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APA Referencing Guide

This online guide is an abridged version of the American Psychological Association (APA, 2020a) 7th edition manual.

 

Paraphrasing is used to discuss the content of a source in your own words.

 

It is used to show you understand the concepts discussed in the source and can explain them yourself. It is not changing a few words in a sentence and adding it to your assignment.

 

A visual aid depicting 3 steps for practicing paraphrasing: 1. Read the passage you are wanting to use. 2. Take a second to think about what the content/ides discussed means. 3. Write down how you would explainthat passage to another student studying the same topic, without looking at the original source again.

 

Following this practice not only ensures you will not be caught plagiarising another's work, but helps you develop a deeper understanding of the concepts and ideas you are studying. 

 

 

A direct quotation should be used to support your analysis or argument.

 

A visual aid depicting 3 instances of using direct quotes. 1. When you want to stress the authority of the author (memorable or succinct wording). 2. As an 'epigraph'. This is a direct quote found at the beginning of a book or chapter. While it relates to the theme of the material that follows, it is not incorporated with the main text. 3. When the author expresses an idea better than you could (such as reproducing an exact definition).

 

APA guidelines recommends limiting the amount of direct quotations you use in your assignment, suggesting that paraphrasing works is a more efficient way to explore your evidence-based sources (APA, 2022i).

For more information on paraphrasing and direct quotes please see pages 5-7 in the referencing guidelines.

 

References

American Psychological Association. (n.d.-a). APA style. https://apastyle.apa.org/ 

American Psychological Association. (n.d.-b). Student sample paper with annotations. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/student-annotated.pdf

American Psychological Association. (2020a). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

American Psychological Association. (2020b, October 21). Student paper setup guide. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/student-paper-setup-guide.pdf

American Psychological Association. (2021a, December). Sample Tables. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/tables-figures/sample-tables

American Psychological Association. (2021b, December). Table setup. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/tables-figures/tables

American Psychological Association. (2022a, July). Appropriate level of citation. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/appropriate-citation

American Psychological Association. (2022b, July). Elements of reference list entries. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/elements-list-entry

American Psychological Association. (2022c, July). Font. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/font

American Psychological Association. (2022d, July). Headings. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/headings

American Psychological Association. (2022e, July). Numbers expressed in numerals. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/numbers/numerals

American Psychological Association. (2022f, July). Numbers expressed in words. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/numbers/words

American Psychological Association. (2022g, July). Paragraph alignment and indentation. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/paragraph-format

American Psychological Association. (2022h, July). Paraphrasing. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/paraphrasing

American Psychological Association. (2022i, July). Quotations. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/quotations

American Psychological Association. (2022j, July). Sample papers. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/sample-papers

American Psychological Association. (2022k, July). Use of italics. APA Style.  https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/italics-quotations/italics

American Psychological Association. (2022l, August). Citing multiple works. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/basic-principles/multiple-works

American Psychological Association. (2023, March). About APA style. https://apastyle.apa.org/about-apa-style

McAdoo, T. (2023, April 7). How to cite ChatGPT. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt

Microsoft. (n.d.-a). Add a heading. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-a-heading-3eb8b917-56dc-4a17-891a-a026b2c790f2

Microsoft. (n.d.-b). Change margins. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/change-the-margins-in-your-word-document-c95c1ea1-70b1-4dde-a1da-f5aa2042c829

Microsoft. (n.d.-c). Create a hanging indent. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-a-hanging-indent-7bdfb86a-c714-41a8-ac7a-3782a91ccad5

Microsoft. (n.d.-d). Double-space the lines in a document. https://bit.ly/3GRcExu

PSI CHI. (2022, April 5). Webinar: So you need to write a literature review/key tasks & how to accomplish them 03/16/2022 [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/LWMf-FYOpJ8