Using Conventions in Citing Sources

Referencing or citing sources allows you to acknowledge the contribution

of other writers and researchers in your work. It is also a way to give credit to
the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas and to avoid the
process of taking other people's words and/or ideas and pretending that they
are your own which is considered to be an academic dishonesty such as
plagiarism. Printed books are not the only sources
that require acknowledgement. One major purpose of citations is to simply
provide credit where it is due. When you provide accurate citations, you are
acknowledging both the hard work that has gone into producing research
and the person(s) who performed that research.
Why should I cite?
• It helps you to avoid plagiarism by making it clear which ideas are your
own and which are someone else’s
• It shows your understanding of the topic
• It gives supporting evidence for your ideas, arguments and opinions
• It allows others to identify the sources you have used.

As a student, citing is important because it shows your reader (or professor)

that you have invested time in learning what has already been learned and
thought about the topic before offering your own perspective. It is the
practice of giving credit to the sources that inform your work. Any words,
ideas or information taken from any source requires a reference. This is one
good way to show your reader you've done proper research by listing sources
you used to get your information. Not only do citations provide context for
your work but they also lend credibility and authority to your claims.
Providing accurate citations puts your work and ideas into an academic
context. American Psychological Association (APA) is one of the major styles
of citing sources.
Remember that each citation style has its own way of naming the list of
sources you used in your paper. Here we break down the differences in these
list types, so that you can better understand which option works best for
your work.
A Works Cited list is an alphabetical list of works cited, or sources you
specifically called out while composing your paper. All works that you have
quoted or paraphrased should be included. When you cite sources using APA
format (American Psychological Association) style, the page should be titled
References, and is arranged alphabetically by author last name.
Bibliography, meanwhile, lists all the material you have consulted in
preparing your essay, whether you have actually referred to and cited the
work or not.
Elements of Standard Citations
Citations consist of standard elements, and contain all the information
necessary to identify and track down publications, including:
• author name(s)
• titles of books, articles, and journals
• date of publication
• page numbers
• volume and issue numbers (for articles)

What should I cite?

The information below will help you be familiarized with the sources you
need to be cited:
• Facts, figures, ideas, or other information that is not common knowledge
• Ideas, words, theories, or exact language that another person used in other
publications
• Publications that must be cited include: books, book chapters, articles, web
pages, theses, etc.
• Another person's exact words should be quoted and cited to show proper
credit
Bibliography contains a list of books or articles, or both, relating to a
particular subject. In a research paper, a bibliography is an alphabetical list,
sometimes grouped into categories, containing the names of all works
quoted from or generally used in its preparation. Every formally prepared
research paper should contain a bibliography placed at the end and begun
on a separate page.
Below are standard formats and examples for basic bibliographic information
recommended by the American Psychological Association (APA):
Books
Author's last name, first initial. (Publication date). Book title. Additional
information. City of publication: Publishing company.
One Author
Tompkins, G. 2000. Teaching Writing (3rd ed.) New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.
Two Authors
Dorn, L. & Soffos, C. 2005. Teaching for Deep Comprehension. Maine:
Stenhouse Publishers.
Several Authors
Lauengco, A., et.al. 1999. English CV for High Schools (3rd ed.). Makati:
Bookmark Inc.
Encyclopedia & Dictionary
Author's last name, first initial. (Date). Title of Article. Title of Encyclopedia
(Volume, pages). City of publication: Publishing company.
Examples:
• Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The new encyclopedia britannica (Vol.
26, pp. 501-508). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica.
• Pettingill, O. S., Jr. (1980). Falcon and Falconry. World book encyclopedia.
(pp. 150-155). Chicago: World Book.

Magazine & Newspaper Articles

Author's last name, first initial. (Publication date). Article title. Periodical title,
volume number(issue number if available), inclusive pages.
Note: Do not enclose the title in quotation marks. Put a period after the title.
If a periodical includes a volume number, italicize it and then give the page
range (in regular type) without "pp." If the periodical does not use volume
numbers, as in newspapers, use p. or pp. for page numbers. Note: Unlike
other periodicals, p. or pp. precedes page numbers for a newspaper
reference in APA style.
• • Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal
articles. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.

Website or Webpage
Online periodical: Author's name. (Date of publication). Title of article.
Title of Periodical, volume number, Retrieved month day, year, from full URL
Online document: Author's name. (Date of publication). Title of work.
Retrieved month day, year, from full URL Note: When citing Internet sources,
refer to the specific website document. If a document is undated, use "n.d."
(for no date) immediately after the document title. Break a lengthy URL that
goes to another line after a slash or before a period. Continually check your
references
to online documents. There is no period following a URL. Note: If you cannot
find some of this information, cite what is available.
• Devitt, T. (2001, August 2). Lightning injures four at music festival. The
Why? Files. Retrieved January 23, 2002, from
http://whyfiles.org/137lightning/index.html

Note: If a document is contained within a large and complex website (such

as that for a university or a government agency), identify the host
organization and the relevant program or department before giving the URL
for the document itself. Precede the URL with a colon.
• Fredrickson, B. L. (2000, March 7). Cultivating positive emotions to optimize
health and well-being. Prevention & Treatment, 3, Article 0001a. Retrieved
November 20, 2000, from
http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume3/pre0030001a.html
• GVU's 8th WWW user survey. (n.d.). Retrieved August 8, 2000, from
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/usersurveys/survey1997-10/
• Health Canada. (2002, February). The safety of genetically modified food
crops. Retrieved 893-896from
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/protection/biologics_genetics/gen_mod_foods/
genmodebk.html