Reference Help
Creating Accurate Citations
Capture the citation from the source you find during a library search. Be sure to review it and make any corrections. These are computer-generated so not always perfect.
APA Style (Newest = 7th edition)
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by Call Number: Baker-Berry Reference BF76.7 .P83 2020ISBN: 9781433832161Publication Date: 2019-10-01The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition is the official source for APA Style.
Changes in the 7th edition include:
- References can include up to 20 authors.
- Format your reference based on the document type, not the retrieval method. For example, format as a book regardless of whether you accessed it as a print book or ebook.
- Doi's should always be included and formatted as https://doi.org/xxxxx (highlighted and underlined as a link)
- Add a url if you found the work online, it doesn't have a doi, and the link works.
Online resources to refer to:
- APA StyleRefer to for other tips and commonly asked questions about APA style.
- Recorded Webinar: Creating References Using Seventh Edition APA StyleProvided by ACRL and Choice Media, this one hour webinar is a great overview of the APA basics including 7th edition changes.
- APA Style - 7th ed. Quick Reference Guide (APA site)Overview of required elements for journal articles, books, and book chapters
- APA Style: Purdue OWLThe Purdue OWL site provides numerous examples for citing various types of publications and it includes a sample paper illustrating the proper way to format a research paper and cite sources.
Sources & Citations
Why is citation important?
Citation is incredibly important in order to give credit to the scholars whose work you have learned from and referenced. Following a prescribed citation style helps other researchers to find these works as well.
- Sources and Citations at DartmouthThis site provides a broad overview of the practice of citing sources. It discusses why learning to cite sources is an essential part of your education, as well as why failing to cite your sources properly can have serious consequences. This document covers a wide range of scenarios relating to citing sources, plagiarism, and Dartmouth's Academic Honor Principle.
- The Writing Center The Writing Center is a place where you can meet with an undergraduate tutor to discuss a paper, research project, or multi-media assignment. Writing Center tutors are trained to help you at any phase of your process.
Zotero
- Zotero
The Library recommends Zotero as the best reference manager for students.
Free • Works on Mac / Windows / Linux • Microsoft Word / OpenOffice / Google Docs • Library Support
Zotero is an open-source reference manager that collects all your research in a single, searchable interface. You can add PDFs, images, audio and video files, snapshots of web pages, and really anything else. Zotero automatically indexes the full-text content of your library, enabling you to find exactly what you're looking for with just a few keystrokes.
- Keep track of references as you research a topic
- Create bibliographies
- Insert references and bibliographies into your research papers.
Zotero does charge for storage exceeding 300MB. However, you can use Zotero's Preferences menu to back only your citations to the cloud instead of full-text content, which means you will never hit the storage limit.