Advantages And Disadvantages Of Apa Citation And Formatting
The following tips for APA citation and formatting is adapted from: http://www.apus.edu/Online-Library/tutorials/apa.htm
APA CITATION AND FORMATTING
When you base writing on published materials, which is a requirement of a majority of college course assignments, it is important to correctly credit those materials, or “sources”, with source credits, often referred to as “citations”, and to do so using the formatting rules required for the academic field of study within which you are writing. In the case of coursework completed for college psychology courses, the citation and formatting rules required have been established by the American Psychological Association (APA). While APA citation and formatting rules are widely used, they …show more content…
are not the rules for every college degree program. MLA and Turabian are examples of sets of other source citation and formatting rules.
If you are taking a course outside of your major field of study you may never use APA formatting again after completing that course. As is the case with any degree, source citing and formatting rules compliance cannot be waived in a psychology course for students not pursuing a psychology degree; however, you will find that in almost any course, regardless of degree, you will not use every citation and formatting rule but rather likely be citing hard copy and electronic copy (e-format and web) books and articles, and websites (including sites that contain text only or video material) and that which of these types of sources are required is determined by course and individual assignment requirements and permissions. Below you will find examples of how these sources are APA cited in the body of one’s writing (often called “in-text” citing) and “referenced” in a References list attached to the end of one’s …show more content…
writing. This should prove helpful in focusing time and effort in learning about how to APA source cite on the types of citations you will need to use for this course.
CITING A BOOK IN THE BODY OF ONE’S WRITING
For the paper and discussion assignments you complete in the class, you will be paraphrasing, summarizing, and occasionally, but very minimally, directly quoting information found in your text, library articles, and on the Internet. Note: Direct quoting should be done very sparingly but it is allowed if you feel the author stated something so succinctly that quoting verbatim is absolutely necessary (e.g. data reports of research results). No more than 5% of the course paper should be in direct quotes.
APA citation is fairly simply once you get used to it! The purpose of citation and referencing is to let your reader know where exactly you got your information so that they may look it up and investigate on their own and to give proper credit to words that are those of a published author. Remember, citations that occur within the body of the paper and the Reference list at the end must correspond!
When you are summarizing/paraphrasing material within the body of your paper (even when not quoting directly), you place the author’s last name and date of publication within parentheses at the end of the summary/paraphrase. If you quote directly from a source, you will include the author’s last name and date of publication, as well as the page number. You should use p. for one page and pp. if the quote is spread across multiple pages. The parentheses appear after the last word of the sentence and the period appears after the end parentheses. When you quote directly, you must also use quotation marks around the passage you are quoting.
Here are some examples:
Below is a quote, word for word, from a course textbook with a correctly placed and APA formatted source credit (Note: Quoting must be done very sparingly. While citing sources correctly when you do quote is important, your instructor, when grading any written work, including classroom discussion posts, is assessing your demonstration of assignment compliance and learning, the latter of which is shown in the meaning you have made of course materials with which you have engaged, not how well quotes can be assembled to make a point).
“In studies of twins, the scores of identical twins are always much more highly correlated than those of fraternal twins, a difference that reflects the influence of genes.
In fact, the scores of identical twins reared apart are more highly correlated than those of fraternal twins reared together” (Wade & Tavris, 2011, p. 235).
Notice the quotation marks, which reflect that this is an exact quote from a published source. When you quote verbatim, you also always include the page number where the quote originated. Also, note where the period is located in relationship to the parentheses. It on the outside of them, immediately following the right, closing parenthesis.
If you have already cited the author(s) of a publication at the beginning of a statement that includes quoted content, a page number citation should be included at the end of the quote:
In looking at genetics and intelligence, authors Wade and Tavris (2011) state, “In studies of twins, the scores of identical twins are always much more highly correlated than those of fraternal twins, a difference that reflects the influence of genes. In fact, the scores of identical twins reared apart are more highly correlated than those of fraternal twins reared together” (p.
235).
Because you are referring directly to the authors in the quote, you do not need to cite the names again (because that is clear). You do provide the year date of publication and page number, however. Again, note where the period is located in relationship to the parentheses.
