By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Describe the importance of citations
Construct In-Text Citations
Construct Works Cited / Bibliographies
Introduce the concept of citations and set the agenda for the lesson
Content: Watch the video “Why We Cite”
Discuss basics of Citations
Content: Watch the video “Citations in APA”
Practice: Introduce the activity
This is a whole class activity.
Pieces of the citation will be passed out to class members.
An article to be cited will be displayed.
The student with the next appropriate piece of the citation will affix it to the board.
The activity is completed when all pieces of the citation are affixed to the board in the proper location.
It’s important to cite your sources in order to give proper credit to other people’s research and ideas, as well as prove to people reading or watching your work that you’ve found quality sources of information for your own research.
You should cite your sources according to a documentation style guide. There are three major styles used in academic writing: APA, MLA, and Chicago.
Your professor will tell you which style to use for a particular class.
In the MLA and APA styles, you cite your sources twice: once in the body of your paper as you use a particular source of information, then at the end in your Work Cited or References section where you list all of the sources you used in your paper.
A reader uses this system by finding the partial citation in the body of your paper, and then referring to your Works Cited or References page for complete information about the source.
What goes into a Works Cited or References page? That’s a big question with a long answer. It will vary depending on the type of source and the style guide you are using.
Fortunately, the library has complete guides for MLA, APA, and Chicago styles. To find them, go to the library’s homepage at nhresearch.lonestar.edu, then click the appropriate style guide.
Let’s look at how to cite in the APA Style. You use an in-text citation where you use a quote or fact in the body of your paper.
According to current research, “30% of people won’t eat ice cream” (Hopwood, 2020, p. 42).
According to research, 70% of people eat ice cream (Hopwood, 2020, p. 42).
The in-text citation usually consists of the Author’s Last Name, comma, the Year of Publication, comma, and then page number that the quote or fact came from in parentheses followed by a period.
According to current research, “30% of people won’t eat ice cream” (Hopwood, 2020, p. 42).
If there’s no page number just include the last name of the author and the year of publication.
One study found that “people prefer Amy’s Ice Cream to Blue Bell” (Hoya, 2019).
Sometimes their maybe more than one author. If there are two, list them both. If there are more than two, list the first author followed by “et al.”
But another study found that Hoya’s methods were “illogical, irrational, and very unscientific” (McGittigan & Ramsey, 2021, p. 161).
A meta-analysis of current literature found that “standards for measuring ice cream preference are inconsistent” and “poorly conceived” (Puller et al., 2022, p.314).
Sometimes you may have no author. In that case, you would use the title of the book, article, or web page.
An independent study found that over 6 trillion gallons of ice cream are produced and consumed each day (“Ice Cream Consumption in America”, 1999, p. 2718).
If you state who you are quoting in introducing the quote or fact, you follow the authors name with the year of publication in parentheses, and at the end of the quote place the page number the quote is from in parentheses followed by a period.
Hoya (2021) rebuffed these claims stating that “[his] methods were based on sound, scientific procedures and protocols” (p. 186).
These are some of the most common ways to quote and cite in-text. For more examples, visit the library’s guide for APA In-Text Citations.
Now that you’ve completed the body of your report with in-text citation, it’s time to create the References page.
The References page list all works that you created in-text citations for in the body. Three of the most common works you will cite are articles from journals, articles from websites, and books.
Williams, J.
A citation entry for an article starts with the name of the author. Last Name, then First Initial, followed by a period. If the author list a middle name, include the middle initial.
Williams, J. (2003).
Next is the year of publication in parentheses, followed by a period.
Williams, J. (2003). Analysis of protocols in ice cream preference sampling.
Next is the article title followed by a period.
Williams, J. (2003). Analysis of protocols in ice cream preference sampling. Journal of ice cream research, 1(2), 5-7.
Next is the Title of the Journal followed by a comma, and then the volume number, then the issue number in parentheses followed by a comma, and then the page numbers followed by a period. The Journal Title and Volume number are italicized.
