APA style is used to document ideas in writing because it helps the author to organize his or her work appropriately and offers the reader the understanding of which material is borrowed from other scholars. The main aim of in-text citation is providing the audience with the opportunity to consult the source cited by the author. More than that, in-text citations make it possible to avoid plagiarism that is considered to be a severe violation of one’s intellectual property rights.
Therefore, in-text citations help to arrange a scholarly paper in a clear way. APA was introduced by the American Psychological Association, and it is mostly used in works on psychology or social sciences. The format of in-text citations in APA is author-year, which means that the last name of the author is mentioned along with the year of publication. Therefore, creating in-text citations helps to avoid plagiarism and offers the reader an opportunity to find the referenced work in case he or she wants to investigate it more thoroughly.
Here is an example of an in-text citation from the article I summarized for week 2 assignment: “In their research, Khawandanah and Tewfik (2016) remark that the popularity of fad diets is increased through media and the influence of peers.” Here are examples of quoted material from the article:
- It is noted in the article that since 1980, “the number of people suffering from obesity has doubled on a worldwide level” (Khawandanah & Tewfik, 2016, p. 80);
- Khawandanah and Tewfik (2016) argue that “Intervention plans based on a broader approach that deals with agriculture, product manufacture and education might be a starting point” to reverse the current trends (p. 80).
Reference
Khawandanah, J., & Tewfik, I. (2016). Fad diets: Lifestyle promises and health challenges. Journal of Food Research, 5(6), 80-94.