LO 02.01 – Discuss using Microsoft Word for citations and references
Use APA citations and referencing.
Needs to be 150 words or more.
Put my name at the top.
Career Relevancy
Writing in the business world is much like academic writing, in that it involves more care and attention to detail. In the workplace, there is an expectation of formality, as in educational settings. Learning to write in a formal style is essential to career and academic development, as is the presentation of facts and research to support personal statements. In both work and university settings, integrity in written documents is critical and may be subject to ethical guidelines. Plagiarism is the act of using statements, thoughts, and ideas without giving credit to the original author. The following discussion post is designed to help students learn how to use references in their formal writings to ensure integrity in academic and professional papers.
Background
Writing is a part of our everyday lives. Posting on social media, sending emails to friends, and text messaging is something most everyone does on a daily basis. With these everyday writings, little concern is given to phrasing, punctuation, or the origin of the message presented. However, academic writing, as with business writing, is more formal, takes more time and involves more thought. Academic and business writing also needs to be presented with integrity and a presentation of facts (Raimes, 2012). As you begin your academic career, it is critical that you have integrity in your writing, and validate the source of information being presented. Writing in college is subject to ethical guidelines that must be followed by the student who submits the work. Students are responsible for their submissions, and Independence University has strict policies in place to ensure academic honesty. MS Office has built in several features to help authors document thoughts or content that is not their own. Attend a live session this week to see a demonstration of the ‘Reference’ tab in MS Word that will help you learn to craft in-text citations and the references that allow others to review the complete work.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as the misrepresentation of presenting the intellectual work, writing, ideas, and information of others and claiming it as your own. Misuse of others’ information, regardless of intentional or unintentional use, is a serious concern that can lead to severe consequences (Independence University, 2017). As a student, you will often be using the intellectual work of others as research in your discussion and assignment submissions. However, to ensure academic integrity and avoid plagiarism, it is critical that you cite the original author and provide references to validate your statements, assuring honesty in your writing (Raimes, 2012). Academic integrity is a serious concern. However, the good news is that incorporating references in your work is easy, and doing so will ensure that you have solid integrity in your submissions.
Quotations, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
In addition to giving credit to the author of the research, quotes, paraphrasing, and summarizing give credibility to your written statements. They also allow you to expand an expert opinion on a topic and provide a position on a subject that you are just learning (“Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing,” n.d.). Quotations, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing, are used in the following ways:
Quotations: are direct, word for word statements found in the source. Anytime you use five (5) or more words from the original source, you must cite as a quotation. These are presented with quotation marks, indicating that this is a direct quote created by another source (“Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing,” n.d.). Hint: These should be used sparingly or not at all; better to paraphrase. Use a quotation if there is no other way to say the statement, or if needed for expert validation.
Paraphrasing: is the process of using information from the original source, but written into your own words. Paraphrasing is often shorter than the source, more of a mix of your thoughts combined with the original work. As you are not the originator of the information, citations and references are required (“Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing,” n.d.).
Summarizing: is a process of using key points from the article. Also written in your own words, summaries are shorter than the original work and also need to be cited and referenced to give credit to the originator (“Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing,” n.d.).
Tips to use Quotations, Paraphrases, and Summaries
When developing your academic writing, you first start out by reading the entire article(s) you are researching. Make a note of key points, and summarize them in your own words. Paraphrase essential concepts and supportive information, again into your own words. If needed (and indicated), use a direct quote to emphasize a brief statement or critical fact (“Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing,” n.d.).
In-Text Citations and References
References within your written submissions consist of two parts: in-text citations, and the reference itself. These two elements work together; in-text citations appearing in the text with the information shared, and the complete reference in a separate section at the end of your writing.
Hint: The two parts (in-text citations and references) always appear together. You never have just one or the other, as the in-text citation flags the information and the reference allows the reader to see where they can view the full, original source.
