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Citations

Purpose of citation

Proper citations are essential for :an author’s credibility.

Citations are important for :helping your readers.

Proper citation is :ethically important.

:x credibility

  • They demonstrate to readers that the author got their information from credible sources.
  • They convey the message, “I have nothing to hide. If you don’t trust my claims about these sources, you can go check them yourself.”
  • Lack of proper citations (including proper formatting) suggests that the author didn’t produce the paper with attention to detail and may be committing plagiarism.

:x help

  • Readers need a way to easily find the sources you are discussing so they can confirm whether they agree with your interpretation of those sources.
  • Readers doing research in the same area will want to be able to find your sources.
  • Readers often skim reference lists to quickly check if a paper references important and recent sources.

:x ethical

Scholars devote their professional lives to generating and disseminating ideas. Usually, they forego more lucrative careers do do so. The primary reward they receive is others publicly recognizing their ideas by citing them. Using someone’s ideas without crediting them is essentially stealing their labor. You should properly cite sources because it takes minimal effort and is the right thing to do.

When is citation required?

:x common

You don’t need to cite sources for common knowledge or obvious observations.

For example, this passage has unnecessary citations:

These games are based on player skill and performance (Grodal, 2003), focusing on how players experience and perform in the game. Fitness-related stimuli like obstacles and actions are aplenty. Not performing these actions well can result in failure to meet gameplay objectives, such as clearing a level or defeating a boss enemy. Failure often results in loss of life, energy, or game termination (Juul, 2009).

It is common knowledge that games often require skill and that failing in a videogame often results in losing a life.

:x class

You don’t need to cite any ideas I give you, in or out of class, in assignments submitted to me unless you are referencing something I published.

You do need to cite ideas from assigned readings or other sources.

:x others ideas

  • It doesn’t matter where you got the ideas (whether published, online, or personal communication).
  • It doesn’t matter whether you use the exact words of a source (quotation) or state the idea in your own words (paraphrase/summary). Read section 14.6 of The Craft of Research 🡕 for clarification and examples.

:x unintentional

Students often do not know when they must cite sources, but it is your responsibility to learn and to do it correctly.

The most common misconception: you only need to cite when quoting a source. Not true.

Do not make the following mistakes:

Also note that you must enter correct information into these tools or the output will have errors.

:x tools

Online citations cannot be trusted; they often have bad information or make mistakes. You MUST proofread your citations against the actual rules of your paper’s formatting style (in our course, APA), which are provided below. You are responsible for confirming that the citations are correct.

:x use

When I provide citations, I often deviate from proper format for course-related reasons, such as specifying a chapter in a book. Proper citations in a paper reference list don’t specify book chapters; you just cite the book as a whole. I also sometimes include page numbers to help you estimate reading time, even if they are not needed in a reference list.

:x copy

Students often have problems with the reference list when they copy and paste text into the list from other documents. This process often messes up their formatting. If you copy and paste citations, double-check your fonts (use only one), spacing, line breaks, italics, and other formatting elements.

How to cite sources for this course

There are two parts to citing sources:

  • citing sources in-text, within the assignment’s sentences
  • adding a reference list with full citation information at the end of the assignment

Reference list: use APA formatting

  • Assignments should format :the reference list only in accordance with American Psychological Association (APA) :formatting rules
  • Proper reference list formatting includes two elements, and you must check the rules for both:
    • formatting the reference list itself
    • formatting the individual entries on the list (i.e. the full citations)

:x url

When you include a URL in your citation, the purpose is to help the reader locate the correct, official version of the source. However, you might have found copies of publications in online repositories that don’t offer full citation information or the final version of a work. These links are also not well-maintained and may cease to work, unlike the official links.

To locate the correct citation URL for an article, search for the article title on the NUS library website. If you don’t find the article right away, search for the name of the journal the article appeared in on the NUS library website and click through to the journal webpage. Then use either the volume and issue number, the date, or the general search function to find your specific article. Use that link.

In-text citations

  • Parenthetical (in-text) citations should appear in the body of your text whenever you write information that came from a source. In-text citations include authors’ last names, the year that the source was published, and the page number where the cited information came from.
  • For in-text citations, the sentence period/full stop should always go after the last parentheses when the citation is at the end of the sentence.
  • The basic in-text citation format you should use is (Last Name, YEAR, page number), but there are exceptions, so follow additional rules based on these questions:
  • Of course, :exceptions exist.
  • For in-text citations, follow these guidelines rather than APA guidelines.

