Academic writing Workshop

Introduction

APA Format Sample paper

In-text Citation

Basic Citation, or Parenthetical Citation

Narrative Citation

Parenthetical Citation of Multiple Works

Parenthetical Citation of Multiple Ideas in One Sentence

More Complicated In-text Citation Cases

Exercise for in-text citation

Citations in Other Writing Styles

Paraphrase OR QUOTATION VS. plagiarism

ACADEMIC RHETORIC

How to write a literature review

Reference

work cited

Introduction

APA, or American Psychological Association, is said to be the most popular academic writing style in the social sciences. I have to admit that when I studied in universities, I only used the APA style. This webpage is being developed in tandem with my teaching practicum at Chatham University. I hope by the end of May, 2020, this webpage will be a popular one among APA style beginners.

APA Format Sample paper

APA Style Workshop.pptx

APA has just published its 7th edition, along with which it provides two sample papers. One is a student sample paper, the other a professional sample paper. Here below is the file. It is a good start for you to browse these files. source: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/sample-papers

The left slide is just a quick introduction to APA Style. It is very basic, but I would like to use this as the appetizer for the whole "APA dinner."

student-paper.docx

student-annotated.pdf

👆student sample paper👆

👆student sample paper (annotated) 👆

professional-paper.docx

professional-annotated.pdf

👆professional sample paper👆

👆professional sample paper (annotated)👆

In-text Citation

In academic reading, we often need to include ideas from previous papers that are related to our research. However, unlike what newspeople often do in news writing, citing scholars' ideas, conclusions, or arguments should follow a strict process: you not only explicitly point out whose idea(s) in which year(s) you are citing, but also list all the articles where these ideas come from at the end of your paper. Departing from these "academic social norms" may be considered as a sign of poor academic writing, and in some cases, even plagiarism.

How journalists cite ideas

In order to better understand citation, let us first take a look at how journalists do it in the news industry. They usually quote what other people say, like:

“There are some lenders that see there are problems on the horizon in terms of consumer performance or uncertainty [about] how long this [recovery] is going to go,” said David Shellenberger, vice president of scores and predictive analytics at FICO. “We definitely are finding pockets of greater risk.”

source:https://www.wsj.com/articles/fico-changes-could-lower-your-credit-score-11579780800

They also embed other people's words in their own sentences, with or without explicitly mentioning who say(s) it:

WASHINGTON—The State Department is adopting a new set of rules that will make it tougher for pregnant foreigners to visit the U.S. on tourist visas, an effort to prevent individuals from coming to the U.S. to give birth.

The new rules unveiled on Thursday, which take effect Friday, are aimed at cracking down on what the Trump administration calls “birth tourism.” They form another plank in the administration’s long-running effort to restrict access to the U.S., both to people looking to immigrate and others, particularly from certain countries, from visiting at all.

Under the U.S. Constitution, almost all babies born in the U.S. are granted U.S. citizenship.

source:https://www.wsj.com/articles/state-department-to-issue-rules-restricting-u-s-travel-for-pregnant-foreigners-11579790313

In the example above, birth tourism is quoted because it is a term coined not by the author but the president, Donald Trump.

The visa applicant must also prove that he or she "has the means and intent" to pay for the medical treatment and related expenses, according to the new rules.

source: https://apple.news/AXgkzUCi9Qwew59iGVQaYhQ

In the example above, "has the means and intent" is quoted because the author directly copies the idea from the new rules, as indicated later in the sentence.

Anyway, academic citation and quotation is similar to what these journalists do but is much stricter. Without further ado, let's see how those academic "geeks" cite.

How Academic guys cite ideas (APA Style)

Basic Citation, or Parenthetical Citation

First off, if you use the exact words of another scholar, you need to quote them using quotation marks. If you use your own words to highlight their ideas ( the process is also called paraphrasing), then no quotation mark is needed because you have the copyright of these words.

Second, you need to include the LAST NAME of the author and the year when this idea is published immediately after the idea, in the format of "(author, year)". If you use exact words of the idea, namely if you have to put quotation around the idea, you also need to tell us the page number in the format of "(author, year, page number)".

Examples for Basic Citation and Analysis

A majority of Americans experience stress in their daily lives (American Psychological Association, 2017).

2. Contemporary research supports the efficacy of guided imagery interventions for treating medical, psychiatric, and psychological disorders (Utay & Miller, 2006).

Name = Utay and Miller; the paper is written by two authors. We use "&" between the two authors; year = 2006
idea = the whole sentence
It is a paraphrase of the original idea; therefore, no quotation mark is needed.

