Avoiding plagiarism 2: Identifying sources correctly

In Avoiding plagiarism 1, we looked at rules for using sources. The fourth of these was: " Whether you quote, summarize, paraphrasing, or even just briefly mention something you have found in a source, you must mention the source in a particular way." Here we will look at this "particular way". To be truthful, there is more than one way in which sources can be mentioned, but here we will make things simple by only looking at
a) a modified form of the way that is normally used in the social sciences, including economics (known as
the APA style),
b) straightforward examples of the way in which sources are given at the end of a report

c) (Jokyu and BC students only) how to give the source of i) something you have quoted, summarized or paraphrased, or ii) the source of information or theories that you have used.

(BC students: For an alternative explanation of APA style, see this handout, from Armstrong Atlantic State University.)

At the end of your report, you should list the books, articles, websites etc. that you have used for your research. You do not need to include dictionaries or encyclopedias if you have only used them to find information that is generally available, such as the meaning of a word or someone's full name and date of birth.

1. The list should be given the heading " References", and the entries should be given in alphabetical order of author, or title if there is no author.

2. Newspaper articles should be given like this:

Author's family name, first name(s). (Year, month day). Title of article. Name of Newspaper.

For example:
Ballhatchet, Helen (1991, April 5). When I joined Keio. Ballhatchet Times.

Keio, Taro. (2010, May 31). Kore kara no sokeisen. Heren shinbun.

(If you do not know the author of the article, put the title first instead:

I joined Keio. (1991, April 5). Ballhatchet Times.

3. Books should be given like this:

Author's family name, first name(s). (Year). Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher.

For example:
Ballhatchet, Helen. (2010) The book that was never published. London: X University Press.

4. Internet sites are a little more complicated. You should always give the url and the date when you looked at the site like this:

Retrieved Month Day, Year, from http://...

a) If you have used an online newspaper:

Author's family name, first name(s). (Year, month day). Title of article. Name of Newspaper. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from http://...

For example:

Ballhatchet, Helen. (1991, April 5). When I joined Keio. Ballhatchet Times. Retrieved May 31, 2010, from http://...

If there is no author, put the title first instead:

Kore kara no sokeisen. (2010, May 31). Heren shinbun. Retrieved June 4, 2010, from http://...

b) If you have used the page of a website:

Title of the page. The individual or organisation responsible for the site. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from http://...

BUT Jokyu and BC students should look here too.

Giving the source of a quotation, or of something that you have paraphrased or summarized:

In fact, this is very simple: After the last word of the quotation, you should add the following (in brackets): author's family name, date of publication, p. 000.)

There are examples of both short and long quotations in the handout from Armstrong Atlantic State University mentioned above.

Note: Jokyu and BC students should also do this whenever they use information, such as statistics, that they have found in a source. For examples, see the bottom of this page, from Purdue University. You will find further examples in this sample APA research paper from Diana Hacker and Barbara Fister's Research and Documentation Online, 5th Edition