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Referencing with APA

Paraphrasing and Citing

Types of in-text references

Paraphrasing = presenting the ideas of others in your own words.

  1. Mention the author and year of publication
  2. Two formats:
  • Parenthetical citations: the author’s name and publication date appear in parentheses.

Example: It could be argued that mental flexibility is a key factor in well-being (Palladino & Wade, 2010).

  • Narrative citations: the author’s name is incorporated into the text as part of the sentence; the year follows in parentheses.

Example: Palladino and Wade (2010) argue that mental well-being is linked with flexible thinking.

Direct quoting = repeating someone's exact words; you copy the exact words from a source into your own work.
 
  1. Use quotations if by paraphrasing you lose the essence of the quotes
  2. Two formats: 
  • Short quotations (less than 40 words);
  • Long quotations (40 words and over).


Basic format short quotations

Place quotation marks around the quote. Include the author, year of publication and page number. In case there is no page number, use the paragraph number. 

Examples of short quotations

According to Palladino and Wade (2010), “a flexible mind is a healthy mind” (p. 147).  (narrative short quotation)

In fact, “a flexible mind is a healthy mind” (Palladino & Wade, 2010, p. 147). (parenthetical short quotation)

Lee (2015) states that, “in APA style, double quotation marks are used to enclose quoted material” (para. 1).

“In APA style, double quotation marks are used to enclose quoted material” (Lee, 2015, para. 1)

Basic format long quotations

Starts on a new line that is indented from the left margin. Does not include quotation marks. The in-text citation appears in parentheses after the final punctuation mark. Include the author, year of publication, and page/paragraph number.

Examples of long quotations

In-text citations are important in academic writing, drawing the parallel between the author’s work and the sources which support it:

The function of any citation-signaller is to alert the reader to some kind of   association between the citing text and the cited text. Citation-signallers may   additionally, by using page references or chapter numbers, single out a   particular part of the text as especially relevant. (Langham, 2005, p. 361)

Indirect citations or secondary sources

 

  1. Primary sources refer to original content
  2. Secondary sources refer to content first reported in another source
  3. Citing primary sources is preferred. Try to find the primary source and cite that one directly rather than citing a secondary source.
  4. Cite secondary sources, when: the original publication is out of print, unavailable, or available only in a language that you do not understand.


Basic format

Author details from the primary source, as well as the author, year of publication and page/paragraph number from the secondary source.

Only the secondary source is included in the reference list. 

Examples 

"We are part of the land, it is part of us" (Philippe, 2008, as cited in Maldonado et al., 2013, p. 610).

(parenthetical secondary source citation)

 

Philippe (2008, as cited in Maldonado et al., 2013) states "we are part of the land, it is part of us" (p. 610).

(narrative secondary source citation)

Types

There are four types of in-text references. You can use a: 

  1. Small quotation (up to 40 words)
  2. Long quotation (40 words or over)
  3. Paraphrase
  4. Summary

The first two get a page number, the bottom two don't.

 

Basic recipe of an in-text reference

Name of author + year of publication. Depending on the type of in-text reference, add a page number.