3. Guided imagery and relaxation techniques have even been found to “reduce distress and allow the immune system to function more effectively” (Trakhtenberg, 2008, p. 850).

author = Trakhtenberg; year = 2008
idea = “reduce distress and allow the immune system to function more effectively.” Because this writer directly copies Trakhtenberg's words, it is fair for him to add quotation marks. I have also snapshotted Trakhtenberg's original paper below to help you understand these words do appear exactly as it is within the quotation mark.
page = 850
It uses the exact words (a direct quotation); therefore, quotation marks are needed.

Narrative Citation

As journalists often use in their reports, structures like "somebody says" are a more natural approach to cite ideas. In academic papers, we call it narrative citation because you are citing scholars' ideas while narrating what they did, thought, or reasoned.

Because you use their NAMES in your sentences, in this case, you only need to put the YEAR after their NAMES.

Examples for Narrative Citation

Lange (1982) underscored two such benefits by showing (a) the role of the group psychotherapy leader in facilitating reflection on the guided imagery experience, including difficulties and stuck points, and (b) the benefits achieved by social comparison of guided imagery experiences between group members.
For example, Ball et al. (2003) conducted guided imagery in a group psychotherapy format with 11 children (ages 5–18) experiencing recurrent abdominal pain. Children in the treatment group (n = 5) participated in four weekly group psychotherapy sessions where guided imagery techniques were implemented.
For example, Cohen and Fried (2007) examined the effect of group psychotherapy on 114 women diagnosed with breast cancer.

Parenthetical Citation of Multiple Works

(An idea shared by many papers)

If you find that an idea, be it an assumption, a conclusion, or a research method, appears in different papers, you can cite this idea only from the most prestigious author or source. But given the fact that there are many prestigious authors or sources in the field, academic guys tend to list them all in the Parenthetical Citation. It has the following benefits:

it shows you have done thorough background research;
it demonstrates that this idea is supported by many reliable sources;
it simply makes your paper longer.

In this case, you need to:

sort out the resources in the parenthesis by alphabetical order of their NAMES,
use semicolon(;) to separate them.

Example of Parenthetical Citation of Multiple Works

As a result, researchers have examined the psychometric properties of SETs and the possible impact of variables such as race, gender, age, course difficulty, and grading practices on average student ratings (Griffin et al., 2014; Nulty, 2008; Spooren et al., 2013). They have also examined how decision makers evaluate SET scores (Boysen, 2015a, 2015b; Boysen et al., 2014; Dewar, 2011). In the last 20 years, considerable attention has been directed toward the consequences of administering SETs online (Morrison, 2011; Stowell et al., 2012) because low response rates may have implications for how decision makers should interpret SETs.

NOTES:

The first citation - there are three papers that share this idea.
The second citation - there are four papers that share this idea, but two are from the same author, Boysen. So now you known if you cite two papers of the same author that happen to publish in the same year, you use a, b, c, etc. to distinguish them in the citation.
The third citation - only two papers.

The following example really leaves a reader an impression that this idea is "impeccable."

Institutions can expect lower response rates when they administer SETs online (Avery et al., 2006; Dommeyer et al., 2002; Morrison, 2011; Nulty, 2008; Reiner & Arnold, 2010; Stowell et al., 2012; Venette et al., 2010).

Parenthetical Citation of Multiple Ideas in One Sentence

Now let's make it a bit more complicated. You need to write one sentence with ideas from different papers. For example, you find that idea A is different from idea B. In this case, you need to add parenthetical citation immediately after the idea, namely,

I found idea A (author 1, year 1) is different from idea B (author 2, year 2).

Example

In addition, psychologists have documented various heuristics and biases that contribute to the misinterpretation of quantitative data (Gilovich et al., 2002), including SET scores (Boysen, 2015a, 2015b; Boysen et al., 2014).

idea 1 = misinterpretation of quantitative data is from (Gilovich et al., 2002)
idea 2 = SET scores is from (Boysen, 2015a, 2015b; Boysen et al., 2014)

More Complicated In-text Citation Cases

As for now, I have already explained the basic principles for citation. It turns out that as your paper includes more papers and more ideas from authors, more conflicts regarding citation will arise. For example,

What if two authors have the same LAST NAME? But their papers happen to be published in the same year?
What if the paper is written by twenty authors?

I believe when you are faced with these questions, you are already a seasoned academic writer. You will want to consult on the APA style official website: Click here or consult with the APA Citation Chart by Purdue OWL below. (My professor who has taught at CMU for 40 years says it is very helpful. )