Referencing and Citing Sources in Text



RD 300 - Style Guide

The citation and referencing style for RD300 is that used by the American Psychological Association (APA).

The materials in this brief guide come from a variety of sources including the following websites:







This Guide is by no means a substitute for the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association published by the American Psychological Association. That 368-page book is an extensive and invaluable resource for students. Copies should be available in university libraries and bookstores.

Citing Sources

Your reader should be able to discover the source of any language or ideas you have used in writing your paper that are not your own. This is an important part of being a responsible member of the academic community. When you use the ideas or language of someone else, you can refer your reader easily to that resource by using something called parenthetical citation. In parentheses key words can refer your reader to your page of References, where he or she can then find out whatever bibliographic information is necessary to track down that resource.

The APA system of citing sources indicates the author's last name and the date, in parentheses, within the text of your paper.

A. A typical citation of an entire work consists of the author's name and the year of publication.

Example:

Charlotte and Emily Bronte were polar opposites, not only in their personalities but in their sources of inspiration for writing (Taylor, 1990).

Use the last name only in both first and subsequent citations, except when there is more than one author with the same last name. In that case, use the last name and the first initial.

B. If the author is named in the text, only the year is cited.

Example:

According to Irene Taylor (1990), the personalities of Charlotte. . .

C. If both the name of the author and the date are used in the text, parenthetical reference is not necessary.

Example:

In a 1989 article, Gould explains Darwin's most successful. . .

D. Specific citations of pages or chapters follow the year.

Example:

Emily Bronte "expressed increasing hostility for the world of human relationships, whether sexual or social" (Taylor, 1988, p. 11).

E. When the reference is to a work by two authors, cite both names each time the reference appears.

Example:

Sexual-selection theory often has been used to explore patters of various insect mating (Alcock & Thornhill, 1983) . . . Alcock and Thornhill (1983) also demonstrate. . .

F. When the reference is to a work by three to five authors, cite all the authors the first time the reference appears. In a subsequent reference, use the first author's last name followed by et al. (meaning "and others").

Example of a subsequent reference:

Patterns of byzantine intrigue have long plagued the internal politics of community college administration in Texas (Douglas et al., 1997).

When the reference is to a work by six or more authors, use only the first author's name followed et al. in the first and all subsequent reference. The only exceptions to this rule are when some confusion might result because of similar names or the same author being cited. In that case, cite enough authors so that the distinction is clear.

G. When the reference is to a work by a corporate author, use the name of the organization as the author.

Example:

Retired officers retain access to all of the university's educational and recreational facilities (Columbia University, 1987, p. 54).

H. Personal letters, telephone calls, and other material that cannot be retrieved are not listed in References but are cited in the text.

Example:

Jesse Moore (telephone conversation, April 17, 1989) confirmed that the ideas. . .

I. Parenthetical references may mention more than one work, particularly when ideas have been summarized after drawing from several sources. Multiple citations should be arranged as follows.

Examples:

1. List two or more works by the same author in order of the date of publication:

(Gould, 1987, 1989)

2. Differentiate works by the same author and with the same publication date by adding an identifying letter to each date:

(Bloom, 1987a, 1987b)

3. List works by different authors in alphabetical order by last name, and use semicolons to separate the references:

(Gould, 1989; Smith, 1983; Tutwiler, 1989).

Citation of a work discussed in a secondary source.

A primary source is the article, book, etc. that you have read and used to cite in your paper. In some cases you might wish use a citation from that work. This is called a secondary source. You should always try to consult the original source. However, if you cannot, you should cite the source in the text, and refer to the sources you actually read. In the reference section, include only the source that you actually consulted.

For example, suppose you read a paper by Borst (1997), and in that paper he refers to a paper by Weisenmiller (1996).

If you DID NOT actually read Weisenmiller (1996) yourself, then in the text, you might say: Weisenmiller (as cited in Borst, 1997) recommends working in the computer industry.

In the reference section, you would include a reference for Borst (1997), but NOT for Weisenmiller (1996).

Works with no authors.

When a work has no (identified) author, cite in text the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. For example: In an investigation of depression in adults ("Study Finds", 1997) it was reported that…..

