Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. by How many sources are needed?
It depends. For most papers, citing one or two strong sources for each key point is sufficient. For in-depth analyses, like literature reviews, a more exhaustive list of references is required.
How is a source credited?
Cite sources you have read and whose ideas you have used to inform your writing. If sources do not appear in your in-text citations, they do not appear in your References list. Use in-text citation and add a source to the References list when you:
Is there such a thing as undercitation?
Yes. This is commonly known as plagiarism or self-plagiarism. "Self-plagiarism is the presentation of your own previously published work as original; like plagiarism, self-plagiarism is unethical." Unless expressly permitted by your faculty, self-plagiarism is academically dishonest.
Is there such a thing as overcitation?
Yes. While this does not lead to academic dishonesty, it can be distracting to the reader. In-text citations can interrupt the flow of the writing when they occur after every sentence. When working with a source, cite it in the first sentence that uses the source. If it is clear in the subsequent sentence that the same source is being discussed, the previous sentence's citation is sufficient. So, if an entire paragraph is coming from one article, and that is clear to the reader, then we will likely only have one citation and it will be in the first sentence. If a source is discussed in multiple paragraphs, you must to cite again at the beginning of the second paragraph because the paragraph break has made a boundary.
If two sources are in conversation, the in-text citations do the work of acknowledging where ideas originated. The author’s voice (your voice!) is also a dialogue partner with the source. Like dialogue in a conversation, we need to be clear about who is speaking. For example, take three concurrent sentences. Sentence one summarizes the findings of a study; sentence two details an analysis from the author of the paper; sentence three returns to a paraphrase of the study's findings. In this instance, sentences one and three require in-text citation; even though they are from the same source, the author of the paper engaged in conversation with the study, and so the return to the study author's ideas in sentence three require renewal of the citation.
What about the exception for common knowledge?
Common knowledge is an amorphous concept. The audience when considering common knowledge is based on the average person, not the average expert in a discipline.
To put it another way, consider abbreviations in APA Style. CDC, WHO, ADA, and all other abbreviations, no matter how common, much be spelled out as their meaning is not assumed to be known. On first use, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is used in full and only after this is explained can the abbreviation be used. The threshold for common knowledge, then, is at this same level. The assumption is that because there is so much information in the world, the pool of common knowledge is shallow, and so the burden of citation is low. This also allows for a healthy ability for readers to confirm information and to expand their knowledge by reading sources cited by others.
More questions?
To learn more, refer to the Publication Manual of the APA, 7th edition.
Citations Guide
Appropriate Citations in APA
Plagiarism and Self-plagiarism
