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ENGR 101 APA Citation guide: How to Cite

Guidelines for the ENGR 101 term paper

Citation Styles

There are many different "Citation Styles." Each style has its own guidelines on how to insert references in the text and how to construct the list of references at the end of the paper. The style you use in your paper depends largely on what is required by the instructor. The golden rule is that whatever style you use be consistent. As mentioned, previously, there is no general citation style for all the disciplines in engineering and the ENGR 101 instructors have decided to use the APA style. For some general information on citaton styles check out the CSULB guide Style Manuals and Citation Methods  and the APA Guide which has many useful links to guides from other libraries.

APA Basics

The APA format for documenting information used in your term paper (or any research paper) consists of the following elements:

  • In-text parenthetical (bracketed) references within the body of the text that enables your reader to locate the full reference in the References list at the end of your paper. Use Author-date ciation system. Each reference citated in the text MUST appear in the Reference list; conversely each citation in the Reference list MUST be cited in the text. For more detailed information with examples see the tab In-text References.
  • A Reference List at the end of your paper of all the sources that you have used arranged in one alphabetical list by author's last name or first word of the title (omitting initial A, An, or The if there is no author). You must include all sources that were quoted, summarized or paraphrased. See the tabs for books, journal articles, magazine articles etc. for detailed information and examples.
  • The list of references should be double-spaced both within and between entries. Type the first line of each entry at the left margin and indent additional lines five spaces or one tab (hanging indent).
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