APA style integration of sources

1. American Psychological Association (APA) Style

2. Why do we quote sources?
Provides background information
Explains terms or concepts
Supports claim
Lends authority to argument
Counters objections
“Quoted material goes inside quotes”

3.  Introduce source with signal phrase and year.
 Follow material cited by a page number in
parenthesis.
 List the quoted material in a reference page at the
end of the report.
Asimov (2003) wrote, “Adam Sandler does not know
about water” (p. 45).
Note the past tense verb in APA.

4. Use brackets to insert your own words into quoted
material (in either style).
According to Hawking (2013), “It [the universe] no longer
seems to follow my former string theory” (p. 45).
To indicate a misspelling in the quote, insert [sic] with
brackets after the error.
(Latin: sic erat scriptum, "thus was it written“)

5. Avoid dropping quotes into the essay.
Some experts argue that water will be the catalyst for
the next world war. The quote said, “Countries
should act now to begin a network that will provide
support for countries who feel the effects of drought
first” (Smith, 2104, p. 45).

6. In good academic writing, writers introduce the
credentials of the source in the signal phrase.
U.S. EPA President Adam Sandler (2004) asserted,
“Countries should act now to begin a network that will
provide support for countries who feel the effects of
drought first” (p. 24).
In his bestseller How to Manage Anger, actor Mel Gibson
(2012) noted, “Anger was my real issue. Drinking was
only a coping mechanism” (p. 45).

7. Use commas to introduce a complete sentence.
Sandler (2004) asserted, “Countries should act now to
begin a network that will provide support for countries
who feel the effects of drought first” (p. 24).
In his bestseller How to Manage Anger, Gibson (2012)
noted, “Anger was my real issue. Drinking was only a
coping mechanism” (p. 45).

8. For quotations longer than 40 words, indent
the quotation five spaces, and double-space
within the quotation.
See handout for more
details.

9. When quoting clauses or phrases, they must flow
as a sentence. Note that there is no comma in the
examples.
Sandler (2004) noted that “a network [would] provide
support for countries who feel the effects of drought
first” (p. 24).
Gibson (2012) explained that “only when I drank
could I cope with the stress of stardom” (p. 45).

10. Author who has been previously named in a
signal phrase:
“Companies can monitor employees’ keystrokes without legal
penalty, but they may have to combat low morale as a result”
(Lane, 2006, p. 12).

11. Many Internet sources lack page numbers.
Introduce the adequate information in the signal
phrase:
APA:
As an online article in Science Daily indicates, “the
Internet ranked as the top choice among
employees for ways of wasting time on the job”
(Martinez, 2003, para. 4).

12. Kaster and Norton (2001) argued that “employee
monitoring is a dependable, capable, and very
affordable process of recording all employee activity
at work” (p. 2).
OR
According to the authors, “employee monitoring is a
dependable, capable, and very affordable process of
recording all employee activity at work” (Kaster &
Norton, 2011, p. 2).

13. A U.S. EPA survey (2001) noted,
“Employee monitoring is a dependable,
capable, and very affordable process of
recording all employee activity at work” (p.
2).

14. Indirect source:
According to actor Bill Murray, playing a
character who is masquerading as a zombie is
“about as much fun as playing an actual
zombie” (as cited in Coleman, 2013, p. 2).
Your original source, Coleman, is listed on your
reference page.

15. The ellipses:
According to Bill Murray, playing a character who is
masquerading as a zombie is “not only the highlight
of my career, but [. . .] about as much fun as playing
an actual zombie” (as cited in Coleman, 2013, p. 2).
This allows the writer to leave out the boring part.

16. Alphabetize just like in MLA style.
Use authors’ last names.
Use hanging indention.
Double space.

17. If no doi (digital object identifier), use the URL.
Howard, K. R. (2007). Childhood overweight: Parental perceptions and readiness for
change. The Journal of School Nursing, 23, 73-79. Retrieved from http://jsn. sage
pub.com/

19. References
Carr, N. (2010). The shallows: What the internet is doing to our brains.
New York: NY. W.W. Norton.

20. http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/res5e_ch09_s1-0001.html
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/03/
http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/index.aspx (free tutorial)
Frequently Asked Questions About APA Style®