Tag: APA style

Resource of the Month: Guide to Citing Sources Using APA Style (7th ed.)

Lisa

If you have written a paper for a business, psychology, or sociology class here at Bentley, you’ve probably been required to cite your sources using APA Style. The Bentley Library’s Citing Online Business Resources Using APA Style guide has always been one of our most popular help guides, logging over 25,000 views annually!

New Edition of APA Style, New Library Help Guide!

In October of 2019 the American Psychological Association released the 7th edition of their official style guide, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, to reflect current best practices in scholarly writing and citation.

Over this past summer, reference librarians worked to update the library’s APA citation guide for the Fall 2020 trimester. The result is a completely revised APA Style help guide, featuring updated in-text citation guidance and new Reference list examples for over 50 different source types, including:

  • articles, books, and book chapters (print and electronic)
  • information retrieved from business databases and other specialized library resources (e.g. IBISWorld, Mintel, Mediamark, Statista)
  • websites, blogs, and social media
  • datasets
  • dissertations and theses
  • government reports, reports, and whitepapers
  • personal communications (emails, personal interviews, unrecorded lectures, etc).
  • PowerPoint slides and lecture notes
  • podcasts
  • webinars
  • focus groups (research participants)

Go to https://libguides.bentley.edu/citingsources-apa to bookmark the guide today! We guarantee you’ll return to the guide over and over again, especially when working on your GB course projects.

About APA Style, 7th edition

In addition to citation and reference format updates and clarifications, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition also presents:

  • new bias-free language guidelines
  • 100+ new reference examples
  • 40+ new sample tables and figures
  • additional student-specific resources, including sample student papers
  • expanded guidance on ethical writing and publishing practices

For a chapter-by-chapter overview of what’s new, check out the APA’s What’s New in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (7 pages, PDF). If you’d like to consult the full manual, you can find copies at the Reference Desk and in the Reference Stacks.

Get More Help

Here are some free help resources provided by the APA:

Need personal assistance with citing sources? Contact the Reference Desk or the Bentley Writing Center. 

Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to useful library databases, highlighting key features you should know about. If you would like more information about this resource (or any of the library’s databases), please contact us for research assistance. If you would like a demonstration of these resources for a class, please schedule a research instruction class using the instruction request form.

FAQ: How do I cite this in APA format?

Lisa

Citing sources is important and necessary. It can also be confusing and frustrating, even for those of us with years of experience! Complicating matters is the variety of citation formats available. Expository Writing classes here at Bentley typically teach and use the MLA (Modern Language Association) format, but business faculty rightly require students to use the APA (American Psychological Association) style, which is the citation format used in the social sciences. The APA style of formatting is better suited to citing business resources and databases.

This post will focus on a few online sources that the library’s reference librarians use when answering APA citation questions. It’s important to note that there isn’t always an exact answer to a “how do I cite this?” question, but in all cases the APA’s basic guidelines can be used to construct a citation that will serve to accurately credit and lead back to an original source.

Here are a few of our favorite sources for APA style help and citation examples:

Our very own reference librarians have created a comprehensive set of APA reference list examples for the library’s business databases (e.g. Mintel, IBISWorld, ProQuest). This guide also covers the basics of in-text citation and provides in-text examples for paraphrasing and quotations.

This trusted source provides numerous examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations and reference list pages.

The official APA Style Blog® not only answers common APA questions, but also tackles those trickier questions that arise, such as How Do I Cite a TED Talk?. There are a few blog posts that I repeatedly refer to when helping students:

Also useful is the APA’s free online tutorial: The Basics of APA Style

APA Style online tutorial: The Basics of APA Style®
APA Style online tutorial: The Basics of APA Style®

For More Help…

Ask a Librarian

Visit the reference desk or contact a reference librarian via email, phone, text or IM/chat. You can also find answers to more library FAQs in AskUs, the library’s FAQ database.

RefWorks

RefWorks is a citation management tool that the Bentley Library subscribes to. It’s a little like EasyBib, but more robust, and every Bentley student gets their own personal account. RefWorks helps you create bibliographies and format research papers in the citation style of your choice. RefWorks also allows you to easily organize and keep track of your references in folders in your RefWorks account. The library’s RefWorks & EndNote Research Guide has more information on RefWorks.

We hope you find these resources helpful. Please let us know if you have any questions!