APA Format Crediting sources A tutorial prepared for Florida Technical College Students

Why & When do we need to cite? Help readers place your contribution in context Cite others’ work that you are directly using (i.e. ideas) You have read the work Strengthen your research The amount of sources depends on the extent of work A critical part of the writing process is helping others place your contribution (i.e. your ideas) in context by citing researchers who influenced you. When do we need to cite? When others’ ideas have influenced our work. Citing implies we have read the work—so be sure you have read the sources you are citing. Citing and acknowledging the sources you used help you strengthen your research since you are evidencing research And lastly, we need to keep in mind that the amount of sources we include in our papers will depend on the extent of the work and its requirements. Or even more, An instructor may ask for a minimum amount of references

Plagiarism Writers “do not present the work of another as if it were their own work” (APA, 2010, p. 16). Credit work by quoting, paraphrasing, and/or summarizing. Keep notes that identify each idea with accurate bibliographical information. We have learned how to avoid plagiarism in our work. It is very important to keep in mind that, Writers “do not present the work of another as if it were their own work” (p. 16). Notice how this information is presented; it has quotation marks, and the reference page of the source of this presentation: The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Make sure you credit other’s work by making use of quotations, paraphrases and or summaries. A stratetgy that might help you keep tract of your ideas is to keep notes that identify each idea with accurate bibliographical information. To avoid plagiarism, you would need to credit each source you are using by quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing the content you are using. A great idea to consider is to create notes where you identify the idea with the source (this is to remember the ideas you are considering of including in your work).

Quoting Verbatim Include the author, year it was published, and pagination If using online source, then include paragraph number Within text if fewer than 40 words Block format if more than 40 words Limit quotations We quote when we use the idea of a source verbatim. This means word-by-word. We also need to acknowledge the source by including the author, the year it was published, and page number). Now, if using an online source that does not have page numbers, then specify the paragraph number. If the quotation has fewer than 40 words, then it can be included within your discussion. However, if it takes longer than 40 words, then it needs to be presented in block format. Last but not least, limit the use of quotations. Some ask for about 5-10% of the paper at maximum. This is because it affects the voice of the writer by using other people’s wording. Also, it limits the critical thinking ideal of not being able to put into our words what the source we are using is presenting.

Citing Smith (2015) presented …. According to Smith (2015), …. In her research, Smith (2015) found …. ……. …..(p. 20). (Smith, 2015). (Smith, 2015, p. 15) (Smith, 2015, par. 20) Here we see multiple ways that we can use to cite our sources. Notice how we use the writer’s surname followed by the year of publication in parenthesis. This is done like so as a shortcut for the reader. If the reader wants to access the source, then s/he goes back to reference page, looks for Smith 2015 and there she or he will find the bibliographical information. The first section shows how to introduce the source, the latter version shows how to conclude it. We will be seeing examples that demosntrate how to use these.

Less than 40 words Here, we have an example of a section of a research that contains someone else’s ideas word-by-word. This example shows how to include the verbatim within our discussion (since the quotation has fewer than 40 words). I would like to point at the double quotation that is being shown. Because it is a quote of a quote, we begin our quotation with regular quotation marks, and then identify the quotation within our quotation with a single quotation mark. Also, notice how we are acknowledging the source my mentioning the authors at the end of the quotation and presenting the source information within parenthesis. If completing a sentence, then we need to place the period after the end-parenthesis.

Block format This is an example of a block quotation. This happens when we are using 40 words or more verbatim. We introduce the source, and then indent the quotation. Notice how this type of quotation does not carry quotation marks. This is because the indentation is letting the reader know it is actually a quotation. Also notice, that unlike our previous example, we close the sentence with a period, and then we add the parenthetical citation). Source: http://blog.apastyle.org/files/block-quotations.pdf

Paraphrasing Ideas in our own words. Usually a sentence. Length might differ. Acknowledge the author, year, and page/paragraph number. Paraphrasing is another method we can use to cite another person’s work or ideas. When we paraphrase, we are stating the idea from the original source in our own words. This is usually done at the sentence level (one or two sentences). Just like working with quotations, we need to acknowledge the author, the year, and the page or paragraph number where our reader might find the information if s/he wants to. Paraphrasing can be used more freely as you are using your voice to present the information, while presenting you understand the meaning and significance of idea(s) you are using.

Summarizing Providing the main idea of the sources. In your own words. Cite the author and year. Summarizing is the last referencing technique we can use in our paper. Similar to paraphrasing, we are using our own words, but we are providing the main idea of the work we are referencing. When providing a summary, we only need to provide the author and the year. This is because we might summarize a whole article in just a few sentences.

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing This paragraph presents all three instances of citation. What’s in yellow shows a quotation, with author’s name, year and page number. What’s in aqua presents an example of summarizing, while adding two sources that present the idea. What’s in pink shows a paraphrase of the original. The distinction between paraphrase and summary is in the inclusion of page number (or lack thereof).

Reference Components Author’s name Last Name, I. Publication date (2015). Title of the Work Publication data Alphabetical Order Bandura, A. J. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. We have mentioned and demonstrated how to acknowledge our sources within the discussion of our paper. Now, these shortcuts (i.e. use of author, year and page) need to appear on the references page. Because we might use different sources in our paper: books, magazines, academic journals, webpages, websites, etc., the construction of each one will be slightly different. It is very important to learn how to organize these, as reference generators (available on the web or even in Word) might not present accurate organization. Overall, each reference entry must aim at presenting the author’s name, date the work was published, title of the work, and publication data such as city, publishing company, etc. Here we see an example of the bibliographical information of a book. We see the writer’s Surname, followed by a comma, followed by name initials. In parenthesis we have the publication year. In italics we have the title of the book, followed by city and state of publication, colon and publishing house.

Basic Format Double space Indent second line and subsequent lines Organize in alphabetical order (by author) List all authors Italicize the journal or magazine title and volume # Italicize book title

Sample This is an example of a completed Reference page. Notice how everything is double spaced, entries are arranged in alphabetical order, second line is intented, and how each entry looks different. This is why it is so important to access the website or the manual itself. Since this is a screenshot of a paper, notice as well how some sections of the entry are green-lined or red-lined. In this case, it does not mean your entry is wrong. It simply means the system is not recognizing it as correct. You don’t need to mind this, as long as you follow APA format, you will do well.

Types of References 77 different types of reference entries Books Whole book Editions Chapters Periodicals Editorials Magazines (paper or online) Newspapers (paper or online) Journals (paper or online) Videos Electronic Webpage Website The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association has listed 77 different types of reference entries. Examples of these are: Books, Periodicals, Videos, and Electronic sources, among others.

Because of these differences in formatting each source, we recommend you go to the APA style website to see more examples and tutorials on how to present these. Another good option is to buy the Publication Manual for easy reference. This is the end of the tutorial. Now, please take the plagiarism quiz to evidence what you have learned. Source: apastyle.org