APA

Sara Arbabi (ILAC)

Outline

⮚ Definitions
⮚ Intro to APA
⮚ To cite, or not to cite?
⮚ In-text Citations (APA format)
⮚ References
Definitions
►What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism includes “buying, stealing, or
borrowing a paper (including, of course, copying
an entire paper or article from the Web); hiring
someone to write your paper for you; and copying
large sections of text from a source without
quotation marks or proper citation.” (Purdue
Online Writing Lab, 2013, “Is it plagiarism yet?”)
What is APA? Why do I need it?

► Different styles?
►APA, MLA, Chicago
► Why do I cite?
►Give credit
►Help readers
►Establish credibility
►So, you get good marks and don’t get kicked out of school!
 To cite, or not to cite?

► TO CITE
► Words or ideas from any medium (magazine, book, movie)
► Information from interviews
► Exact words or a unique phrase
► Reprinted visual materials (illustrations, charts, images)
► NOT TO CITE
► Anything that is your own (ideas, experiences, observations, research, artwork)
► Common knowledge (smoking causes lung cancer)
► Known historical events (Canada was founded in 1867)
GAME TIME!
To cite, or not to cite?

► Raise your hand when you know if this information should be cited or not!
To cite, or not to cite?

► The Chinese fishing industry produces 800,000 tons of fish annually.

To cite, or not to cite?

► The Chinese fishing industry produces 800,000 tons of fish annually.

CITE IT
To cite, or not to cite?

► The Chinese fishing industry produces 800,000 tons of fish annually.

CITE IT
► Lung cancer is more common in Canadian men than women.
To cite, or not to cite?

► The Chinese fishing industry produces 800,000 tons of fish annually.

CITE IT
► Lung cancer is more common in Canadian men than women.
CITE IT
To cite, or not to cite?

► The Chinese fishing industry produces 800,000 tons of fish annually.

CITE IT
► Lung cancer is more common in Canadian men than women.
CITE IT
► George Washington was the first President of the United States of America.
To cite, or not to cite?

► The Chinese fishing industry produces 800,000 tons of fish annually.

CITE IT
► Lung cancer is more common in Canadian men than women.
CITE IT
► George Washington was the first President of the United States of America.
DON’T CITE IT
To cite, or not to cite?

► The Chinese fishing industry produces 800,000 tons of fish annually.

CITE IT
► Lung cancer is more common in Canadian men than women.
CITE IT
► George Washington was the first President of the United States of America.
DON’T CITE IT
► 63-66% of French citizens are of Christian faith.
To cite, or not to cite?

► The Chinese fishing industry produces 800,000 tons of fish annually.

CITE IT
► Lung cancer is more common in Canadian men than women.
CITE IT
► George Washington was the first President of the United States of America.
DON’T CITE IT
► 63-66% of French citizens are of Christian faith.
CITE IT
To cite, or not to cite?

► The Chinese fishing industry produces 800,000 tons of fish annually.

CITE IT
► Lung cancer is more common in Canadian men than women.
CITE IT
► George Washington was the first President of the United States of America.
DON’T CITE IT
► 63-66% of French citizens are of Christian faith.
CITE IT
► WW1 began in 1914.
To cite, or not to cite?

► The Chinese fishing industry produces 800,000 tons of fish annually.

CITE IT
► Lung cancer is more common in Canadian men than women.
CITE IT
► George Washington was the first President of the United States of America.
DON’T CITE IT
► 63-66% of French citizens are of Christian faith.
CITE IT
► WW1 began in 1914.
DON’T CITE IT
To cite, or not to cite?

► Many people talk on cellphones.

To cite, or not to cite?

► Many people talk on cellphones.

DON’T CITE IT
To cite, or not to cite?

► Many people talk on cellphones.

DON’T CITE IT
► Dog is a man’s best friend.
To cite, or not to cite?

► Many people talk on cellphones.

DON’T CITE IT
► Dog is a man’s best friend.
DON’T CITE IT
To cite, or not to cite?

