APA Supplemental Resource Document PDF

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APA Supplemental Resource Guide It is imperative that APA style is used in completion of all tasks throughout the degree program. The use of proper APA style aligns with academic writing guidelines and ensures submitted work is supported with evidence-based and reliable resources. APA formatting also ensures proper credit is given to the authors and creators of the original content, which assists in avoidance of plagiarism in submitted work. The WGU Writing Center has an abundance of resources to assist with APA formatting and style. The information below may help guide you in some areas; however, for detailed guidance and discussion on APA, please contact the WGU Writing Center.

Example of Citations for WGU Resources How to Cite Sources: The Big Four General Information About Citing WGU Resources Paraphrasing and Citation Frequency Within a Paragraph Additional Resources to Assist with APA Formatting

Example of Citations for WGU Resources

How to Cite Sources: The Big Four Make sure every in-text citation has a corresponding reference page citation and vice versa. This generic pattern for source citations follows APA (6th ed.) format. There are four fundamental pieces of information to include in a reference citation within the References page: 

Author: Who created the source? This can be one author, a group of authors, or an organization.



Date: When was the source created? This is the publication date of your source. If you are unable to locate a date of publication, you should use the abbreviation “n.d.” for no date.

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Title: What is the name of the source material? This is the title of the webpage, article, image, etc. For a journal article, you should find both the title of the specific article and the title of the journal (along with the accompanying volume, issue, and page numbers).



Location: Where did you access the source? For an electronic resource, this is often the URL where the information is located. For an online journal article, this may often be a DOI number. When no DOI is available, include the article's full URL or the site's homepage URL, whichever takes you to the source more reliably. For a source you actually have in hand, cite the publication information.

Examples of sources within a reference list LoDolce, M. (2015). Food marketing to children: A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Retrieved from http://www.obesityaction.org/educationalresources/resource-articles-2/childhood-obesity-resource-articles/foodmarketing-to-children-a-wolf-in-sheeps-clothing Obesity Action Coalition. (n.d.). What is obesity? Retrieved from http://www.obesityaction.org/understanding-obesity/obesity

In-text citations 

Paraphrased source material: The in-text citation only includes the “who” (author) and “when” (date) from the corresponding reference page entry.



Quoted source material: The in-text citation still includes the “who” and “when,” but it must also include the location of the quote. Use the page number if the source is paginated or use the paragraph number if the source is not paginated.

Examples of in-text citations: The following examples correspond to the two reference page citations listed above: Example 1: Children are bombarded with food marketing in all aspects of their lives (LoDolce, 2015).

Example 2: According to the Obesity Action Coalition (n.d.), “obesity is classified as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or greater” (para. 1).

General Information About Citing WGU Learning Resources When including learning resource material in your references list, always use "Available from" instead of "Retrieved from" before the URL since accessing these materials requires a login. Include bracketed information to help readers understand that this is a unique format. Learning resource book Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey J. (2015). The systematic design of instruction (8th ed.) [Vitalsource learning resource]. Available from https://wgu.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781323022566/cfi/6/16!/4/2@0:0

The correlating in-text citation for a paraphrase from the source above is as follows. Dick, Carey, and Carey (2015) address current design processes used in face-to-face and Internet-based instruction.

Learning resource article Wilson, D. (2007). The Luther legacy. History Today, 57(5), 34-39. Available from https://lrps.wgu.edu/provision/8537463

The correlating in-text citation for a quotation from the source above is as follows. Martin Luther decisively impacted society as "an advocate of absolute monarchy, democracy, individual freedom, intellectual repression, nationalism, spirituality and secularism" (Wilson, 2007, para. 1).

**Note: Use the paragraph number (written as para.) when there are no page numbers.

Learning resource video World Wide Entertainment. (2007). The greats: Episode 6 [Video file]. Available from http://wguproxy.egloballibrary.com/login? user=true"url=http//whiv.alexanderstreet.com.wguproxy.egloballibrary.com/view/1 663874

The correlating in-text citation for a quotation from the source above is as follows. Despite the fact that Margaret Thatcher was nearly assassinated, "she refused to be intimidated and told [conference] attendees that all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism would fail" (World Wide Entertainment, 2007, 3:20).

**Note: To cite a direct quotation from an audiovisual source, use the timestamp at the point where the quotation begins in lieu of a page number (for example, 3:20).

Paraphrasing and Citation Frequency within a Paragraph You may already know that paraphrasing involves restating the ideas from outside sources in a “sufficiently different” way from the original. (For more details on how your words should be sufficiently different, see Modules 2.06-2.10 in the Writing Center’s Guide to Academic Writing.) However, did you know that paraphrased information must be cited? This can be accomplished with a signal phrase at the beginning of a sentence or an in-text citation at the end of the sentence to acknowledge the name of the author and the year of publication. (For more details on ways to document sources, see the Appendix: APA Formatting and Style in the Guide to Academic Writing.) Commonly, students are unsure of where to place the in-text citation and how frequently to provide the citation: 

Avoid using a signal phrase and/or in-text citation in every sentence

Example A: Smith (2016) argued that students should set boundaries when paraphrasing so that information belonging to other authors is properly acknowledged. Clear boundaries help readers identify authorship (Smith, 2016). Too many parenthetical citations can be distracting to the reader (Smith, 2016). According to Smith, there are more efficient ways to show the reader that information from the same source continues to be expressed (Smith, 2016). 

Avoid using an in-text citation only at the end of a paragraph.

Example B: Students should set boundaries when paraphrasing so that information belonging to other authors is properly acknowledged. Clear boundaries help readers identify authorship. Too many parenthetical citations can be distracting to the reader. There are more efficient ways to show the reader that information from the same source continues to be expressed (Smith, 2016). Example A is clunky and difficult to read. Example B gives the impression that only the last sentence was paraphrased from the source. This can lead to originality concerns. A solution to both examples is to use transition words and pronouns to indicate that the information is continuing from the same source.

Example C: Smith (2016) argued that students should set boundaries when paraphrasing so that information belonging to other authors is properly acknowledged. In addition, clear boundaries help readers identify authorship. He also stated that too many parenthetical citations can be distracting to the reader. As a result, there are more efficient ways to show the reader that information from the same source continues to be expressed (Smith, 2016). With fewer parenthetical citations, the paraphrase is easier to read, but it is still clear that all of the content comes from the same source.

Additional Resources to Assist with APA Formatting To assist with creating citations:  

APA Checklist…single page launching point to citation examples APA Appendix…general overview of APA formatting and citation

To assist with proofreading citations: 

APA Proofreading Guide… use to check citations for common errors

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