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APA Style Guide (7th Edition)

Why and When to Cite Sources?

Why should you cite sources?

Citing sources is very important.  When you cite, you are:

  • Giving credit: You are showing respect for the people whose ideas you used.
  • Helping others: You are helping your readers find the information you used.
  • Making your work stronger: You are showing that you have done your research and that your work is trustworthy.
  • Avoiding plagiarism: You are making sure that you don't take someone else's work as your own.  Plagiarism can cause you to fail a course or worse.

When should you cite sources?

You must cite a source whenever you use information that isn't from your own mind or something that's common knowledge (ex. the sky is blue).  This includes any facts, ideas, or words you get from a book, website, article, or any other source.  

Read the Olds College Academic Integrity Policy to review the expectations.

What is APA citation style?

American Psychological Association (APA) style is a set of guidelines for formatting and citing sources in academic writing. The latest edition of the APA style manual is the 7th edition, which was released in 2019.

APA style uses the author–date citation system, in which a brief in-text citation directs readers to a full reference list entry. There are two parts to referencing in APA style: the in text citations (citations within the body of your paper) and the reference list at the end of your paper.

In-text Citation

An in-text citation is a brief notation next to the text that was rephrased into your own words (summarizing, paraphrasing) OR text that was copied (quoting). The brief notation is in “author-date” style. There are three ways to integrate sources into your paper: summarize, paraphrase or quote.

  • Summarize: Summarizing involves putting the main ideas or findings of the source materials into a brief overview using your own words and expressions.
  • Paraphrase: A paraphrase restates another’s idea (or your own previously published idea) in your own words.
  • Quote: A direct quotation exactly replicates the words from another work or from your own previously published work.

It is best to paraphrase sources rather than directly quoting them because paraphrasing shows your understanding to what the source wrote and allows you to fit material to the context of your paper and writing style.

Click here to learn more about in-text citations

References

Every in-text citation must correspond to an entry in your list of references. A reference list entry generally has four elements: the author, date, title, and source. Each element answers a question:

  • Author: Who is responsible for this work?
  • Date: When was this work published?
  • Title: What is this work called?
  • Source: Where can I retrieve this work?
Click here to learn more about References

Helpful Links and Guides

Citation Generators

If you don't need to cite very many resources, you might want to use one of the following citation generators.
You should always double-check generated citations!

Always double check your references - if you enter information incorrectly, the citation generator will spit it back incorrectly.