Recommendations on how to cite APA standards
If you have to write a scientific article or submit a research paper under the APA format, the first thing you have to learn is how to cite APA standards. But long before we get into the heart of the matter, it is paramount to know what a quote is and why they are so important for this type of article.
A date is a idea from another document that becomes part of yours either verbatim or paraphrasing it. This must be complemented with some data that identifies its source.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), these data must include the name of the author or authors, year of publication, and the page on which the extracted idea is found. This is done using the "author and date" system and each of them must be included in a glossary of sources ordered alphabetically called bibliographic references.
Why quote?
If you are in the middle of the writing process or have already gone through it, you probably wondered (without much enthusiasm) why it was so important to quote. The truth is that appointments serve to:
- Expand a text. Of course, be very careful with this, because it is not about doing a more extensive job adding appointments left and right. What you cite should have a purpose for research.
- Reinforce ideas. Let's say you have a point. Grabbing the words of a published author will reinforce what you're saying.
- Argue. You are clear about your thesis, but you need arguments to complement it.
- Start a discussion.
- Give a definition.
These could be the personal reasons why citations are important to your post, but there are much broader ones. For example:
- Respect intellectual property and copyright. Before you, another researcher or author has already gone through an arduous process of investigating, writing, contrasting... the logical thing is that you respect that work and give it the credit it deserves.
- Release the original text. This is because the reader could be interested in an idea and if he wants to deepen that argument, he needs to refer to the original source.
- Document the scope and quality of your research. Because what you write are not random words. It has a purpose.
That is why it is important to cite:
- Ideas, opinions.
- Data, statistics, graphs, images and the like that are not public knowledge.
- Paraphrase of what someone else said.
undercitation (few citations) and overcitation (excess citations)
On the way to learning how to cite in apa, you need to know that there are several types of citations.
- Quote textually or directly: Transcribe word for word what was previously published by another author. Said text is written between quotation marks and is accompanied by the author's data, the year of publication and the page number from which it was extracted.
These appointments can be long or short. In the long ones, more than 40 words are reproduced and they are written in a separate paragraph and without quotation marks. Said paragraph is located 1.3 centimeters from the left margin. Short quotes are less than 40 words and are added to the text being written using quotation marks.
- Citation in the text or indirect: This is what we call “paraphrasing”. It consists of a small summary of a part of a work.
How to cite apa standards, frequent questions:
- I don't have the page number: It may happen that you do not have the page number from which you extract the information. This usually happens on web pages, since they lack page numbers. In cases like this, you should use an alternative localizer, which can be a chapter or section title, a paragraph number, etc. For movies or videos posted online, use a timestamp to locate the beginning of the citation.
- Long multi-paragraph quotes: Sometimes the information you want to cite is too long and there is no way to summarize. When you do, indent the first line of each paragraph after the first.
- Can a direct appointment be changed? Although direct quotes should be reproduced verbatim, there are situations in which it is possible to make some changes. For example, it is allowed to change the first word or the punctuation mark from upper case to lower case so that the quote is well integrated into the text and makes grammatical sense.
- Shorten quotes: If you want to remove some unnecessary sentences, use an ellipsis leaving a space before and after. This indicates that something has been omitted. If the deleted includes a sentence break, add a period before the ellipsis.
- Clearer quotes: You may need to add a word or phrase so that the idea you write has better context. For example, you can change a pronoun to a noun. These types of changes must be enclosed in square brackets. This indicates that it is not part of the original source.
- Emphasize a word: Write it in italics and include the concept “emphasis added” in square brackets.
- Faulty citations: If the quote contains a spelling or grammatical error, point it out using the Latin word "sic." Write it in italics and in square brackets right after the error.
Some Tips on Citing APA Standards
While it's important to know how to cite apa standards, you should also keep the following in mind:
- Notice that the citations correspond to the bibliographical references. Each article cited must be included in the references, whether they are textual or paraphrased citations.
- Find the primary source. Sometimes it is very difficult to find it, but whenever you can, look for and cite the primary source of information. This will prevent you from misrepresenting the information because of a third party and your work being the citation of the citation… Yes, you can cite using secondary sources, but avoid it as much as possible.
- Use quotes sparingly. Do not cite too much (overquoting) because it is taken as an act of laziness by the author, who only wanted to bulk up his research by adding unnecessary citations. If you make few citations, you can incur subcitation and with it, plagiarism or self-plagiarism. When you investigate, it is necessary to turn to other sources. Do not hesitate to do it and make it known to the audience.