References Guide

Business Plan

As with any research paper, it is important to give credit for the resources you use when writing your paper. Doing a good job citing sources has a number of advantages.

  1. High Schools and Colleges require citing resources. Failure to do so can lead to expulsion
  2. In the business world, you can be sued or fined for using someone else's materials without giving credit
  3. It makes you look credible because your information is based on researched material.

We will be using APA style for in-text citations and for the References page of the Business Plan.

APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. MLA style (Modern Language Assocication) is most commonly used in the humanities. A third style, Chicago, is also popular. Which style you use depends on the subject matter of your research, and more importantly, the preference of your professor.

Purdue Online Writing Lab is an invaluable source for questions you may have that can't find here.

APA In-text Citations

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference. All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

In-text citation capitalization, quotes, and italics/underlining

Short Quotations

If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and page number for the reference (preceded by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.

According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).

Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what implications does this have for teachers?

If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation.

She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an explanation as to why.

Long Quotations

Place direct quotations that are 40 words or longer in a free-standing block of typewritten lines and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.

Jones's (1998) study found the following:

Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199)

Summary or Paraphrase

If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number (although it is not required.)

According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners. APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199).

APA References Page Basic Rules

Your reference list should appear at the end of your paper. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text.

  1. All lines after the first line of each entry in your reference list should be indented one-half inch from the left margin. This is called hanging indentation.
  2. Authors' names are inverted (last name first); give the last name and initials for all authors of a particular work for up to and including seven authors. If the work has more than seven authors, list the first six authors and then use ellipses after the sixth author's name. After the ellipses, list the last author's name of the work.
  3. Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work.
  4. For multiple articles by the same author, or authors listed in the same order, list the entries in chronological order, from earliest to most recent

APA Citation Makers

References Page Example Formatting

References

Business Economic Data. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2019, from
https://soredi.org/information/business-economic-data/

The Geography of Oregon. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2019, from NetState website:
http://www.netstate.com/states/geography/or_geography.htm

Rampton , J. (2019, February 20). 7 Steps to a Perfectly Written
Business Plan.
Retrieved April 10, 2019, from Entrepreneur website:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/281416