Hum3

Applied Humanities

Reference List Reference List Basics 3 Module Three: Examining the Humanities / Page 3.3.1 Reference List Basics On this page: 0 of 4 attempted (0%) | 0 of 3 correct (0%) Objective: Learn the basics of adding an APA Style reference list to your exploration document.

The final element of your course project is an APA Style reference list. Your reference list should appear on the last page of your exploration document. Recall that your in- text citations and your reference list go hand in hand. The sources you cite in your exploration document (using in-text citations) should also appear in a more detailed form in your reference list.

Here’s a quick summary of both elements:

In-text citations are notes in parentheses that let you indicate that you’re drawing on other people’s ideas when you quote their words directly or paraphrase their insights. They give the reader just enough information to find the full details about the source in your reference list. The reference list appears on the final page of your document and gives readers more detailed information about each source so they can find it and read it for themselves. Your reference list might be useful to someone who is researching works or ideas similar to the ideas you explore in your document.

We’ve already explored in-text citations on page 3.2.3, so now let’s turn our attention to reference lists.

Reference Lists

Most people really start appreciating reference lists while doing research. This is because the reference lists that you find at the end of articles or books can provide you with a wealth of sources on a topic you’re interested in.

Say you want to know more about Mark Rothko’s rectangles. An initial search through your library and the web will turn up a number of articles. But if you look at the reference lists at the end of those articles, you’ll find many more resources—works that other people writing about Rothko thought were relevant and helpful. Looking at these reference lists often helps you find more relevant articles and books than your initial search detected.

In the same way, if your readers are looking for more details and information about your topic, they will look at your reference list. It will show them where to find the resources you found most helpful. This is a true gift to the researchers who follow in your footsteps.

Here is an example of a paragraph that uses an in-text citation:

Stature is not a defining element of humanity. And though people certainly change with age, even very small children are, in fact, human. There is wide agreement among philosophers that “a person’s a person no matter how small” (Seuss, 1954, p. 6).

The quotation marks let you know which words came from someone else, who ideally has authority and credibility on the topic. The information in parentheses might already be meaningful to people who are familiar with the work of Dr. Seuss. But if this name is new to some readers and they would like to know more about this claim and the source, they can find all the details in the reference list:

Dr. Seuss. (1954). Horton hears a Who. Random House.

Seems easy enough, right? But the complexity increases as you start dealing with multiple authors, television shows, webpages, marketing materials, personal interviews, campaign signs, articles and chapters that are part of larger publications, and so on.

Multiple-Choice Question

What is the primary purpose of a reference list?

to prove to your instructor that you actually did research to give your paper a sense of academic authority to make sure your work is original to allow readers to check your claims and sources directly

Reference List Guidelines

In this section, you will learn more about APA Style guidelines for reference lists. Use the Purdue OWL’s resources below to answer the questions.

One of the best places to get concise and accurate direction about using APA Style is Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL). Check out some basic APA rules at the links below.

APA Reference List: Basic Rules Purdue Online Writing Lab

Multiple-Choice Question

How should a reference list be alphabetized?

by the full title of each work by the last name of the first author of each work by the first name of the first author of each work by the name of the source where you found each work

APA In-Text Citations: Author/Authors Purdue Online Writing Lab

Short-Answer Question

For three or more authors, how should an APA Style in-text citation be formatted?

No response saved yet. Multiple-Choice Question

In APA Style, when is the abbreviation “n.d.” used?

when a source is not available in digital format when a source is retrieved with a network device when an author has no degree or diploma when the date of a publication is unknown

Here are some other helpful pages from the Purdue OWL:

APA Reference List: Articles in Periodicals APA Reference List: Books

APA Reference List: Other Print Sources APA Reference List: Electronic Sources APA Formatting: General Format

Citation Management Tools

You can also use the citation management tools available through SNHU’s Shapiro Library to organize or even generate your references. The following guide from SNHU will introduce you to a variety of these tools and show you how to access them. Click the link below and then select any of the tabs on the left under Citation Management Tools.

Citation Management Tools Southern New Hampshire University

Now that you understand the basics of reference lists, it’s time to create one of your own.

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