APA is a citation style created by the American Psychological Association, this style is mainly used to cite sources in papers on social sciences and psychology. There are two major reasons for using APA in one’s writing. The first aim is to provide the information about the source consulted by the author. When the reader sees the reference list, he or she can locate the article or book that was cited by the writer and look for further information.
The second purpose of citing in APA is to avoid the instances of plagiarism, which is using other people’s ideas without acknowledging it. In APA, in-text citations include the last name or the author (authors) and the year when the source was published. Seeing this information, the reader can locate this source in the reference list. Then, he or she can find the article or book referenced and investigate it more thoroughly.
Here is an example of an in-text citation from the article I summarized for week 2 assignment: “In their article, Mackenzie, Conway, Hastings, Munro, and OāDonnell (2014) analyze the women’s experiences of domestic abuse through two theoretical perspectives: intersectionality and candidacy.” Here are examples of quoted material from the article:
- Mackenzie et al. (2014) note that “abuse is now commonly positioned within a gendered context and recognises that other structural factors, such as poverty and ethnicity, play into womenās experiences of living with, and leaving, abusive relationships with intimate partners” (p. 43);
- It is noted that ” Candidacy has been used to understand access to and utilisation of services within the health field, but has not yet been widely employed beyond” (Mackenzie et al., 2014, p. 45).
Reference
Mackenzie, M., Conway, E., Hastings, A., Munro, M., & OāDonnell, C. A. (2014). Intersections and multiple ācandidaciesā: Exploring connections between two theoretical perspectives on domestic abuse and their implications for practicing policy. Social Policy & Society, 14(1), 43-62.