TUTORIAL: CITING SOURCES IN APA
Recommended APA style guides:
- Citation Styles & Tools: Example Citations in APA — example APA citations for the most common types of sources, from the University of Washington Libraries
- In-depth APA Formatting and Style Guide — a full, in-depth guide to writing and citing using APA, from The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
A source is anything that gives you an idea or piece of information to use in your paper or project.
- A source can be a book, magazine, newspaper, letter, song, web page, blog, podcast, interview, email, Facebook update, or even your own class notes.
- A source can also be something visual: a TV program, movie, photograph, chart, diagram, or illustration.
Citing your sources tells your audience where your information came from. This allows them to:
- Go to your sources to learn more about the subject
- Understand how you arrived at your theory, idea or conclusion
- Know which ideas are your own original thoughts
Just as you wouldn’t want someone to steal your design for a chair, you need to give credit where it’s due when you use someone else’s ideas.
Online Resources
A citation, or reference, is the information that identifies a source.
Consider this: If someone tells you about a great book and you want to read it, what information will you need to find it? Knowing that the cover is blue won’t be enough. At the very least, you’ll need the title. If it’s a common title, you’ll need the name of the author as well. If your friend is recommending a particular edition of, for example, Janson’s History of Art, you may also need the publisher, the publication year, and the edition number. That’s a citation.
Bibliographic information
The information that identifies a book or any other source is called bibliographic information. The pieces of bibliographic information needed to identify and find a source vary depending on the type of source. Here are some common types of sources and the information needed to identify them:
- Book: author or editor, title, edition, publisher, publication city and date
- Magazine or journal article: author, article title, magazine title, magazine issue, publication date, page numbers
- Movie: title, director, main performers, movie studio, release date
- Photograph, chart, illustration, or other graphic: creator (photographer, painter, etc.) or responsible party (for example: U.S. Geological Survey), title of the image, bibliographic information of the book, magazine or website where you found the image
- Web page: author or responsible party (for example: Design Institute of San Diego), page title, site title, URL
Why isn’t the URL enough for a web page citation?
Websites change constantly, and URLs change too. If a URL no longer works, your audience can search for the page using the author, page title and site title.
What if I can’t find a required piece of information?
Sometimes the information truly isn’t there: some articles don’t have authors listed, some product catalogs don’t include a date, and some websites don’t provide much information at all.
First, make sure that you have searched thoroughly for the missing information, and use your common sense. If you can’t find publication information in the front of a book, look in the back. If a web page doesn’t list an author, look for an “About” page. If a website doesn’t list a responsible party or a date when the information was last updated, consider whether you want to rely a nameless, un-dated source for your information.
If you decide that the source is reliable but you can’t find a piece of bibliographic information, simply leave that element out.
When you complete a paper or project, you will have a list of all the sources you used in your research. In APA style, this list is called References.
Your References list goes at the end — on the back of your project board, at the end of your paper or job book, or on the last slide of your presentation.
Organize your References alphabetically by the author’s last name. If there is no author, alphabetize by the first main word of the title.
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Note that there is no period after the URL at the end of the web page entry. In APA style, entries for online sources do not end in a period.
Every time you use a quotation, a piece of information, or an image from another source, cite the source right where you use it, whether it’s on your project board or in your paper, job book or presentation.
In APA style, use in-text citations with the author, publication date and page number in parentheses.
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If there are no page numbers, simply leave that element out.
If there is no author, use the first few words of the title so that your audience can identify the correct source in your References.
Short quotations
For short passages of 40 words or less, use quotation marks at the beginning and end of the quotation. In APA style, put the in-text citation at the end of the quotation, and then add a period (after the closing parenthesis).
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Long quotations
For longer passages of more than 40 words, use a block quote. In APA style, a block quote is a separate paragraph, with all lines indented and double-spaced. Do not use quotation marks around a block quote. Put a period at the end of the quotation, and then add the in-text citation (after the period).
When you want to use someone else’s idea but put it in your own words, paraphrase or summarize. To paraphrase or summarize an idea, you need to condense or clarify that idea. It’s not enough to take someone else’s sentence and replace some of the words; you need to truly understand the idea and state it in a new way.
In APA style, put the in-text citation at the end of your paraphrase or summary, and then add a period (after the closing parenthesis).
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In APA style, only retrievable sources are listed as References. Since a lecture heard in person is not retrievable by anyone else, do not include it in your References; the same is true for personal communications such as interviews and emails.
