How to Cite Sociology Papers in APA

Citing sources is paramount throughout the sociology discipline. Citations add validity and credibility to your work and prevent dismissals of your conclusions or charges of plagiarism. In sociology, just like all the social sciences, formal papers use the American Psychological Association style. This style uses simple in-text citations coupled with an in-depth bibliography at the paper's conclusion. Fortunately, citing quotes or summarized text in this manner is easy, and the information needed to do so is readily available in your sourced documents.

Instructions

  1. In-text Citation

    • 1

      Check the first several pages of your source document for the publishing info. If it is an electronic source, this information will be located on the top of the page or "abstract" of the document.

    • 2

      Attribute your source by author name in your paper either immediately before or after the quoted or summarized text.

    • 3

      Put in parentheses the author's name, a comma and then the date of your source's publication. For example, if you were writing a paper on the effects of television violence on children, your citation would look like the following: According to a groundbreaking study by Jacob Smith (Smith, 2007) children mimic behavior they see on TV.

    Bibliography Citation

    • 4

      Locate the author's name, the year of source publication, title of source, place of publication and publisher.

    • 5

      Create a separate page at the end of your paper for the bibliography and title it "Bibliography" (not "Works Cited").

    • 6

      List the author's last name first, followed by his first initial for each source you are citing. With one author: Smith, J.. With multiple authors: Smith, J.; Henderson, R.; Daniels, A. etc.

    • 7

      List the year of publication in parentheses after the author. Added to the Smith citation you would get: Smith, J. (2007).

    • 8

      List the title of the source in italics followed by the place of publication (usually in State: City format) and then the publisher. To add to our example: Smith, J. (2007). Media Effects on Youth (in italics). New York: New York. Great Books Inc. If the entire citation takes more than a single line of text, indent the subsequent lines. Your sources are now fully cited in APA.

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