Disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences use APA format in scholarly writing. Scholarly writing includes literature reviews, empirical or case studies, theoretical or methodological articles and book reviews. The use of APA bibliographies and in-text citations ensures any information gathered from another source properly acknowledges the original author. Plagiarism is the result of not properly referencing someone else's work.
If a writer uses a reference from a specific poem in scholarly writing, the poem must be cited within the bibliography of the paper. How the poem is cited depends on how the poem was published. If the poem is found in a book written by a different author than the poet, the poem is cited as: "Smith, J. (2010). To Love is Sweet. In J. Doe (Eds.), My Collection of Poems (pp. 101). Location: Publisher." If the book was a collection of poems by the actual poet, the citation would read: "Doe, J.J. (1994). Poems of the Blind. (pp. 49). Location: Publisher." Poems referenced from the Internet require unique citations. A poem referenced from an online magazine is cited as: "Doe, J.J. (1994, April). To Love is Sweet. National Geographic, 121(3). Retrieved from http://www.nationalgeographic/doe/"
If the author of the paper references the poem within the text, the poem is cited in the following way: "The longing for home is revealed by the words 'Come thou memories, carry me home once again...' (Doe, J.J. 1994, 1.2, pp. 101)." Include the full citation within the bibliography if the poem is referenced within the actual text.
APA format includes other standards that must be followed when citing references. All references must be double-spaced. Use a double space after every period within APA writing, including citations and bibliography entries. Always indent the publication referenced, such as the name of a journal. Do not indent the title of an article within the journal. The APA manual provides a number of options for citing specific works, both in-text and in bibliographies. It is important to find the specific example representing how you discovered the poem. Plagiarism results in serious consequences, including non-publication, so properly citing all referenced work is crucial in any form of scholarly writing.