Referencing and assignment writing  Tags: referencing essay_writing citing  

APA is a referencing method developed by the American Psychological Association and is version of the commonly used Author-Date system.

Which style does my Faculty or School use?

Some Schools require a different style from the one outlined here.  Use the citation style required by your Faculty or School.

Why Reference your sources?

It is important to reference the sources you use so that the reader can follow your arguments and check your sources. It is essential to correctly acknowledge the author when quoting or paraphrasing, as you are using other peoples' ideas in your work.

APA is a citation style create by the American Psychological Association. This guide is based on the following texts:

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.).

              Washington DC: American Psychological Association.              

How to use APA

Sources must be cited in two ways:

  1.   In-text citations are made like this:

Paraphrasing and in-text citations

Example:
In-text citations consist of the author's name and year of publication inserted at an appropriate point in the text. Provide page or paragraph number when citing a specific part of a source.

Sternberg (1993, p. 34) suggests results should be carefully analysed ...

                                                         OR

... a discussion of results analysis (Sternberg, 1993, p. 34)

Direct quotations and in-text citations

• Page numbers are always included in the in-text citation for direct quotations eg. (Hiebert, 2009, p. 69).

• Direct quotations 40 words or less should be typed within the text surrounded by double quotation marks.

Example:

Using graphics in an assignment has visual impact, but you need determine the purpose and importance of including them "The preparation of graphic materials requires careful attention to organization and content" (American Psychological Association, 2010 p. 126).

• Direct quotations more than 40 words should be included as a separate paragraph, and indented from the left margin, without quotation marks (American Psychological Association, 2010, pp. 170-171).

Example:

...Frameworks are constructed by scaffolding master goal learning.

Placing an emphasis on mastery of new material, not just the performance of tasks, typifies the teacher who is focused on mastery goal orientation. In the classroom, concepts are introduced and then related to one another to form a complex web of knowledge. Students are able to explore topics in depth and at length, and they come away with a more nuanced understanding of the text that can then enhance future reading experiences.
       Even at the lower elementary grades, students are capable of learning multiple concepts and making connections among those concepts. Although at first they may appear more challenging, decodable texts that include conceptual knowledge are more likely to sustain student interest and foster curiosity, thereby creating engaged readers. (Hiebert, 2009, p. 69)

2.       Reference lists, at the end of your paper, are made like this:

A reference list entry includes information about the source such as author, publication date, title, place of publication and publisher, but may include additional information depending on the type of source.

• The reference list starts a new page (APA, 2010, p. 37), and is arranged alphabetically by author's last name (APA, 2010, p. 181).
• References are double spaced with the second and subsequent lines of each reference indented (APA, 2010, p. 37).
• Include only the references that were used when writing the paper (APA, 2010, p. 180).
• The title of the reference list 'References' should be centered (APA, 2010, p. 37).
• In the reference list single authors go before multiple authors (APA, 2010, p. 182), for example:
  Fischer, K. W., (1992)... before Fischer, K., Demetriou, A., & Dawson, T. L. (1992)....

Example:

References

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.).
             
              Washington DC: American Psychological Association.      

Bjork, R. A. (1989). Retrieval inhibition as an adaptive mechanism in human memory. In H. L. Roediger &

              F.I.M. Craik (Eds.), Varieties of memory and consciousness (pp. 309-330). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Fischer, K., Demetriou, A., & Dawson, T. L. (1992). The development of mental processing: efficiency,
             
              working memory and thinking. Boston: Blackwell Publishing.

Sternberg, R. J. (1993). The psychologist's companion (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

If you cannot find an example for what you are looking for then use the APA manual.