Citing sources is an essential part of the writing process for several reasons:
Welcome to APA Style
APA style was developed with the goal of implementing a set of guidelines for scientific writing, and is largely used in psychology, nursing, business and related fields. Very exciting!
We'll take a look at two important aspects of APA style:
In-text citations: The writer includes an abbreviated citation within the text of the paper.
Reference page: A more detailed citation list at the end of the paper that corresponds with the author's in-text citations.
APA uses the Author-date system for in-text citations, below are some examples:
One Author:
The water in Pittsburgh, PA was shown to have dangerously high levels of lead from 2010-2018 (Smith, 2018).
Research by Smith (2018) proved that there was high levels of lead in the Pittsburgh, PA water supply from 2010-2018.
Two Authors:
Luzerne County's juvenile court system incarcerated a much higher percentage of juveniles than the PA statewide average (Gomez & Williams, 2019).
According to Gomez and Williams (2019), Luzerne County's juvenile court system incarcerated a much higher percentage of juveniles the PA statewide average.
Three or more authors:
Global warming will make Phoenix, AZ uninhabitable by 2050 (Johnson et al., 2016).
Johnson et al. (2016) proved that global warming will make Phoenix, AZ uninhabitable by 2050.
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)-Using APA Format
Let's take a look at some examples from an APA reference list:
Example book with one author:
Author Last Name, First Initial. (publication year). Title of book. Publisher.
Slotkin, R. (1973). Regeneration through violence: The mythology of the American frontier, 1600-1860. Wesleyn University Press.
Example book with two authors:
Albarelli, D. & Gennari, J. (2018). Halloween: Celtic origins. Carnegie Mellon University Press.
Example Journal article:
Author Last Name, First Initial. (publication year). Title of article. Journal Title, Volume #(Issue #), page #s. DOI
Mckelvey, K. (2019). Silence is golden. Introvert Studies, 8(3), 200-207. https://doi.org./10.1039/is0001234
Some notes:
**If the citation goes onto more than one line, all subsequent lines need a hanging indent.
**Include the DOI if the article has one.**
**If the article does not have a DOI, and has a working URL (not from a library/academic database), then include that.
**If the article is from an academic database (Ebsco, JSTOR etc.) and has a DOI then include it. If it does not have a DOI then end the reference after the page numbers, don't include any database info.
Webpage from a website:
Author's Last Name, First Initial. (date of publication). Webpage title. Website Title. URL
Hedges, C. (2019, December 15). Hope lies in the streets. Truthdig. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/hope-lies-in-the-streets/
Some notes:
**When citing a webpage, use as specific a date as possible. This might just be the year, might be the year and month, or possibly the exact date.
**If the citation goes onto more than one line, all subsequent lines need a hanging indent.
Access the NCC Library's APA handout here:
Welcome to MLA Style
MLA style was created by the Modern Language Association as a set of publication rules, including research papers, in the humanities and liberal arts.
There are two distinct parts to MLA style:
You are required to cite sources that you have quoted, paraphrased, or taken information or ideas from both with in-text citations, and with an entry on the Works Cited page.
MLA Style utilizes the Author-page format for in-text citations, for example:
Example Author-page format for print sources:
Research has shown that credit card usage has trended upwards during the spring and summer months among American males (Smith 101).
Smith conducted research that showed higher trends of credit card usage among American males during the spring and summer months (101).
Example in-text citation for electronic sources:
Follow the same format for citing electronic sources in-text, use the author if known:
The Las Vegas mass shooter was a chess prodigy in high school. (Palast)
If no author is known, use the title/partial URL of the website for the citation. Do not put the full URL of the website in the text:
The Las Vegas mass shooter was a chess prodigy in high school (nbcnews.com)
**Listed above are a few basic examples of common in-text MLA Citations, below are links to some MLA citation guides that will provide further assistance:
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)-Using MLA format
Below are a few examples of entries for a Works Cited page in MLA style:
Example book (one author):
Author Last Name, Author First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.
McCarthy, Cormac. Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West. Vintage, 1992.
Example article from a print journal:
Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article". Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, Pages.
Jones, Pat. "Political Scandals". Journal of American Politics, vol. 15, no. 1, 2019, pp. 75-95.
Example article from an online database:
Boyle, Michael J. “The War on Terror.” International Affairs, vol. 84, no. 2, 2008, pp. 191–209. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25144761.
**Formatting note: if your citation has more than one line, all subsequent lines need a hanging indent**.
For additional assistance and examples on an MLA Works Cited page,the library recommends:
Access the NCC Library's MLA Handout here: