Purdue University Writing Lab

1. What does APA stand for?

• Publication Manual of the American

Psychological Association, 7thed.

• www.apastyle.org
• OWL website: owl.english.purdue.edu

Purdue University Writing Lab

Why Use APA Format?

• Allows readers to cross-reference

your sources easily

• Provides consistent format within a

discipline

• Gives you credibility as a writer
• Protects yourself from plagiarism

Purdue University Writing Lab

Avoiding Plagiarism

Proper citation of your
sources in APA style can
help you avoid
plagiarism, which is a
serious offense. It may
result in anything from
failure of the assignment
to expulsion from school.

What is plagiarism? Watch this video

2. Where should I include APA citation?

APA documentation should appear TWICE
in your paper:

• In-Text Citation (inside your text when you refer to

one external source)

• Reference Page (at the end of your paper); it is a list

of all sources used in your article.

3. How

should your
paper look

like?

Hanging

Line

4. APA General Format

The final draft of the essay should

•Be typed using a Word processor
•Have 1” Margins
•Be in Times New Roman
•Have Size 12 font
•Be double spaced

1. How is APA in-text citation used in your article?

2. What techniques are used to include in-text citation?

In-text citations usually include the last name of the author and the date of publication, (Smith, 2002),
to lead the reader to the listing found in the “References” section, which is placed at the end of the
research paper.

Watch the video:
APA 7th Edition: The Basics of APA In-text Citations

1. How in-text citations is included in your article?

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.

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

Example

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

Example

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

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.)

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.)

Signal Phrase/Lead-in sentence

•If you are using narrative citation, then you can
use a short phrase that integrates the author of the
source as part of your sentence.

➢According to Atkins (2002),
➢Atkins (2002) mentions that
➢Atkins and John (2002) argue that

•There are a variety of reporting verbs you can use
for your signal phrase.

Reporting Verbs

argue

claim

state

maintain

believe

assert

introduce

say

find

point out

observe

note

insists

contend

proclaim

stress

emphasize

refer

mention

see

2. What writing techniques are used to

include in-text citation?

Quoting

Author’s last

name

Year of

publication

Page (p.) or paragraph
(para.)number/ page

range (pp.)

Summarizing or

Paraphrasing

Author’s last

name

Year of

publication

We take the idea but
change the wording

We copy the ideas
and the words as

they are

Quotes

Direct/Short

Less than 40

words

is enclosed in

quotation marks

“…..”

Block/Free
Standing

longer than 40

words

Include as a

separate
paragraph

INDENT

Narrative



Jones (1998) found that “50% of students often
had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199).



One study reports that “50% of students often
had difficulty using APA style," (Jones, 1998, p.
199), but the researcher did not offer an
explanation as to why.

Block Quote (long)

More than 40 words

Free-

standing

Block

No

Quotation

Marks

Block Quote

More than 40 words

1. Type the entire quotation on a new line.
2. Indented Five Spaces from the Left

Margin.

3. Maintain Double-spacing throughout.
4. The Parenthetical Citation should come

after the closing punctuation mark.

Quotations : Long/Narrative

Jones' (1998) study finds the following:

Students often had difficulty using APA
style, especially when it was their first time
citing sources. This difficulty could be
attributed to the fact that many students
failed to purchase a style manual or to ask
their teacher for help. (p. 199)

Quotations : Long/Parenthetical

The study found the following:

Students often had difficulty using APA
style, especially when it was their first time
citing

sources.

This

difficulty

could

be

attributed to the fact that many students
failed to purchase a style manual or to ask
their teacher for help. (Jones, 1998, p.199)

Summarizing & Paraphrasing

According to

Jones (1998),

APA style is a

difficult citation format for first

-

time

learners.

-

-

​Reference list components:

​What are the components of this reference list entry?

The authors' last names are inverted

​If the author's name is unknown, use the name of the organization

If it's unknown, you can use the title instead

Stylistic Tips

• Use the past tense or the present perfect tense of verbs in signal phrases when they discuss past

events.

• First-person pronouns rather than third-person

✓: “We conducted an experiment…”

: “The authors conducted an experiment….”

• Active voice when stressing the actions of the research

✓: “We asked participants questions.”

: “The participants have been asked questions by the researchers.”

• Passive voice when stressing the recipient or object of the action

✓: “The tests were inconclusive.”

: “We found the tests inconclusive.”

If the article is a part of a journal or a book or a bigger source in general:

`

Title: Italics + CAPS

1- A signle article --> Italics + CAPS (1st letter of each structural word)

2- An article that's a part of a bigger source:

• The article - normal (no Italics) + sentence CAPS

• The bigger source: Italics + CAPS (1st letter of each structural word)

​The source (where you can find the article) can be

• the name of the publisher

• database

• platform

• journal

• website ...etc

​If the article/title is a part of a bigger source, like a journal, you'll need to include the details of this source:

volume/edition, (issue), page range. Url or doi

Practice

• Cite this

source: https://link.springer.com/article/10.
1007/s12528-018-9179-z

• In-text citation: ….........................
• Citation in the reference list:

…...................................

Practice
Time

In-text Citation: (Dumford & Miller, 2018). Dumford and Miller (2018)
argued that........

Reference Page:

Dumford, A., & Miller, A. (2018) Online learning in higher education:
Exploring advantages and disadvantages for engagement. Journal of
Computing in Higher Education. (30) PP 452–465.

• Author(s)

• Year of publication:

• Title of the article (Capitalize first word only)

• Journal title (italics and capitalize all words)

• Volume (italics) and issue number

• Page range.

• DOI (Digital Object Identifier)

Make sure you enter the correct information

https://www.citethisforme.com/