COM498m: Special Topics: Mobile Technologies and Culture
Citing Books and Articles using APA Style
As a writer you should acknowledge the persons whose works you have
consulted in your research. First, it's simply the courteous thing to do.
But more importantly, giving credit to authors, whose material you incorporate
into your composition, demonstrates that you are not stealing their ideas, an
unprofessional practice called plagiarism.
There are a number of ways - styles - to cite material when you include
other persons' ideas in your papers. Communications researchers use the APA
(American Psychological Association) style of citation. APA style lists
sources in two locations, a list of sources at the end of the paper, and "in-
text" references. Here are a few basic examples of APA style:
Citing a Book
Format:
Author's last name, first and middle
initials. (Date of publication in parentheses).
Title of the book in italics. City of publication: Name
of publisher.
Bibliography example:
Katz, J. E. (2006).
Magic in the air : mobile communication and the transformation of social
life. New Brunswick, N.J. : Transaction Publishers.
In-text example:
Katz (2006) made insightful statements about the "choreography of mobile
communications in public spaces."
Citing a Journal Article
Format:
Author's last name, first and middle
initials. (Date
of publication in parenthesis). Title of article - no quotation
marks. Title of the periodical in italics, volume(issue
number), page numbers.
Bibliography example:
Licoppe, C. & Smoreda, Z.
(2006). Are Social Networks Technologically Embedded? How Networks
Are Changing Today with Changes in Communication Technology.
Social Networks, 27(4), 317-335.
The NCSU Libraries Lobo tutorial contains a section on Citing your sources that discusses both APA and
MLA (Modern Language Association) styles. It also has a Citation builder that
asks you to type in data elements, such as author, title, publisher, and then
responds with a formatted reference.
Among the Libraries' web pages you'll also find a Writing Resources
Subject Guide with links to a number of resources describing how to document
your sources.
Librarian Contact Information
|
