Citing sources according to APA guidelines

It is important to show which part of your work has been derived from existing knowledge and which parts are your own. This is realized by correct referring to existing knowledge. Text that does not contain quotations of source is assumed to be your own contribution. Note that acknowledging sources is of vital importance for all the work/assignments you develop. It is okay to re-use definitions or other elements from other work, as long as you refer to it in a proper manner.

Quotation of source is thus about providing information about the sources you use (including your own previous work) and is required for:

1. Text or other media you quote word-by-word from another source.
2. Text or other media you paraphrase (i.e., rewriting of existing text or other media by using your own words).
3. Text or other media from which you summarize ideas.

References are always made in two places. First, in the running text at the place where you incorporate the information and second, in the reference list/bibliography.

There are multiple systems in use for citing sources (so-called citation styles or referencing styles), which vary from discipline to discipline. Within TIAS the American Psychological Association style (APA) is used. APA is an author-date quotation of source style in which sources are cited in text with author name(s) and year of publication and a full citation is given in a reference list at the end of the text/document.

Tilburg University's Library APA manual includes, among other things, examples of 135+ common references in APA style. The guide is based on the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2020). 

Follow the online tutorial of Tilburg University which can be found here: RefCite.

There is free software available that can help you create, manage and use a personal database with bibliographical data. Two commonly used programs are Zotero and Mendeley.