Quick Guide Table of Contents

Stuff to Know
Terms
Citation Formats and Markups
Basic Principles
Best Strategies for Citation Tutorials
Additional Issues for Use of Resources
Source Credibility
Integration of Source Material
Source Material Connections
Helpful Hints
Helpful Sites

Quick Guide to Citation Formats

This overview of citation formats will help you move forward in your citation tutorials. Once you have
a handle on the basics, you’ll be able to maneuver through different citation formats with equal ease.

Stuff to Know (back to top)

There are several different citation formats. In general, you’ll be working with MLA, APA, and
Chicago/Turabian (We have a handbook chapter coming soon; but in the meantime, check out this
resource). However, there are other formats, including Harvard (used mostly in Australia) and AMA
(used for some medical papers). We’re going to focus on MLA and APA, here, but it’s helpful to have
some resources for the other formats, just in case.

From the reader's’ perspective, the purpose of citation is to understand exactly where writers
have obtained their information. That way, readers can locate sources for themselves (if desired) or
even evaluate the validity of the writer’s discussions, based on his/her use of the source material for
reference.

From the writer’s perspective, the purpose of citation is ensure that any source material used is
appropriately “credited” to the author and/or source. This citation of sources also helps writers avoid
plagiarism, which can come with severe penalties in an educational institution. Penalties differ in each
institution and can range from a zero/fail for the assignment to expulsion from the university.

Terms (back to top)

For consistency, please use the following definitions of terms when working with students:

● Bibliography: the final page (or set of pages) at the end of a paper that includes all
publication details for each source used; for MLA- Works Cited (and possibly, Works
Consulted); for APA- References.

● Cite: the act of providing information for a source either within the essay or in the
bibliography.

● Citation: a single entry of a source in the bibliography.

● Hanging indent: indentation used for second and subsequent lines of a citation.
 ● Header: information presented between the top of a page and the page text, set outside of
the margins.

● Heading: for APA- brief, categorical information provided to separate sections of a paper; for
MLA- information provided on the top left of the page (name, course info, date, etc.) and
(sometimes) categorical information provided to separate sections of an essay.

● In-text citation: referencing provided within the essay that is intended to correspond to the
bibliography entry.

● Resource: a person, text, site, or document that provides information on how to do

something (e.g., an instructor, a librarian, mla.org, apastyle.org).

● Source: a reference used or needed to support discussion (e.g., a book, website, journal
article, YouTube video, film, painting, interview).

Citation Formats and Markups (back to top)

Discussions of citation, particularly for students who have NOT cited sources, are considered more
pressing than LOCs such as Grammar & Mechanics, Word Choice, Transitions, and Sentence Structure.
Citation format is a more significant issue than comma usage, for example.

The headings on the ERF are flexible. You can discuss citation format under other headings than just
Use of Resources. If the student-selected headings compel you to address Grammar & Mechanics, for
example, you can address citation format, there. In-text citations can be addressed under Sentence
Structure, if the situation warrants it and you don’t have the option to do otherwise.

Embedded comments regarding citation need to adhere to the PEEK model: Point out the revision
need, Explain how to revise, Explain why to revise, and Keep it short. It is insufficient to just tell the
student to cite his/her sources. Use a dialogic approach with questions/examples to show the student
how to cite the sources.

Basic Principles (back to top)

One thing that some tutors find stressful is the difference in the styles for citation. Though each style
might ask for a different presentation of information (and some details), the principle of formatting
citations is the same: provide the correct details in the appropriate order, based on the
expected style and the type of source. It is really an exercise of attention to detail, which is also
sometimes stressful. However, knowing ahead of time that you have to pay attention to capitalization,
font format, punctuation, and designated orders of details helps.

Another principle that will help you out is to understand the relationship between the citations on the
bibliography and the in-text citation. The information “in” the body of the essay links to the
information on the bibliography: i.e., the in-text citation relies on the citation at the end of the paper.

