APA Style: 7th Edition
In the UVA School of Education and Human Development, our preferred citation style is American Psychological Association (APA): 7th Edition. APA Style is used by writers in many disciplines around the world for concise, powerful, and persuasive scholarly communication.
Why do we care about citing as researchers? Proper citation is important, not only so we don't plagiarize, but because our work can help inform other researchers. When you write a paper or present your findings you are participating in the greater scholarly ecosystem. Think of it as a conversation, you want to keep it going! Just like when you refer a friend to great restaurants in your area, your paper or presentation refers other researchers to relevant research!
- APA Style Blog
Check out the APA Style Blog for an amazing compilation of reference examples, tutorials, and writing samples. This is the Librarian's preferred resource for learning how to cite in APA.
- Academic Writer Tutorial: Basics of Seventh Edition APA StyleFrom the APA Blog, this tutorial is designed for writers new to APA Style. Learn the basics of seventh edition APA Style, including paper elements, format, and organization; academic writing style; grammar and usage; bias-free language; mechanics of style; tables and figures; in-text citations, paraphrasing, and quotations; and reference list format and order.
- APA Blog WebinarsThe APA Blog's webinar page has a series of videos dedicated to guides on student writing, in-text citations, and creating references. Check out these videos that are great for beginners.
- APA "Cheat Sheet"Your Librarian highly recommends downloading this "cheat sheet" reference guide from the APA blog for citing journal articles, books, and edited book chapters. These are the most commonly used references.
Tips to Avoid Plagiarism
1. Understand why we cite and cite correctly. We cite to avoid taking credit for someone else's work, but we also cite to connect others in our community to great research! Think about when you have a friend visiting from out of town. You have recommendations on the best restaurants, bars, and trails. You want to give them specific names and locations, not just "that burger place" or "the trail near the high school." Specifics matter! The same goes with citations.
2. When in doubt, cite. If you're debating on whether you need to cite something, you should definitely cite it.
3. Check out these examples of plagiarism from Northern Illinois University. This site shows examples and how to fix them if you are accidentally doing the same.
4. Watch the video below to understand how to identify and avoid plagiarism.