AGEN 170: Basic Hydraulics: Citing Sources

What is APA Style?

APA Style is an editorial style developed by the American Psychological Association and used for written materials in the social and behavioral sciences. APA Style requires you to cite the sources you have used in two places: the in-text citation and as part of your reference list at the end of your paper.
 

How do I Format In-Text Citations?

In APA style, each quotation or paraphrase must include the author's last name and the year of publication. For quotations you must also include the page number.

Paraphrase

By paraphrasing (or summarizing), you convey the author's original meaning in your own words. Below are two examples:

The potential for truly integrated online research continues to develop at a rapid pace (Moore, 2001).

Baker (1989) comments on the fact that students who have a great interest in laboratory work attain good results.

Quotation

It is when a  group of words taken are from a text or speech and repeated by someone other than the original author or speaker. The following is an example of a brief quotation:

They point out that, “Informational labels are especially important for nonprint materials because they can furnish critical information which otherwise might not be evident from looking at the item on the shelf” (Driessen & Smyth, 1995, p. 32).
 

How Do I Create a Reference List?

• Arrange citations alphabetically by author’s last name
• Arrange anonymous (no author) works by the first significant word in the title
• Double-space between each entry
• Indent the second line of each entry (a hanging indent)

How Do I Create the Citations for my Reference List?

Most of the resources you find electronically through the library will create a citation for you. To create one yourself, you need to know a few pieces of information about your source and then use the examples in the chart below to format your citation. 

How to cite a photograph you find online:

Hamilton, D. (1975). South of France fantasy [Photograph]. Retrieved May 20,
       2010, from http://www.rennart.co.uk/posters.html

Photograph online (no author):

Radiating ripples [Photograph]. (2006). Retrieved November 10, 2008, from
       http://www.bergoiata.org/fe/divers28/10.htm

Photograph online (no author, title or date):

 [Untitled photograph of a giraffe]. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2009, from      
       http://www.birminghamzoo.com/animals/
 

* "Because online materials can potentially change URLs, APA recommends providing a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), when it is available, as opposed to the URL. DOIs are an attempt to provide stable, long-lasting links for online articles. They are unique to their documents and consist of a long alphanumeric code. Many-but not all-publishers will provide an article's DOI on the first page of the document." (Source: Purdue OWL)

These two excellent tutorials from other universities allow you to test your understanding of how to properly paraphrase sources.