Oklahoma State University Writing Center

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Oklahoma State University Writing Center
The APA Style Using Citations and Quotations
Write On!
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The APA Style

• Using Outside Resources
• In-Text Citations
• Using Sources Activity

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Using Outside Resources
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Purpose of Quotes

• Accuracy You are unable to paraphrase or
  summarize the source material without changing
  the authors intent.
• Authority You may want to use a quote to lend
  expert authority for your assertion or to provide
  source material for analysis.
• Conciseness Your attempts to paraphrase or
  summarize are awkward or much longer than the
  source material.
• Unique Phrase You believe that the words of the
  author are memorable or remarkable because of
  their effectiveness or that they are the original
  product of the author.

NOTE Make sure that your use of the quote
demonstrates an understanding of the source
material. You want to avoid having a paper that
is a string of quotes with occasional input from
you.
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Incorporating References

• Direct Quotations must be identical to the
  original, using a narrow segment of the source.
  They must match the source document word for word
  and must be attributed to the original author.
• Paraphrasing involves putting a passage from
  source material into your own words. A paraphrase
  must also be attributed to the original source.
• Summarizing involves putting the main ideas into
  your own words, including only the main points.
  Once again, it is necessary to attribute
  summarized ideas to the original source.
  Summaries are significantly shorter than the
  original and take a broad overview of the source
  material.

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Direct Quotations

• What defines the need for a quote?
• A direct quote is used when the authors language
  is the best way to explain his ideas (the
  authors language is more concise, clearer, or
  more eloquent than any paraphrase could be).
• When should I use quotes?
• Quotations should be used carefully and
  sparingly. While paraphrasing and summarizing
  provide the opportunity to show your
  understanding of the source material, quoting may
  only show your ability to type it.

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Paraphrasing and Summary

• When should I paraphrase or summarize?
• You will want to paraphrase or summarize when the
  wording of the source is less important than the
  meaning of the source.
• The paraphrase and summary allow you to maintain
  continuity of style in your paper and show your
  mastery of source material.
• A paraphrase may be preferred to a summary
  because paraphrases are more detailed and
  specific.

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Reasons to Paraphrase

• To change the organization of ideas for emphasis
• You may have to change the organization of ideas
  in source material so that you can emphasize the
  points that are most related to your paper. Be
  faithful to the meaning of the source.
• To simplify the material
• You may have to simplify complex arguments,
  sentences, or vocabulary.
• To clarify the material
• You may have to clarify technical passages or
  specialized information into language that is
  appropriate for your audience.

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Notes

• Make sure you do not plagiarize. It must be clear
  from your paper that the ideas are the authors
  and the words are your own. Also, if you
  paraphrase, you are indicating that you will not
  use the authors language or language structure.
  Make sure that you do not use either.
• Cite appropriately. Be sure to include citation
  information in your paraphrase and at the end of
  your paper in your works cited.

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Notes, cont

• Explain the relevance of the authors thoughts to
  your own paper. Lead up to it with a transition
  or introduction and afterwards explain how it
  effects your ideas positively, negatively or
  provides additional things to consider.
• Be clear where your ideas (or language) end and
  where the outside ideas begin. Use attributive
  tags and transitions to help your audience
  understand which information is from the source
  and which information is yours.

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Using Quotations
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Dropped Quotations

• Using a drop quote means you include a
  quotation without any sort of introduction.
  Example

Various people associated with the university
admit that the pressures of athleticism have
caused a relaxation of standards. These gentry
often overlook the fact that a college should not
be interested in a fullback who is a half-wit
(Hutchins, 2007, page ). But this kind of
thinking is bad for the university and even worse
for the athletes.
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Dropped Quotations, cont.

• An example of the same sentences without using a
  drop quote is

Many university officials admit that the
pressures of athleticism have caused a relaxation
of standards. For instance, Robert Hutchins, a
former president of the University of Chicago,
asserts that a college should not be interested
in a fullback who is a half-wit (2007, page ).
However, this kind of attitude can be harmful to
the university and for the athletes themselves.
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How to Avoid Dropped Quotes

• 1. LEAD IN - Use attributive tags, phrases, or
  sentences to show a reader that the information
  was provided by a source and sometimes to tell
  them what the source was.
• 2. INCLUDE SOURCE AND CITATION - Make sure you
  include all relevant page information. If you are
  including information from more than one page,
  include citation information for each page after
  each separate piece of information.
• 3. LEAD OUT - Use transitions to make it clear
  that the outside source has ended and your
  analysis has begun. This is especially important
  when paraphrasing or summarizing.

