Citations

1
Citations

• Why we need them in academic papers
• Part of the process of building on other peoples
  work peer-review
• To follow up (interested want to know more)
• To verify (curious, skeptical about finding,
  skeptical about accuracy of paraphrase)
• High concentrations of exogenous dopamine has
  been proven to restore the sensitivity of D2
  receptors to normal (Seeman, Guan and Van Tol,
  1993) my reaction was Really?? The reference
  allowed me to check
• To know to whom to attribute a finding or
  conclusion (we reject statements such as Its
  widely known its been established)
• In fact, in academic writing, very little
  accepted on authority or as common knowledge

2

• Example from Introductory section of recent
  article on advances is diagnosis of Alzheimers
  Disease (Ikonomovic, Klunk, Abrahamson, Mathis,
  Price, Tsopelas et al., 2008)
• Clinically symptomatic Alzheimers disease can
  be diagnosed with high accuracy at academic
  centres (Lopez et al., 2000a), but diagnosis in
  the community is less accurate (Pearl, 1997).
  Non-Alzheimers disease dementia cases are not
  infrequently misdiagnosed as Alzheimers disease
  (Mayeux et al., 1998)
• These authors have expertise in field of
  Alzheimers diagnosis, yet..
• Implication gtgtgtgt

3

• If you state Marijuana is the most widely used
  psychoactive drug among todays youth.
• Whats your source? Why should we have confidence
  in that statement Something youve assumed or
  stating because you heard it somewhere? Q. is
  where?
• In fact, not true

4
Examples of unattributed statements from student
papers

• A lot of the stress causing panic attacks is
  sub-conscious. A person doesnt realize their own
  thoughts
• aside from poor phrasing and grammaticity older
  view not widely believed Id like to know
  source- what led student to this belief? Was it
  an appropriate reference?
• Cocaine is another kind of strong drug how
  defined?. It is more powerful than marijuana.
  by what criterion? Reference?

5
Examples from student papers where having proper
citation was useful/important

• .

6
In-text (within-text) citations

• These are the brief references to sources that
  appear in the body of the text
• In APA format, they provide just enough info to
  unambiguously lead reader to the full reference
  in the bibliography
• To learn where theyre used, and how they vary,
  carefully examine an article done in APA format
• e.g., see Michael Bozarths article in Reader (p.
  51-58), Pleasure systems in the brain
• Then consult an APA within-text citation guide as
  needed (see link on my Brain Behavior
  homepage)

7

• Dont remember where its permissible to use et
  al.? look it up!
• Quick summary
• In text Up to 5 authors- name all 1st time give
  just lead authors name followed by et al. if
  you cite again.
• More than 5 authors Use the lead author et
  al. format from the start
• In bibliography Up to 6 authors Name all of
  them (dont mimic ProQuest format!)
• More than 6 authors List 1st 6, followed by et
  al.

8
Is APA-style the correct format

• Whats wrong with superscripts endnotes?
• Why isnt naming the first 4 authors of a
  multi-author article good enough? (ProQuest does
  it- surely theyre not wrong!
• Not wrong simply different formats
• There are good reasons to use a consistent format
• Why APA?
• Because we have decreed it!
• Truly, because most widely used in psychology and
  social sciences

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The need for a consistent citations format

• Information you need for citing a reference may
  come from variety of sources
• notes you wrote on scrap of paper when reading
  article onscreen or a book
• printout of an article located through ProQuest
  or PubMed
• article reprinted in the course Reader
• The formats in which the bibliographic
  information appears may differ from source to
  source gtgt

10

• Typical Proquest citation info
• An examination of the role that intercollegiate
  athletic participation plays in academic
  achievement Maloney, Michael T, McCormick,
  Robert E., Kinsbourne, Barry J. The Journal of
  Human Resources. Madison Summer 1993. Vol. 28,
  Iss. 3 p. 555 (16 pages)
• How this should appear in APA format (academic
  journal reference)
• Maloney, M.T., McCormick, R.E. Kinsbourne, B.J.
  (1993). An examination of the role that
  intercollegiate athletic participation plays in
  academic achievement. The Journal of Human
  Resources, 28 (3), 555-570.

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gtgtgt general problem

• Many students copy information blindly
• Dont include information just because you have
  it (e.g. ProQuest lists it).
• e.g., Proquest lists location of publisher of
  academic journal- but you dont need (shouldnt
  use) this info for article citation
• Learn the APA requirements for the type of source
  youre citing
• Note they differ for academic journals,
  magazines, books, web documents, etc.
• Pull out just the info you need look up anything
  thats missing (in the article itself!)
• translate where necessary

12
APA citations Common misunderstandings, common
errors

• A journal article found in an online database or
  on a website requires the same information as for
  the original
• PLUS retrieved from statement

13

• A very common error
• Copeland, J. (2005). Cannabis-related problems
  and their management. Retrieved March 9, 2006
  from Proquest database
• Whats missing?
• The name of the journal (and volume number and
  page references)
• Why its important discuss
• Gives reader quick info about the source gtgt
  establishes reliability (and appropriateness)

14

• The proper reference
• Copeland, J. (2005). Cannabis-related problems
  and their management. Drugs and Alcohol Today, 5,
  20-25. Retrieved March 9, 2006 from Proquest
  database
• What this info told me
• Not a peer-reviewed journal
• Quite unreliable
• The retrieved from statement supplies
  supplemental information. Purpose
• May help reader access article
• To resolve possible issues where online version
  differs from print version

15

• An even worse example of a bibliography citation
• http//bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/reprint/183/3/
• (this was the entire citation!)

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Another common error

• Arnold, P.D. Richter, P.A. (2001, November).
  Is obsessive-compulsive disorder an autoimmune
  disease? Journal of the Canadian Medical
  Association, 165 (10), 1353-1358.
• Whats the problem here?
• In APA format, you dont include the month for
  academic/scientific journals
• Picky-picky?
• Not really Its an important clue as to nature
  of source e.g., would be used for magazine like
  Discover

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As previously noted

• Dont copy information blindly
• Establish the nature of your source (journal
  article article in multi-author book with
  editor anonymous online article, etc.
• Review the APA requirements for the type of
  source youre citing (Learn the most common
  ones!)
• Note they differ for academic journals,
  magazines, books, web documents, etc.
• From the information at hand, pull out just the
  info you need, look up anything missing.

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• Tip Always use the .pdf version of of an article
  if available
• More accurate representation of the original
• Can get the publication info from the article
  title and header/footers
• Tip Proquests APA formatted citations are NOT
  READY FOR PRIME TIME! Many errors.