RESEARCH AND

REFERENCING

Using APA Style in a college paper

WHAT DOES “CITE YOUR SOURCES” MEAN?

Anytime you write a paper, give a speech or complete a project for class, you are going to do some research

Find statistics, quotes, definitions, case studies, business reports, etc.

Find research and ideas about a topic

These are the sources you must cite!

WHY????!!!! Helps the reader understand the basis

for information presented in your paper

Readers of your paper might want further information on your topic…your references will lead your reader to that information

You should give credit to the person who conducted the original research

Protect yourself from plagiarism

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism can be intentional or unintentional

It occurs anytime you quote, reference or use someone else’s work (article, book, photo, information on a website, etc.) and you don’t cite your source

Or if you paraphrase but use too much of the original source.

CITATION STYLES Citation styles were created to provide a

guide for authors/writers to consistently reference another person’s work

Citation styles have a very specific set of RULES

Punctuation, Italics, Underlining, capitalization, parentheses – IT ALL PLAYS A ROLE

APA STYLE APA (American Psychological Association) style

is most often used in the social sciences and research.

APA provides writers of research papers a style to properly reference their sources, using parentheses in their essays and a References page at the end.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition)

In-text citations require an entry on the References page

AN APA STYLE PAPER

12 point Times New Roman font

1” margins all around

Double space

All indents ½” from left margin

Page numbers – in header, flush right

Header – all caps, flush left

Do not hyphenate a word at the end of a line

2 spaces after a period in text

PARTS OF AN APA STYLE PAPER

Title Page Centered in upper half of page Contains Title of Paper, Author, Institutions Running Header

Abstract Center the word “Abstract” No indentations 150-200 words Header

Your instructor’s “Rules” override any official guidelines

PARTS OF AN APA STYLE PAPER

Actual paper 1st page – center title of paper Header Has in-text citations

References Page

BIBLIOGRAPHY OR REFERENCES A working bibliography consists of all sources

used in your research process.

References page lists only those sources cited in your paper.

It is always a good idea to capture the information just in case it will need to appear in your reference list or in a citation. Basic source information for the reference Date(s) that you accessed web pages Page/paragraph information for key statistics,

photos, charts Page/paragraph information for potential quotes

APA – IN-TEXT CITATION Used to indicate the source of the fact

or idea or quote

Format is usually not source dependent Books, journals and web pages are all

formatted similarly

APA – IN-TEXT CITATION In-text citation: (Author, Year) 70% of students going back to college feel

overwhelmed (Smith, 2009).

In-text citation where the author is mentioned: (Year)

According to Smith (2009), 70% of students going back to college feel overwhelmed.

APA – IN-TEXT CITATION

In-text citation with multiple authors: (Author1 & Author2, Year)

Deaths from HIV rose 58% between 1980 and 1992 (Weiner & Tyler, 1998).

APA – QUOTED CITATIONS In-text citation: (Author, Year, Page

Number) “70% of students going back to college feel

overwhelmed” (Smith, 2009, p. 16).

In-text citation where the author is mentioned:

According to Smith (2009), “70% of students going back to college feel overwhelmed” (p. 16).

REFERENCES PAGE At the end of the paper

Every work on the References page should appear in your paper and vice versa

Hanging indent

List sources alphabetically by author – if there is no author by the first important word in the title

References

Smith, Rhonda. (2008). Getting ready to work. New York, NY: Dell

Publishing.

Washington, George. (2010, July 5). Cutting down an apple tree. American Journal of Psychology 34(3), 15-25. Retrieved from http://factsormythsofhistory.com/washington.htm

Zeller, Dan. (2009, April 4). Learning APA style. American Journal of Writing. 3(3), 59-68.

REFERENCES PAGEThings to Note: 

Book titles and Article titles: Only first word is capitalized unless the word is a proper noun. Also capitalize first word after certain types of punctuation (e.g., colon, dash).

 

Journal titles: All major words are capitalized.

Months are spelled out.

If a web site is used and the URL has upper and lower case (e.g., youtube urls) use the upper and lower case.

REFERENCES PAGEWebsites – include as much

information as you can find.

Information for the citation might be on a different page. This is especially true if the page(s) is part of a larger work (i.e., the author is treating it like a chapter)

Check out the home page or the contact us page (especially if you’ve Googled to find the page)

REFERENCES PAGEBook Sources

Last Name, First and Middle Initials. (Year). Title of book. Place of publication: Publisher.

Smith, R. J. (2008). Getting ready to work. New York, NY: Dell Publishing.

REFERENCESArticle from Print Journal:

Last name, Initials. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume number(Issue number), pages.

Snowden, M. (2013). ACOs set to expand cost savings. Health Management Technology, 34(1), 12.

Article from Online Journal:

Last name, Initials. (Year, Month day). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume number(Issue number), pages. doi (if available, if not URL)

Ansen, D. (2012, December 31). A lost generation. Newsweek, 62. Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com

REFERENCES PAGE

Article from Web Page:

Last name, Initials. (Date). Title of article. Retrieved from http://URL

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013, February 11). Vaccine virus selection for the 2012-2013 influenza season. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/about/season/vaccine-selection.htm

American Red Cross. (2013, November 12). Vaccine virus selection for the 2012-2013 influenza season. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/about/season/vaccine-selection.htm

REFERENCES PAGE

Article from Web Page:

Topic overview [Exercise-induced asthma home]. (2011, February 13). Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/asthma/tc/exercise-induced-asthma-topic-overview

Mayo Clinic staff. (2013, April 24). Tetanus: Definition. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/tetanus/DS00227

REFERENCES PAGEdoi - digital object identifier

Usually appears on the first page of an article

Purpose is to provide a way to locate an article that is not dependent upon a URL or changes to the URL

doi string may be numeric or alphanumeric 

If the doi string does not exist use the format Retrieved from http://url

Provide a doi if available – even if you used a print source

RESOURCES Print APA Handbook OWL online

http://owl.english.purdue.edu Databases – generate citations Citation Machine

http://citationmachine.net

Nobody memorizes ALL the rules, in fact most people have to refer to the APA

guidelines every time they write a paper.

Remember even if a source provides an APA

reference you are ultimately responsible to

make sure it is in the correct format!