How to Use In-Text Citations

This is a skill that many students struggle with at first. How do you actually insert an original author into your text? If you name the author in your text, then you don’t need to include it in your in-text citation because it is redundant. I know that might sound confusing, but let me show you.

Author is named in a signal phrase:

Aggressive driving is characterized by the tendency to view driving as a competition rather than as a means of getting from one place to another. Although most drivers are content to move along with the flow of traffic, aggressive drivers weave from lane to lane, seeking any advantage that will place them ahead of others. According to researcher P. Arlove, “aggressive drivers are also more likely to tailgate and honk the horn in an effort to intimidate other drivers or simply to move them along faster” (2007).

Author is not named in a signal phrase:

Aggressive driving is characterized by the tendency to view driving as a competition rather than as a means of getting from one place to another. Although most drivers are content to move along with the flow of traffic, aggressive drivers weave from lane to lane, seeking any advantage that will place them ahead of others. According to one researcher, “aggressive drivers are also more likely to tailgate and honk the horn in an effort to intimidate other drivers or simply to move them along faster” (Arlove, 2007).

Your audience needs to know, not only the name of your source, but who that person is. Give him/her some kind of introduction or title. If you are using the person as a source, the audience needs to know why this person is an expert worth quoting. Notice in my first example above that I said “researcher” P. Arlove. However, after the first time the source is introduced, you can simply reference him/her by last name only. 

Finally, the source information you are given from most libraries is NOT in APA format. They simply give you all the information you might need when making a citation. An APA reference page citation for a book looks like this:

Arlove, P. (2007). Wordsmith: A Guide to College Writing. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

So if all you do is copy and paste the reference into your paper or reference page, you are doing it wrong.

You Can't Always Trust Wikipedia!

Google Scholar

I, too, like to use Google sometimes for my personal research (although I prefer to use the library's databases for academic research).

Google does have some interesting functions, though, that are helpful for more scholarly oriented research.

1. Go to www.google.com
2. At the top of the page, you should see a horizontal list of items (web, images, videos, maps, ...)
3. Click on "More" (the last item on the list) and a drop-down menu will appear
4. Click on "Scholar"

Now, you are at what is called "Google Scholar." This is a great search engine! It sorts through all of the websites offered by Google and then only picks the ones that are focused on academic research. That is, you won't get personal webpages, blogs, or sites selling you anything. They are typically links to articles and essays that have been published in academic journals.

These sites will automatically be more credible than the general sites that regular Google will take you to. But, again, remember that you still need to analyze these sources yourself!

What is Google?

When talking about research, many of my students say “I start with Google.” But I think many people don’t actually know what Google is because every semester I get students trying to cite Google on their reference page. Google is not a source of original (or even secondary, or even tertiary) information. Google is simply a search engine. Do you remember learning how to use a card catalog at a library when you were younger? (Yes, I’m dating myself now).  If you found books to use on a paper by using the card catalog, you wouldn’t cite the card catalog as a reference in the paper. The same can be said of Google.

Similarly, the card catalog didn’t differentiate between qualities of books. If you were looking for a book on George Washington, it would list books written by historians, fans, and enemies all in the same section because they were all about the same subject. It’s the same with Google. Just because Google lists 2,000,000 websites on George Washington, it doesn’t tell you which ones are credible to use. 

Wikipedia is NOT a Reliable Source

Nowadays, many people automatically go to Wikipedia when they are looking for information on a topic. There is nothing wrong with that. However, you CANNOT use Wikipedia as a reliable source of information on a research paper. Why is this? Why is Wikipedia so hated by academia?

Wikipedia can be useful. I have used it; you have used it; my own professors used it. It can be fun to just peruse the articles and just learn something new. But the truth is that Wikipedia is an unreliable source for academic research! Why is Wikipedia unreliable? Well, you tell me. (Hey, I’m not going to give you all the answers!) Please visit the “About Wikipedia” link below and pay special attention to the sections “Using Wikipedia as a Research Tool” and “Strengths, Weaknesses, and Article Quality in Wikipedia.” Tell me why it is not wise to use Wikipedia as a source for a research paper.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About