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Lead In

• Dialogue tags can signal the use of source
  materials. You can try something as simple as
  John Doe says. To punctuate a dialogue tag,
  when the source is directly quoted, you typically
  use a comma.
• Shakespeare says, that time of year thou mayest
  in me behold (line 1).

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Lead In

• An introductory sentence like John Doe describes
  the Bolshevik Revolution is yet another option
  for introducing source material.
• These sentences will be punctuated with a colon.
• Example In The Power of Myth, a conversation
  about mythology, Joseph Campbell enlightens Bill
  Moyers about how a dream differs from a myth
  Oh, because a dream is a personal experience of
  that deep, dark ground that is the support of our
  conscious lives, and a myth is the societys
  dream. (p. 40).

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Lead Out

• The transition from the outside source to your
  analysis and incorporation of the outside source
  can be difficult.
• A Lead Out Transition can serve many purposes.
  Most importantly, it serves as an indication that
  your paraphrase or summary is complete and that
  your analysis will begin.
• Many transitional words and phrases are available
  to you. Which word or phrase you choose to use
  will depend upon what kind of commentary you need
  to provide.

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Lead Out - Transitioning

• You also can use a sentence without transitional
  words or phrases to signal that youve begun
  commenting on the source.
• Effective transitional sentences arise from the
  context of the paper, so offering some examples
  is difficult. The possibilities for transitional
  sentences are endless, but here are a few
  beginnings that you could try
• This research supports the idea that . . .
• This research points out an interesting problem .
  . .
• This idea seems to contradict previous evidence
  however, if we look more closely . .
• This study seems to be a fundamental one in the
  field in that . .

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In-Text Citations
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In-Text Citation When?

• quoting
• paraphrasing
• stating statistics, facts, or ideas obtained from
  that source

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When you Need to Cite

• When you use information gained through
  interviewing another person
• When you copy the exact words or a "unique
  phrase" from somewhere
• When you reprint any diagrams, illustrations,
  charts, and pictures
• When you use ideas that others have given you in
  conversations or over email
• When you are using or referring to somebody
  elses words or ideas from a magazine, book,
  newspaper, song, TV program, movie, Web page,
  computer program, letter, advertisement, or any
  other medium

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When you Dont Need to Cite

• When you are writing your own experiences, your
  own observations, your own insights, your own
  thoughts, your own conclusions about a subject
• When you are using "common knowledge" folklore,
  common sense observations, shared information
  within your field of study or cultural group
• When you are compiling generally accepted facts
• When you are writing up your own experimental
  results

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In-Text Citation Two types
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In-Text Citing Basic

• 2. Put authors last name and the year of
  publication of the sources in parentheses (also
  called parenthetical documentation)If the signal
  phrase does not name the author, put the author's
  last name in parentheses along with the page
  number.
• Most states do not keep adequate records on the
  number of times cell phones are a factor in
  accidents as of December 2000, only ten states
  were trying to keep such records (Sundeen, 2000).

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In-Text Citing Brief

• Author named in a signal phrase Introduce the
  material being cited with a signal phrase that
  includes the author's name. Using a signal
  phrase allows you to keep the parenthetical
  citation brief.
• Christine Haughney reports that shortly after
  Japan made it illegal to use a handheld phone
  while driving, "accidents caused by using the
  phones dropped by 75 percent" (2007, p. 8).
• The signal phrase"Christine Haughney reports
  that"names the author the parenthetical
  citation gives the year and the page number of
  the newspaper article in which the quoted words
  may be found.

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Remember, you can always visit us at the Writing
Center!
104 Morrill Hall Phone [phone] Email
writingcenter_at_okstate.edu Online appointments
www.rich15.com/osu/schedule/