APA BooT CampAPA BooT Camp

Briar Cliff University Briar Cliff University Writing CenterWriting CenterHeelan Hall 050Heelan Hall 050712-279-5520712-279-5520WRITING.CENTER@BRIARCLIFF.EDUWRITING.CENTER@BRIARCLIFF.EDU

What is APA?What is APA?APA = American Psychological

Association

APA regulates:◦Style and Formatting ◦In-text citations and a Reference List

Attention to detail is key to working with APA citation!

Do I have to memorize APA Do I have to memorize APA rules? rules? Not at all! It’s more

important to know where to look for information. ◦The Purdue OWL is the best

place for APA.◦Bookmark it!

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Note: The OWL doesn’t cover every special case. If a student can’t find what they’re looking for, they can always ask a Writing Center mentor for help.

Navigating OWL Navigating OWL OWL’s APA section is divided into

the In-text citations and the Reference citations.◦The references area is divided up

depending on the type of source.◦The In-text Citations: Author/Authors

will have most in-text citation information.

Check out the sample paper on OWL

OWL at Purdue Field TripOWL at Purdue Field Trip

APA Stylistics BasicsAPA Stylistics BasicsPoint of View and Voice

◦third person point of view◦active voice

Be ClearBe ConciseBe Plain Spoken

In-text CitationsIn-text CitationsIn-text citations direct the reader

to the references page.Common appearance: (Smith,

2009).Exceptions

◦No author ◦No date

In-text CitationsIn-text CitationsThere are special rules for in-text

citation for multiple authors (2, 3-5, 6 and above). • Pay special attention to 3-5 authors

In-text citations are part of the sentence, so the period goes after (author, date).

In-text citations don’t carry over into the next paragraph.

ReferencesReferencesThe reference entry format

depends on source type. ◦Electronic versions of sources should

be treated the same way.Best Practices for creating

Reference list◦Start with sources of the same type◦Alphabetize by first word in entry

Reference list is for works cited only, not works consulted.

ReferencesReferencesThe Reference Citation always

contains the same information. Exceptions:◦No date◦No author

Last name, First Initial. (date). Title of article. Book/Journal Title. Publication information or issue information. Retrieved from URL.

Periods separate each piece of information in the reference citation.

What is one-to-one What is one-to-one correspondence?correspondence? One-to-one correspondence means that

◦all of the references in your reference list can be found in the paper’s body and vice versa.

 The citations and references need to match, like puzzle pieces:◦In your text (Smith, 2010).◦Smith, E. (2010). The world according to

Erin. Smithsonian, 1(2). Retrieved from www.erinsmitharticles.com

The highlighted items must match!

What about Citation What about Citation Machines?Machines?Many of these sites are not

updated to the newest version of APA

These entries are easy to identify because they have empty spots

If students take the time to learn the citations, they will know them for future assignments!

Use these with EXTREME caution!!!

Top Mistakes for In-text Top Mistakes for In-text Citations and ReferencesCitations and ReferencesNot including in-text citations for

everything that’s not common knowledge.

Using the wrong format for 3-5 author sources in the in-text citation.

Missing an in-text citation for a source listed in the References or vice versa.

Using a citation machine and NOT correcting mistakes

Questions?Questions?