For More Help:
Use the USFSP:
APA Reference List Style Guide or
APA In-Text Citation Style Guide
Consult the OWL at Purdue:
APA Formatting and Style Guide
Or call the Nelson Poynter Library Information Desk:
Phone: 727-873-4405
Avoid Plagiarism: APA Citation Style
Nelson Poynter Memorial Library
Welcome to the Avoiding Plagiarism: APA Citation Style learning module. This module provides information about and recommendations for:
Self-assessment activities include:
This module is designed to be completed in 15 minutes.
Watch this video for a fun and informative spin on academic plagiarism and Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol.
As most of this video is not in English, press the CC-button to turn subtitles on.
What is plagiarism?
More bluntly plagiarism is theft and it goes against the US Copyright law and the USFSP Code of Conduct.
Plagiarism can easily be avoided -- just cite where you got your information. Instead, boast about your sources! Most instructors like or require that you consult relevant books and articles for your papers – so let them know where you got your information.
As you do your research, keep track of the books, articles, and other resources that you consult WHILE you are doing your research. This will save you time from having to recreate your research or later track down where you found your information as you prepare your Reference List. For each source keep a list of the following information:
For a Book -- Author, Book Title, Place of Publication, Publisher, and Date of Publication
For an Article -- Author, Article Title, Journal Title, Volume Number, Issue Number, Page Numbers, Year of Publication, and the date of when you viewed the article
For a Webpage -- Author, Web Page Title, the URL (website address), and the date of when you viewed the webpage
Additionally, as you write your research paper, be sure to:
Finally: If you're still worried, ask your instructor whether you can submit your paper to SafeAssign, a plagiarism checking software available through BlackBoard.
Drag the items from the bottom to the slots on the right.
A citation style is a consistent method for documenting resources and acknowledging the original creator of an idea, thought, or quote. For example, the author's name always appears in the same place, the date of publication always appears in the same place, etc. This consistency enables readers who are familiar with that style to easily locate the various elements and understand important information such as who wrote the document, when was it published.
A citation style is how you give credit to the people, articles, webpages, videos, artwork, interviews, etc that you used as the basis of your work. By creating a bibliography and citing in the text of your paper can help you avoid any accusations of plagiarism. A reference contains all the information needed for you or your readers to find your original source whether it was published in a book, in a newspaper, or on the web and the elements of the citation provide a map that direct your readers to location of your sources.
Finally, a citation style contributes to the academic process and demonstrates how you are contributing to the scholarly conversation and building upon previous knowledge. Whether you are improving, refuting, or building upon the work of past researchers, your reference list places you academic process.
In this module, we focus on how to properly create reference entries and in-text citations using the APA Citation Style as defined by the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition.
Specifically, you will learn how to format basic sources such as books, journal articles, and web pages. As there are many other types of sources that you may use in your papers and presentations (such as dissertations, newspaper articles, personal interviews, etc.) be sure to consult the print APA Manual (available in the Nelson Poynter Library), the USFSP citation guides, or the OWL at Purdue for more specific guidelines.
Your first step is to create a new page called References and locate it at the end of your paper. On this page, you will list all the sources that you use to write your paper.
General Guidelines for your Reference Page in the APA Style:
As an example, look at the Reference page on the right side of the screen.
For a book reference you will need the following information about your source:
Author, A. A. (Year of Publication). Book title. Publisher Location: Name of Publisher.
Please note the specific format guidelines for a book reference in the APA Style:
For Example:
Simberloff, D., Schmitz, D. C., & Brown, T. C. (1997). Strangers in paradise: Impact and management of nonindigenous species in Florida.
Washington, D.C: Island Press.
For an article reference you will need the following information about your source:
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year of Publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue, if available), page numbers.
As you can see, the format of a journal article citation has many similarities to a book reference. For example, you still need to:
However, journal article references also require additional information. Be sure to :
For Example: Print Journal Article
Rodda, G H. (2009). What parts of the US mainland are climatically suitable for invasive alien pythons spreading from Everglades National Park?.
Biological invasions,11(2), 241-258.
If the text of the document you are reading was located online or over the Internet, use the APA format for electronic journal articles. Your reference should include the additional element of listing either a webpage URL or the Digital Object Identifier (DOI).
A DOI number is a unique number assigned to specific journal articles and is used to indicate that the article content is the same whether it is published in print or electronic format. DOI numbers can be very long; a good tip is to copy and paste them into your reference list rather than trying to correctly type it out.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of Publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue, if required), pages. doi:0000000/000000000000
Example With DOI:
Rodda, G H. (2009). What parts of the US mainland are climatically suitable for invasive alien pythons spreading from Everglades National Park?.
Biological invasions, 11(2), 241. doi: 10.1080/00140130400029266
If you cannot find the DOI number then insert the statement "Retrieved from" and the URL from the webpage or the database where you originally found the article. Additionally, when you cite the webpage URL, just use the basic root of the website, not the long string of numbers and letters. For Example if you got an article from the Tampa Bay Times newspaper, just use: www.tampabay.com, not www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/article782162
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of Publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue), pages. Retrieved from www.URL.edu
Example With URL:
Rodda, G H. (2009). What parts of the US mainland are climatically suitable for invasive alien pythons spreading from Everglades National Park?.