:x exceptions

There are lots of uncommon exceptions or additional rules for unusual situations (e.g., two authors with the same last name, two works with the same authors published in the same year, personal communication, indirect sources, etc.). Don’t try to guess the correct way to handle these; after confirming that these guidelines don’t answer your questions, proactively ask me how to do the citation. It is ok in these rare cases.

:x one author

Follow these examples:

  • (Alibali, 2019, 37) - for a source with one author
  • (Alibali & Moore, 2019, 37) - for a source with two authors
  • (Alibali et al., 2019, 37) - for a source with more than two authors

Note that in et al., nothing is capitalized, there’s a space between “et” and “al”, there’s no period after “et”, and there’s a period after “al”, regardless of any additional punctuation.

:x cite more

If there is only one source with the same author, then you include the year of the source only the first time you cite/mention the source, because the reader can use that first mention to clearly identify the source in your reference list. Example:

Alibali’s (2019) mixed-methods study found that children represent mathematical problems best on paper (20). Alibali concluded that computers should not be used to teach elementary math (31). (you don’t need the year in the second sentence)

If you have more than one source with the same author, then you need to include the year each time you mention the source, as the reader needs a way to know which of the sources by that same author you are referencing.

:x already

You don’t want to repeat citation information you’ve already presented in the same sentence. If you mention the author(s) in the sentence, don’t repeat the name(s) in the in-text citation. Put the year directly after the author’s name and put the page number in-text separately, after the cited information, usually at the end of the sentence. Examples:

Alibali’s (2019) mixed-methods study found that children represent mathematical problems best on paper (20).
In a case study of a 3rd-grade classroom, Zhang (2017) explored the implementation of a new curriculum (5).

:x whole

If you are citing a source as a whole, rather than a specific idea in the source, no page number is needed:

  • Researchers have studied how children represent mathematical problems (Alibali & Moore, 2019).

:x reference

APA has a LOT of guidelines about formatting papers that you should not follow in this course, including in-text citation, running headers, and title page. For those elements, follow the course guidelines about :formatting. Follow APA guidelines only for the reference list.

:x rules

You can review APA rules many places online, including here 🡕.

You can download a handout with APA formatting instructions here 🡕. The section about reference list formatting is section 7. Ignore other sections of the handout.

APA guidelines on citing book chapters is here 🡕

Citations and grading

  • Papers not using proper format for in-text citations and the reference list will incur a grade penalty.
  • I am happy to look at your citations in person.
  • :PLEASE do not send me your citations and ask me to check them for you unless you have an unusual situation that is not covered by the guidelines here (in which case it is ok).

:x email

I’m happy to provide guidence but I can’t be every student’s reference list copyeditor. I have provided very clear instructions, there is tons of additional guidance online, you can ask for help from librarians and writing tutors. You can do this. And again, do NOT trust software reference tools; if they worked well, I would tell you to use them, but they are not reliable.

Citations checklist

  • include in-text citations for paraphrasing AND quotations (not just quotes; should have at least a few in-text citations in almost every paragraph)
  • check reference list (hanging indents, spacing, etc.)
  • check items in reference list (APA style, correct italics, etc.)
  • check in-text citations using instructions above (names mentioned only as necessary, no “p.”, etc.)

Self-guided Quiz for in-text citation errors

Click :here to test yourself on in-text errors, and :here to test yourself on reference list errors.

:x in text

See if you can identify the problem before clicking the arrow to check the answer.

