Ready, Set, Cite (APA, 7th)

In October 2019, the American Psychological Association made radical changes its style, especially with regard to the format and citation rules for students writing academic papers. Use this guide to learn how to format and cite your papers using APA Style, 7th edition.

You can start by viewing the video tutorial.

 

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When you write a research paper, you use information and facts from a variety of resources to support your own ideas or to help you develop new ones. Books, articles, videos, interviews, and Web sites are some examples of sources you might use. Citing these sources of information in your work is essential because:

• It gives credit to the author of the original work who provided you with the information or idea
• It allows your audience to identify and find the source material in order to learn more about your topic
• It gives your paper more credibility because it shows you're supporting your arguments with high-quality sources and it also helps earn your readers' trust because you're telling your readers the source of your facts so that they can confirm them for themselves
• It helps you avoid plagiarism

Whenever you use a citation style (ANY citation style!) you will be governed by that style in three ways:

1. The general format of the paper. This includes margins, font, page numbers, line spacing, titles, headings, etc.
    
2. The bibliography. The bibliography is the cumulative list of all sources used in your research. In APA, this is called the References list. How do you cite a printed book vs. a book found on a database vs. a book found on the Web? 
    
3. In-text citation. Citing sources within the body of your paper let's your reader know you are incorporating someone else's words/research/ideas.