In APA citations, you must use sentence case for the title of articles and journals. In sentence case, capitalize only the first word in the title, the first word in of a subtitle, the first word after a colon, em dash, or end punctuation, and proper nouns. All other words are lowercase, even if they were capitalized in the original source.
Williams, J. (2003). Analysis of protocols in ice cream preference sampling. Journal of ice cream research, 1(2), 5-7. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0307.12314
If the article has a Document Object Identifier, or DOI, include it at the end of the citation.
Williams, J. (2003). Analysis of protocols in ice cream preference sampling. Journal of ice cream research, 1(2), 5-7.
If the article does not have a DOI and comes from a common academic database, like those found on the library website, do not include any information about the database the article came from.
Taylor, D., Gonzalez, T., Hopwood, M., Puller, D., & Hoya, B. (2017). The best vanilla ice cream: An exploratory study. Journal of ice cream research, 11(13), 19-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0307.12314
Sometimes an article may have more than one author. In an APA References list, you must list all of the authors of an article, Last Name and then First and Middle Initial.
Taylor, D., Gonzalez, T., Hopwood, M., Puller, D., & Hoya, B. (2017). The best vanilla ice cream: An exploratory study. Journal of ice cream research, 11(13), 19-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0307.12314
Taylor, D., Gonzalez, T., Hopwood, M., Puller, D., & Hoya, B. (2017). The best vanilla ice cream: An exploratory study. Journal of ice cream research, 11, 19-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0307.12314
Sometimes you may be missing an issue number or volume number. If that happens, just skip that element.
Taylor, D., Gonzalez, T., Hopwood, M., Puller, D., & Hoya, B. (2017). The best vanilla ice cream: An exploratory study. Journal of ice cream research, 11, 19-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0307.12314
Taylor, D., Gonzalez, T., Hopwood, M., Puller, D., & Hoya, B. (n.d.). The best vanilla ice cream: An exploratory study. journal of ice cream Research, 11, 19-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0307.12314
If you can’t find a publication year, then put “n.d.” in the parentheses.
Hopwood, M.
Citing a book starts the same way as with an article: last name, comma, first and middle initial of the author followed by a period.
Hopwood, M. (2010).
Next is the year of publication, in parentheses, follow by a period.
Hopwood, M. (2010). Almanac of North American house cats.
Next is the title of the book in italics followed by a period. For the title of the book, use sentence case. Capitalize only the first word in the title, the first word in of a subtitle, the first word after a colon, em dash, or end punctuation, and proper nouns.
Hopwood, M. (2010). Almanac of North American house cats. University Press.
And finally, the publisher of the book.
Hopwood, M. (2010). Almanac of North American house cats. University Press. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.370.6521.1147
If the book has a DOI, then include that at the end of the citation.
Hopwood, M.
Citing a web page starts the same way as a book or an article; start with the author’s last name, then First and Middle initials, followed by a period.
Lone Star College.
Many times, you won’t be able to find an author for a web page. In cases like this, you should try and determine an entity responsible for the creation of the web page and use that. This could be a corporation, non-profit organization, or government agency. If you are having trouble determining this, check the about page for the website or look for a copyright notice near the bottom of the page.
Lone Star College. (2022).
Next is the date of publication in parentheses, followed by a period.
Lone Star College. (2022). What breed can my tuxedo cat be?
And then the title of the web page in italics followed by a period. Because the title of this web page includes a punctuation mark, you do not need to include a period. Remember to use sentence case. Capitalize only the first word in the title, the first word in of a subtitle, the first word after a colon, em dash, or end punctuation, and proper nouns.
Lone Star College. (2022). What breed can my tuxedo cat be? The cat site.
Next is the name of the whole website, followed by a period.
Lone Star College. (2022). What breed can my tuxedo cat be? http:// thecatsite.com/c/what-breed-tuxedo-cat/
And finally, the link to the web page.
These are some basic examples of citing articles, books, and web pages, but you will encounter many that do not quite fit this format. For more examples of citing these and other sources, please visit nhresearch.lonestar.edu or ask a librarian for help. For all the ways to contact a librarian, visit nhresearch.lonestar.edu/Ask-A-Librarian/.
Now … let’s try your hand a citing!