Proper Citation, Quotation and Referencing Using the Publication Manual of the Apa, 6th Edition

When students use citations incorrectly, they are running the risk that they are plagiarizing the author of the text that they are referencing in their paper. Whether these errors are intentional or unintentional, they are difficult to overcome. If the citations are incorrect, many of the facts stated and referenced in the paper may be incorrect as well. This will reflect poorly on the outcome of the student’s grade for the paper being reviewed. And that is unfortunate, since it is within the student’s grasp to review the Publication Manual of the APA for proper information regarding citations and quotations. In this way, the papers have the best opportunity to be well written, well cited and an interesting format for everyone involved in the process. The 6th Edition is the latest version of the manual of style, and it is a well written guide Proper citation, quotation and referencing for students to follow when completing their college level term papers and written assignments. Most professors at the college level, expect students to know how to use the Publication Manual of the APA to reference the citations and quotations used in the papers the students present on arious assigned topics. When the students are able to utilize the Publication Manual of the APA correctly, the papers are reflective of solid references and correct citations, and will most likely earn a higher grade than those that are submitted with incorrect citations and notations.

Students who utilize the Publication Manual of the APA, 6th Edition are referencing the best source for correctly giving credit to the authors of the information used within their term papers and assignments. It is imperative that students give credit where credit is due, and that hey learn to follow the manual of style for giving credit to the copyrighted work of authors used in their term papers submitted for review and grading. Students will need to use primary sources when referencing work cited within the body of the paper they are writing. For example, if a student is writing a paper on saving the polar bears, it will be important to get the best sources for the paper and to provide correct citations for those sources used. Before a student can cite a source, it is important to note that some sources are better than Proper citation, quotation and referencing others.

Many students will use library sources or books as sources for their assignments. There are also a variety of sources available on the internet. It is critical that students understand what to use and not to use as references for internet sources. If a student wants to write a paper on saving the polar bears, using a Wikipedia or blog as a reference point is not the best idea. These sources are actually just the writer’s personal opinion, and will rarely be backed by credible information. Also, if the student goes to a website that has strong views for or against the topic, he or she may be using a biased site that is less than rofessional. The best websites to use for this type of project would be sites that are university based, have been peer reviewed, or are part of larger scientific studies on the polar bears and efforts to save their habitats. It is true that an encyclopedia source will have some information regarding polar bears, but it is better to review scientific studies from accredited sources, such as National Geographic or other well known sites. Many references will be found, and if they are good sources, they can all be used since seven references are better than using only two for a term paper.

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Once the student has reputable sources, and is developing the topic for the paper, it is time to think about the sources themselves. When students are using citations in a paper, it is crucial to give credit to the author. This may be a problem, since some sources do not have an author listed, are anonymous without an author noted. Other sources do not have page numbers, are missing the date the text was written, or are internet sources that appear to be professional but can’t be verified. At this point, the student will want to use the Publication Manual of the APA, th Edition to find the correct way to make the citation. The student will want to make the point he or she is making, in his or her own words, and use the source citation as back up to solidify that point. For example, if the student says that global warming is affecting the polar bear’s habitat, it is an empty statement without some professionally grounded proof of the fact.

Students can make a statement in their paper, and use their sources as proof of what they declare. These notations are put right in the body of the term paper to show that they haven’t just made up the facts, that they come from a reputable and rofessionally reviewed source. The student makes a statement, and should then follow it with a source within the body of the paper as proof. The scheme of events will look like this: student Proper citation, quotation and referencing statement, then proof (with citation in the body of the paper), statement, then proof. The reader will appreciate the proof as backup to the statements being made, and it makes the statements have more power to be backed up by professionals who agree with what is said. Citations can be paraphrased or quoted directly within the body of the paper.

In fact, the Publication Manual of the APA states that when there are direct quotations, the information varies depending on whether using print or electric form. When citing print sources, give the “author, year, and page number in parentheses” (Publication Manual of the APA, 2010, p. 120). When students are paraphrasing, which means boiling down the phrases into their own words, the idea from the original source must also be given proper credit. This means that the student should correctly cite, and put quotations around the text that was used, so that the reader can go ack and find the citation and the context it was used in the original text. Students may also need to make a citation for secondary sources within the body of a term paper.

A secondary source is when the author quotes someone else, and makes a citation within the text the student is quoting from. It is like a double quote, or a quote within a quote for the student interested in using the words that the author got from someone else. If this is done, Proper citation, quotation and referencing the student needs to remember to put the secondary source in the reference listing too. A roperly cited secondary source would need to include the name of the original work, and the citation for the secondary source (Publication Manual of the APA, 2010, p. 247). The text citation will look like this: Gleason and McLurkin’s study (as cited in Tressel, Roger, 1990). If the student is interested in using quotation marks, special care needs to be taken to get it right. A double quotation mark should be used around direct quotes taken from a text. A single quotation mark is used “within double quotation marks to set off material that is in the original source” (Publication Manual of the APA, 2010, p. 119).

The student can use a block of text if there are more than 40 words that are going to be used in the quote. For example, if the student wants to discuss a direct quote longer than 40 words, it would be separated like this, with no quotation marks necessary. The quotation should be indented five spaces from the left margin, in the same position as a new paragraph (Publication Manual of the APA, 2010, p. 117). It would be typed double space, just as the paper is typed, and should include the author’s last name and the publication date as an introduction to the quote. It should Proper citation, quotation and referencing nd with the page number noted so that the reader could find the original text if necessary. Johnson’s (1998) study on polar bears found the following: Polar bears live in the Northern Hemisphere only.

They are great swimmers and they can outrun a man while on land. They have an average weight of one ton, and they eat several hundreds of pounds of fish a day. Polar bears have been known to kill off whole populations of indigenous seals in certain localities. They are known to hunt individually, preferring not to hunt in packs. They are so large that they often have been known to fall through solid ice platforms, which is never fatal. This block of quoted text above would need to be cited at the end of the paper. Finally, if students are carful in their use of quoted materials and citations within their term papers, they will be good stewards of the words spoken by others that are used as reference.

In this way, their term papers will have valid ideas and thoughts backed up by facts from reputable sources. The reader will have a better understanding of the topic, and the subject matter will be clearer with correctly referenced works from experts in the fields they are writing about and studying

References

1. American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition: Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

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