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BSN Program: APA Basics Tutorial

Information for students in and about the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program

Why we Cite & Plagiarism

Why do we "Document" or "Cite" sources?

Whenever you base your ideas on another person's work or quote someone, you must document the source you utilized. Even when you do not quote directly from someone elses' work, if reading that source contributed to the ideas presented in your paper, you must give the proper credit to the author.

A properly formatted works cited or references page:

  • Shows readers the sources you consulted 
  • Gives credit to the authors for their ideas 
  • Demonstrates that you have researched a variety of sources 

By following these guidelines included in the resource below, you avoid plagiarism.


Plagiarism is the act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of the author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author.


The following tutorials will teach you how to format your APA style research paper, properly credit your sources in-text, & create your reference page. They were created by the American Psychological Association (APA). If you'd like to see the APA's complete Academic Writer Tutorial, click here. Otherwise, you can see more shorter more targeted tutorials below.

APA Style 7: Paper Formatting

APA papers for students typically feature a title Page, abstract, body of the paper, & a references page.

 

Click here to begin the tutorial

APA Style 7: In-Text Citations

In scholarly writing, you need to properly credit the sources you utilized in writing your paper. Failure to do so can lead to Plagiarism.

Click Here to begin the tutorial

APA Style 7: References Page

To create a reference page, you will need to know how to correctly write a citation, & how to format & arrange the entries.

Click here for the citation tutorial

Click here for the formatting tutorial

Related Resources

Official website of the APA - Click here to see more from the APA.

Citing Sources: A Polk State Library Guide - Click here to see more e-resources for citing at Polk State.

Citation Machine - Click here to visit Chegg's citation generator (Always double check generated citations against a style guide.

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