Quick Summary: Why we Cite
- Citing is part of your academic duty to attribute words and ideas to their original source – simply giving credit where credit is due.
- It adds weight and credibility to your paper – you demonstrate that you are engaged in the relevant research material
- We cite to avoid plagiarism - Plagiarism means claiming the words, ideas, artistry, drawings, images or data of another person as if they were your own.
More Information
Academic Integrity at TMU (policies)
Quick Summary: What to Cite
1.The Golden Rule:
"Always cite other people's work, ideas and intellectual property"
2. This means anything that you read (in any format) and anything you see or hear (lectures, films etc).
3. When in doubt if its common knowledge or someone's idea - always cite it to be safe.
For more information
- Library Citation Research GuideFind help with: Why We Cite, APA, APA for Business, MLA, Chicago Manual of Style and Citation Managers.
- Perdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) APA guideA concise guide to citation.
Apa citation Style
Citing with APA
Like most citation styles, APA citation style is composed of two parts:
- In-text citation: identify within the text what ideas or facts have been paraphrased or quoted from another source
- bibliography: a list of all the cited sources, alphabetical by author's last name
Author-date method
APA uses the Author-date method for in-text citation. The author’s last name and date of resource, in brackets, are entered in the sentence using natural language Past or present perfect. EX:
- “Stevens (2014) noted...”
- “Farooqui (2016) has argued...”
If quoting directly, also include the page number EX:
- As Wong (1999) pointed out, “APA in-text citation is simple” (p. 276).
- The page number not required when paraphrasing
All cited sources should be in your reference list!
Bibliography
Your bibliography will contain a list of all the sources you cited within your paper, arranged alphabetically by author's last name. The format changes slightly based on the format:
- Books:
- Author, A.B. (YYYY). Title of work: Subtitle of work. Location: Publisher Schreiber, D., & Dollenmayer, D. B. (2014).
- EX: Susan Sontag: A biography. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press
- Articles with DOI:
- Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number, page range. doi:0000000/000000000000 Andrews, L. (2003).
- EX: Ansel adams. History of Photography, 27(1), 89-90. doi:10.1080/03087298.2003.10443216
- Articles, no DOI:
- Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number.
Retrieved fromhttp://www.journalhomepage.com/full/url/ - EX: Selinger, S. L. (2012). Unreliable narrations of three ansel adams photographs. Wallace Stevens Journal, 36(1), 138-138.
Retrieved fromhttp://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.lib.torontomu.ca/article/476713
- Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number.
NB: including "retrieved from" before the URL of the sources is no longer required in APA 7 ed.
Citing Social Media Sources
Citing Social Media
All sources that you quote, reference, or analyze must be cited in your text. This can include text from books and journal articles, but also photographs, videos, and social media posts. Here is a quick guide on how to cite a social media post using APA 7:
- Include the following in your reference:
- who (name and Instagram username)
- when (date posted)
- what (the caption, highlight title, or profile page title- first 20 words
- where (URL)
Example social media citation:
For a full review of citing social media see Section 10.15 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition.