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Public Policy Research Strategies

This research guide provides helpful tips for retrieving relevant research and guidance on conducting a review of the literature.

APA vs. Chicago Style for Citing Public Policy Research

APA

APA (American Psychological Association) is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page.

  • When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, E.g., (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

    If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference.

    APA style requires authors to use the past tense or present perfect tense when using signal phrases to describe earlier research. E.g., Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998) has found...
     
  • As with any citation stystem using it correctly protects the writer from accusations of plagiarism. As mentioned earlier in this guide proper citation builds credibility to the paper by demonstrating accountability to source material.

    If you are asked to use APA format, be sure to consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, second printing.  

Chicago

The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) covers a variety of topics from manuscript preparation and publication to grammar, usage, and documentation.

There are two main styles:

  • The Notes-Bibliography System (NB), which is used by those in literature, history, and the arts.
    • The Chicago NB system is most often used in History and is often used in the humanities and provides writers with a system for referencing their sources through footnote or endnote citation in their writing and through bibliography pages.

      As with any citation stystem using it correctly protects the writer from accusations of plagiarism. As mentioned earlier in this guide proper citation builds credibility to the paper by demonstrating accountability to source material.

      If you are asked to use Chicago NB format, be sure to consult The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, and/or A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 7th edition.

    •  
  • The Author-Date System, which is preferred in the sciences.
    • In the Author-Date System each citation consists of two parts: the text citations, which provides brief identifying information within the text, and the reference list (list of sources used) which provides full bibliographic information.
       

From: Descriptions for Style Guides (APA) Russell, T., Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderland, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, August 1, 2010). General format. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/

Citation Style - Library Books Available

Citing AI

In APA 7th edition Format:

Based on APA Style guidance.

Outline of an APA Citation for AI
       Name of Company/creator of generative AI Tool. (Year). Name of generative AI tool (Month Date version) [Large language model]. URL.

Real World Example:

       OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (June 16 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

The full transcript of a response can be included in an appendix or other supplementary materials.


In Chicago 17th edition Format:

Footnote or Endnote:

OpenAI's ChatGPT, response to query from author, February 15, 2023.

Bibliographic Reference:

Author’s (Parent Company) Medium, Response to “Query in quotes.” Name of Website, Parent
Company, Date accessed, URL.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Response to “Explain to general audiences the possible causes and effects of climate
change.” ChatGPT, OpenAI, February 15, 2023, https://chatgpt.pro/


 

Citations Guides - Get Help!

OWL at Purdue has a series of guides for Formating and Citing papers using style guides. Below are links to some of those guides.

Citation Machines