When summarizing/paraphrasing material from a book, you still use a citation.
It appears that genetics does play a role in intelligence. Psychologists have found that the IQ scores of identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins—even when the identical twins are raised apart, in comparing them with fraternal twins who are raised in the same household (Wade & Tavris, 2011).
Again, the period comes outside of the parentheses. cITING A JOURNAL ARTICLE IN THE BODY OF ONE’S WRITING
Directly below is how your citation should look within the body of your writing when citing an article. This is a summary of the material found in this particular article; if you were going to quote the article, you would follow the first example, above, using quotation marks.
Throughout the United States, substantial attention on college campuses has turned to alcohol consumption among undergraduate students. Wechsler and colleagues found that 84% of their representative sample of college campus students had consumed some alcohol in the previous year (Wechsler, Davenport, Dowdall, Moeykens, & Castillo, 1994).
REFERENCE PAGE
Once you complete your paper or discussion forum post, you must attach to the end a “References” list for your citations. The citations and references must correspond with each other one-to-one. That is, for every body of the writing citation you include in your work, you must have a corresponding listing of it in the references list. The reason for the citations (above) is to let your reader know that a particular passage from your paper comes from a given published source—but that does not provide much information about the source, which is why you must always provide a reference list that corresponds. This list tells your readers exactly where they may find the source of your information.
Your references (the author, date of publication, title and publisher of a published source used) should be listed in alphabetical order and placed under the heading “References” (without the quotation marks). Here is how the reference listings for a book and a journal article would be reference listed. Note that only author first name initials and never full first names are used in a reference list, and that only the first word of the publication title is capitalized, except in the case of a title including a colon, in which case both the first word of a title and the first word following the colon would be capitalized, and that book titles are capitalized and as are the titles of journals in which articles are published.
References
Wade, C. & Tavris, C. (2011). Invitation to psychology, 5th Edition. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Wechsler, H., Davenport, A., Dowdall, G., Moeykens, B., and Castillo, S. (1994).
Health and behavioral consequences of binge drinking in college: A national survey of students at 40 campuses. Journal of the American Medical Association, 272, 1672-1677.
APA CITATION AND FORMATTING
When you base writing on published materials, which is a requirement of a majority of college course assignments, it is important to correctly credit those materials, or “sources”, with source credits, often referred to as “citations”, and to do so using the formatting rules required for the academic field of study within which you are writing. In the case of coursework completed for college psychology courses, the citation and formatting rules required have been established by the American Psychological Association (APA). While APA citation and formatting rules are widely used, they …show more content…
are not the rules for every college degree program. MLA and Turabian are examples of sets of other source citation and formatting rules.
If you are taking a course outside of your major field of study you may never use APA formatting again after completing that course. As is the case with any degree, source citing and formatting rules compliance cannot be waived in a psychology course for students not pursuing a psychology degree; however, you will find that in almost any course, regardless of degree, you will not use every citation and formatting rule but rather likely be citing hard copy and electronic copy (e-format and web) books and articles, and websites (including sites that contain text only or video material) and that which of these types of sources are required is determined by course and individual assignment requirements and permissions. Below you will find examples of how these sources are APA cited in the body of one’s writing (often called “in-text” citing) and “referenced” in a References list attached to the end of one’s …show more content…
writing. This should prove helpful in focusing time and effort in learning about how to APA source cite on the types of citations you will need to use for this course.
CITING A BOOK IN THE BODY OF ONE’S WRITING
For the paper and discussion assignments you complete in the class, you will be paraphrasing, summarizing, and occasionally, but very minimally, directly quoting information found in your text, library articles, and on the Internet. Note: Direct quoting should be done very sparingly but it is allowed if you feel the author stated something so succinctly that quoting verbatim is absolutely necessary (e.g. data reports of research results). No more than 5% of the course paper should be in direct quotes.
APA citation is fairly simply once you get used to it! The purpose of citation and referencing is to let your reader know where exactly you got your information so that they may look it up and investigate on their own and to give proper credit to words that are those of a published author. Remember, citations that occur within the body of the paper and the Reference list at the end must correspond!