Regardless of how you use information from research (quotations, paraphrasing, or summarizing), it is critical that you provide details on how the reader can view the original work. References will give validity to the written work and ensure academic integrity.
In-Text Citations
An in-text citation can be thought of as a flag that alerts the reader that the information presented was gathered from another source (“Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing,” n.d.). Anytime that you use information collected from another source, the addition of an in-text citation including the author’s last name and year in parenthesis should be added to the end of the sentence for paraphrased and summarized statements; for example (Hansen, 2017). If there is no identified author of the source (common with online articles), then the title of the article is used. Also, if no date is available, use the letters n.d. to indicate no date. The complete reference would be added to the end of the paper (see reference section below).
Additionally, if you are using a direct statement of five or more words that have appeared in succession in the original work, then the information should be identified with quotation makers, and the addition of a page or paragraph number is added to the in-text citation. If the statement comes from a source that has a page number, then the addition of a “p” is inserted after the year; example (Hansen, 2017, p. 17). If the source of information was an online article (no page numbers), then the addition of the paragraph number in which the quote was found is added as “para 17” after the year, example (Hansen, 2017, para 17). In-text citations should appear immediately after the sentence or sentences that use the information. Again, it is important to note that direct quotes should be used sparingly in academic writing.
References
The reference provides all of the information necessary for the reader to review the original source. Every source that was used in your written work must be included in the reference list; again, references and in-text citations work in tandem with one another. Each citation can be linked to a complete reference, and every reference on your list will have a citation in your text (“Reference list: Basic rules,” n.d.).
There are several different ways in which you would create a reference depending on the source. For now, we will focus on the three most common reference types, a book, an article with an author, and an article without an author, and how to use them in weekly discussions. In your next course, you will learn about other reference types, as well as how to use them in papers. All references contain the author (if available), the year published (or n.d. for no date), and how to access the information (publisher or website address).
A Book Reference: For a book reference, start with the author’s last name, followed by initials. If there is more than one author, then use a comma between authors, with an ampersand (&) before the final author. Include the year the book was published in parenthesis, then a period. The title of the book is added, capitalizing only the first letter of the first word and all proper nouns followed by a period. Add the city of publication, and two-letter state code, then a colon and lastly, add the publisher of the book (Raimes, 2012).
A website article with an author: As much of the research you use will be taken from the web, a slightly different style is used for this reference type. As with a book, start with the author’s last name, followed by initials. If there is more than one author, then use a comma between authors, with an ampersand (&) before the final author. The year the article was published is then placed in parenthesis followed by a period. If no date is available (common for online sources), use n.d. to signify no date. List the title of the article, capitalizing just the first letter of the first word and any proper nouns followed by a period. Finally, add the phrase “Retrieved from” with a colon, and then the website address where the article can be found (Raimes, 2012).
A website article without the author: If no author is available, the reference is changed to list the title of the article first, followed by the website information (Raimes, 2012).
Your discussion posts should always contain at least one reference source. References should be added for any information that is obtained from an outside source, regardless of whether you paraphrase, summarize, or use direct quotes.
Sample In text Citation
(Raimes, 2012)
Sample Reference
Raimes, A. (2012). Keys to successful writing: A handbook for college and career. Boston, MA: Wadsworth.
Prompt
For this week’s discussion, write a post that discusses why it is important to reference research in your assignments. In doing so, choose one of the above citation styles (paraphrase, summarize, or direct quote) and share how you will use it in your weekly discussions. Share any other insights you made after reviewing the above, such as how using citations will help you to develop your discussion posts or how you can utilize MS Word to make citations and references simple additions to your work. Make sure to use proper citations in your post.
Reply Requirements
Per the Due Dates and Participation Requirements for this course, you must submit 1 main post of 150+ words, 1 APA citation, and reference. Responses can be addressed to both your initial thread and other threads but must be your own words (no copy and paste), each reply unique (no repeating something you already said), and substantial in nature.
See SHARC for sample APA-formatted discussion post (Links to an external site.)
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