Best Strategies for Citation Tutorials (back to top)

1. Determine the expected citation format.

Generally, the citation format the student is using will be noted in the assignment description
or will be evident based on the paper presentation (i.e., the header, bibliography style, what
the student includes in any parenthetical citations). Provide the student with tutorials that are
based on what is noted in the assignment description OR based on the evidence in the paper.
 For example, if the student has a heading and has used his/her last name and page number in
the header, provide an MLA tutorial. If the student has used the last name of author and the
publication years in his/her in-text citations, then provide an APA tutorial. If no citation
format is provided or evident, but it is an obvious necessity, provide a tutorial that
incorporates examples from both APA and MLA.

2. Identify the Source Type

The key to developing any citation entry for a bibliography is knowing what kind of source
you’ve got. The MLA and APA style guides offered to you may provide some common
examples listed by the type of source. You can also refer to the Purdue and Excelsior OWL
sites for examples. Thus, it’s the first step in determining whether the student has provided
the appropriate information (or not).

3. Using a Model
Once you know what kind of source the student has, you can use a model in the SWH or other
resources, such as the Purdue OWL or apastyle.org, to help develop a tutorial. The SWH
examples have templates (categorical information for the details) as well as models, but you
can work from just the model if necessary.

Open a tab to the MLA section of the SWH, Examples of In-text Citations and Works Cited
Entries, Book, Two or Three Authors. You should see this example:

Hopkins, Keith, and Mary Beard. The Colosseum. London: Profile, 2005. Print.

Notice how each of the terms in the example correspond to the template:

Author, First, and Second Author. Book Title. City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Print.

Sometimes, looking at them with highlighting helps:

Hopkins, Keith, and Mary Beard. The Colosseum. London: Profile, 2005. Print.

Author, First, and Second Author. Book Title. City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Medium of publication.

Creating a citation is really a matter of “filling in the blanks,” based on the model or template.
Each style of citation has different blanks to fill in, but the principle is the same.

4. Using Models to Create In-text Citations

Once you know what citation style is being used, what kind of source the student has, and the
general format of the citation for the bibliography, you can then help the student develop in-
text citations. Consider that you must have information from the first “blank” on the citation
entry before you can develop the corresponding in-text citation.

Consider this example of a website with no author and no date, in APA format:

First day of yesteryear. (n.d.). Retrieved May 19, 2015 from:

http://www.blahblahblah.com/html
 Here, the student must use a shortened version of the page title for the in-text citation as well
as the n.d.: (“First day,” n.d.). Thus, your tutorial or comment needs to reflect this type of
source.

Knowing the kind of source will help you avoid making generic comments, such as “APA
requires the use of the author’s last name and publication year.” Well, it does, sort of.
However, if that information isn’t available, there are stipulations for every situation a source
might have (in every citation style!).

Additional Issues for Use of Resources (back to top)

Source Credibility (back to top)
If a student has done a reasonable job with the mechanics of citation (i.e., they have provided the
right details in the right order, based on the source type), but the sources they’ve provided seem to
lack credibility, you might address this issue in a tutorial.

For example, students often cite Wikipedia articles. In general (not always), this source is not
considered credible. The best strategy is to point students towards the footnotes at the bottom and
consider moving them to the primary sources for evaluation and use.

Consider, too, that the kind of essay can impact the student’s choice in using sources. Compare the
needs of a student developing a formal research proposal versus a process essay (How to Change Oil
in a Camry). The research proposal would require the most credible sources whereas the process
essay could rightly use a blog post or website.

Another consideration is the level of student. Graduate-level students are held to much higher
standards than Freshman Comp students, generally speaking. It’s helpful to carefully review the
Writer’s Submission Form, which (usually) provides this information, before developing tutorials.

The SWH addresses this topic in Chapter 3, Lesson 9: Evaluating Sources.

Integration of Source Material (back to top)

Students often struggle with how to integrate source material. The issues you’ll most often see are
dropped quotes (sometimes referred to as “hanging quotes”) and a lack of syntactical integration.

● Dropped quotes: when the writer presents ONLY the source material and citation, with no
signal phrase or context.

“She was tired, so tired. The headrest became part of her brain” (Smith 3).

● Lack of syntactical integration: when the writer presents source material in an awkward or
grammatically incorrect way.

The study incorporated a random sampling, “of the fifty-four elementary teachers
surveyed, only three noted job satisfaction” (McKee, Cheng, & Lawler, 2011, p. 55).

