Critical Qualitative/Quantitative Inquiry Lab (C-QuIL)

Finding a balance between undercitation and overcitation is imperative for publishing an article that is useful and accessible to your readers yet pays credit where due to others' ideas and research. Not providing a citation can lead to plagiarism, even self-plagiarism. Providing too many citations can disrupt the flow of your prose and cause challenges for readers using accessibility tools.

Below are some general guidelines when using sources in your paper:

• As a general rule, you should cite more primary than secondary sources. Acknowledge secondary sources when used in the text and/or citation ("as cited in").
• Be careful when reprinting or adapting tables, figures, or images; reprinting long quotations; or including copyrighted test items. You do not want to use tools out of their proper context or run into copyright issues.
• Double check that your in-text citations match your reference list exactly. However, there are some exceptions:
  • Personal communications do not need reference list entries, only in-text citations.
  • General mentions of whole websites or periodicals, common software, or apps need no in-text citation or reference list entry.
  • The source of your epigraph (should you choose to use one) is usually not included on the reference list.
  • Quotes from your research participants can be discussed in your paper without in-text citations or reference listings.
  • If you are conducting a meta-analysis, your references may or may not be cited in the text but will appear on the reference list with an asterisk (*) before each entry.
• Follow special guidelines for citing the following special sources:
  • interviews
  • personal communication
  • classroom or Canvas resources
  • traditional knowledge/oral traditions of Indigenous Peoples

APA in-text citations follow the author-date system. Be sure to include a mix of parenthetical and narrative citations.

See the APA guide for examples and special cases when dealing with in-text citations. Use the In-Text Citation Checklist before submitting your paper to ensure you've followed all APA guidelines.

Below are general guidelines for in-text citations:

• Include the author's surname but not suffixes, such as Jr.
• Use only the year for the date, even if you know the month and day of publication.
• If the source does not have a date, use n.d.
• If the source is not yet published, use in press.
• If your source is a draft of a manuscript, use the date for when the draft was written, not the date it was or will be published.
• When citing multiple works in a parenthetical citation, put them in alphabetical order and separate them with a semicolon.
• When citing multiple works in a narrative citation, they can come in any order.
• If you are citing specific parts of a source, add information about that specific part after the date.
• If your source has been translated, reprinted, republished, or reissued, it may have more than one date. In that case, separate the years with a slash (/) and include the earlier one first.
• Follow APA's guidelines for paraphrasing and direct quotations.

When compiling your list of references, be accurate and consistent, following guidelines on the APA guide and below:

• Alphabetize your list by first author's last name. There should be a direct link between your in-text citation and its reference list entry.
• Double space your list, using no extra spaces between entries.
• Use a 0.5" hanging indentation. Your word processor's settings can be set up to do this for you automatically.
• Be precise when using punctuation within the entries. Punctuation groups information together.
  • Separate the 4 elements of a reference entry (author, date, title, and source) by including a period after each element.
  • Do NOT include a period after DOI or URL, as it could prevent access of the source.
  • Within elements of the reference, use commas or parentheses to separate items.
  • Include parentheses around dates.
• See information on the use of italics and quotation marks on the APA Style website.

APA Style tailors entries based on the type of source you are citing.

• See the APA Guide for examples of citations for books, book chapters, ebooks, the DSM manual, articles, web content, test instruments, data, guidelines, reports, and gray literature.
• See the APA Style website for guidance on missing reference information, database information in references, DOIs/URLs, archival sources, meta-analysis references, and other types of sources.
• See Ch. 11 of the APA manual  or The Bluebook for guidance on citing legal references.