APA Citation Guide (7th Edition)

APA Style is a citation format created by the American Psychological Association. It is used for psychology and many other subjects, including education, nursing, nutrition, business, and much more. Your instructor will tell you if your class requires APA format.

What Are Citation Formats?

Citation formats are rules and guidelines that make writing styles uniform within a specific work or publication. They cover the following:

• Layout of the paper (margins, spaces between lines, font size, etc.)
• In-Text documentation of sources (parenthetical citation)
• Source documentation at end of paper (Works Cited in MLA, References in APA)

There are many citation formats. Some of the more commonly used ones are MLA format, APA format and Chicago format.

Why Cite Sources?

There are several reasons why you would want to cite your sources...

• Lend authority and credibility to your work
• Allow readers (including your instructor!) to cross‐referencesources easily
• Provide consistent format
• Acknowledge academic debts and avoid plagiarism

What Is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is giving the impression that you wrote or thought something that you borrowed from someone else.

• Even accidental plagiarism can lead to failing your class or being expelled.
• Plagiarism in your professional career can result in being sued, fired, and publicly embarrassed.

How Can You Avoid Plagiarism? Cite your sources using a citation format.

What Must Be Cited?

• Directly Quoted Information – Info straight from a source, which goes in quotation marks
• Paraphrased Information – Ideas from source but phrasing changed to your words
• Summarized Information – Ideas from large passage of source condensed using your words
• Factual Information – Factual information that is NOT common knowledge

Material Is Probably Common Knowledge If...

• Same info is undocumented in at least five other sources
• Your readers probably already know the info
• Facts found in many places and likely known by a lot of people

From: The Online Writing Lab. Purdue University