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You can provide evidence in your assignments by quoting and paraphrasing academic research to support your ideas. You can do this by directing quoting word for word, or by summarising words or ideas in a paraphrase (American Psychological Association, 2020). An in-text citation acknowledging the author and year of publication of the source is always included.
The APA Avoiding Plagiarism Guide goes through common mistakes students make and how to avoid them:
Paraphrasing the work of others is more than just changing a few words around. Try and set the original work aside and summarise the ideas in your own words (American Psychological Association, 2020).
Example of incorrect paraphrasing (words in italics are the same):
Example passage from Ward et al. (2006): Findings indicate that media content is not uniformly negative. Information about sexual health, risks, and thoughtful decision-making is sometimes present.
Plagiarised (incorrect) example: According to Ward et al. (2006), media content is not all negative, and information is sometimes present concerning sexual health, risks, and thoughtful decision-making.
Below are some examples of correct paraphrasing:
Paraphrasing One Sentence
Original: Leaders who lack emotional and social competence undoubtedly can become a liability to organizations, directly leading to employee disengagement, absenteeism, stress-disability claims, hostile-workplace lawsuits, and increased health care expenses.
Example paraphrase: Employees experience negative outcomes such as stress and disengagement when their organizational leaders lack emotional and social skills (Nowack & Zak, 2020).
Reference list entry: Nowack, K., & Zak, P. (2020). Empathy enhancing antidotes for interpersonally toxic leaders. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 72(2), 119–133. https://doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000164
Summarising Multiple Sentences
Original: Research suggests that people exercise less when demands in their job or studies increase (Englert & Rummel, 2016; Oaten & Cheng, 2005; Sonnentag & Jelden, 2009). Building upon these findings, the present study investigated the relationship between university students’ implicit theories about willpower and the amount they exercise during their final examination period. We hypothesized and found that students with a limited theory about willpower— those who believed that their self-control resembles a limited resource—exercised significantly less than students with a nonlimited theory during this stressful period (about 220 min less over the course of 2 weeks).
Example paraphrase: Bernecker and Kramer (2020) found that when students believed they had a limited amount of willpower, they were less likely to exercise during the stressful time of final exams than students who believed they had a nonlimited amount of willpower.
Reference list entry: Bernecker, K., & Kramer, J. (2020). Implicit theories about willpower are associated with exercise levels during the academic examination period. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 9(2), 216–231. https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000182
Writing a Long Paraphrase (from multiple paragraphs)
Original: Food selectivity is the most frequently documented and well-researched feeding problem associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It most often involves strong preferences for starches and snack foods, coinciding with a bias against fruits and vegetables. Associated mealtime difficulties include disruptive mealtime behavior (e.g., tantrums, crying), rigidity surrounding eating (e.g., only eating in a specific location, requiring certain utensils), and avoidance of certain food items based on the sensory characteristic (e.g., texture). Severe food selectivity in ASD most often involves deficits in dietary variety, not volume, and children with ASD typically consume enough food to meet gross energy needs (Sharp, Berry, et al., 2013; Sharp et al., 2014). Because children with ASD typically consume an adequate volume of food, this may explain why, historically, feeding concerns in ASD have been overlooked in relation to other areas of clinical concern. The clinical picture, however, for food selectivity in ASD is more complicated from a nutritional and medical standpoint and requires looking beyond anthropometrics to determine the overall impact of atypical patterns of intake, including enhanced risk for underlying dietary insufficiencies and associated poor health outcomes (e.g., obesity).
Example parenthetical in-text citation: Children with autism spectrum disorder are often very selective about what food they will eat and experience difficulties during mealtimes (Burrell et al., 2019). For example, these children may experience tantrums if they do not get the foods they want (usually starchy foods or snack foods). Although they usually eat enough calories, autistic children may be at greater risk for nutritional and health problems such as obesity.
Example narrative in-text citation: Burrell et al. (2019) discussed how children with autism spectrum disorder are often very selective about what food they will eat and experience difficulties during mealtimes. For example, these children may experience tantrums if they do not get the foods they want (usually starchy foods or snack foods). Although they usually eat enough calories, autistic children may be at greater risk for nutritional and health problems such as obesity.
Reference list entry: Burrell, T. L., Sharp, W., Whitehouse, C., & Johnson, C. R. (2019). Parent training for food selectivity in autism spectrum disorder. In C. R. Johnson, E. M. Butter, & L. Scahill (Eds.), Parent training for autism spectrum disorder: Improving the quality of life for children and their families (pp. 173-202). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000111-008
These examples were taken from APA Paraphrasing and Citation Activities
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