When a work's author is designated as "Anonymous," cite in text the word Anonymous followed by a comma and the date; for example, (Anonymous, 1997). In the reference list, an anonymous work is alphabetized by the word Anonymous.

Handling Quoted Material

1. Short quotations (fewer than 40 words) are incorporated into the text and enclosed by double quotations marks (").

2. Long quotations of 40 or more words are displayed in a double-spaced block of typewritten lines with no quotation marks. Indent five spaces from the left margin and type the entire quotation on the indented margin without the usual opening paragraph indentation. If the quotation is more than one paragraph, indent the first line of the second and additional paragraphs five spaces from the already indented margin, i.e. ten spaces from the left margin.

3. If you have a quotation within a block quotation, enclose it in double (") quotation marks. If you have a quotation within a short quote (one incorporated within the text), enclose it within single quotation marks (').

4. Ellipsis points are used to indicate omitted material. Type three periods with a space before and after each period to indicate omission within a sentence (. . .). To indicate an omission between sentences type a punctuation mark for the sentence followed by three spaced periods (. . . .) (?. . .) (! . . .).

5. When a period or comma occurs with closing quotation marks, place the period of comma within the quotation mark. Put other punctuation outside quotation marks unless it is part of the quoted material.

REFERENCE PAGE

The Reference page(s) begins on a new page. The references should be listed in alphabetical order. Consider author's names such as McAfee and Macwerner literally. Macwerner would come first. For two or more references with the same author, list first whichever one has the earliest publication year, and single author citations precede multiple author citations.

If there is NO Author, the title moves to the author position, and the entry is alphabetized by the first significant word of the title.

In instances where you have two or more references that contain the same author and year, differentiate them by placing a, b, c, d, etc. after the year. For example: National Institute of Mental Health. (1994a). Bipolar Disorder [Brochure]. Indianapolis, IN: Dista Products. National Institute of Mental Health. (1994b). Depression [Brochure]. Indianapolis, IN: Dista Products. Then use the appropriate year and letter when citing in text.

Periodicals

Periodicals with One Author

Required Information: Author's surname and initials of first and middle name (if given). (Year of publication). Title of article. Publication information which includes: Journal title and volume number (underlined), the inclusive page numbers. Note: If , and only if, each issue of a journal begins on page 1, give the issue number in parentheses immediately after the volume number. If no publication date is available, write "n.d." in parenthesis.

Example: Teri, L. (1982). Depression in adolescence: Its relationship to assertion and various aspects of self-image. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 11(2), 101-106.

Periodicals with Two Authors

Example: Sonne, J. L., & Pope, K. S. (1991). Treating victims of therapist-patient involvement. Psychotherapy, 28, 174-187.

Books

Information needed: Book authors or editors, date of publication, book title, publication information.

Example: Elkind, D. (1978). The child's reality: Three developmental themes. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Edited Book

Marshall, F. J. (Ed.). (1996). Common ground. Atlanta: Make Believe Publications.

Article in an Edited Book

Duckworth, J. C., & Levitt, E. E. (1994). Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2. In D. J. Keyser & R. C. Sweetland (Eds.), Test critiques: Vol. 10 (pp. 424- 428). Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.

Groups as Authors

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental

disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Note: This is also an example of how to reference editions of books. When the publisher and author are the same, use "Author" for the publisher.

OTHER

Magazine Article

Arie, M. (1996, October 8). Protecting yourself from evil E-mail. PC Magazine, 15, p. 192. Note: Use the exact date for weekly publications. Use the Month for monthly publications.

Personal Communication

Personal communications may be memos, letters, lectures, seminars, interviews, telephone conversations, e-mail, and the like. These types of sources do not provide recoverable data and are NOT included in the reference list. Cite personal communications in TEXT only. Give the initials as well as the surname of the communicator, and provide as exact a date as possible.

Example: W. U. Borst (personal communication, April 7, 1997) said that these are not included in the reference list or (W. U. Borst, personal communication, April 7, 1997)

Citing and Referencing Websites

At this time, the APA does not provide specific instructions as to how to cite World Wide Web sites. The following is an excerpt from the approach to APA in-text and reference citations developed by Dr. Mary Ellen Guffey (see .)

