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General Information on Writing an MSOD Thesis/Dissertation

What is 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 system 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. 

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/

Online Citation Generators

TIP! Save time and avoid plagiarism--cite correctly and easily with APA, MLA or Chicago style!

Online Citation Creators

 

APA Style Blog

Citation Styles

Citation styles can be difficult to learn.

Here are links to guides for some of the most popular style guides.

MLA

APA

Chicago Manual of Style

Turabian Guide for Writers

These Guides are from OWL, the Purdue Online Writing Lab.