The T. Denny Sanford School of Social & Family Dynamics

In this program, we will follow APA 6 formatting guidelines. APA 6 provides guidelines for written reports (e.g., term

papers, essays, master’s theses, doctoral dissertations, journal articles)

Used in a number of fields (e.g., psychology, anthropology, sociology, nursing) to help people communicate clearly with a target audience

In addition to providing format conventions, it helps individuals to correctly give credit to the original sources of ideas and information

Learning to do this correctly and consistently is essential in avoiding plagiarism.

The primary source of information regarding APA formatting should be the APA Manual (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition)

A number of APA resources are also available to you in the FHD MS Blackboard Community

Some programs (software, websites) will put references in APA format for you; HOWEVER, be cautious! Automatic formatting programs typically make errors. You

might use them as a starting point, but you should have basic APA formatting knowledge so you can correct these errors.

APA 6 helps us format written reports consistently. It provides formatting instructions for items such as: Running head and page numbers Title page Margins Line spacing Paragraph indentation In-text citations Section headings Tables References

See the APA manual and the FHD MS Blackboard Community for specific guidelines.

APA formatting plays a key role in advancing academic knowledge and avoiding plagiarism It tells the reader where ideas came from

What follows is a BRIEF overview of citing sources using APA formatting. See the APA manual and FHD MS Blackboard Community for additional details and resources. It is your responsibility to understand how to properly

cite information using APA formatting. If you have questions, just ask your instructor and/or

advisor

In-text citations. Whenever you write about ideas and information from other sources, you must cite the source of that information within your paper (whether it is quoted OR in your own words).

Paraphrased materials always require▪ Author’s last name(s)▪ Year

▪ These two elements always stay together

Quoted materials always require▪ Quotation marks around quoted words▪ Author’s last name(s)▪ Year▪ Page number(s) where the quotation came from

▪ The page number sometimes gets separated to the end of the sentence while the author and year stay together.

Examples of in-text citations: (3 common in-text citation formats)

According to Venes (2001), three types of influenza are spreading through the

country.

Three types of influenza are spreading throughout the country (Venes, 2001).

Venes (2001) stated that “the types of influenza doctors must prepare for fall

into three categories” (p. 106).

Notes:• Author name and year always remain together.• The writer does not refer to the article title or book title, but rather the

author’s last name when discussing the information.• Quotation marks should never start a sentence – always lead into a quote

with your own words.

Sources with multiple authorsThe number of authors who wrote a paper will influence how you cite that paper, both in the text of the paper or in the parenthetical in-text citations. [The following summary comes from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/03/]

A Work by Two Authors: Name both authors in text or in the parentheses each time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand when cited in parentheses.

A Work by Three to Five Authors: List all the authors in the text or in parentheses the first time you cite the source. In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or in parentheses.

Six or More Authors: In the first AND subsequent citations, use the first author's name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in parentheses.

The following slide offers examples of various in-text citations based on the number/type of authors.

This table comes from the APA manual, sixth edition.

Table 6.1. Basic Citation Styles

Type of citation

First citation

in text

Subsequent

citation in text

Parenthetical

format, first

citation I text

Parenthetical format,

subsequent citations in

text

One work by one

author

Walker (2007) Walker (2007) (Walker, 2007) (Walker, 2007)

One work by two

authors

Walker and

Allen (2004)

Walker and Allen

(2004)

(Walker & Allen,

2004)

(Walker & Allen, 2004)

One work by 3-5

authors

Bradley,

Ramirez,

Soo, and

Walsh (2006)

Bradley et al.

(2006)

(Bradley,

Ramirez, Soo, &

Walsh, 2006).

(Bradley et al., 2006)

One work by six

or more authors

Wasserstein

et al. (2005)

Wasserstein et

al. (2005)

(Wasserstein et

al., 2005)

(Wasserstein et al.,

2005)

Groups (readily

identified through

abbreviation as

authors

National

Institute of

Mental Health

(NIMH, 2003)

NIMH (2003) (National

Institute of

Mental Health

(NIMH), 2003)

(NIMH, 2003)

Groups (no

abbreviation) as

authors

University of

Pittsburgh

(2005)

University of

Pittsburgh (2005)

(University of

Pittsburgh,

2005)

(University of Pittsburgh,

2005)

References. Any time you use an in-text citation, you must also include a full reference to the information on a Reference page at the end of your written document.

EXCEPTION: In instances where information comes from personal communication, there is no reference (just an in-text citation) since there is no original source to find (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/11/).

References include more detailed information than in-text citations, allowing the reader to find the original source of information.

References include information such as author name(s), article or book title, journal title, journal volume, publisher, publication location, and page numbers.

Your reference list should be in alphabetical order based on the first author’s last name.

Reference formatting varies based on the source of the information (e.g., book, journal article, dissertation, website).

Examples of References:

Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal

of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.

Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for

journal publication. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Note:• Reference formatting is very detail oriented. APA guidelines dictate what

should be italicized, where periods should go, which words are capitalized, etc. Additional examples and more detailed guidelines are available in the manual, the Sanford School Writing Center, or at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/

Improper formatting for quotes To avoid plagiarism, it is essential to include page

numbers for quoted material as well as including quotation marks around the quoted words.

The ending quotation marks always go before the parenthetical citation.

Non-APA Errors Relating to Quotes: Overuse of quotes. ROUGH rule of thumb - typically

no more than one quote per page Unneeded quotes. Quoting should be reserved for

statements/phrases that are eloquently stated or unique. If there is nothing particularly special about how something is worded, paraphrase.

Paraphrased Plagiarism It is considered plagiarism if you: Put information into your own words, but you fail to cite it Cite the information, but change the original quote by merely

substituting synonyms or moving/deleting a few words Cite the information, put the information into your own

words, but follow the exact same style/flow of the original quote

It is important that students understand how to properly paraphrase and cite (see FHD MS online community for some resources)

Including page numbers is optional and quotation marks are not used for paraphrased information,

Missing/misplaced commas, periods, and spaces in in-text citations.

Notice that there is a comma after the author and another comma after the year (if a page number is included).

Notice that there is a period after “p” (abbreviation for page number) and that the ending period comes after the citation, not before it.

Notice the space after each comma and period.

Example:

(Brooks, 2013).

(Brooks, 2013, p. 101).

Abbreviating the page number(s) incorrrectly

Examples of incorrect abbreviations

▪ PG, Pg, pg, Page, page, P

Correct abbreviation is

▪ Lowercase p with a period and space after it for a single page

(Brooks, 2013, p. 101).

▪ Two lowercase p’s with a period and space after them for a range of pages

(Brooks, 2013, pp. 101-102).

Citing only once in a paragraph

It is not sufficient to cite the first or last sentence of a paragraph and expect your reader to know which sentences include information from one of your sources. You must clearly indicate to your reader where each piece of information came from. Without this, your reader will assume that any un-cited sentence is your own opinion.

▪ This is a form of plagiarism since you are not giving proper credit to your source for their ideas.

You can view an overview of APA formatting at http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx(21 minute presentation)

“This tutorial is designed for those who have no previous knowledge of APA Style®. It shows users how to structure and format their work, recommends ways to reduce bias in language, identifies how to avoid charges of plagiarism, shows how to cite references in text, and provides selected reference examples.”

As always, if you have questions, ask