In-text citations should be shown in parentheses. They should consist of the author's name, if given, or identifying initial words from the title of the electronic reference. Also include the date of publication, if given. For further clarity, you may want to indicate the Internet protocol or name the source medium. Examples: (Goizueta, 1996, http), (Sommer, news), (Clark, 1994, CD-ROM). To avoid confusion when citing more than one Web page by a single author, you may wish to indicate the final element of each relevant URL. Example: (Hansen, 1995, michalos.html). The goal is always, however, to interrupt the flow of the text as little as possible while unambiguously and precisely pointing readers to complete entries in the References.

Citing World Wide Web sites in your reference list:

Basic Form

Title of page. (Revision or copyright date, if available).

[Publication medium]. Page Publisher. [Access date].

Example

Nordstrom personal touch America. [Online]. Nordstrom, Inc.

[1996, Nov. 14].

Walker, J. (1996). APA-style citations of electronic sources. [1997, April 29].

Tips for Writing Papers

• If your writing assignment is 5 or more page in length provide a title page.

• Use headings in longer papers to assist the reader.

• You must use complete sentences.

• Try not to use slang (e.g., ...put a damper on...).

• Do not use contractions. That is, instead of it's, use it is.

• If you are doubtful about the spelling of a word, do not guess. Look up the correct spelling in an appropriate reference source.

• Proofread the final copy that you submit and do correct minor typographical errors, formatting, spelling, or even the wording, with a pencil if you detect them at the last minute. These corrections are inevitable and will communicate that you are serious about your work. Use your spellchecker but do not rely on it to catch all spelling and grammatical errors.

• Avoid excessive use of the terms I, me, and my, as well as the phrase personally speaking...

• Avoid the use of sexist language. For example, consistently referring to a person as a him or he when it is just as likely for the person to be a she or a her, is sexist. However, using (s)he or him/her all of the time can also be awkward. If you phrase it right, you can often use the word person instead.

• "Boy" and "Girl" are acceptable referring to high school and younger. For persons 18 and older use "men" and "women."

• Capitalize major words and all other words of four letters or more, in headings, titles, and subtitles (outside reference lists).

• Avoid using 'empty words' or words that serve no purpose. For example, In the Smith (1990) study it was found that... should read more like Smith (1990) found that...

• Get friends to read it. If they cannot understand it, then it needs work. If you cannot get a friend to read it, then try to read it yourself making believe that you are naive.

• When abbreviating any terms, spell them out the first time. For example, The Sexual Opinion Survey (SOS) was used to...

• Do not use too many abbreviations. Whereas one, two, or three can be helpful, four or five can be confusing.

• If an abbreviation is commonly used as a word, it does not require explanation (e.g., IQ).

• You will often see the following Latin abbreviations used:

| | | | | |

|e.g., |for example | |i.e., |that is |

|et al. |and others | |vs. |versus |

• The numbers zero through nine are spelled out (except when it is a table or figure number, or a metric measurement, etc.). The numbers 10 and above are written as numbers.

• Spell out any number when it is the first thing in a sentence. For example, the sentence 34 students were used., is not appropriate and should read Thirty-four students were used.

• Three or four quotes in a 10 page paper is about the upper limit.

• Use three dots (ellipsis points) when omitting material, four if the omitted material includes the end of a sentence. Do not use dots at the beginning or end of a quotation unless it is important to indicate the quotation begins or ends in midsentence.

Thinking Critically About Web Page Content

Source: Terry Link, Michigan State University Libraries

Evaluating Web Page Content

Our challenge in using the Web to locate information is not simply in finding relevant information. More emphatically, we need to find credible information. How can we begin to examine a Web page for the quality of information. The following criteria are drawn from a variety of sources including: Jean Ward and Kathleen Hansen, Search Strategies in Mass Communication, New York: Longman, 1987; Martin Lee and Norman Solomon, Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News Media, New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1990; Esther Grassian, Thinking Critically About World Wide Web Resources, UCLA College Library, Evaluating Information Found on the Internet from John Hopkins University Library.

AUTHORITY-- Who is the author? What are their qualifications? Who is the publisher? What bias would you expect of this publisher if any? What reputation do these sources have?

Does the web site list the author of the page? Any mention of her/his credentials? Is there contact information?