My paper aims to propose an alternative to De Backer's (2012) "eye-witness-I-witness" theory on PSRs. She does not dwell on the difference between fictional and non-fictional media characters, simply stating that while "readers often establish bonds with fictitious characters in books," "visuals play the most important role" in PSR formation.- problem: no page number citations
The MSB theory argues that "musicality" or the ability to create or perceive music was selected for because it promotes social bonding, accommodating increasing size and complexity of human social structures. In their article, social bonding is defined as the "formation, strengthening, and maintenance" of bonds with other individuals, bonds which form the basis of cooperative behavior. The definition that Savage et al. provide is broad, encompassing "bonding processes" and "their effects" (Savage et al., 2021, p. 2). Savage et al. argue that music is a bonding mechanism akin to grooming and gossiping as proposed by Dunbar (1993).- problem: author name repeated in in-text citation, year incorrectly included
According to Fredrickson in 1998, when hominids were transitioning to bipedalism around 4 million years ago, the environment that they lived in became more open and dispersed, with poorer-quality food eaten.- problem: year should be in parentheses, no page number provided
In "Origins of Music in Credible Signalling" (Mehr et. al. 2020), Mehr et. al. introduces a set of criteria to determine whether claims about the origins of music are complete claims.- problem: no need to mention author's name twice
Robin Dunbar discusses his view that music evolved to create and maintain social bonds in his 1991 paper "Functional Significance of Social Grooming in Primates" (Dunbar 1991).- problem: no need to mention author's name or paper year twice
One such theory is the sexual selection hypothesis, which proposes that musicality is the biological propensity that was shaped by sexual selection (Miller, G., 2000, 1). Studies supporting the sexual selection hypothesis have revealed that there is a positive correlation between perceived mate value and Musical Performance Quality (MPQ) during ovulation (Charlton, B.D., 2014, 4). Additionally, other studies have highlighted that musicality and MPQ suggest greater health, intelligence, social class, and parenting abilities, which improves mate value (Madison et al., 2018, 9).- problem: no need to put first initials on single-author in-text citations
The validity of these music universals were later confirmed by other evolutionary psychologists, like Savage et al. (2015) (1).- problem: year and page number should be in one set of parentheses, not two

:x ref quiz

See if you can identify the problem before clicking the arrow to check the answer.

Krakowiak, K.M. and Tsay-Vogel, M. (2013). What makes characters' bad behaviors acceptable? the effects of character motivation and outcome on perceptions, character liking, and moral disengagement. Mass Communication and Society, 16(2), pp. 179-199. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2012.690926- problem: no capital "T" in "The"
Bloom, C. (Ed.). (2020). The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic (p. 449). Palgrave Macmillan.- problem: should not include page number when citing a book
Clasen, M. (2014). Evil monsters in horror fiction: an evolutionary perspective on form and function. A history of evil in popular culture: What Hannibal Lecter, Stephen King and vampires reveal about America, 2, 39-47.- problems: citing a chapter for a single-author book, not sure what the "2" means before the page numbers, no publisher information

In-text citation: questions about style

If you have the basics down, you might be interested in :some advanced questions about writing style and citation.

:x advanced

“When citing a source, when should you mention the source author(s) name(s) in the sentence vs. in the parenthetical in-text citation?”

  • If you are discussing your source as a primary participant in an academic conversation, name them in the sentences. If the source is being cited just as an example of a type of research or as the source of a fact supporting your claim, then put the name(s) in the parenthetical citation.

“When citing a source, when should you mention contextual information (prominent linguist Stephen Pinker says…) about a source vs. just mentioning the name? (Stephen Pinker says…)”

  • This question must be answered on a case-by-case basis, considering your audience, where your essay is published, and the topic. Factors that are relevant in deciding whether to include contextual information (like the source’s employer or discipline) include:

    • Will your reader know the source or not? (if no, more likely you should provide context)
    • Is the source from outside academia? (if yes, more likely you should provide context)
    • Is the source from a discipline distant from the one you are writing in? (if yes, more likely you should provide context)
    • Does your article discuss several sources from distinct disciplines? (if yes, more likely you should provide context)

“When citing a source, when should you mention the source’s entire name vs. just the last name?”

  • Like the above question, this is case-by-case and different disciplines have different norms. Generally, if you are discussing few authors in your writing, you’re more likely to use first names.

“How often should you include in-text citations in one paragraph when explaining a source’s argument? Every sentence?”

  • For this course, err on the side of too much citation. In general, when citing, you must balance two guiding principles:

    • the reader should be able to easily understand the source of any idea in a sentence (the author’s vs. a source’s)
    • too much citation information in a sentence can interfere with the smooth flow of reading

  • In short, cite as infrequently as you can, but not so infrequently that there is ever any confusion as to the source of an idea.

“How to cite ideas from source B that you learned from source A telling you about something source B says?”

  • You must mention both sources in the sentence and cite source A in-text and in the reference list. The sentence might read something like, “According to Badcock, Sterenly argues that…(31)“.