USING PROPER

CITATION
PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism involves passing of one’s work, words and/or

ideas as one’s own, whether intentionally or
accidentally (Babbie, 2005).
Some examples of plagiarism include the following (Babbie,2005,
p.456; Plagiarism.org, 2014, para.2):

• Not using quotation marks in citing another author’s exact

words
• Editing or paraphrasing a sentence and presenting it as your
own
• Claiming an idea as your own when in fact another author has
already presented it before
• Taking credit for other’s work
WHEN TO USE IN-TEXT CITATION
It is encouraged that you use proper citation for the following (EnglishClub, 2016,
para. 2):
 Direct quotes – words, phrases or sentences that you have adopted from a
reference material
 Paraphrased text – ideas that come from other studies and reference materials
expresses in your own words
 Facts and figure – numbers, percentages, and statistical data acquired from other
sources
 Theories, methods, and ideas – other scholars’ ideas or work mentioned in your
own study
 Images, graphs and illustrations – images, diagrams acquired from other sources
On the other hand, there are also some information which do not
require citation. These include (EnglsihClub, 2016, para.10):

 Common knowledge – information that is widely well-known by the general

population
 Historical dates – similarly, these information are publicly known
 A well-known argument or theory – these are concepts that are generally
talked about
 A universal proverb – saying that are familiar to most people
CITATION STYLES

 American Psychological Association (APA) – frequently utilized by

those from the field of education and psychology (Cresswell, 2014,
p.42)
 Chicago Manual of Style – utilized in the social sciences
 Modern Language Association (MLA) – often used in liberal arts and
humanities (Russel et.al.,2016)
In-text citations help readers locate the cited source in the References section of
the paper. In-text citations follow either a parenthetical format or a narrative
format.

A parenthetical citation includes both the author’s last name and year of
publication, separated by a comma, in parentheses at the end of the sentence.

Ex: Research suggests that the Purdue OWL is a good resource for students
(Atkins, 2018).

A narrative citation includes the author’s name directly in the sentence, with the
year of publication directly following the author’s last name.

Ex: Atkins (2018) suggests that the Purdue OWL is a good resource for
students.
There is more than one way to place the citation within your text.

Citation at the beginning

Leskowitz (2017) describes the transcendent states that athletes experience …

Citation in the middle

… sport viewed as a spiritual path (Leskowitz, 2017), and one that is frequently
followed in the west.

Citation at the end

… athletes using techniques adapted from holistic and complementary medicine
(Leskowitz, 2017).
Different referencing methods may highlight the importance of
the author or give more weight to the information.

Author-prominent citations
In his research, Leskowitz (2017) explores mindfulness, biofeedback …

Information-prominent citations
… applying up-to-the-minute advances in holistic and complementary
medicine (Leskowitz, 2017).
APA 7th is an 'author/date' system, so your in-text references for all
formats (book, journal article, web document) consists of the author(s)
surname and year of publication.
The basics of an in-text citation in APA:
• Include author or authors and year of publication.
• Use round brackets.
If you quote directly from an author you need to include the page or
paragraph number of the quote in your in-text reference.
• Include author or authors, year of publication and page or
paragraph number of your quote.
• Use round brackets.
PAGE NUMBERS
• If the source you’re citing includes page numbers, add that information to your citation.

For a parenthetical citation, the page number follows the year of publication, separated by a
comma, and with a lowercase p and a period before the number (p.)

EX: Research suggests that the Purdue OWL is a good resource for students (Atkins, 2018, p.
12).

• For a narrative citation, the page number comes at the end of the sentence, once again preceded
by a lowercase p and a period (p.)

EX: Atkins (2018) suggests that the Purdue OWL is a good resource for students (p. 12).
 WORKS WITH TWO AUTHORS
When citing a work with two authors:
•In the narrative citation, use “and” in between the authors’ names

EX: According to scientists Depietri and McPhearson (2018), “Understanding the

occurrence and impacts of historical climatic hazards is critical to better interpret current
hazard trends” (p. 96).

