APA style and citations for dummies - Joe Giampalmi 2021

Addressing special approaches: personal, authoritative, and legal
Gaining insight: to cite or not to cite
Practicing safe cites: writing and citing sources

Similar to some pets demanding special attention, some citation categories demand special approaches. Unique citations are required for personal communications, experts in the classroom, and legal references.

Personal communication

A variety of personal communications are often used as supporting research sources. Many professors are pleased to see student initiative that includes interviews, email, text messages, online chats, and telephone conversations — sources of nonretrievable information. Here’s an example of a citation for personal communication:

(Stover, personal communication, March 17, 2015)

Academic authorities

Your professor and your textbook represent two authoritative sources for research (in addition to professors’ being impressed that you recognized their expertise and application of their textbook source). Class lectures and notes are hyperlinked to support research topics in the course. Here’s an example of a citation for a classroom lecture:

(Miles, personal communication, January 17, 2020)

Legal reference

Legal evidence provides strong support for many arguments, and many professors recognize students’ initiative in researching U.S. Supreme Court decisions, federal statutes, amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and other legal documents. Citations for legal documents follow the format of the name of the document and the year. Legal citations look like this:

· (Bush v. Gore, 2000)

· (Marbury v. Madison, 1810)

· (Civil Rights Act, 1991)

· (Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, 2009)

Additional legal documents that you may find helpful in your research include the following:

· Senior Citizens Right to Work Act, 2000

· The Help America Vote Act, 2002

· Miranda v. Arizona, 1966

· Brown v. Board of Education, 1954

· Roe v. Wade, 1973

· Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015