Introduction
To document sources in a research paper the American Psychological Association came up with a referencing style known as the APA style. The referencing style is meant to help scholars cite the sources used in a research paper. It is needed to mention that the APA style covers certain rules and regulations that have to be followed when citing (Gelfand, 2002). One may also notice that the considered style is mainly used to cite sources related to social sciences.
Main body
Below, there is a list of some helpful websites where one can get information about the APA style in general, the rules one should stick to while formatting a paper, and a list of references to it:
- APA Citation Style. Cornell University Library (2013).
- APA Referencing Guide. The University of Waikato. (2012).
- APA Style. (2013).
- OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab: APA Style. (2013).
After careful review of the websites named above, I found the last website is the most helpful for me. The website is well designed making it user-friendly. In addition, it also uses simple language that can easily be understood. The website creators have broken the main topic into relevant subtopics, thus making it clearer to comprehend the concept behind the APA style. It could also be noted that the OWL website applies suitable examples to elaborate further at the end of each subtopic. Moreover, sample papers formatted using the APA referencing style are provided for the reader’s convenience. In addition to that, it gives information on how to reference sources on the references page including the format and punctuation rules. I consider this information useful and efficient compared to other websites that use complex language that I could not easily grasp. Some of them did not have sample papers formatted using the APA style. Thus, I would recommend anyone to use the OWL website.
The APA style comprises various guidelines that are to be followed to the latter when formatting an essay. It demands the use of a font that can easily be read. The style recommends the 12-point Times New Roman font (Gelfand, 2002). In addition, the correctly formatted paper should have 1-inch margins on all sides together with a running included which should contain the topic of the paper and the page number. The running head should not exceed 50 characters. Finally, one has to include a title page and a reference page at the end of the paper.
Conclusion
Speaking about plagiarism, it can be defined as literary theft when an individual copies work done by another person and present it as their own (Schwartz, 2012). It is important at all times to avoid plagiarism and using the APA style people can be able to avoid it. You should reference your work by indicating where you got every piece of information used in your essay from. The words might be your own but the main idea belongs to the author. In this case, even if you paraphrase or summarize works written by other authors, you should remember to cite them properly. Therefore, you should keep track of all sources used when conducting research (Schwartz, 2012). Be sure to include all these sources on the reference page. Quotation marks should be used whenever you use the exact words used by the author.
References
Gelfand, H. (2002). Mastering APA style: student’s workbook and training guide. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Schwartz, B. M. (2012). An easyguide to APA style. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.