Citations
• Why we need them in academic papers
• Part of the process of building on other
people’s work; peer-review
• To follow up (interested want to know more)
• To verify (curious, skeptical about finding,
skeptical about accuracy of paraphrase)
• “High concentrations of exogenous dopamine has been
proven to restore the sensitivity of D2 receptors to normal
(Seeman, Guan and Van Tol, 1993)” [my reaction was
“Really?? The reference allowed me to check]
• To know to whom to attribute a finding or
conclusion (we reject statements such as “It’s
widely known”; it’s been established)
• In fact, in academic writing, very little accepted on
authority or as “common knowledge”
• Example from Introductory section of recent article on
advances is diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease
(Ikonomovic, Klunk, Abrahamson, Mathis, Price,
Tsopelas et al., 2008):
• “Clinically symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease
can be diagnosed with high accuracy at
academic centres (Lopez et al., 2000a), but
diagnosis in the community is less accurate
(Pearl, 1997). Non-Alzheimer’s disease
dementia cases are not infrequently
misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease
(Mayeux et al., 1998)…”
• These authors have expertise in field of Alzheimer’s diagnosis, yet…..
• Implication: >>>>
•
• If you state: “Marijuana is the most
widely used psychoactive drug among
today’s youth.”
• What’s your source? Why should we
have confidence in that statement
Something you’ve assumed; or stating
because you heard it somewhere? Q. is
where?
• In fact, not true
Examples of unattributed statements from student papers:
• “A lot of the stress causing panic attacks is
sub-conscious. A person doesn’t realize
their own thoughts”
• [aside from poor phrasing and grammaticity:
older view; not widely believed; I’d like to know
source- what led student to this belief? Was it
an appropriate reference?]
• “Cocaine is another kind of strong drug [how
defined?]. It is more powerful than marijuana.
[by what criterion? Reference?]
”
Examples from student papers where having proper
citation was useful/important
….
In-text (within-text) citations
• These are the brief references to
sources that appear in the body of the
text
• In APA format, they provide just enough
info to unambiguously lead reader to the
full reference in the bibliography
• To learn where they’re used, and how they
vary, carefully examine an article done in
APA format
• e.g., see Michael Bozarth’s article in Reader (p.
51-58), “Pleasure systems in the brain”
• Then consult an APA within-text citation guide
as needed (see link on my “Brain & Behavior”
homepage)
• Don’t remember where it’s permissible
to use “et al.”? – look it up!
• Quick summary:
• In text: Up to 5 authors- name all 1st time;
give just lead author’s name followed by “et
al.” if you cite again.
• More than 5 authors: Use the lead author +
“et al.” format from the start
• In bibliography: Up to 6 authors: Name all
of them (don’t mimic ProQuest format!)
• More than 6 authors: List 1st 6, followed by
“et al.”
Is APA-style the “correct” format
• What’s wrong with superscripts + endnotes?
• Why isn’t naming the first 4 authors of a multiauthor article good enough? (ProQuest does
it- surely they’re not wrong!
• Not “wrong”: simply different formats
• There are good reasons to use a consistent format
• Why APA?
• Because we have decreed it!
• Truly, because most widely used in
psychology and social sciences
The need for a consistent citations format
• Information you need for citing a
reference may come from variety of
sources
• notes you wrote on scrap of paper when
reading article onscreen or a book
• printout of an article located through
ProQuest or PubMed
• article reprinted in the course Reader
• The formats in which the bibliographic
information appears may differ from
source to source >>
Typical Proquest citation info:
An examination of the role that intercollegiate
athletic participation plays in academic
achievement Maloney, Michael T,
McCormick, Robert E., Kinsbourne, Barry J.
The Journal of Human Resources. Madison:
Summer 1993. Vol. 28, Iss. 3; p. 555 (16
pages)
How this should appear in APA format
(academic journal reference):
Maloney, M.T., McCormick, R.E. & Kinsbourne,
B.J. (1993). An examination of the role that
intercollegiate athletic participation plays in
academic achievement. The Journal of
Human Resources, 28 (3), 555-570.
>>> general problem
• Many students copy information blindly
• Don’t include information just because you
have it (e.g. ProQuest lists it).
• e.g., Proquest lists location of publisher of academic
journal- but you don’t need (shouldn’t use) this info
for article citation
• Learn the APA requirements for the type of
source you’re citing
• Note: they differ for academic journals,
magazines, books, web documents, etc.
• Pull out just the info you need; look up
anything that’s missing (in the article itself!)
• “translate” where necessary
APA citations: Common misunderstandings,
common errors
• A journal article found in an online
database or on a website requires the
same information as for the original
• PLUS “retrieved from” statement
• A very common error:
• Copeland, J. (2005). Cannabis-related
problems and their management.
Retrieved March 9, 2006 from Proquest
database
• What’s missing?
• The name of the journal (and volume
number and page references)
• Why it’s important: [discuss]
• Gives reader quick info about the source >>
establishes reliability (and appropriateness)
The proper reference:
• Copeland, J. (2005). Cannabis-related
problems and their management. Drugs and
Alcohol Today, 5, 20-25. Retrieved March 9,
2006 from Proquest database
• What this info told me:
• Not a peer-reviewed journal
• Quite unreliable
• The “retrieved from” statement supplies
supplemental information. Purpose:
• May help reader access article
• To resolve possible issues where online version
differs from print version
• An even worse example of a
bibliography citation:
• http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/reprint/183/3/
(this was the entire citation!)
Another common error
Arnold, P.D. & Richter, P.A. (2001,
November). Is obsessive-compulsive
disorder an autoimmune disease?
Journal of the Canadian Medical
Association, 165 (10), 1353-1358.
• What’s the problem here?
• In APA format, you don’t include the month
for academic/scientific journals
• Picky-picky?
• Not really: It’s an important clue as to nature of
source; e.g., would be used for magazine like
Discover
As previously noted:
• Don’t copy information blindly
• Establish the nature of your source (journal
article; article in multi-author book with editor;
anonymous online article, etc.
• Review the APA requirements for the type
of source you’re citing (Learn the most
common ones!)
• Note: they differ for academic journals,
magazines, books, web documents, etc.
• From the information at hand, pull out just
the info you need, look up anything missing.
• Tip: Always use the .pdf version of of an
article if available
• More accurate representation of the
original
• Can get the publication info from the article
title and header/footers
• Tip: Proquest’s “APA formatted”
citations are NOT READY FOR PRIME
TIME! Many errors.