APA and Plagiarism Q&A Hour

Tuesday, July 26, 2016, 7 – 8 pm ET

Presenter – Amy Sexton with Julie Freydlin

Kaplan University Writing Center

Please click here to view this recorded workshop:

http://khe2.adobeconnect.com/p7m2zo6y2bo/

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APA and Plagiarism Q&A Hour

• Questions

• Answers

• Resources

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APA

Format + In-text Citations + References= APA

APA stands for American Psychological Association, which publishes The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, currently in the 6th edition. While APA style is used mostly in the social and behavioral sciences, it’s the default standard at Kaplan.

APA generally refers to three things: format (or the way a paper looks), in-text citations, and references (or the way the writer acknowledges the use of outside resources).

Certain information is important to some professions while that same information may be irrelevant to others; as a result, there are different style forms. This workshop will focus only on APA citation style, which is an author/date system. Why do you think the author and date are important elements to know in the social sciences?

Typically, readers within social science fields will want to know who is responsible for the information (the author) and how current the information is (the year). You may be asked to use a different style in one of your classes or in your profession. All styles are alike in that they dictate format, citations, and sometimes mechanics (like punctuation).

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How do I cite in APA Style?

• Include short citations in the text and longer, full citations on a References page

at the end of the paper

• In-text citations indicate which information you borrowed from outside sources

and which source you borrowed the information from

• Reference page citations provide bibliographic information so the reader can

access the source

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What do I have to cite?

Anything that is borrowed from an outside source must be cited. This includes

ideas from outside sources, such as paraphrases and summaries, words from

outside sources (direct quotations), statistics, and visuals, including pictures,

figures, and tables. Basically, if something did not come out of your own brain or is

not common knowledge, it must be cited.

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Why do I have to cite?

• To avoid plagiarism

• To give credit where credit is due

• To establish your own credibility

• To contribute to scholarly conversation and dialogue about a topic

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How do I cite a paraphrase?

• After each paraphrased sentence or within a signal phrase

• Cite by author’s or author’s last name and year, if available

• Examples

- Parenthetical citation: (Smith, 2015).

- Signal phrase: According to Smith (2015),

• Provide a corresponding reference

• Click here for more examples, including how to cite works with more than one

author.

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How do I cite a quote?

• . . . “quote” (Author, year, p. #) or (Author, year, para. #).

• According to Author (year), . . . “quote” (p. #).

• Author (year) states that . . . “quote” (p. #).

• Provide a corresponding reference. Note that you only need a reference for each

source that you used information from. You do not need to repeat references.

When quoting, you have to put quotation marks around the borrowed text and

identify the author’s last name, the publication year, and the page or paragraph

number. You can either include the author’s name as part of your text in a signal

phrase and then put the year and page in parenthetical citations, or you can follow

the quoted text with a parenthetical citation having all three required elements.

When quoting, it’s also important to make the quote part of a larger sentence. If you

just drop a quote into a paragraph, it’s as though someone just interrupted you. You

are talking, then someone else chimes in. That is not okay in your paper. You want

to lead into quotes, synthesizing them with your own ideas, and it’s a good practice

to follow quotes with at least a sentence that comments on or interprets the quote.

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In the last two examples on the slide, the author’s name is part of the sentence

structure. The year follows the author’s name in parentheses, and the page number

follows the quote in parentheses. Notice that there are quotation marks around the

borrowed text, and the period ends the sentence after the parenthetical citation to

enclose the citation in the sentence that it pertains to. Please also be sure to provide

a corresponding reference.

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What goes in an in-text citation?

• Paraphrase – Author and year

• Quotation – Author, year, page or paragraph number

• If no author is available, look for sponsoring organization (e.g., Center for

Disease Control)

• If no organization or institution is available, cite by title. Please note that if a title

of an article is included in the in-text citation, it should be placed in quotation

marks.

• If no date is given, use n.d. (no date).

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What goes in a reference?

• A reference generally includes the following information:

- Who wrote it? (author or organization)

- When was it written? (year or full date for

periodicals.

- What is it? (title of book or article)

- Where can the reader retrieve it or find it?

Read “The Generic Reference”.

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I put information into my own words. Do I need to cite it?

• Yes.

• Citation is necessary for not only words, but also ideas.

• If the information does not come from you own brain, it must be cited.

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How do I paraphrase?

Unintentional plagiarism often occurs when writers don’t paraphrase adequately.

Paraphrasing is a skill you have to develop with practice. To paraphrase, you take

something another author wrote and rewrite it in your own style taking your own

audience into consideration. This involves interpreting what the other author meant

so you can express the same idea in your own words.

Just replacing the words with synonyms is not enough; in fact, that is plagiarism.

You have to use your own sentence structure too. Your paraphrase will usually be

longer than the original since you had to unpack the original wording to get to its

meaning.

In academic writing, paraphrasing is more common than quoting and more

important because it shows your understanding of what you’ve read. It takes critical

thinking to paraphrase. Since you are still borrowing someone’s idea, however, you

have to let your readers know where that idea came from by citing it.

For more information, view the video tutorial, A Quick Guide to Paraphrasing.

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How do I cite this web page, report, book, .pdf file, etc.?

• Use Cross-Referencing

• To know how to cite, you need to know how to cross-reference: taking your

source, a journal article, for instance, and looking up in your style guide how to

cite a journal article—what elements to include in the citation and in what order to

put them. The style guide will also indicate the capitalization, font, and

punctuation rules to follow.

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How do I cite a secondary source?

