Richard Welsh Library: APA Citation Help

APA Manual 7th ed.

Available for reference in the library

Video Tutorials

APA for research papers

A short introductory overview on APA citation.

13 - avoiding plagiarism from Joshua Vossler on Vimeo.

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APA Basics

The APA Style Guide is a comprehensive guide to APA, with all the answers to your APA questions.

Format

Format papers to fit APA standards. This includes title page, font, font size, margins, and page numbers. View a Sample Paper from the AUSB Writing Center.

Basic Rules:

• Include a title page
• Type and print on 8.5 x 11 white paper
• Use a basic 12 pt. font (Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, etc.)
• Double space text for entire paper
• Margins should be 1" all around
• Indent paragraphs 1/2" (default is the tab key) including the first
• In the left of the header include the title of the paper
• In the right of the header include page numbers. Number the first page after the title page as Page 2. 
• Use italics when indicating titles of works. Avoid using them for emphasis

In-Text Citations

Any time you use information from somewhere else (text and image) you must give the author credit. If your information is not common knowledge (e.g. the sun rises in the East) then you must cite it.

Cite information you paraphrase, summarize, or quote. In-text citations, also called parenthetical citations, are used within the body of your paper. They point the reader to the source listed in your list of references at the end of your paper. 

Your citation should include the following:

• Author's Last Name
• Year of Publication
• Page or paragraph number (for quotations only)

See examples in Purdue Owl In-Text Citation Basics.

A common misconception about images is that if you found it online you do not have to cite it. Wrong! Any image you did not create yourself must be cited, both below the image in a caption, and in a list of references.

References

Your works cited page should be titled References and begin on a separate page at the end of your paper. This page lists of all sources cited in your paper.

• After the first line of each reference all others should be indented a half inch, this is referred to as a hanging indent.
• List your citations in alphabetical order. List page numbers as ranges, first-last (17-23)
• For online resources include URLs or DOIs. You do not need to include the date the information was accessed.
• Capitalize each word in titles of works except for articles such as the, an, with, etc. Only capitalize those articles when they are at the beginning of a title such as The Wizard of OZ.
• Use italics for titles of works (e.g. books and films).
• List author names Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial (should there be one), such as Campbell, L. G. If you cite more than one work by an author, list them alphabetically by title.
• Cite a work with no known author by its title.

How do you create a reference for a YouTube video? Books with more than 3 authors? View the APA Reference Examples PDF.

Plagiarism

NewSchool defines plagiarism as:

Taking and using as one's own the ideas and writings of another without proper accreditation. 

See the official NewSchool Academic Integrity Policy for more details.

All work is protected by copyright law. You may use another's work for school under Fair Use which allows teachers and students to use copyrighted material for instruction and learning. However, you must always remember to give the original creator proper credit.

There can be serious academic and legal ramifications for plagiarizing and copyright infringement, so it is important to understand what it is and how to avoid it.  To learn more about copyright and fair use, explore Stanford University Library's web pages dedicated to this topic. 

APA Poster

Free Citation Tools

Use these free tools to help you correctly format your references. Just make sure to select APA, since there are multiple formats available!

   Citation Machine

   Easybib

​   Knightcite

​   Zotero

Example APA Annotated Bibliography