When you are summarizing/paraphrasing material within the body of your paper (even when not quoting directly), you place the author’s last name and date of publication within parentheses at the end of the summary/paraphrase. If you quote directly from a source, you will include the author’s last name and date of publication, as well as the page number. You should use p. for one page and pp. if the quote is spread across multiple pages. The parentheses appear after the last word of the sentence and the period appears after the end parentheses. When you quote directly, you must also use quotation marks around the passage you are quoting.
Here are some examples:
Below is a quote, word for word, from a course textbook with a correctly placed and APA formatted source credit (Note: Quoting must be done very sparingly. While citing sources correctly when you do quote is important, your instructor, when grading any written work, including classroom discussion posts, is assessing your demonstration of assignment compliance and learning, the latter of which is shown in the meaning you have made of course materials with which you have engaged, not how well quotes can be assembled to make a point).
“In studies of twins, the scores of identical twins are always much more highly correlated than those of fraternal twins, a difference that reflects the influence of genes.
In fact, the scores of identical twins reared apart are more highly correlated than those of fraternal twins reared together” (Wade & Tavris, 2011, p. 235).
Notice the quotation marks, which reflect that this is an exact quote from a published source. When you quote verbatim, you also always include the page number where the quote originated. Also, note where the period is located in relationship to the parentheses. It on the outside of them, immediately following the right, closing parenthesis.
If you have already cited the author(s) of a publication at the beginning of a statement that includes quoted content, a page number citation should be included at the end of the quote:
In looking at genetics and intelligence, authors Wade and Tavris (2011) state, “In studies of twins, the scores of identical twins are always much more highly correlated than those of fraternal twins, a difference that reflects the influence of genes. In fact, the scores of identical twins reared apart are more highly correlated than those of fraternal twins reared together” (p.
235).
Because you are referring directly to the authors in the quote, you do not need to cite the names again (because that is clear). You do provide the year date of publication and page number, however. Again, note where the period is located in relationship to the parentheses.
When summarizing/paraphrasing material from a book, you still use a citation.
It appears that genetics does play a role in intelligence. Psychologists have found that the IQ scores of identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins—even when the identical twins are raised apart, in comparing them with fraternal twins who are raised in the same household (Wade & Tavris, 2011).
Again, the period comes outside of the parentheses. cITING A JOURNAL ARTICLE IN THE BODY OF ONE’S WRITING
Directly below is how your citation should look within the body of your writing when citing an article. This is a summary of the material found in this particular article; if you were going to quote the article, you would follow the first example, above, using quotation marks.
Throughout the United States, substantial attention on college campuses has turned to alcohol consumption among undergraduate students. Wechsler and colleagues found that 84% of their representative sample of college campus students had consumed some alcohol in the previous year (Wechsler, Davenport, Dowdall, Moeykens, & Castillo, 1994).
REFERENCE PAGE
Once you complete your paper or discussion forum post, you must attach to the end a “References” list for your citations. The citations and references must correspond with each other one-to-one. That is, for every body of the writing citation you include in your work, you must have a corresponding listing of it in the references list. The reason for the citations (above) is to let your reader know that a particular passage from your paper comes from a given published source—but that does not provide much information about the source, which is why you must always provide a reference list that corresponds. This list tells your readers exactly where they may find the source of your information.
Your references (the author, date of publication, title and publisher of a published source used) should be listed in alphabetical order and placed under the heading “References” (without the quotation marks). Here is how the reference listings for a book and a journal article would be reference listed. Note that only author first name initials and never full first names are used in a reference list, and that only the first word of the publication title is capitalized, except in the case of a title including a colon, in which case both the first word of a title and the first word following the colon would be capitalized, and that book titles are capitalized and as are the titles of journals in which articles are published.
References
Wade, C. & Tavris, C. (2011). Invitation to psychology, 5th Edition. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Wechsler, H., Davenport, A., Dowdall, G., Moeykens, B., and Castillo, S. (1994).
Health and behavioral consequences of binge drinking in college: A national survey of students at 40 campuses. Journal of the American Medical Association, 272, 1672-1677.