By looking at the address of the site you should be able to determine if the site is:

Government site........look for .gov in the address

Commercial site........look for .com in the address

Education site.........look for .edu in the address

Network site...........look for .net in the address

Sometimes you need to go to the root of the address(everything before the first "/") to trace the source of authorship.

Sometimes it simply isn't there. You should also beware that within any given domain there is a wide range of quality, that both good and bad information can come from any domain.

Seek a balance in your research that represents a broad range of opinion, and involvement in the issue. For example, if you were researching whether or not the federal government should increase corporate average fuel economy standards(CAFE) for automobile manufacturers, you would want to seek out at least a couple of information producers from each of the domains. From .gov you might want to check on the EPA and the California Air Resources Board.

You may also want to look at the positions of representatives that represent certain interests, eg. John Dingell from Dearborn(home of Ford Motor Co.) and Henry Waxman from Southern California (a spokesman for cleaning up their air). Even the .com can bring you a range of views from the auto companies, suppliers, insurance companies, etc. The non-profits .org will usually have the broadest array of interested parties from your Ralph Nader type groups and the American Lung Association to Motor Vehicle Manufactures Association and the American Petroleum Institute. While education based .edu domains may seem least biased, be careful on who might be funding the research being reported there.

In short, be skeptical and go in with yours eyes open!!

VERIFIABILITY-- Are the claims made verifiable? Are accurate, traceable sources of statements and statistics given? Are the statements made based upon first-hand knowledge or research or hearsay? Are unnamed sources used?

TIMELINESS--Is the information given current? When was the last time the page was updated? Are new sites or entries so designated? CAUTION!!! Being most recent does not guarantee that the information is more accurate, often it is not--think about the early news reports after the Oklahoma City bombing that lead everyone to believe the perpetrator(s) was/were Arab terrorist(s)!!

RELEVANCE--Is the material truly relevant? Are the authors trying to compare apples and oranges? Is the material full of broad generalizations that are not clearly substantiated?

BIAS--Is the language used loaded? Are points of view given that show a range of opinion? Are information producers from all stripes listed? Are the links only to sites of one or two segments of the issue? Are politically charged labels used frequently? Does the author resort primarily to emotional appeals?

ORDERLINESS--Is the page arranged in an order that makes sense? Can you identify the underlying assumptions? Are the points made throughout the page consistent?

CLARITY--Is the information clearly stated? Does the author use obscure language or fail to define important terms? Are statements ambiguous?

VALIDITY--Is the information given out of context? Are the data used compatible? Are there sufficient data to make a point? Are relevant data omitted? Do the facts as presented support the conclusion?

Grammar Guidance

From time to time, we all need guidance or a refresher regarding specific applications of grammar. A site that I have found useful is The Guide to Grammar and Writing: .

It addresses all the basics of grammar usage and common errors that many of us tend to make. It also includes interactive quizzes and gives humorous examples of grammatical errors. There are over 170 challenging computer-graded quizzes to test your knowledge of grammar. Take the quizzes as a challenge or just for fun.

A Statement on Plagiarism

Source:

Using someone else's ideas or phrasing and representing those ideas or phrasing as our own, either on purpose or through carelessness, is a serious offense known as plagiarism.

"Ideas or phrasing" includes written or spoken material, of course — from whole papers and paragraphs to sentences, and, indeed, phrases — but it also includes statistics, lab results, art work, etc. "Someone else" can mean a professional source, such as a published writer or critic in a book, magazine, encyclopedia, or journal; an electronic resource such as material we discover on the World Wide Web; another student at our school or anywhere else; a paper-writing "service" (online or otherwise) which offers to sell written papers for a fee.

Excerpt Source:

Is it possible to locate the source(s) of a plagiarized or purchased paper?

By using text-index search engines, instructors can often locate the online source of plagiarized material. In addition, instructors have access to new detection programs to help them ferret out online plagiarism. There is now software that lets instructors quickly trace sources of plagiarism by comparing students' texts with numerous free and marketable collections of papers. Instructors at many colleges and universities now routinely use such detection programs. For an interesting article on the subject, read Doreen Iudica Vigue's "Educators Fighting a Web of Deceit."

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download