APA Citation: Introduction

• VCC Style Guide to APA  (PDF)
• Getting Started with APA Style (UBC)
• APA Formatting and Style Guide (Purdue University)
• APA Sample Paper (Purdue University)
• APA Style (Douglas College)
• APA Style In-Text Citation guidelines

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association

Call Number: BF 76.7 P83 2020
Published: 2020

Find it at the VCC Library

This guide was inspired by Douglas College and Simmons University. 

Need help? Contact us by phone or email at libraryhelp@vcc.ca.

What is APA?

APA style is a writing style and formatting guide for academic documents. It was created by the American Psychological Association in response to a growing need for formalization in social sciences and is now also used widely within the fields of health, communications, business and more. In APA, you must "cite" sources that you have paraphrased, quoted, or otherwise used to write your research paper. APA style adds credibility and consistency to your writing and helps prevent plagiarism.

Why use APA?

There are three major reasons to cite your sources:

• To give credit for words or ideas belonging to another author. Failure to do this is plagiarism and can result in a failing grade and other negative consequences.
• So your instructor can verify your work. Your instructor should be able to take your citation and easily find the source you used. It is important that your citations be accurate.
• To strengthen your argument. APA citation helps legitimize your argument by backing up your claims with sources that can be verified. This lets readers know you've thought about your work and researched supporting points.

APA Style Tips
 

Cite your sources in two places:

• In the body of your paper where you add a brief in-text citation.
• In the Reference list at the end of your paper where you give more complete information for the source.

Refer to an online guide: 

• When using a guide, ask yourself, 'What am I referencing?' identifying the type of source you want to reference (e.g. book, article, video, etc.) will help you find relevant examples.

Use our paper formatting resources: 

• Check out videos on how to use the hanging indent tool, insert running heads, and more in MS Word.

As a VCC student, you have access to databases that have built-in citation tools. Watch the video below to learn how to use these tools. Don't forget to double-check your citations with an APA guide!