If you use a quotation or idea from a class lecture or other personal communication, do cite it using an in-text citation.
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As with any quotation or paraphrase, a quotation or idea from a film requires an in-text citation and an entry in References.
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In APA style, an image requires an in-text citation and an entry in References, just like a quotation or paraphrase. Label each image with a caption that includes the bibliographic information of the image. Give each image a figure number (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.).
If the image is a drawing, rendering, infographic, or other illustration, include:
- the title of the image
- the name of the artist or illustrator
- the date the image was created
If the image is a photograph of a building, include:
- the name of the building
- the name of the architect
- the date the building was completed
- the location of the building
If the image is a photograph or reproduction of a work of art, include:
- the title of the artwork
- the name of the artist
- the date the artwork was created
If you don’t see all of this information in the caption of the image or the text around it, look for a separate list of image credits. This list is often called List of Illustrations, Illustration Credits, Image Credits, or simply Credits. In books, it may be either at the beginning or at the end of the book.
Note: Museums rarely credit an individual photographer.
At the end of the caption, insert an in-text citation citing the book, website or other source that you got the image from.
Citing an image from a book
In the example below, the caption contains the information about this reproduction of a work of art. The caption in the book provided the title of the work, the artist, and the date it was created (the book gives the date of creation as 1794/1824 because it was created in 1794 and then substantially revised by the artist in 1824).
At the end of the caption is the in-text citation for the book that this image came from.
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Citing an image from a book when the artist is unknown
If the artist of the work depicted is unknown, leave that element out of the caption.
At the end of the caption is the in-text citation for the book that this image came from.
Citing an image from a website
In the next example, the in-text citation references the website that this image came from. The website does not have page numbers, so that element is left out of the in-text citation.
Citing an image from a website when the artist is unknown
In the next example, the artist is unknown, so we leave that element out of the caption. Once again, the image is from a website that does not have page numbers, so that element is left out of the in-text citation.
There are many online tools that allow you to create and organize citations. Here are some of the most popular:
Plagiarism is turning in someone else’s work, in any form, as your own. Plagiarism is also turning in your own work for another assignment.
Using someone else’s words or ideas without citing the source implies that those words or ideas are your own.
- This includes words and ideas from any source – magazines, books, newspapers, songs, TV programs, movies, web pages, blogs, charts, diagrams, emails, Facebook updates, etc.
Plagiarism is also:
- Including incorrect information in a citation
- Making up a citation
- Citing a source other than the one you used
You can even plagiarize your own work. Once you have turned in a paper or project for a grade, you can’t turn that same work in again for a new grade in a different class, unless you have explicit permission from both instructors.
Remember: “I didn’t mean to!” isn’t an excuse.
Common knowledge
Facts that “everyone knows” are considered common knowledge. You don’t need to cite a source for common knowledge.
- The fact that Frank Lloyd Wright was an architect is common knowledge; you don’t need to cite your source when you say this.
If you find a fact without a citation in at least three reputable sources, it is probably common knowledge.
- If you’re not sure, cite your source to be safe, or ask your instructor.
Not sure what counts as plagiarism?
Learn more about plagiarism and how to avoid it in one of these interactive tutorials. The MLA tutorial using a liberal arts example paper is recommended for DISD students and should take about 20 minutes to complete.
Learn more
These sites also have excellent information about plagiarism:
To avoid plagiarism:
- Quote your sources correctly
- Paraphrase or summarize your sources correctly
- Cite every source correctly
Quote correctly
When you want to use the exact words of someone else, use a quotation. For short passages, use quotation marks at the beginning and end of the quotation. For longer passages, use block quotes. At the end of the quotation, add an in-text citation. Don’t forget to include the page number (if there is one).
Click on an image to see a larger version
Paraphrase and summarize correctly
When you want to use someone else’s idea but put it in your own words, paraphrase or summarize. To paraphrase or summarize an idea, you need to condense or clarify that idea. It’s not enough to take someone else’s sentence and replace some of the words; you need to truly understand the idea and state it in a new way. At the end of your paraphrase or summary, add an in-text citation. Don’t forget to include the page number (if there is one).
Cite every source correctly
Every time you use someone else’s words, ideas or images, cite your source. EVERY time. Make sure to match the correct source to each quotation, paraphrase or image.
Learn more
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