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PSY 1000 - Introduction to Psychology (Kinney)

Citation Basics

What are citations?

  • A citation is short way to uniquely identify a published work

What do citations include? 

  • A citation consists of all standard bibliographic elements and includes all information necessary to identify a work.
  • i.e. Title, author, publication date, location, volume, issue, page numbers, etc. 

Why do we cite sources? 

  • To give credit to other researchers and to acknowledge their ideas
  • To avoid plagiarism
  • To provide a trail so others can consult the materials you've used / so they can do further reading
  • To provide evidence of your own research 

What should you cite?

  • Facts, figures, ideas, or other information that is not common knowledge 
  • Ideas, words, theories, or exact language that another person used
  • Images, photos, artwork, sculptures, media (i.e. videos, movies, television, podcasts, etc.)

APA Formatting & Citations

APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the social sciences.

If you are asked to use APA format, be sure to consult the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, located in McQuade Library's reference collection:

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is the gold standard for online tools to teach you about citations and formatting.

From the website you can learn to:

  • Format in-text, and full bibliographical citations for a variety of source types
  • Follow formatting and style guidelines for a variety of assignments

For questions or feedback contact the McQuade Library
Call us: 978-837-5177 | Text us:  978-228-2275 | Email us: mcquade@merrimack.edu