Biological invasions, 11(2), 241. Retrieved from www.fort.usgs.gov
Creating a proper reference for a webpage can be tricky as finding all the required information can require some searching. For example, many webpages do not clearly list the author of the text, or include when the webpage was published or last updated. Use the following tips to find the information you need create a complete reference for a webpage:
When you cannot find all the information that you may need, include as much as possible and follow APA guidelines for the general entry format as closely as possible. The ultimate point is to help your readers to locate the source.
The general format for a web page reference entry:
Author, A. A. (Publication Date). Title of web page. Retrieved from web page URL
For Example:
Cornett, B. (2009). Reptile knowledge: Reptile conservation and care information. Retrieved from http://www.reptileknowledge.com
Source: Burger, J. M. & Lynn, A.L. (2005). Superstitious behavior among American and Japanese professional baseball players. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 27(1), 71.
Article Text:
Although most [baseball] players practiced their particular superstitions every game, they expressed relatively little confidence that the behavior actually had an effect on their performance or the outcome of the game. We can only speculate about some of the reasons for this gap between what baseball players do and what they believe. One explanation may be simply that although the players believe in the power of superstition, they were embarrassed to acknowledge this belief. It also would appear more embarrassing to admit engaging in a superstition one does not believe in than to admit to believing in the superstition. Another possibility is that players engage in superstitious behavior for reasons other than trying to affect outcomes. For example, players may seek the comfort that comes from the superstitious ritual. Players also might engage in superstition because it is normative behavior in a baseball locker room. Finally, it may be that many baseball players simply take an "it can't hurt" approach to superstition. Players may not completely believe that superstitious behavior will make a difference, but they are willing to "give it a try," just in case.
Student Summary:
Superstitious rituals are a common behavior among professional baseball players in Japan and the United States. In a study by Burger and Lynn (2006), revealed that although most player practiced superstitious rituals, few players thought that they had any impact on their performance or the outcome of the game. Many players took an "it can't hurt" approach to superstition and were willing to "give it a try" just in case.
In-text citations are also refereed to as parenthetical citations. In-text citations should be used throughout your paper wherever you quote an author, paraphrase a source, or refer to someone's idea, concept, or research findings.
The general format for in-text citations using the APA style usually include are to include:
For example:
If you have one author, the corresponding in-text citation should look like this:
If you have two authors, list both their last names in your in-text citation and use an ampersand (&) between their names; for example
If you have more than two authors, list the last name of the first author and include the term et. al. For exampl:
An in-text citation is frequently located at the end of a sentence to indicate that you are citing another author's ideas or text. If this is the case, the in-text entry should be added before punctuation at the end of the sentence. For example:
Burmese pythons are an invasive species spreading throughout the Florida Everglades (O'Shea, 2007).
However, if the author is mentioned within the sentence, the in-text citation should be included within the sentence proceeding immediately after the reference. If this is the case, you only need to include the publication year within the parenthesis. For example:
O'Shea (2007) visually documents the spread of Burmese pythons through the Florida Everglades.
If you include a direct quote, you need to cite the page where the quote came from. For example:
According to Rodney Barreto from the Florida Wildlife Commission "hunting pythons is not a silver bullet" (Associated Press, 2009, p. 214).
Finally, each source that you cite within the text of your paper should be listed on your Reference page. Correspondingly, each source listed on your Reference page should be cited within the text of your paper.
Show/hide comprehension question...
Mark as True or False whether you need to cite the source of the following information:
These tools can help you manage your references, automatically generate your reference list, create in-text citations within your paper, and generally speed up your reference and bibliography process. As a note of warning, be sure to edit and format of any of the references you download using these tools. These automatically generated references may contain typos and misplaced and/ or missing information. Additionally, always make sure your reference list is in alphabetical order and is the same font type and size as the rest of your paper.
In the USF Libraries Catalog, click on the Cite This link to automatically generate references in APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA Turabian citation styles.
Many scholarly databases provide a citation generator tool. The terminology and location on the website may vary from database to database; be sure to look for the terms such as Cite, Export, or Manage References. For example, for articles you find in the Academic Search Premier database:
RefWorks is a web-based research management tool that allows you to import references from many electronic databases and catalogs, include in-text citations in your paper, build a bibliography using a variety of citation styles, and create a bibliography in a choice of formats.
Thoroughly referencing and citing all of our sources is a crucial way to avoid plagiarism and to effectively document the facts, ideas, and direct quotes that you use in writing. In this module, Avoid Plagiarism: APA Citation Style you have learned when and how to avoid plagiarizing by properly citing your sources both within your Reference list and in the text of your paper using the APA Citation Style, 6th Edition. While you now should have an understanding of how to construct the basic references for books, articles, and web pages, please consult the APA Style Manual, 6th Edition (2010) for more examples of other types of documents and sources.
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To return to the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library home page.
Use the USFSP:
APA Reference List Style Guide or
APA In-Text Citation Style Guide
Consult the OWL at Purdue:
APA Formatting and Style Guide
Or call the Nelson Poynter Library Information Desk:
Phone: 727-873-4405