•In the parenthetical citation, use “&” between names

EX: When examining potential climate threats, “Understanding the occurrence and
impacts of historical climatic hazards is critical to better interpret current hazard trends”
(Depietri & McPhearson, 2018, p. 96).
Works with 3+ Authors
When citing a work with three or more authors:
list the name of the first author plus “et al.” in every citation.

EX: Lin et al. (2019) examined how weather conditions affect the
popularity of the bikesharing program in Beijing.

EX: One study looked at how weather conditions affected the

popularity of bikesharing programs, specifically the Beijing Public
Bikesharing Program (Lin et al., 2019).
Group Authors
When citing a group author:
• Mention the organization the first time you cite the source in either the narrative citation or the
parenthetical citation.
If you first mention the group in a narrative citation, list the abbreviation before the year of
publication in parentheses, separated by a comma.

EX: “The data collected by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, 2019) confirmed…”

If you first mention the group in a parenthetical citation, list the abbreviation in square brackets,
followed by a comma and the year of publication.

EX: “…” (Food and Drug Administration [FDA], 2019).

Same Last Name/Author
When citing authors with the same last names:
•Use first initials with the last names.

EX: (B. Davis, 2018; Y. Davis, 2020)

When citing two or more works by the same author and published in the same year:
•Use lower-case letters (a, b, c) after the year of publication to order the references.

EX: Chen’s (2018a) study of bird migration…

Unknown Author
When citing a work with an unknown author:
•Use the source’s full title in the narrative citation.
•Cite the first word of the title followed by the year of publication in the parenthetical citation.

EX: According to “Here’s How Gardening Benefits Your Health” (2018)

EX: (“Here’s,” 2018)

Titles:
Articles and Chapters = “ ”
Books and Reports = italicize
CITING MULTIPLE WORKS
When citing multiple works in the same parentheses, citations are
presented in alphabetical order, separated with semicolons.

e.g.
While other positive psychology constructs (e.g., resilience, hope, core self-
evaluations, social support) have been studied in people with MS (Alschuler et
al., 2018; Arewasikpron et al., 2018; Farber et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2020; Lynch
et al., 2001; Madan & Pakenham, 2014), there is a dearth of research examining
grit in this population.
Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is when you are summarizing the words or expressing the
ideas of the author(s) in your own words. When paraphrasing you must
acknowledge the original source in the text of your writing. Include the
author's surname and year of publication in round brackets, or if
including the author(s) name anywhere in the sentence, place the year
of publication in round brackets next to the author's name.

(Leskowitz, 2017)
OR
Leskowitz (2017)
SIGNAL WORDS
Introduce quotations with signal phrases, e.g.:

According to Reynolds (2019), “….” (p. 3).

Reynolds (2019) argued that“……” (p. 3).

Use signal verbs such as:

acknowledged, contended, maintained,

responded, reported, argued, concluded, etc.

Use the past tense or the present perfect tense of verbs in signal phrases when they discuss past
events.
Direct quotes
For direct quotes of less than 40 words, incorporate them into the text and enclose the quote
with double quotation marks, e.g.

Narrative quote (where the authors are named in your sentence):

Webber (2018) concludes that “addressing the issue of school dropout not only affects the
education system, but may also serve as a prevention effort for the welfare, mental health, and
corrections systems” (p. 82).

Parenthetical quote (where the citation details are presented in parentheses following the
quote):
"Addressing the issue of school dropout not only affects the education system, but may also
serve as a prevention effort for the welfare, mental health, and corrections systems" (Webber,
2018, p. 82).
For direct quotes of 40 or more words start on a new line and indent the whole
block ~1cm from the left, do not add any additional space before or after the
quote. The entire quote should be double-spaced. Quotation marks are not
required e.g.:

Others have contradicted this view, suggesting:

These overload issues can reach across the lifespan and affect individuals in many
ways. As related issues continue to emerge, counselors will need to be aware of
potential mental health problems stemming from technology overload and
continue to research and develop the skills needed for effective interventions. In
the digital age, these capabilities will be crucial in helping clients regain and
maintain a healthy balance of life, work, and technology. (Scott et al., 2017, p. 605)

*NOTE: Use paragraph numbers if no page numbers are available.