► Many people talk on cellphones.

DON’T CITE IT
► Dog is a man’s best friend.
DON’T CITE IT
► The Big Bang theory says that the universe was created billions of years ago with an explosion.
To cite, or not to cite?

► Many people talk on cellphones.

DON’T CITE IT
► Dog is a man’s best friend.
DON’T CITE IT
► The Big Bang theory says that the universe was created billions of years ago with an explosion.
DON’T CITE IT
To cite, or not to cite?

► Many people talk on cellphones.

DON’T CITE IT
► Dog is a man’s best friend.
DON’T CITE IT
► The Big Bang theory says that the universe was created billions of years ago with an explosion.
DON’T CITE IT
► The phrase “Big Bang” was used by Sir Fred Doyle. He used the term to make fun of the theory,
which he disagreed with.
To cite, or not to cite?

► Many people talk on cellphones.

DON’T CITE IT
► Dog is a man’s best friend.
DON’T CITE IT
► The Big Bang theory says that the universe was created billions of years ago with an explosion.
DON’T CITE IT
► The phrase “Big Bang” was used by Sir Fred Doyle. He used the term to make fun of the theory,
which he disagreed with.
CITE IT
To cite, or not to cite?

► Many people talk on cellphones.

DON’T CITE IT
► Dog is a man’s best friend.
DON’T CITE IT
► The Big Bang theory says that the universe was created billions of years ago with an explosion.
DON’T CITE IT
► The phrase “Big Bang” was used by Sir Fred Doyle. He used the term to make fun of the theory,
which he disagreed with.
CITE IT
► As stated by Einstein, “Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler”.
To cite, or not to cite?

► Many people talk on cellphones.

DON’T CITE IT
► Dog is a man’s best friend.
DON’T CITE IT
► The Big Bang theory says that the universe was created billions of years ago with an explosion.
DON’T CITE IT
► The phrase “Big Bang” was used by Sir Fred Doyle. He used the term to make fun of the theory,
which he disagreed with.
CITE IT
► As stated by Einstein, “Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler”.
CITE IT
In-Text Citation vs. References
In-Text Citation

You always need two things:

1. Author’s last name: Brown
2. Date of publication: 2019
You also need a locator if you quote the author (write exact words of the original author
without paraphrasing).
3. Locator (page number, paragraph number, video minute,): p. 207,
pp. 210-213, 7:30.
In-Text Citation

There are two types of in-text citation:

1. Parenthetical:
Author’s last name, date and locator are in parenthesis.

2. Narrative:
Author’s last name is part of the sentence and not in parenthesis.
In-Text Citation (one author)

Parenthetical in-text citation example 

A time turner is a magical device that allows wizards to travel back in time (Rowling, 1999). 

(Rowling, 1999)

(Rowling, 1999, p. 225)

(Rowling, 1999, pp. 225-230)

Narrative in-text citation example

In the video tutorial, Seburn (2020) demonstrates an example of a reference list entry for a
webpage. 

Seburn (2020) demonstrates an example of a reference list entry for a webpage (1:35).
In-Text Citation (two authors or more)
Two authors 

Parenthetical     
(Soto & Smith, 2017)    

Narrative (spell out “and”) 

As Soto and Smith (2017) suggest…  

3+ authors

Parenthetical 
(Dietz et al., 2007)

Narrative 
Dietz et al. (2007) mentioned… 
In-Text Citation (author is an organization or unknown)

Author is a group or organization

Parenthetical 
(World Health Organization [WHO], 2020) first time you cite it
(WHO, 2020)  next time you cite it

Narrative 
The World Health Organization (WHO, 2020) described… 

Unknown author : Use the shortened title (italic) or (in quotation marks)

Parenthetical 
(APA Citation Guideline, 2020)  OR (“APA Citation Guideline”, 2020) 

Narrative 
As demonstrated by “APA Citation Guideline” (2020)....
In-Text Citation (no date is available)

No Date

Parenthetical 
(Streefkerk, n.d.) 

