Basic APA Citations

When do I need to cite my information? Direct quote Stating a fact Paraphrasing someone else’s idea Basically, whenever you use information you retrieved from another source – EVEN IF YOU PARAPHRASE SOMETHING, YOU STILL MUST CITE IT! CHANGING A FEW WORDS DOES NOT MAKE IT YOUR OWN SENTENCE OR IDEA!!!

Why APA format? APA format emphasizes the author and year of publication Publishing dates are important in science because information changes rapidly

Ways to Cite Information In-Text citations are short references made within the body of the paper. Sometimes these are called parenthetical references because they are inside parentheses ()’s. Reference lists are a list of all of your sources. This is included at the end of your paper. Other formats sometimes call these Works Cited, Bibliography, or Endnotes.

In-Text Citations In-text citations are usually at the end of sentences right before the period. They are written as (Author’s last name, year). You will use this format for paraphrasing information. – Example: Living things that are better suited to their environment have a greater chance of surviving and passing on their traits (Darwin, 1859).

In-Text Citations (Cont.) If referring to the author in the sentence, you can include the year in parentheses after the name. – Example: According to Darwin (1859), fitness is described as the ability of an organism to survive and reproduce viable offspring.

In-Text Citations (Cont.) If you are citing a source word-for-word, it is a direct quote. Page numbers should be included in these in-text citations (Author, year, p. #). – Note: If the quote appears on more than one page, use the abbreviation pp.

In-Text Citations (Cont.) Short direct quotes (less than 40 words) are set off by quotation marks (“”) and are included within paragraphs to maintain flow. You can either use the author’s name to set up a quote or put it as a parenthetical reference at the end of the quote. – Example 1: Doornbos (2012) believes that “Spongebob is the best cartoon of the century” (p. 2). – Example 2: “Spongebob is the best cartoon of the century” (Doornbos, 2012, p. 2), but we have just started the 21 st century.

In-Text Citations (Cont.) Long direct quotes are quotes 40 or more words long. These are formatted differently than short quotes. First, set up the quote with a statement ending with a colon (:). You may include the author’s name followed by the year in parentheses in this part or put it in parentheses at the end with the page number. The page number is listed in parentheses AFTER the period ending the quote. Do NOT use quotation marks.

In-Text Citations (Cont.) Indent the entire quote in block format (called Justify spacing on Microsoft). Some people also use a smaller font (e.g. 12  10) and single spacing for their long direct quotes, but this is not required in APA. Long direct quotes should be used sparingly in this class!

In-Text Citations (Cont.) Example 1 (Long quote): In his study, Johnson (2009) noted that: In classes where students are permitted to select their seats, a pattern emerges between academic performance and seat choice. Not surprisingly, the highest performing students choose seats in the front row. However, the next highest achieving group does not sit in the second row; they sit along the outer edges of the classroom. (pp )

In-Text Citations (Cont.) Example 2 (Long quote): One study made the following observation: In classes where students are permitted to select their seats, a pattern emerges between academic performance and seat choice. Not surprisingly, the highest performing students choose seats in the front row. However, the next highest achieving group does not sit in the second row; they sit along the outer edges of the classroom. (Johnson, 2009, pp )

In-Text Citations (Cont.) What if there is more than one author? – If there are TWO authors, include both in the citation and connect using &. – Example: Biology is the best area of science (Baird & Hester, 2008).

In-Text Citations (Cont.) What if there is more than one author? – If there are THREE, FOUR, or FIVE authors, include all authors the first time you cite them. In later references, mention the first author then include et al. – Example 1 (first mention): Biology is the study of life (Anderson, Hester, McNamara, & Baird, 2010). – Example 2 (subsequent citation): The genetics unit is the longest unit in Biology (Anderson et al., 2010). OR – Anderson et al. (2010) identifies the genetics unit as the longest unit in Biology.

In-Text Citations (Cont.) What if there is more than one author? – If there are SIX or more authors, only include the first author followed by et al. – Example: Football teaches things you can’t learn in a classroom (Carr et al., 2011). OR – Carr et al. (2011) believes that football teaches life lessons.

In-Text Citations (Cont.) What if I find the same information from multiple sources? – When you research, you may find that many of your sources give you overlapping information. You can cite these sources by listing them in parentheses at the end of the sentence, separating by a semicolon (;). – Example: Biology is much more interesting than physics and chemistry (Anderson et al., 2010; Baird & Hester, 2008; Doornbos, 2011).

In-Text Citations (Cont.) What if there is no author? – If there is not author listed, you may use the name of the organization, webpage, or title of the article you are citing. Articles should be surrounded by quotes with the important words capitalized. – Example 1: According to Society for Science and the Public (2012), there are strict guidelines for experimenting on humans for science fair projects. – Example 2: Students should get between nine and twelve hours of sleep each night (“Too Many Sleep Deprived Teens in American Schools,” 2011).

In-Text Citations (Cont.) What if there is no date? – Lack of dates is common when using electronic sources. When this happens, use the abbreviation n.d. in parentheses. – Example 1: A recent earthquake caused damage to the Washington monument (Fisher, n.d.).

Reference Lists Sources are listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name. If there are no authors, then use the title of the article, webpage, etc. Every line after the first line for each source should be indented.

Generating a Reference List There are free websites that generate reference lists for you after you plug-in the information. I recommend bibme.org. The following slides show you how to use bibme.org. When you are done, be sure to format the reference list correctly (e.g. indent correctly, alphabetical order, etc.)

Generating a Reference List Go to bibme.org and select the tab that best describes your source. Type in as much information as you can.

Generating a Reference List Scroll down. Click on “Add to my Bibliography.”

Generating a Reference List The constructed bibliography is listed on the right side. Usually this is in the MLA default format, so you have to click on the drop arrow and change it to APA. Then you can copy and paste the citation into a Microsoft Word Document.

Generating a Reference List The following slide is a reference list about this presentation. It was made using the bibme.org generator. If your source does not fit into bibme.org, you can also try googling “Purdue OWL – APA formatting guide” which has more specific information available.

References BibMe: Fast & Easy Bibliography Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian - Free. (2012). BibMe: Fast & Easy Bibliography Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian - Free. Retrieved August 7, 2012, from The Writing Lab, The OWL at Purdue, & Purdue University. Purdue OWL: APA Formatting and Style Guide. (2012). Welcome to the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL). Retrieved August 7, 2012, from