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I am having such a difficult time understanding how to do citations in text. What does that mean?
ReplyDeleteHi Michele!
ReplyDeleteAn in-text citation is where you alert the reader that something you just wrote was taken from another source (either as a paraphrase or a direct quote). When you do this, you have to refer to the author, year, and, in the case of quotes, the page number of the resources you are taking this information from. This lets your reader know that they can check your reference page at the very end to see the full information about that resource. For instance, if you are paraphrasing from a source while writing your paper, you need to make sure to mention the author’s name (or if there is no author, the title of the source), and year. You can choose to do this at the end of the paraphrase in parenthesis, or you can do it within the sentence. Here is an example of both ways:
Paraphrase in sentence:
In her 2012 article about the Holocaust, Joan Smith mentions that the SS Officers often felt forced to participate in activities they knew were morally wrong.
Paraphrase in Parenthesis:
SS officers often felt forced to participate in activities they knew were morally wrong (Smith, 2012).
Now, if you were quoting, you would need to put quote marks around the information and make sure to include the last name, year, and page number. Here are a few ways to do this:
Joan Smith writes in her 2012 article about the Holocaust: “SS Officers who were interviewed stated that although they objected to the activities they were participating in, many felt they did not possess the ability to abstain due to pressure from high ranking officers” (p. 135).
“SS Officers who were interviewed stated that although they objected to the activities they were participating in, many felt they did not possess the ability to abstain due to pressure from high ranking officers” (Smith, 2012, p. 135).
So, you can see, there are many ways to do in-text citations, but you always have to have the same pieces there: Author, year, and page number for direct quotes (word for word), or Author and year for paraphrase (taking the main ideas and putting them in your own words).
Here is a link to the Harrison APA Guide on quoting and paraphrasing: http://harrison.libguides.com/content.php?pid=220764&sid=1837585
Also, you can use that same guide to look up examples of how to do in-text citations for various types of print and online resources.
Please let me know if you need additional assistance!