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Writing Center

A student support service available to students at Allen Community College is the Writing Center, a free tutoring service that helps students with the writing they are assigned in their college courses, as well as other kinds of writing they do.

Citing Sources Within a Text

Citations within your text include the author's last name and the year of publication for the source. If you are referring to or paraphrasing an idea from one of your sources, but not directly quoting the material, you only have to cite the author and year of publication in your in-text reference.

Paraphrase Examples:

(Allen, 2008) or Allen (2008) suggested that… or In 2008, Allen determined that...

For direct quotations, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and the page number.

Quotation Examples:

Allen (2008) says credit cards “often sock consumers with high interest rates and excessive fees” (p. A1).

Articles from Library Databases

Articles and Book Excerpts from Library Databases

To cite articles found in library databases, you generally do not need to provide database information (unless it is very difficult to locate), or the date the article was retrieved (unless it is likely to change, such as something from a wiki).

 

Author, A. A. (Year). Article title. Periodical Title, volume(issue), paging.

Author, A. A. (Year). Essay title. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Book title (Edition, Vol., paging). Location: Publisher.

Examples:

Pauly, D., Christensen, V., Froese R., & Palomares, R. (2000). Fishing down aquatic food webs.  American Scientist, 88 (1), 46.

Waldman, S. (1998).  Divorce harms children. In C. Wekesser (Ed.), Child Welfare.  San Diego: Greenhaven.  

Books

Book with One Author

Author, A. A. (Year). Book title. Location: Publisher.

Example

Mitchell, B. A. (2006). The boomerang age: transitions to adulthood
     in families. New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine.

 

Edited Book, No Author 

Duncan, G. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.). (1997). Consequences of
     growing up poor. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

 

Edited Book with an Author

Plath, S. (2000). The unabridged journals K.V. Kukil, (Ed.). New
     York, NY: Anchor.

 

One Essay from a Reference Book or Anthology

Author, A.A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Essay title. In A. Editor (Ed.),
     Book title (pp. xx-xx). Location: Publisher.

Example

Craik, F. I., & Brown, S. C. (2000). Memory: Coding processes. In
     A. E. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of psychology (pp. 162-166).
     Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association.

Web Sites

Web Sites
Author, A. A. (Year, Month day). Title of document. Retrieved from
     http://address
     [Note: If no date is given, include n.d. in parentheses after the author].
 
 
Example
Van Wagner, K. (n.d.). The id, ego and superego. Retrieved
     from http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/

Periodicals

Periodical Articles

Author, A. A. (Year, month day). Article title. Periodical Title,
     volume(issue), paging.

Example

Valdez, P. (1994, December). Effects of color on emotions.
     Journal of Experimental Psychology, 123(4), 394-409.

Online Periodical Articles

Online Periodical Articles

Author, A. A. (Year). Article title. Periodical Title, volume(issue), paging. Retrieved from http://address

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number. doi:0000000/000000000000

Note: The DOI is a unique number assigned to sources. If one is provided, include it in the References listing for both print and electronic sources. If not, include “Retrieved by http://the.web.address”

 Examples

 Kubzansky, L. D., Martin, L. T., & Buka, S. L. (2009). Early manifestations of personality and adult health. Health Psychology, 28(3), 364-372. doi:10.1037/a0014428

Shenk, J. (2009, June). What makes us happy? The Atlantic. Retrieved
            from http://www.theatlantic.com

 

Audiovisual Materials

DVDs

Producer, P. P. (Producer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Year).
      Movie title [Motion picture]. Country: Studio or Distributor.

Examples

Crichton-Miller, E. (Producer), & Rawlence, C. (Director). (2007).
     Secrets of the mind [Motion picture]. Boston: WGBH Boston Video.

Citation Generators

Citation generators allow you to fill in information about your source and it will create a citation in the style you specify. You should always check to make sure the citation provided is accurate.