Citing sources
Your original ideas are yours. But if you are referring to the ideas and thoughts of others, it is a good idea to point back to the source so that others can follow-up if they want first-hand experience with the information. Generally in the social sciences, the citation format developed by the American Psychological Association (APA) is followed. And there are very specific guidelines for listing the authors, dates of publication, title of information, source of the information and online location if applicable.
Here are a couple places to go when you aren’t sure how to cite a source:
- APA style Reference Example web page
- Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) for APA style
Learning Lab
Imagine you want to cite this article: The power of playful learning in the early childhood setting.
How would you do it?
Answer:
First, notice this is an article from an online journal (Young Children). This is the type of citation you want to write. The completed citation looks like this:
Zosh, J., Gaudreau, C., Golinkoff, R., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2022). The power of playful learning in the early childhood setting. Young Children, 77(2). https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/summer2022/power-playful-learning