APA CitationsReferences & In-Text

The BasicsWhat are citations?

A way for the researcher to credit others for information and ideas that are not his or her own

A way to avoid plagiarism and maintain credibility

What types of citations are there? For APA, there are References citations and

parenthetical (AKA in-text) citations

ReferencesReferences

APA term for the resources/texts you used in your research and included in your paper

Very specific formatting required Depending on genre of text you used, you must

include certain information about it in the correct order, in the correct format

Example: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/12/

Parenthetical/In-text Citations

In addition to the References, parenthetical/in-text citations are also required to avoid plagiarism

These citations are found within the paper itselfAt the end of each sentence that includes a fact, idea,

paraphrase, plot reference, etc. from a source Before the period in the sentenceUsually consists of author last name, year, page

numberExample: (Wlock, 2013, p. 201). You MUST have these to get ANY credit on a paper.

Otherwise, it’s plagiarism—even with a References page.

Why in-text/parenthetical citation?

Relays to the reader where each point of information originates

Can direct readers to the sources on References for their further reading/education

Supports your credibility as a researcher

Supports your thesis and therefore your analysisNote: Your thesis statement will address the answer to

your research essential question.

What do I do after finding sources?

Reminder: Access formatting help: Purdue OWL (APA)Locate general pages on both References and in-text

citation for formatting basicsAccess the information by genre for each of your

sources to help perfect entries in ReferencesCreate References as soon as you know you will use

that source (Before taking notes!) When you do take notes, write down the page

number that you found each fact from (you will need this for your in-text citations)