Narrative
Streefkerk (n.d.) concluded…
In-Text Citation (direct quote)

Direct Quote  (You must add the locater)

Parenthetical 
Studies on happiness have determined that “good relationships keep us happier and
healthier” (Waldinger, 2016, 6:22). 

Narrative
In her TED Talk video, Brown (2012) states that “adaptability to change is all
about vulnerability” (6:24).
 In-Text Citation (block quote)

 Block Quote 

Parenthetical 
Researchers have studied how people talk to themselves:
Inner speech is a paradoxical phenomenon. It is an experience that is central to many people’s everyday
lives, and yet it presents considerable challenges to any effort to study it scientifically. Nevertheless, a
wide range of methodologies and approaches have combined to shed light on the subjective experience of
inner speech and its cognitive and neural underpinnings. (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015, p. 957) 

Narrative 
Flores et al. (2018) described how they addressed potential researcher bias when working with an
intersectional community of transgender people of color:
Everyone on the research team belonged to a stigmatized group but also held privileged identities.
Throughout the research process, we attended to the ways in which our privileged and oppressed
identities may have influenced the research process, findings, and presentation of results. (p. 311)
In-Text Citation Table: a summary
Parenthetical Citations Narrative Citations

1 Author (Seburn, 2020)  Seburn (2020)

2 Authors (Seburn & Specht, 2020)  Seburn and Specht (2020)

3+ Authors (Seburn et al., 2020) Seburn et al. (2020)

Group Author (World Health Organization World Health Organization
Subsequent [WHO], 2020)  (WHO, 2020)
Citation (WHO, 2020)  WHO (2020) 
Unknown
Author: (Shortened Title Here, 2020) Shortened Title Here (2020) 
Italic Title  (“Shortened Title Here,” 2020) “Shortened Title Here”
Not Italic (2020) 
Title 
No Date (Seburn, n.d.) Seburn (n.d.) 
Source (Seburn, 2020, p. 225)  Seburn (2020) ……. (p.225) 
Locator
In-text Citation: common verbs and phrases

Research shows … (Shepherd, 2019)

According to Shepherd (2019)...

Shepherd (2019) found that…

In 2019, a study by Shepherd showed…

To illustrate, Shepherd (2019) gives examples of

In a 2019 article, Jess Shepherd commented that “…”.

In fact, recent studies contradict this idea entirely (Shepherd, 2019).

State, explain, remark, note, comment, observe, conclude, add, reports, discuss, declare, claim
Activity Time!
Reference Lists

▪ Write author’s last name followed by first and middle name’s initials.
Example: Smith, G. T.

▪ List your references in alphabetical order.

▪ See the APA Referencing Guideline for details.

OR
Reference Lists

► Use https://www.scribbr.com/apa-citation-generator/
Reference Lists
APA General Format for Essay

► Your essay should:

►Be typed, double spaced, and on standard sized paper (8.5” x
11”)
►Use 1 inch margins on all sides
►Size 12 Times, New Roman
►Have a header on every page with title in top left corner and
page number in top right
►Have a title page, main body, and reference page
Title Page

In ‘header’ insert page

number on top right and
type a short version of the
TITLE OF ESSAY in
uppercase letters.

In the centre of the

page, type the title of
the essay(bold), your
name, your school's
name, your teacher’s
name and due date.
 Main Body Format

• In the header: short title, capital letters,

left side. Page number, right side.

• Repeat the title, centre, bold, main words

are capitalized.

• Text should be left justified

• 1 inch margin, paper size: 8.5”. 11”,

Double space
• Size 12, Times New Roman

• Indent each new paragraph by ½ inch.

Reference Lists

• Reference list – final page,

separate page
• Title ‘References’ in bold
• Alphabetical order
• Indent second line of each
reference by ½ inch.
• Maintain double-spacing
APA, 7th Edition
► For additional information regarding APA format, or other formats in
general, refer to Purdue University Online Writing Lab.