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Sociology

Links to resources

Citing Sources & Referencing

Why cite your sources?

You must document the sources you used in order to give recognition to the original author. Whether paraphrasing or using direct quotes, ideas that are not your own must be cited.

How do I choose a style?

Your instructor will provide you with the preferred style for your course, or you may have the option to choose your preferred style. Ensure you remain consistent with style and formatting, and provide enough information for the reader to identify the work or cited material.

Get Citation Help

Confused by the different citation styles? This chart provides a side-by-side comparison of APA, MLA, and Chicago styles. To find a specific example, use the search function (Command + F for Mac, Control + F for PC)and type in the example you are looking for, such as, "Book," "Three or More Authors," "Journal Article," etc. This chart was created by Justin King Rademaekers. It is available from the OWL at Purdue website.

APA Style:

The APA manual is the official style guides published by the American Psychological Association. Copies of the manual are available in the Library and the Bookstore. APA is the reference system for psychology, business, and health disciplines.

 

In-text Citation (Generic Example)
Reference List Citation (Generic Example)
(Author(s), date) Surname, first initial. (date). Title. Source Title. Publication specific details.

Have you seen the online APA Citation tutorial?
 
OC Library APA Style Guide
  • Short guide to APA citation
  • Common examples & basic citation rules
  • Follows 2009 APA Publication Manual, 6th ed., 2nd printing
PDF version
  • For those using the online version of the Chicago manual of style, and who are taking sociology or geography courses, please refer to the Author-Date TAB in the Quick Guide.
Author-Date System: Reference items are listed alphabetically at the end of the research paper. In-text citations are noted in the body of the paper.
Chicago Style Guides
Other Online Chicago Sources

Most citation styles use an author-date citation format (ie. Smith, 2010). Follow the guidelines outlined by the style you are using.

Regardless of the resource you are citing, you will likely need an author, date, title, source, and specific format information (such as a volume number, page numbers, a URL, publisher, etc.).

The information required for your citation will depend on what you are citing (book, journal article, report, etc.) and the format (print, online).

Examples (APA Style)

Web page on a website:

Author. (date). Title. Retrieved from URL

National Geographic Society. (n.d.). Flying fish. Retrieved from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/flying-fish/#

In-text (in the body of your presentation)

(Author, year)

(National Geographic Society, n.d.)

Entire website:

National Geographic Society. (2013). National Geographic. Retrieved from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

In-text (in the body of your presentation)

"When citing an entire website or page, and not any document in particular on that website, it is sufficient to give the address of the site in the text (no reference list entry is needed)."

Examples:

  • National Geographic is an informative website for students (http://www.nationalgeographic.com).
  • President Obama often used Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/barackobama) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/barackobama) to keep citizens up to speed on his initiatives.

Online Encyclopedia Article:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Title of chapter or entry. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xxx–xxx). Retrieved from http://xxxxx

Title of entry. (year). In Title of reference work (xx ed., Vol. xx). Retrieved from http://xxxxx

  • If there are no page numbers, the chapter or entry title is sufficient.

Online Magazine Article:

Clay, R. A. (2008, June). Science vs. ideology: Psychologists fight back against the misuse of research. Monitor on Psychology, 39(6). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/

Blog post:

Laden, G. (2011, May 8). A history of childbirth and misconceptions about life expectancy [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2011/05/a_history_of_childbirth_and_mi.php

In-text (in the body of your presentation)

(Laden, 2011)

Entry in mobile application (app) reference work:

Diabetes. (2011). In Epocrates Essentials for iPhone (Version 3.14) [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from http://www.epocrates.com/products/iphone/index.html

Naproxen. (2010). In J. H. Deglin & A. H. Vallerand (Eds.), Davis’s Drug Guide for Nurses (12th ed.) [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from http://www.skyscape.com/estore/productdetail.aspx?productid=219

In-text (in the body of your presentation)

(“Diabetes,” 2011)

(“Naproxen,” 2010)

Archived entry in Wikipedia:

Flying fish. (2011, February 15). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Psychology&oldid=413979409

  • Many wikis, including Wikipedia, archive a version of a page every time a change is made. These archived versions have unique, permanent URLs that you can provide in the reference list. To access the URL of an archived version of a Wikipedia page, click “View history” and then click the date and time of the version you used. By providing the archived version of the page, you allow the reader to retrieve the exact source that you used.
In-text (in the body of your presentation)

(“Flying fish,” 2011).

Rules to consider (from the APA Guide to Electronic References):

  • Provide the specific date for content that is published more frequently (e.g., blog posts, online forum messages, social media updates); otherwise, provide the year only.
  • Do not italicize the titles of blog posts, online forum messages, comments, status updates, and so forth. Do italicize titles of reports and other documents that stand alone. If the distinction is unclear for a particular document (as may sometimes be the case when the organization of a site is itself unclear), authors should use their own judgment to decide whether to italicize. Err on the side of not italicizing.
  • Provide the specific date for content that is published more frequently (e.g., blog posts, online forum messages, social media updates); otherwise, provide the year only.
  • Do not italicize the titles of blog posts, online forum messages, comments, status updates, and so forth. Do italicize titles of reports and other documents that stand alone. If the distinction is unclear for a particular document (as may sometimes be the case when the organization of a site is itself unclear), authors should use their own judgment to decide whether to italicize. Err on the side of not italicizing.

Writing Annotated Bibliographies

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