A guide to citing and documenting sources using APA Claire McMurray, Ph.D., KU Writing Center

Why are there different citation styles?

MLA Format APA Format • in-text style • humanities • how writings influence one another, authorship • Highlights author’s name, pg # • in-text style • social sciences • how research has evolved and dates of publication • Highlights author’s name, year, page # Chicago Format • footnote style • historical research • helps reader focus on evidence and source origins • very flexible • can mix discursive and bibliographic footnotes

Resources (on handout)

 KU Writing Center (face-to-face consultations, email feedback, videoconferences, quick questions, writing guides) www.writing.ku.edu

 APA Handbook  Purdue Owl APA Overview website  http://blog.apastyle.org/  When in all else fails: google the question, search for reputable sources

Why cite using APA?

 Acknowledge those you’ve learned from  Build credibility (for yourself and the people you work with)  Guide readers to further information

What is included in the APA format?

 Document guidelines (formatting)  Writing style and tone  Organization and structure  In-text citation guidelines  References guidelines *Hint: use Zotero, EndNote, or Word “References” to organization your citations

Types of Papers

Literature Review Experimental Report • Title page • Introduction section • List of references Other Papers • Use general format guidelines • Consult your advisor • Consult APA Handbook • Title page • Abstract • Introduction • Method • Results • Discussion • References • Appendices (if necessary) • Tables/Figures (if necessary)

APA Style

 Expectations for writing style, tone and organization  Explicit (thesis up front with “map”)  Concise  Values standardization of papers so that research can easily be compared

Avoiding Bias in Language



Be descriptive and specific:

 Describe individuals and groups as they describe themselves, including them in the decision when possible.

 Find alternatives to the generic “he” and “man.”  Age: be specific and avoid pejorative terms (e.g. elderly) 

Person-first language:

 “person with neurosis”  “person who lives with bi-polar disorder” 

“Sexual orientation” rather than “sexual preference”



Racial & Ethnic groups are capitalized

 “Black” rather than “black”; “White” rather than “white” etc.

Verbs



Use past tense or present perfect in literature review and to present your results:

 

Sanchez (2004) has reported that… We found that 65% of the participants adopted more formal speech…



Use present tense to discuss or synthesize:

 

Overall analysis suggests that… The majority of researchers seem to support the hypothesis…

Verbs

 Passive and active voice  “Verbs are vigorous, direct communicators”  Prefer the active voice 

The survey was conducted in a controlled setting.



We conducted the survey in a controlled setting.

 Use passive judiciously to focus the object or recipient of action rather than the actor 

The speakers were attached to either side of the chair.

Numbers

 Expressed in numerals:  Numbers 10 and above  Numbers below 10 grouped for comparison with numbers 10 and above  Numbers preceding a unit of measurement or statistical function  Numbers representing time, date, age, population size, etc.

 Numbers in series, such as Tables, Chapters, etc.

 Expressed as words:  Numbers below 10  “Zero” and “one” when words would be easier to comprehend than numerals  Any number that begins a title, text heading, or sentence  Common fractions (

two-thirds

)  Numbers expressing approximate lengths of time (

about three hours

)

Punctuation

   Use commas between all elements of a series:

A, B, and C

.

Use comma to set off the year in dates and in parenthetical reference citations. (Lastname, 2010) Use a semicolon to separate elements in a series already containing commas.

  

Punctuation

Use a colon between a complete introductory clause and a final phrase or a complete sentence, as in These are the options: Introduce a single-payer system or create a government insurance pool .

Hyphenate compound words used as adjectives, as in same-day appointment or two-time winner .

Do not use dashes; instead, use parentheses, as in Studs Terkel (author of the classic

Working

) died recently .



Formatting:

Title Page Running Head on every page No more than 50 characters Running head: SHORT TITLE ALL CAPS IN HEADER Full Title of Paper: Sentence Case, Centered Left to Right Name of Author Institutional Affiliation Author Note Departmental affiliation Changes of Affiliation (if any) Acknowledgments Special circumstances Person to contact (mailing address, email) 1 Full title is centered and positioned in upper half of the page, Times New Roman, 12 pt font

Formatting:

Heading Levels   Use levels consecutively, meaning that, if your paper has three levels, use levels 1, 2, and 3 Levels have slightly different formatting Level of Heading 1 2 3 Formatting of Heading

Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.

4 5

Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.

Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.

Formatting Levels:

like an outline

Outline

I.

Method a.

First type i.

Part One ii.

Part Two b.

Second Type i.

Part One II.

Results ii.

Part Two

How it would look in your paper Method

In this paper I used two types of methods to figure out the results of my experiment.

First Type: Sand Collecting

The first type of method I used was the sand collecting method.

Part one of the sand collecting method: collection.

This part included collecting sand and putting it into giant buckets to be sorted by grain size.

Part two of the sand collecting method: testing.

This part included…

In-Text Citation: Paraphrases

 If you mention the

author in the sentence

, place the publication year in parenthesis directly after name:  Walter (2000) found that the strengths perspective worked well with…  If you

do not mention the author’s name

, save parenthetical reference for the end:  Many researchers have studied the strengths perspective (Walter, 2000; Davis, 1998).

In-Text Citation: Quotations



Author in sentence:

 Miele (1993) found that “the ‘placebo effect’ disappeared when [only the first group’s] behaviors were modified” (p. 276).



Author not in sentence:

 She stated that “The ‘placebo effect’…disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner” (Miele, 1993, p. 276).

Reference Page

 Title the page “References.”  Double space the entire reference page —no extra space between entries.

 List alphabetically.

 List works by the same author chronologically from earliest to latest.

Common Problems: Citing Websites

In Text  When referring in passing to a website within your text, the url is sufficient. Don’t add it to the references list.

 Ex: Gussie Fink-Nottle has set up a discussion forum for newt fanciers ( http://gfnnfg.livejournal.com/ ).

 List (author, date) or (title, date) at the end of the sentence for more in-depth discussion of a website.

Common Problems: Citing Websites

References  When citing a document or piece of information from a website, you need to put it on the references list.

Author, A. (date). Title of document [Format description]. Retrieved from http://URL .

 When a doi (digital object identifier) exists, use instead of url.

Author, A.A, & Author, B.B. (Date). Title of article. Title of journal, vol. #, page range. doi:000000/0000000.

 Something missing? Check the APA Style Blog. Often there are no dates or authors for websites.

 Consider purchasing APA Style Guide to Electronic References.

Common Problems: Tables and Figures

 Check APA Manual: Section 5 (Displaying Results) pg. 125-167 6 Название диаграммы 5  Check Purdue Owl website (on handout) 4 3  Decide the table’s or figure’s purpose (exploration, communication, calculation, storage, decoration) 2 1  Consider using a standard (canonical) form when possible 0 Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 Series 1 Series 2 Series 3

Common Problems: A Source w/in a Source

In Text  (as cited in Author, date).

Ex: In his e-mails, Smith argued that asynchronous line dancing would be the next Internet meme (as cited in Jones, 2010).

References  List only the SECONDARY source (source in which you found the quote) on your references list.

Questions?

Don’t feel ashamed if you still have a question. No one can memorize all of the APA rules and guidelines. Everyone needs to look them up from time or to figure it out with someone else’s guidance. Come visit the Writing Center for more help!