2.4 Documenting Sources & APA Source Citation

Crediting Sources with In-text Citations

In your college career, you’ll be using secondary sources in your assignments. In your professional career you might be asked to complete research reports that require the use of secondary sources.

Writers acknowledge sources in two places:

1. Writers use in-text citations within their writing when they quote or paraphrase information.
2. Writers include a list of all sources they have accessed at the end of reports so that readers can review the sources if they are needed. In APA style, this is called a References list.

Crediting Sources within a Business Context

Context

In the business world, routine letters, email, and memos usually do not require in-text citations or References lists since the information conveyed in such correspondence deals with the everyday workings of an organization.

However, research and analytical reports, which comprise an important part of business communication, require appropriate documentation because the information in the reports is often derived from various secondary sources, deals with complex issues, and is used in decision making.

Where to cite sources

Within reports, writers use in-text citations when they have directly quoted or paraphrased information.

Reports’ back matter includes a list of the sources of the in-text citations within the report. That way, readers can check the original if they require more detail.

Which citation style to use

In the workplace, some organizations regulate the exact communication formats that they want employees to use. Other organizations are flexible with style and format. Individual corporate culture determines what is best. If you are submitting a report to your organization, check to see which documentation style is preferred. Analyzing your audience and purpose will help you determine the best documentation style.

In this course, we will be using APA (American Psychological Association) documentation style.

Below is a list of various documentation styles commonly used in North America.

• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA)
  • commonly used in the social sciences
• Modern Languages Association (MLA)
  • commonly used in English and foreign language and literature courses, also in the humanities
• Chicago/Turabian Documentation Style
  • commonly used in documentaries or humanities
• Council of Science Editors Documentation Style (CSE)
  • commonly used in science
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  • commonly used in engineering

Watch the video below to learn about creating in-text citations.  For additional information on in-text citations, click on this link https://libraryguides.centennialcollege.ca/apastyleguide/general. The library site includes videos and detailed how-to manuals.

Creating a References List

To ensure that readers can easily fact-check the information in a report, writers include a References list as part of the back matter of their reports.

Of course, documentation styles differ. Note that we have used References here because that is APA’s terminology for the list of sources. If we were using MLA style, we would have called it Works Cited.

To learn how to create a References list in APA style, access this link APA Documentation.

To learn how to format an APA References list using Word click this link for Centennial’s library guides  https://libraryguides.centennialcollege.ca/ld.php?content_id=35477056 or watch “How to Add an APA Style Bibliography in Microsoft Word” below.

Additional Resources

In this video, the instructor uses a student sample to explain how to create in-text citations.

Watch this video for help with using Microsoft Word for creating a References list.