Why is APA Style Used to Document Ideas in Writing?
APA citation style is used to document ideas in writing because it demonstrates that a person who works on a particular text refers to other authors’ opinions, statements, and conclusions. It is essential to outline a certain idea of another writer because it might be defined as plagiarism (Riordan, 2014). The APA style is intended to make readers aware of different ideas’ origins and their primary authors to compare their attitudes towards a discussed topic. Plagiarism cannot be present in any academic paper because it shows one’s disrespect to other scholars’ works and researches. Therefore, it is important to avoid various misunderstandings that may occur on this basis, as plagiarism is also an illegal commitment.
What is the Purpose of In-Text Citations?
In-text citations are necessary to use almost in every paragraph of an academic paper, as they point out the words or phrases taken from other texts. Their main purposes are to identify an author (or authors if there is more than one contributor) of a particular sentence, to show the page that contains a chosen citation, and to provide the date of a source’s official publication (Riordan, 2014). In-text citations in the APA style are usually short and may contain five authors’ last names maximum to make a text easier to read, as other styles sometimes require long references’ inclusions that may distract a reader’s attention.
Examples of APA In-Text Citations
Paraphrase. The medical community recognizes the dangers of life-threatening conditions such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular stress that childhood obesity may pose (Gupta, Goel, Shah, & Misra, 2012).
A direct quote. “Childhood obesity has been associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus, the early-onset metabolic syndrome, subclinical inflammation, dyslipidemia, coronary artery diseases, and adulthood obesity” (Gupta et al., 2012, p. 48).
References
Gupta, N., Goel, K., Shah, P., & Misra, A. (2012). Childhood obesity in developing countries: Epidemiology, determinants, and prevention. Endocrine Reviews, 33(1), 48-70. Web.
Riordan, D. G. (2014). Technical report writing today. Boston, MA: Wadsworth.