REFERENCING 101

A Simple Guide to Writing References

What This Presentation Covers

What is referencing?
Why referencing is Important?
Basics of formatting research papers according to APA format
Referencing
Referencing Defined
Referencing allows you to acknowledge the contribution of
other writers and researchers in your work.

Enables readers to visit source materials for themselves and

verify the information
Why it is Important?
The act of citing sources is also your best defense against allegations of plagiarism.

Proper citation allows readers to locate the materials you used.

Citing other people's words and ideas demonstrates that you have conducted a thorough
review of the literature on your topic

Other researcher's ideas can be used to reinforce your arguments.

Ideas are considered intellectual property and there can be serious repercussions if you fail to
cite where you got an idea from.
What is APA Style and Why?

APA stands for the American Psychological Association.

It is a simple set of procedures, or style guidelines, that would

codify the many components of scientific writing to increase the
ease of reading comprehension

Provides uniformity and consistency enable readers to (a) focus on

the ideas being presented rather than formatting and (b) scan
works quickly for key points, findings, and sources.

Style guidelines encourage authors to fully disclose essential

information and allow readers to dispense with minor distractions,
such as inconsistencies or omissions in punctuation, capitalization,
in-text citations, references, and presentation of statistics.
 APA Paper Formatting Basics
All text should be double-spaced

Use one-inch margins on all sides

All paragraphs in the body are indented

Make sure that the title is centered on the page with your name and school/institution underneath

Use 12-point font throughout

All pages should be numbered in the upper right-hand corner

The APA format title page for student papers includes six main components:
The title of the APA format paper

Names of all authors

Institutional affiliation

Course number and title

Instructor’s name

Due date
How to form an
abstract in APA
What is an abstract?
An abstract is a summary of a scholarly article or scientific study.
Scholarly articles and studies are rather lengthy documents, and
abstracts allow readers to first determine if they’d like to read an
article in its entirety or not.
The Body of an APA
Paper
Most scientific or professional papers have additional these guidelines:

Start with the running head (title + page number).

The heading title should be in capital letters. The abstract page should be page 2.

The introduction presents the problem and premise upon which the research was based. It goes into more detail about this
problem than the abstract.

Begin a new section with the Method and use this word as the subtitle. Bold and center this subtitle. The Method section
shows how the study was run and conducted. Be sure to describe the methods through which data was collected.
Most scientific or professional papers have additional these guidelines:

Begin a new section with the Discussion. Bold and center this subtitle. This Discussion section is a chance to analyze and
interpret your results.

Draw conclusions and support how your data led to these conclusions.

Discuss whether or not your hypothesis was confirmed or not supported by your results.

Determine the limitations of the study and next steps to improve research for future studies.
Use of graphics (tables and figures) in APA Format
Overview of APA In-text Citations & References
Using In-text Citation

Include an in-text citation when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another
source.

For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your
reference list.
Example paragraph with in-text citation

A few researchers in the linguistics field have developed training programs designed to improve native
speakers' ability to understand accented speech (Derwing, Rossiter, & Munro, 2002; Krech Thomas,
2004). Their training techniques are based on the research described above indicating that comprehension
improves with exposure to non-native speech. Derwing et al. (2002) conducted their training with students
preparing to be social workers, but note that other professionals who work with non-native speakers could
benefit from a similar program.
Multiple works: (separate each work with semi-colons)

Research shows that listening to a particular accent improves comprehension of accented speech in
general (Gass & Varonis, 1984; Krech Thomas, 2004).

Direct quote: (include page number)

One study found that “the listener's familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the
interpretation of the entire message” (Gass & Varonis, 1984, p. 85).

Gass and Varonis (1984) found that “the listener’s familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly
facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (p. 85).
Web page with author:

In-text citation:

Role-play can help children learn techniques for coping with bullying (Kraiser, 2011).

Web page with no author:

In-text citation:

The term Nittany Lion was coined by Penn State football player Joe Mason in 1904 (All
things Nittany, 2006).
Web page with no date:

In-text citation:

Establishing regular routines, such as exercise, can help survivors of disasters recover from trauma
(American Psychological Association [APA], n.d.).
One author: (Field, 2005)

Two authors: (Gass & Varonis, 1984)

Three to five authors:

First citation: (Tremblay, Richer, Lachance, & Cote, 2010)

Subsequent citations: (Tremblay et al., 2010)

Six or more authors: (Norris-Shortle et al., 2006).

APA bibliography Vs. Reference Page

The difference between a bibliography and a reference page

is a matter of scope.

A bibliography usually includes all materials and sources that

were used to write the paper.

A reference page, on the other hand, only includes entries for

works that were specifically cited in the text of the paper.
A reference displays all of the information about the source — the title, the author’s
name, the year it was published, the URL, all of it!

References are placed on the final page of a research project.

For most sources, your reference list entry will include the following:

The last name(s) and initials of the author(s).

The date the source was published (shown in parentheses).

The title of the source in sentence case. The title should be in italics if the source stands on its own (like a book,
webpage, or movie).

The name of the periodical, database, or website if the source is an article from a magazine, journal, newspaper, etc.

Names of periodicals are usually italicized; names of databases and websites usually are not.

The publisher of the source and/or the URL where the source can be found.
Citing a Book

Structure:

Author’s last name, Author’s first initial. Author’s middle initial. (Year of publication). Title of work.
Publisher.

Example:

James, Henry. (2009). The ambassadors. Serenity Publishers.

Citing a Journal

Structure:

Author’s last name, Author’s first initial. Author’s middle initial. (Year, Month Date published). Article
title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), page number(s). https://doi.org/ or URL (if available)

Example:

Jacoby, W. G. (1994). Public attitudes toward government spending. American Journal of Political
Science, 38(2), 336-361. https://doi.org/10.2307/2111407
Citing a Website

Structure:

Author’s last name, Author’s first initial. Author’s middle initial. (Year, Month Date published). Article
title or page title. Site Name. URL

Example:

Limer, E. (2013, October 1). Heck yes! The first free wireless plan is finally here. Gizmodo.
https://gizmodo.com/heck-yes-the-first-free-wireless-plan-is-finally-here
Online News Articles:

Author, A. (YEAR, Month Date). Title of article. Title of Publication. URL

Examples:

Charles, D. (2021, June 22). What’s the best way to help the climate and people too? NPR.
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/22/1003382636/home-improvement-could-be-a-1st-step-towa
rd-climate-justice
References

Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau, (2020, May 14), APA Format for Students & Researchers, easybib,
https://www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/apa-format/#what-is-apa

Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau, (2020, Oct 28), How to format an APA reference page APA, easybib,
https://www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/apa-format/#what-is-apa