Learning APA format.

2. TODAY
1) Quick overview of Scavenger Hunt
2) Introduction to formatting/citation
3) OWL and some basics
4) Quick side-bar: activity to narrow topics
5) Find a few refs
6) Cite them
7) Share
8) Homework

3. HUNT
The answers are on my Tumblr. Let’s take a
look at how to get them.

4. CITATIONS & FORMAT
Today we will begin, for the first time, talking
about citations and paper formatting. While
some of you might be familiar with MLA
(Modern Language Association) citation
format, I looked at all of your majors, and the
vast majority of you will be using APA
(American Psychological Association) format
in your coursework. If you’d like to be certain
and follow the format for your major, you’re
welcome to do so, but since it will serve the
majority of you the best to learn APA, that’s
what we’ll do as a class.

5. APA
Sometimes people get a little confused, since
it’s the American Psychological Association’s
formatting style, but APA is used by all social
sciences, many tech com and computer
fields, and it’s much closer to the oft
confusing CSE (Council of Science Editors)
formatting that the sciences use.
If you’re in history, get ready for fun: you’ll be
using the old school Chicago style with
footnotes.

6. A REFERENCE
You will notice that I didn’t require you to
own a handbook. There’s a reason for that: I
think the free resources we have access to
are fantastic and save you money (plus you
can look at them by alt-tabbing and ctrl-Fing
instead of having to grab and search a book).
For our citation information, we’ll be using
the Purdue Online Writing Lab. I know, I
know, not everyone loves Purdue. Try not to
let that bias you. Their Writing Lab is
amazing.

7. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

8. APA FORMATTING
The formatting needs for APA aren’t that
demanding. There are some more detailed
things for a longer piece, but for a standard less-
than-ten-page paper, all you need to know is on
the next slide.
Bear in mind that after 10 pages, or if you are
submitting for publication, there are dramatic
changes– like a title page, an abstract, and
something called a running head. You shouldn’t
need those for class, but I can talk you through
them if you do.

10. REFERENCES
References are made in two ways in APA (and
you must do both): in text and on a reference
page at the end.
It is critical to include both citations with any
reference you utilize. The in-text citation goes
in the specific place where you quote a
source. It is typically short, including the
author of the piece’s last name, the date of
publication, and the page number, like so
(Alexander, 2012, p. 1). They are broken up,
however, when you do something like this:
Alexander (2012) said “this” (p. 1).

11. In-text citation, the basics: You need
to have the last name of the author,
capitalized, the date of publication,
and the page number.
Alexander (2012) said, “the date goes
closest to the name, so if you use the
name in the signal phrase, it goes
there. The rest of the citation goes in
parenthesis before the period” (p. 1).

12. REFERENCE LIST
Reference list entries follow these basic rules:
1) Author’s last name first (unless you don’t have
it) then first initial.
2) The date of publication is ALWAYS second,
even if you have to replace the last name with
something else.
3) There are differing rules for differing kinds of
publications. You will want to keep a reference
handy (like the OWL page I showed you). You
can get a basic sense of how the citation
works from looking at a journal article and a
book.
4) The reference list has hanging indents (every
line after the first is indented)

13. Book Citation:
Last, F. (Date). Title. Location: Publisher.
Example:
Meyer, S. (2005). Twilight. New York:
Hachette Books.

14. Journal Article Citation:
Last, F. (Date). Title of article. Title of
periodical, Volume number(issue
number), pages.
Example:
Prax, P. (2012). Co-creative interface
development in MMORPGs– the case of
World of Warcraft add-ons. Journal of
gaming and virtual worlds, 4(1), 3-24.

15. NOTICE…
That only the first words of titles,
and proper nouns, are capitalized.
There are no quotation marks used
in an APA reference entry.
Don’t forget the hanging indent.

16. ACTIVITY
It’s time to commit to a paper topic. So I want you
to do the following:
1) Look over all the materials you’ve created so far.
2) Go to your favorite news website. For example–
CNN.com, TheDailyBeast, HuffingtonPost…
whatever you like. Read over the key political
articles.
3) Take some time cross-referencing and thinking
about what matters to you, what you see good
material for, etc.
4) Pick a topic. And… commit.
5) Write a thesis statement for your positioned
argument (subject to tweaking as you research)

17. POST YOUR THESIS…
To your Tumblr.
Once you’ve done that, I want you
to locate at least three potential
sources. Remember what we
talked about last class, and the
class before.

18. ACTIVITY 2
After you locate your three sources, create
APA reference list citations for each of them.
Once you’ve created these, exchange with a
classmate and check them against the OWL
site. Comment on anything that looks
incorrect.
Make a list of questions to share when we
come back together as a group.

19. Homework:
Read: “The Design of Web 2.0” by Arola (on
Niihka).
Tumblr question: How is your early research
going?
Tumblr prompt: I have placed links to several
prominent political blogs on my Tumblr. Pick
one, go there, look around (read at least
three entries), then write a facts based
summary of what you see. NO OPINION.