How do I cite my sources using APA formatting?

Answer 1

If you are using Microsoft Word, it has a built in citation maker. You can change the style to APA, on the “Reference” tab. Clicking “Manage Sources” you can create your citations! The great thing about this is the Word will store all past citations entered into the system. When you are finished, just click on “Bibliography” and create you Reference page at the end of your document. Don’t forget to check if it is in the write format and you must know what goes into each category when entering in citation. Not all the blanks will need to have something put in place. When you in the reference maker, you can use the drop down menu to select what type of source it is, from an academic journal to a newspaper or website. Try your best to fill in the recommended fields! After you completed entering in your citation all you have to do is go to “Insert Citation” and you won’t have to put it in manually and it’ll track them!

Here’s a link for more in-depth information: https://www.bibliography.com/how-to/how-to-add-or-insert-citations-in-word-quickly/

Answer 2

Answer 3

authors name, date and page (if applicable): (Smith, 2016, p 34)

Answer 4

The short answer is that it depends on what type of source it is (website, book, interview, etc.). A great source of information can be found here: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html

Be careful with the citation generator. While helpful, it can have mistakes, and it depends on how accurate the information you put in is. However, the explanations they give are super helpful, and they're up to date with the most recent APA guidelines. I hope this helps!

Answer 5

Hi, this is a very broad question. But there are two main ways you need to cite your sources: in-text citations and bibliography citations. I will be going by the APA 7th edition because that is the most recent version, but it is important to check to see which kind of APA your teacher wants.

In-text citations

For in-text citations, you always need to include the author's last name and the date the material was written. For example, if the author's last name is Smith and the book you are using as a source was written in 2012, the citation would be (Smith, 2012). You put this citation at the end of the information you are using from that book. If you are paraphrasing, that is all the in-text citations you need. But, if you are directly quoting, you also need to add the page number/numbers at the end of the citation. So if you are pulling a quote from page 21, the citation would look like (Smith, 2012, p. 21). If you are pulling a quote from a range multiple pages (for example 21-22), it might look like (Smith, 2012, pp. 21-22). Always use p. for one page, pp. for multiple.

Reference list citations

Every in-text citation needs a bibliographical citation, also known as a reference list. This is the list of sources at the end of the paper. Bibliographies are typically in alphabetical order by the first part of the citation. This citation depends on what kind of material the source is. There are many different types of materials. For example: books, journals, newspapers, movies, etc. Nowadays, most people do not memorize the specific order for each citation type. It's a lot easier to simply look up "how to cite _____ in APA" and plug in the material type.

For example, to cite a book, you need to include:

Last name, Initials. (Year). Book title (Editor/translator initials, Last name, Ed. or Trans.) (Edition). Publisher.

To cite a journal article, you need to include:

Author’s Last Name, Initial(s). (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume(Issue), Pages. https://doi.org/DOI

Some good things to remember for the reference list:

1. You indent every line besides the first line in each citation. For example:
2. Fraga, K. (2021, October 18). Dolores Huerta has fought for civil rights for over 60

years-despite nearly being killed for it. All That's Interesting. Retrieved October 19, 2021

1. Italicize titles of journals, magazines, newspapers, and books
2. Some teachers/professors don't care if you include the doi for journal articles and website links for webpages. But always make sure to ask before you get rid of it

You can find citation machines online that are fairly accurate. Also, if you find a source through university libraries, there is usually the choice for the portal to create citations for you. Just be aware that these aren't always accurate 100% of the time. Purdue owl has really good breakdowns of all of the citation rules for APA for each different source, if you want to make the citations manually. Here is the link for that:

APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition) - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University