Learning Objectives
- Understand what style is.
- Know which academic disciplines you are more likely to use, American Psychological Association (APA) versus Modern Language Association (MLA) style.
- Cite sources using the sixth edition of the American Psychological Association’s Style Manual.
- Cite sources using the seventh edition of the Modern Language Association’s Style Manual.
- Explain the steps for citing sources within a speech.
- Differentiate between direct quotations and paraphrases of information within a speech.
- Understand how to use sources ethically in a speech.
- Explain twelve strategies for avoiding plagiarism.
By this point you’re probably exhausted after looking at countless sources, but there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done. Most public speaking teachers will require you to turn in either a bibliography or a reference page with your speeches. In this section, we’re going to explore how to properly cite your sources for a Modern Language Association (MLA) list of works cited or an American Psychological Association (APA) reference list. We’re also going to discuss plagiarism and how to avoid it.
Why Citing Is Important
Citing is important because it enables readers to see where you found information cited within a speech, article, or book. Furthermore, not citing information properly is considered plagiarism, so ethically we want to make sure that we give credit to the authors we use in a speech. While there are numerous citation styles to choose from, the two most common style choices for public speaking are APA and MLA.
APA versus MLA Source Citations
Style refers to those components or features of a literary composition or oral presentation that have to do with the form of expression rather than the content expressed (e.g., language, punctuation, parenthetical citations, and endnotes). The APA and the MLA have created the two most commonly used style guides in academia today. Generally speaking, scholars in the various social science fields (e.g., psychology, human communication, business) are more likely to use APA style, and scholars in the various humanities fields (e.g., English, philosophy, rhetoric) are more likely to use MLA style. The two styles are quite different from each other, so learning them does take time.
APA Citations
The first common reference style your teacher may ask for is APA. As of July 2009, the American Psychological Association published the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (http://www.apastyle.org) (American Psychological Association, 2010). The sixth edition provides considerable guidance on working with and citing Internet sources. Table 7.4 “APA Sixth Edition Citations” provides a list of common citation examples that you may need for your speech.
Table 7.4 APA Sixth Edition Citations
| Research Article in a Journal—One Author | Harmon, M. D. (2006). Affluenza: A world values test. The International Communication Gazette, 68, 1