When Conference Abstracts and Posters Appear as Sources
Conference abstracts and poster presentations occupy an unusual position in academic citation. They represent preliminary or partial research outputs — findings presented before full journal publication, work in progress shared at a scholarly meeting, or contributions to the academic conversation that have not yet undergone peer review in the traditional sense. Malaysian postgraduate researchers who attend or present at conferences may encounter conference abstracts and poster presentations as the only published form of certain findings, particularly in fast-moving fields where research is shared at conferences before it reaches journals. Knowing how to cite conference abstracts and posters in APA correctly ensures these sources are attributed accurately when they are genuinely the most current available form of the research.
The APA 7th Format for Conference Abstracts
For an abstract published in a conference proceedings or abstract book, APA 7th treats the abstract as a contribution to an edited collection. The format is: Author Last Name, First Initial. (Year, Month Day–Day). Title of presentation [Conference session abstract]. In Editor (Ed.), Proceedings or Abstracts of Conference Name (p. XX or Abstract No. XX). Publisher. DOI or URL if available.
Example: Lim, S. H. (2024, July 15–18). Exploring supervisor-student relationships in Malaysian doctoral education [Conference session abstract]. In T. Ahmad (Ed.), Abstracts of the 10th International Postgraduate Research Conference (p. 87). Universiti Malaya Press.
The conference dates are included in the citation because conference presentations are temporally specific — different years’ conferences on the same topic produce different proceedings. The square bracket descriptor [Conference session abstract] distinguishes this from a full conference paper citation, signalling to the reader that the cited source is an abstract rather than a complete paper.
The APA 7th Format for Poster Presentations
For a poster presentation at a conference, the format is similar to a conference paper citation but uses [Poster presentation] as the descriptor. Poster presentations that are archived in a conference repository or programme with page or abstract numbers are cited with those details. For posters shared digitally through the conference website or through platforms like ResearchGate or OSF, include the URL where the poster can be accessed.
Format: Author Last Name, First Initial. (Year, Month Day–Day). Title of poster [Poster presentation]. Name of Conference, City, Country. URL if available.
Example: Rashid, N. A. (2025, March 10–12). Emotional regulation strategies among Malaysian part-time doctoral students [Poster presentation]. 4th Annual Malaysian Postgraduate Education Symposium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. https://www.mpesymposium.my/posters/2025/rashid
Acknowledging the Epistemic Status of Conference Sources
When you cite a conference abstract or poster in your thesis text, briefly acknowledging the source type helps the reader understand the level of peer review the work has undergone. Conference abstracts and posters are typically reviewed for acceptance but not subjected to the same rigorous peer review as journal articles. “In a conference paper presented at the 2024 International Postgraduate Research Conference, Lim (2024) reported preliminary findings suggesting that…” signals to the reader that this is preliminary rather than fully peer-reviewed work, which contextualises the level of confidence with which you cite it.
As with preprints, if a conference abstract or poster subsequently appears as a published journal article, update your citation to the journal version whenever possible, since the peer-reviewed publication is the more rigorously reviewed form of the work. Knowing how to cite conference abstracts and posters in APA correctly, and being transparent about their preliminary nature in your prose, reflects the kind of source-critical awareness that characterises rigorous Malaysian postgraduate scholarship.
