Information technology research paper.

APA Requirements for This Class

Much of the information below comes from the APA Tutorial, available through the Effective Writing Center, under the Resources tab above. For this class, the main focus of APA formatting is on citations and references, and papers with incorrect citations and/or references will lose points on the grade.

APA format is more than simply using in-text citations and full references. Writers apply APA format to their work for the following reasons:

Providing in-text citations and full references tells readers what sources were used to write an article or book.

Using APA format ensures consistency in the conventions writers use and readers expect in publications.

Including in-text citations and full references credits writers in their field for the research they have conducted.

Using APA format protects writers from being plagiarized and from plagiarizing others.

The reference list gives the reader the information necessary to locate and retrieve any source you cite in your paper. Full references are always listed on a separate page at the end of a paper and match one-to-one with a citation that appears in a paper. Every source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; and, every entry in the reference list must be cited in your text. If you review other sources, but do not cite them, they are not included in the reference list. The reference page is labeled as: References and is centered and bolded and always plural. Each reference appears in alphabetical order by the first word, and no numbering is used. Each entry is single spaced, with the first line at the margin and the second and subsequent lines indented one-half inch. Use double spacing between entries.

For full examples of how to create correct APA citations and reference lists, go to:

http://sites.umuc.edu/library/libhow/apa_examples.cfm

Another excellent, concise guide to APA citations and references list can be found here:

http://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/cite-write/citation-style-guides/apa