APA style and citations for dummies - Joe Giampalmi 2021

Post-gaming:v information
Preparing for conflict: source engagement
Practicing safe cites: writing and citing sources

Fact-checking is as important to a writer as a kitchen is to a cook. You can’t cook up fake facts on a hotplate. In today’s world of fake facts and unverified information on social media, facts cohabitate with fake facts. Readers need strategies to evaluate information on social media. If a story or fact appears too good to be true, listen to your instinct and find another source for verification.

Your professor won’t tolerate fake facts and unverified information. If you submit inaccurate information in one paper, your professor will question your accuracy of information in every subsequent paper that you submit.

In addition to citing and evaluating sources, you need to verify the information, which is a different skill application from revising. Information accuracy for research writing requires answers to the following questions:

· Are websites sponsored, indicating a conflict of interest for the writer of the information?

· Does cited information include a summary, paraphrasing, quotations, terms, statistics, and information that transcends common knowledge?

· Are sources scholarly and source elements accurate?

· Are citation and reference list items accurate and formatted according to APA standards? Are punctuation and abbreviations accurate?

· Are names spelled correctly, with proper titles, abbreviations, and punctuation?

· Is content-specific language spelled correctly? Are proper nouns spelled and capitalized correctly?

· Are major and minor works of art punctuated and spelled correctly?

· Is title page information accurate, including spelling and punctuation of the professor’s name and title, course name, and affiliations?

· Is outlier information verified with at least two sources?

· Are URLs authentic?