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APA Citations

Citations are essential for maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Proper citations will ensure that you do not commit plagiarism and remain in compliance with Bay Path’s academic integrity policy. Improper citations can result in severe penalties under Cambridge College's Academic Integrity Policy and in future professional advancement. 

 

Moreover , providing accurate and precise citations will enable instructors to confirm your research and help guide other researchers in their research. Formatting papers correctly according to a particular citation style will enable easy grading by your instructor and will be excellent practice for further professional practice, either within academia or in the workforce. 

 

In short, these citations and paper formats will keep you compliant with Bay Path’s policies for academic conduct, will allow you to practice preparing professionally formatted material, and will allow you to be a full participant in the community of knowledge in your field.

APA Style refers to the structure of citations and academic papers that is considered official by the American Psychological Association. It is commonly used in the Social Sciences, especially Psychology, Education, Business and Nursing. The most recent edition of the APA Style is the 7th, published in 2019.  

If you're considering further academic work in the any of these fields, you may find that becoming familiar with APA will make you research more efficient. Feel free to reach out to you instructor or Hatch Library if you are unsure if becoming an expert in APA is a good career move. 

If you are unsure if you should use APA Style for an individual assignment, reach out to your instructor. 

APA Style has instructions for how to cite almost everything imaginable. Here are some of the most common examples of how to create citations for your works cited page: 

 

E-books/books(APA style does not require you to distinguish between a print book and an ebook): 

(AuthorLastname, Firstname). (Publication Year). (Title), (Publisher).   

Example, Culture of Ecology by Robert Babe: 

Robert Babe. (2006). Culture of Ecology : Reconciling Economics and Environment. University of Toronto Press.

 

Youtube or other web video: 

(Authorlastname, authorfirstinitial [username]). (date accessed). (title of video [Video]). (url) 

Lushi, K. [Korab Lushi]. (2016, July 3). Albatross culture 1 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AMrJRQDPjk&t=148s

 

Articles: 

(Author). (Publication year) (Title). (Publication), (volume number), (issue number), (page number), (URL)  

Hazzaa, N. M., Ahmed, A. Y., El-Khair, A. M. A., & Shafik, N. A. (2022). Vestibular findings in patients with white matter disease. The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology, 38(1), NA. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A694517434/AONE?u=mlin_w_baypath&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=6fd9a400

 

Website: 

(Author). (Publication Date). (Title). (Publisher). (Accessed Date), from (URL) 

Nardozzi, C. (n.d.). All things gardening. Vermont Public Radio. Retrieved March 19, 2022, from https://www.vpr.org/show/all-things-gardening

In general, a paper in APA format must have the following: 

  • A running header in the upper right with page numbers 
  • A title page with the following information centered  
    • the paper title
    • your name 
    • your department and institution 
    • the course's name 
    • the instructor's name 
    • the date 
  • An abstract, centered on the first line of the next page with: 
    • ​​​​​​​A brief description of your research question, findings, and conclusion 
    • (Optional) a list of keywords
  • ​​​​​​​A main body containing your actual paper 
  • A works cited section at the end 

Unsure if your paper conforms to APA guidelines for formatting? Check out this checklist created by the American Psychological Association. 


Be sure to check out the sample papers from the APA to see what a perfectly formatted paper looks like in APA style. 

Quoting: the use of another author’s exact words to illustrate and reinforce your argument. Indicated with quotation marks.

Paraphrasing: Expressing another author’s idea in your own words. Does not require quotation marks.

Both Quotes and Paraphrases require citations. When in doubt, provide citations.

Generally, in-text citations in APA take the form of (Author(s) name, publication year), as in the following example: 

 

“As has been established, the orangutan has a diet consisting of hundreds of different fruits (Best, 2014) ” 

 

The goal of an in-text citation is to provide the reader with enough information to find the resource in your works cited page, while not providing so much that it disrupts the flow point you’re trying to convey. 

 

If you are citing a work with no author or page number, such as a website, use the page title as the in-text citation. It’s okay to abbreviate the page title, as long as it’s obvious what work you are referring to. 

 

Citation on works cited page: 

“Citing Sources and Referencing.” Scribbr, www.scribbr.com/­category/­citing-­sources. Accessed 16 July 2019.

 

In-Text citations: 

(“Citing Sources” 2019) 

For a complete description of all the different ways to use in-text citation, check out the APA's dedicated format and citation resource,  Academic Writer. 

APA Citations