• When you use a secondary source, follow this guideline:

- Smith’s report (as cited in Bragdon, 2010) stated, “obesity research

indicates people need to drink more water" (p. 223).

You have read Bragdon’s work, and Bragdon quoted Smith.

A secondary source is one that contains information or words from another source.

When you borrow from a secondary source, you must use the As Cited In format. If,

for example, you use a quotation that was quoted in someone else’s work, your in-

text citation will look like the one in the example. You identify the author of the quote

but cite the source where you accessed that quote.

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I have an entire paragraph that I paraphrased. Can I just include a citation at

the end of the paragraph?

• Every sentence borrowed from an outside source must be cited.

• Use a combination of signal phrases and parenthetical citations.

• See APA Style Blog article, “Citing Paraphrased Material in APA Style”

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How do I do a references page?

• Center the word References at top of page.

• Alphabetize references.

• Use a hanging indent for each reference.

• Watch Reference Page video tutorial.

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What is APA formatting? • Headers • One-inch margins • Standard 12-point font • Double-spacing • Title, discussion, and reference list pages If you have ever wondered why formatting matters, it’s really quite simple: writers want to make reading easy for their readers. These general guidelines, which apply to all three parts of an APA paper, make reading easy. A header appears at the top of every page to identify the paper’s title and page number. In a moment, we will look at APA headers. Margins of one inch on all four sides provide enough white space for reading and printing. Microsoft Word generally is pre-set for these margins, so you do not have to adjust them (unless you have an old version of the program). Research has shown that left-aligned text standard font in 12-point size is generally the easiest to read. Times New Roman and Arial are standard fonts and often preferred or required by an assignment. To double-space text correctly throughout your composition, go to the Paragraph menu and select Double under Line Spacing. Do this when you create the document, as creating format is much easier before word-processing than it is after completing your work. The title, discussion, and reference pages follow certain guidelines as explained in following slides.

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How do I make a title page?

• Header should appear as follows: Running head: TITLE OF PAPER on the left and the

page number on the right

• Use MS Word’s “Header” feature to insert header

• From top of page, click “Enter” about 7 times and type title of paper, your name, and

school affiliation

The header runs along the top, spanning the width of the page. On the title page, it includes

Running head: TITLE OF PAPER (in all caps) at the left and the page number at the right.

The header is made with Microsoft Word’s special tool that will automatically place it

correctly on the page. This tutorial demonstrates how to create a correct APA title page: title

page video. We recommend watching the video several times and pausing it as you work

through each of the steps. If you are not able to create a correctly formatted headers, page

numbers, and title page, ensure that you have selected “Different first page” and that you

are inserting a page break at the bottom of the title page. Missing either of these steps may

cause issues. Also, if you are not able to format the headers and title page correctly, do not

stress; instead send a question to the Writing Center. We are happy to help!

Just above the middle of the page, word-process the composition title (follow standard

capitalization rules), the author’s name, and the university name.

If a professor asks you to add information, for example the name of the course, make sure

you follow those directions even if they contradict APA standard style.

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Do I need headings in my paper?

• Headings are rarely used in short papers.

• If you are required to use headings and subheadings in APA style, follow the

directions in the Headings in APA Style tutorial (unless your instructor asks

otherwise).

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What is plagiarism?

The Plagiarism Clarification section of the KU Academic Integrity Policy defines

plagiarism as the theft and use of another’s words, ideas, results, or images without

giving appropriate credit to that person, therefore giving the impression that it is

your own work. Access the KU Academic Integrity Policy here:

http://catalog.kaplanuniversity.edu/Academic_Integrity_Policy.aspx.

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How do I ensure that I do not plagiarize in my writing?

• Cite any information that did not come from your brain.

• Check that every citation has a matching reference and vice versa.

• Paraphrase effectively.

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How can the Writing Center help me avoid plagiarism?

• Paper Review and Q&A

• Live Tutoring

• Citation Guidelines (APA and more!)

• Writing Workshops

While the Writing Center is not a plagiarism detection service, we can help you

avoid plagiarism in your writing! We often are able to discern possible issues with

plagiarism when you submit your work for a paper review, as we look for missing

citations and wording that seems different in style then the rest of the paper. Either

of these issues may indicate that there are possible issues with plagiarism. You can

also visit us during live tutoring, where you and a tutor can discuss plagiarism

issues in a 20-30 minute tutoring session. See the Citation Guidelines section of

our Writing Reference Library for examples of how to cite and reference common

sources and tools for avoiding plagiarism. Finally, each month the Writing Center

offers free live workshops on APA and plagiarism, as well as other writing topics. All

workshops are recorded, and links to the presentations and recordings are archived

on the Writing Workshops page.

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How can the Writing Center help me learn APA?

Come explore the awesome tutorials we have to help you learn APA.

• APA Demystified

• Common Citations in APA Format

• Basic Citation Guidelines

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Come visit the Academic Support Center. We can be found under the My Studies

tab, then under Academic Support Center.

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On the main Academic Support Center page, you will see the links to each center’s

services and resources. Please update the text below to reflect your center’s

services.

For the Writing Center, these include Live Tutoring, Paper Review Service, the

Writing Reference Library, Citation Guidelines, Workshops, English Language

Learner, and Fundamental writing help. Notice, you can access the Kaplan Guide to

Successful Writing on the right hand side in both print and audio form.

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Amy Sexton, Tutor, Workshops

Workshops are recorded and recording links, with an accompanying PowerPoint, are posted on the Writing Center Workshops page after the workshop.

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