The goal is to help the student smoothly integrate the information by providing a signal phrase and/or
context in a grammatically correct way. Here’s how the two issues might be resolved:

Providing context: The narrator notes of Jandy that “She was tired, so tired. The headrest
became part of her brain” (Smith 3).

Incorporating phrasing to create a structure: The study incorporated a random sampling

wherein “of the fifty-four elementary teachers surveyed, only three noted job satisfaction”
(McKee, Cheng, & Lawler, 2011, p. 55).

Using signal phrases:

 In the story, Smith’s narrator reveals that “She was tired, so tired. The headrest
became part of her brain” (3).

According to McKee, Cheng, and Lawler (2011) “of the fifty-four elementary teachers
surveyed, only three noted job satisfaction” (p. 55).

Of course, there are many other ways to approach the phrasing, but the general idea is to have
students integrate the sources in such a way that they make sense.

Source Material Connections (back to top)

Students also struggle with how to make connections between the source material they’ve presented
and their discussion points. This issue can be considered a higher order concern (HOC) and can readily
be addressed in Content Development or Use of Resources. (You might also address it in Organization
or Introductions, though less often.) For example:

There is a decline in children's freedom because of the loss of natural outside spaces. The
realisation that children are now spending more time indoors than ever before is depressing.
Wyver (2012) recommends opportunities for exploring natural outdoor play spaces.

In this excerpt, the writer has provided an in-text citation that is in appropriate APA format; however,
the source material used lacks a clear connection to her point. Thus, the tutorial would need to help
the student justify the use of the reference to the source.

A simple strategy to use for this kind of tutorial is to ask the students questions that help them make
the connection between their source as “evidence” and their point as a “claim.” In this case:

How does Wyver’s recommendation help you validate your claim that there is a decline in
children’s freedom due to the loss of natural outside spaces? What is significant about his
recommendation and the loss of natural spaces? What’s the connection you see?

These questions, as part of a full tutorial, can help students better understand that source material
should serve a clear purpose for being in the discussion and work to validate their points.

This tutorial also works to help students understand that whenever they DO use source material, its
use should be clear and purposeful.

Choosing When to Directly Quote (back to top)

Some students struggle with knowing when, exactly, it’s best to quote versus when it’s best to
paraphrase or summarize. This issue is reflected in all types of papers, but it is often more
problematic in undergraduate research papers. Students might use all direct quotations and fail to
discern whether it’s actually necessary to do so. A general principle to refer to is that the use of direct
quotations should be limited and undeniably purposeful.

In general, it’s best to advise the student to use a direct quotation in the following situations:

● when the quotation will be analyzed (as in a literary analysis)

● when exact wording is necessary for emphasis
● when the wording is striking or unusual
● to provide a definition

Consider these two situations:

 Direct quotation advisable: Heath (2012) argues that "Alcohol has no mystique. It's no big
deal. By contrast, where it's banned until age 21, there's something of the 'forbidden fruit'
syndrome" (52).

In this example, the author’s diction is distinct and could be used for emphasis and further
analysis.

Paraphrase advisable: Single serve coffee makers start out “no less than $75.00 in high-end
department stores” (Smith 2).

In this example, the quotation is unnecessary as the exact quotation will not be analyzed, and
the wording is very general.

Helpful Hints (back to top)

● Keep the MLA and APA sources in tabs before you pull any essays from the queue, so they are
ready to use. Consider having the OWL Purdue site open, too.
● Think in terms of prioritization within the area of interest. Here’s a potential list in the LOC
category:
○ No citation at all
○ No bibliography
○ No in-text citations
○ Citations inaccurately presented
○ In-text citations inaccurately presented
○ Dropped quotes/awkward source integration
○ Formatting of paper is not in appropriate style (e.g., headers, headings, margins)

And the HOC category:

○ No connection between source material and points
● MLA 8th Edition was released in 2018, which is slightly different from MLA 7th edition, and all
good resources offer clear distinctive help on both since some colleges will still use the older
version.
● APA released 7th edition in 2019 as well, and similarly, any good resource you use for
reference will offer you help on both formats since some colleges will still use the older
version.

Helpful Sites (back to top)

Other helpful sites for tutors (do not provide these to students):

The APA Blog

Evaluating Sources

Comparison of Citation Styles

When to Quote and When to Paraphrase

Consider subscribing to this blog feed: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/.