear}}
       {\printtext[bibhyperref]{% Include labelname in hyperlink
          \DeclareFieldAlias{bibhyperref}{default}% Prevent nested hyperlinks
          \usebibmacro{cite:label}%
          \setunit{\addspace}%
          \usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}}%
          \usebibmacro{cite:reinit}}
       {\iffieldequals{namehash}{\cbx@lasthash}
          {\ifthenelse{\iffieldequals{labelyear}{\cbx@lastyear}\AND
                       \(\value{multicitecount}=0\OR\iffieldundef{postnote}\)}
             {\setunit{\addcomma}%
              \usebibmacro{cite:extrayear}}
             {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
              \usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}%
              \savefield{labelyear}{\cbx@lastyear}}}
          {\printtext[bibhyperref]{% Include labelname in hyperlink
             \DeclareFieldAlias{bibhyperref}{default}% Prevent nested hyperlinks
             \printnames{labelname}%
             \setunit{\nameyeardelim}%
             \usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}}%
             \savefield{namehash}{\cbx@lasthash}%
             \savefield{labelyear}{\cbx@lastyear}}}}
    {\usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}%
     \usebibmacro{cite:reinit}}%
  \setunit{\multicitedelim}}

\renewbibmacro*{textcite}{% Based on textcite bib macro from authoryear-comp.cbx
  \iffieldequals{namehash}{\cbx@lasthash}
    {\iffieldundef{shorthand}
       {\ifthenelse{\iffieldequals{labelyear}{\cbx@lastyear}\AND
                    \(\value{multicitecount}=0\OR\iffieldundef{postnote}\)}
          {\setunit{\addcomma}%
           \usebibmacro{cite:extrayear}}
          {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
           \usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}%
           \savefield{labelyear}{\cbx@lastyear}}}
       {\setunit{\compcitedelim}%
        \usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}%
        \global\undef\cbx@lastyear}}
    {\ifnameundef{labelname}
       {\printtext[bibhyperref]{% Include labelname in hyperlink
          \DeclareFieldAlias{bibhyperref}{default}% Prevent nested hyperlinks
          \iffieldundef{shorthand}
            {\usebibmacro{cite:label}%
             \setunit{%
               \global\booltrue{cbx:parens}%
               \addspace\bibopenparen}%
             \ifnumequal{\value{citecount}}{1}
               {\usebibmacro{prenote}}
               {}%
             \usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}}
            {\usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}}%
          \ifthenelse{\iffieldundef{postnote}\AND
                      \(\value{multicitetotal}=0\AND\value{citetotal}=1\)}
            {\bibcloseparen% Include closing parenthesis in hyperlink
             \global\boolfalse{cbx:parens}}
            {}}}
       {\printtext[bibhyperref]{% Include labelname in hyperlink
          \DeclareFieldAlias{bibhyperref}{default}% Prevent nested hyperlinks
          \printnames{labelname}%
          \setunit{%
            \global\booltrue{cbx:parens}%
            \addspace\bibopenparen}%
          \ifnumequal{\value{citecount}}{1}
            {\usebibmacro{prenote}}
            {}%
          \iffieldundef{shorthand}
            {\iffieldundef{labelyear}
               {\usebibmacro{cite:label}}
               {\usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}}%
             \savefield{labelyear}{\cbx@lastyear}}
            {\usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}%
             \global\undef\cbx@lastyear}%
          \ifthenelse{\iffieldundef{postnote}\AND
                      \(\value{multicitetotal}=0\AND\value{citetotal}=1\)}
            {\bibcloseparen% Include closing parenthesis in hyperlink
             \global\boolfalse{cbx:parens}}
            {}}%
          \savefield{namehash}{\cbx@lasthash}}}%
  \setunit{%
    \ifbool{cbx:parens}
      {\bibcloseparen\global\boolfalse{cbx:parens}}
      {}%
    \multicitedelim}}

\makeatother

% Backrefs "cited" instead of "cit"
\DefineBibliographyStrings{english}{%
backrefpage={cited on p\adddot},
backrefpages={cited on pp\adddot}
}

\addbibresource{bib.bib}

\begin{document}
Finally, as written by \cite{Attanasio2010}, my Bibliography is cool \citep{Galindo2002}. Furthermore (see, for example, \citealp{Attanasio2010}) there are some cool tweaks.

\printbibliography

\end{document}

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] Custom biblatex style for citing images and tables

Your \ref should point to the label of the table caption, not to the bibitem itself. This should resolve the reference:

  \documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage[colorlinks, urlcolor=black, linkcolor=black]{hyperref} %if you want the link to be clickable

\usepackage{filecontents} 
\begin{filecontents} {mwe.bib}
@online{tab:test,
  author                   = {Doe, John},
  Url                      = {http://www.example.com/images/image.jpg},
  Urldate                  = {2014-02-25},
  Timestamp                = {2014.06.13},
  Note                     = {Table \ref{tab1}}, %<== this should point to your table caption label
  year                     = {2014}, %this is necessary for the in-text citation to work
}
\end{filecontents}

\usepackage[backend=biber, backref=true, style=authoryear, sorting=nty]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{mwe.bib}

\DeclareBibliographyDriver{online}{%this defines what will be printed in the bibliography for entries of type 'online'
  \usebibmacro{note+pages}
  \setunit{\addperiod\addspace}%Period+space after 'Note' field
  \usebibmacro{url+urldate}
  \usebibmacro{finentry}}


\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\caption{Figure legend here (\citeyear{tab:test})}{\label{tab1}} %<== this is what your \ref should be pointing to
\end{table}
Example \citeyear{tab:test} %This lets you cite only the year even if there is an author listed in your bib file, as opposed to \cite

\printbibliography
\end{document}

result

EDIT:

Adding this will remove URL:

\DeclareFieldFormat{url}{%
    {\url{#1}}}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Mimic BibTeX “apalike” with BibLaTeX – (biblatex-apa broken?)

[Tex/LaTex] Custom biblatex style for citing images and tables

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