Giving Credit Where It’s Due:

Quoting and Para-phrasing in APA Style

Basic Principle 1

If it’s not cited, it’s yours.

Principle 1: Example If it’s not cited, it’s yours.

“The problems we face are too complex to be solved by any one person or any one discipline,” Warren Bennis argues (1997, The Secrets of Great Groups, ¶3). Inspired by a conversation with Margaret Mead about groups with ideas that could change the world, Bennis began looking for ways to get people with bright minds but powerful egos to work together.

Principle 1 Violated "Up, up, up he went,

until he got above the clouds. No amount of practice could have prepared the pilot and crew for what they encountered—B-24s, glittering like mica, were popping up out of the clouds over here, over there, everywhere."

—Stephen Ambrose, The Wild Blue, 164

"Up, up, up, groping through the clouds for what seemed like an eternity. ... No amount of practice could have prepared them for what they encountered. B-24s, glittering like mica, were popping up out of the clouds all over the sky."

—Thomas Childers, Wings of Morning, 83

Principle 1: Self-Tests Integrating Quotations in APA Style http://www.dianahacker.com/writersref/flash/rs

_menu.asp Self-Test: Recognizing Plagiarism www.indiana.edu/~istd/test.html

Principle 2: Quotation

Set off someone else’s exact words As a direct quotation (<40 words) As a block quotation (40+ words)

Principle 2: < 40 words Set off someone else’s exact words According to Raymond Chandler, “At least half

the mystery novels published violate the law that the solution, once revealed, must seem to be inevitable.”

Raymond Chandler believed that a well-written mystery is so tightly constructed that readers feel its solution is “ inevitable.”

Principle 2: 40+ words Set off long quotations as block

quotations Use a new line and left indent

instead of quotation marks

Principle 2: 40+ words Previously unknown women have performed heroic acts

that should be included in history books. For example, Paul Revere’s midnight ride is famous, but Sybil Ludington’s is not:

On the night of April 26, 1777, Sybil Ludington, age 16, rode through towns in New York andConnecticut to warn that the Redcoats were coming. . . to Danbury, CT. All very Paul Reverish,except Sybil completed HER ride, and SHE thus gathered enough volunteers to help beat back theBritish the next day. Her ride was twice the distanceof Revere's. No poet immortalized (and faked) heraccomplishments, but at least her hometown wasrenamed after her… (Stuber).

BlockQuotation

Principle 3: Paraphrase

Acknowledge someone else’s ideaswith parenthetical citation

Standard order is (author[s], date, page number[s])

(Greenfield & Savage-Rumbaugh, 1990, p.

567)

Principle 3: Use Info You Have

Use only the information you have. If no author is given, begin with

the first few words of the title.(title, date, page number[s])

(“Chimps,” 2003, pp. 6–7)

(Great Apes, 2004, p. 3)

Principle 3: But Check It Out

Use only the information you have, but don’t give up too easily. Scan the perimeter. http://147.129.226.1/library/research/

AIDSFACTS.htm (search AIDS Ithaca)

Truncate the URL. http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~expos/so

urces/chap1.html#1.1

Principle 3: Problem

If author/date are given in the intro, that information is not repeated within the final parentheses.

Gunawardena and Zittle (1997) found that social presence contributed to more than 60% of the learners' satisfaction with an online course.

What if a source has no page numbers?

Principle 3: Solution A

Articles from the Web (unless they are PDFs) do not have stable page numbers. In that case, use section heading and paragraph number.

According to Kirby (1999), critics have accused activists in the Great Ape Project of "exaggerating the supposed similarities of apes [to humans] to stop their use in experiments" (Shared Path section, para. 6).

Principle 3: Solution B

Insert a comment just after the end of the source material.

Raines (1987, 1990) has worked to dispel “myths” about the inferiority of community college instruction. While most researchers study the techniques used by individual teachers, Raines has focused on the entire English curriculum.

Basic Principle 3: Solution

For more information on source-reflective statements, see:

Using Principles of APA Style to Cite and Document Sourceswww.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite6.html

Principle 4: In-text Citations

Idea-focused Researcher-focused Chronology-focused

Principle 4: Example A

Idea-focused “In the 1960’s, two-year colleges were

the underdogs of the American education system” (McPherson, 1990).

Principle 4: Example B

Researcher-focused McPherson (1990) reported that “In the

1960’s, two-year colleges were the underdogs of the American education system.”

Principle 4: Example C

Chronology-focused In 1990, McPherson reported that “in the

1960’s, two-year colleges were the underdogs of the American education system.”

Principle 5: Follow Conventions

Tom Allen, manager of a 300-acre farm, said, “We refuse to use that pesticide because it might pollute the nearby wells.”

Principle 5: Caps or No Caps?

Tom Allen, manager of a 300-acre farm,

said that the owners “refuse to use that

pesticide” because of possible water pollution.

“We refuse to use that pesticide,” said

Tom Allen, “because it might pollute

nearby wells.”

Principle 5: Single or Double?

The reporter told her editor, “When I talked to the Allens last week, they said, ‘ We refuse to use that pesticide.’ ”

Principle 5: Omitting Words

Original The welfare agency representative said,

"We are unable to help every family that we'd like to help because we don't have the funds to do so.”

Omitted material with ellipsis

The welfare agency representative said, "We are unable to help

every family . . . because we don't have the funds to do so."

Principle 5: ClarifyingOriginal The welfare agency representative said,

"We are unable to help every family that we'd like to help because we don't have the funds to do so.”

Added material in brackets

The welfare agency representative explained that they are "unable to

help every family that [they would] like to help."

Principle 5: Caution

When adding or deleting material, it is never acceptable to distort the meaning of the sourceEven with a super-sized container of caffeine, this movie is a sleeper. Director Jones needs a hit, but this movie isn’t it.

Super-sized….sleeper…hit!

Principle 5: Be Patriotic In American English, periods and commas always go inside the closing quotation

mark.

Colons (:) and semicolons (;)

always go outside the closing quotation mark.

Principle 5: The Question of ?s

Question marks are placed inside if they are part of the quotation.

“To be, or not to be?” Hamlet asked.

But…Was it Patrick Henry who said “Give me liberty or give me death”?