Ellipses '…' and Quotes
• It is common when writing to use an ellipsis (3 fullstops in a row '…')
to indicate where words have been omitted from a sentence. This is
not permitted in quotes in APA:

• 'Regardless of quotation length, do not insert an ellipsis at the

beginning and/or end of a quotation unless the original source
includes an ellipsis" (APA, 2020, p. 271).
SECONDARY SOURCES
APA discourages the use of secondary sources unless the original work is unavailable. If you read an article or
book which references some information that you also want to reference and you have been unable to locate the
original source, cite the source you have read in the Reference list; in text, name the original work and give the
citation for the source where you found the information. Where the year of publication for the original work is
known, include it. For example:

Sue reads an article by Chris Brown in the Journal of Library Administration in which he cites or refers to
statements made by Ulrich Boser in his 2017 book ‘Learn Better’. Sue wants to refer to Boser’s statement in her
assignment.
Sue would acknowledge Boser in her text but her reference is to the source where she saw the information. Sue
might write as her in-text reference:

... (Boser, 2017, as cited in Brown, 2018)

OR
Boser (2017, as cited in Brown, 2018) states ...
In her reference list Sue would write a reference for Brown's article
because that's where she sourced the information. The entry in her

References would be:

Brown, C. (2018). Creating better learners through learning science: A sample of

methods. Journal of Library Administration, 58(4), 375-
381. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2018.1448652
PERSONAL COMMUNICATION
When citing personal communication (interviews, letters, e-mails, etc.):
Include the communicator’s name, the fact that it was personal communication, and the date of the
communication.
Narrative citation:

EX: B. E. Anderson (personal communication, January 8, 2020) also claimed that many of her students had
difficulties with APA style.

Parenthetical citation:

EX: One teacher mentioned that many of her students had difficulties with APA style (Anderson, personal
communication, January 8, 2020).

Do not include personal communication in the reference list.

NO PAGE NUMBER
When citing a text with no page numbers: parenthetical citation
Use any of the following four methods:
1. List the heading or section name
Ex: One scientist noted that “A cup full of kale can help your body out in a number of ways”
(London, 2019, Health benefits of kale section).
2. List an abbreviated heading or section name in quotation marks (if the heading is too long)
Ex: One scientist noted that “A cup full of kale can help your body out in a number of ways”
(London, 2019, “Health benefits” section).
3. List the paragraph number
Ex: One scientist noted that “A cup full of kale can help your body out in a number of ways”
(London, 2019, para. 2).
4. List the heading or section name and the paragraph number
Ex: One scientist noted that “A cup full of kale can help your body out in a number of ways”
(London, 2019, Health benefits of kale section, para. 2).
NO PAGE NUMBER
When citing a text with no page numbers: narrative citation
Use any of the following four methods:
1. List the heading or section name
EX: Scientist Jaclyn London (2019, Health benefits of kale section) noted that “A cup full of kale
can help your body out in a number of ways.”
2. List an abbreviated heading or section name in quotation marks (if the heading is too long)
EX: Scientist Jaclyn London (2019, “Health benefits” section) noted that “A cup full of kale can help
your body out in a number of ways.”
3. List the paragraph number
EX: Scientist Jaclyn London (2019, para. 2) noted that “A cup full of kale can help your body out in a
number of ways.”
4. List the heading or section name and the paragraph number
EX: Scientist Jaclyn London (2019, Health benefits of kale section, para. 2) noted that “A cup full of
kale can help your body out in a number of ways.”
THE REFERENCE LIST

All in-text references should be listed in the reference list at the end of
your document. The purpose of the reference list entry is to contain all
the information that a reader of your work needs to follow-up on your
sources. An important principle in referencing is to be consistent.
THE REFERENCE LIST

When compiling your APA Reference List, you should:

• List references on a new page with a centred heading titled: References.

• Include all your references, regardless of format, e.g. books, journal articles,
online sources, in one alphabetical listing from A - Z.
• Order entries alphabetically by surname of author(s).
• List works with no author under the first significant word of the title.
• Indent second and subsequent lines of each entry (5-7 spaces).
• Use double spacing.
• Note that all references in APA end with a full stop except when the
reference ends with a URL or a DOI.