Now located in the Wilkens Library Learning Commons on the first floor, the Reading and Writing Resource Center is staffed by Learning Specialists and Peer Tutors and offers drop-in tutoring for students looking for assistance in their writing and reading assignments as well as with MLA, APA and Chicago forms of documentation.
Now located in the Wilkens Library Learning Commons on the first floor, the Tutoring Center offers In-Person and Zoom appointments for one-on-one support in academic subjects across the curriculum, including writing support!
Brainfuse offers live help with writing (and other subjects!). It also has a writing lab. You can upload your paper and receive feedback within 24 hours.
The Wilkens Library provides a citation tool (NoodleTools) at no cost to you! NoodleTools supports MLA, APA, and Chicago styles at this time. You can use the tool to create your bibliographies/works cited page as well as plan and organize your papers.
For more information check out our NoodleTools page.
APA (American Psychological Association) citation style is a widely used format for citing sources in academic and research writing, particularly in the social sciences. It provides a consistent and standardized way to acknowledge the work and ideas of others, avoiding plagiarism and giving credit to the original authors. The APA style includes guidelines for citing various types of sources, such as books, journal articles, websites, and more.
Here are the key elements of APA citation style:
Formatting: Use 1-inch margins on all sides of the paper and a clear legible font, such as Times New Roman or Arial, in 12-point size. The entire document should be double spaced, including the title page, abstract, main body, and reference list.
In-text Citations: In-text citations are used within the body of the text to indicate when you are using someone else's ideas or words. They typically consist of the author's last name and the publication year, enclosed in parentheses. For example: (Smith, 2020) or (Johnson & Williams, 2019).
Reference List: At the end of the document, a comprehensive list of all sources cited in the text is included. The reference list is organized alphabetically by the authors' last names or the title of the source if no author is given.
An APA citation typically includes several parts, depending on the type of source being cited. Here are the key elements that make up an APA citation:
Author(s) or Editor(s) (if applicable): The names of the author(s) or editor(s) responsible for the work. For sources without individual authors (e.g., websites), the organization or corporate author may be used.
Publication Year: The year the source was published or produced.
Title: The title of the source. For books, articles, and webpages, the title is in sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized). For book chapters and articles in journals, the title is in title case (the first letter of each major word is capitalized).
Source Information:
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or URL (for online sources): DOI is a unique alphanumeric string used to identify online publications. If a DOI is available, it is preferable to include it in the citation. If there is no DOI, include the URL of the webpage (for online sources).
Page Numbers (for articles or book chapters): When citing a specific page or range of pages from an article or book chapter, include the page numbers.
Retrieval Date (for online sources, if applicable): If the content of a webpage is likely to change over time (e.g., webpages without a publication date or constantly updated content), it is recommended to include the retrieval date when citing online sources.
The specific arrangement and punctuation of these elements depend on the type of source and whether it's a print or online publication. The format also changes slightly when citing authors, editors, or organizations with multiple roles or corporate authors.
Adapted from a ChatGPT conversation: OpenAI. (2023). Conversation with ChatGPT [Computer software]. Retrieved from https://chat.openai.com/share/07b6f9b0-7baa-4af1-8f0b-86b7d2855a3c.
There are thousands of resources available online to help with creating your APA citations and formatting your papers. Below are some of the resources recommended by Wilkens Library staff.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by 
A Pocket Style Manual by