Using Citations

In my class you will be completing a variety of assignments, some which will require you to cite evidence and some which will not. Using citations is important to avoid issues of plagiarism, in the following assignments:

• Citations ARE Required: Reflection Assignments (when citing content from the lesson)

• Citations NOT Required: Reflection Assignments (reactions, your own ideas, etc.)

If you submit an assignment that requires evidence/citations, but you did not appropriately cite that evidence, you will be asked to resubmit the assignment and it will not be graded until the evidence and citations are included. What that means is you will be given a second chance. It is much more efficient, however, to cite evidence the first time, rather than having to re-do it. 

Although APA format is the standard citation style required in the field of psychology, I will allow you to use your preferred citation style in my class.  Please follow these general guidelines for citing evidence in your assignments:

• Even when referring to any sources that I've provided you, an in-text citation is required.

• When referring to the sources that I've posted in your assignment, you still need to use a leading phrase such as:

  • "In the podcast about the placebo effect..."

  • "As stated in the Vox article...".

  • "As was explained in the TedTalk..."

This would still indicate when you are referencing other people's ideas, information, or evidence. 

• As a general rule, you should refer to each reference at least one time per assignment/discussion.  For example if I give you 2 sources, then you should refer to each one at least one

When citing a source that I provided you in the instructions, you do NOT need a full citation.

If you use additional sources that I did not provide, then you will need to include a full citation (of any style) that would allow me/us to get to your source.  If it's an online source, then a URL should be included as well as a leading sentence connecting that information to it. 

If you are a psychology major, or any student who would like to use APA style citations, here are some links to help you:

• APA Format Crib Sheet (American River College)

• The Owl at Purdue APA Style Citation Guide

• Video Tutorial on Creating In-Text and full citations using APA format (Humber Libraries)

If you don't want to use APA format for your citations, your citations must include enough information such that I can clearly connect what you are writing about to the source that you used, and providing enough information at the end of your submission to be able to track it down on my own and read more about what you are saying (if desired).  Generally the full citation should include nothing less than:

• Author(s)

• Date of publication

• Name of source 

• URL (when applicable)