Due to the positive response we received from our Chicago Citation Style Tutorial, we have created an American Psychological Association (APA) Citation Style tutorial and game.
We designed this tutorial for novice learners. It provides an introduction to APA citations, focusing heavily on citing journals and books. The tutorial begins with an explanation of why we use citations and the four components of APA citations (i.e., author, date, title, source). You can practice identifying citation components within recreated pdf articles and simulated books. Next, watch video explanations for in-text and reference citation formatting. You can also practice typing citations within the tutorial and receive immediate feedback.
After completing the tutorial, play the Citation Inspection Station game. This gamified practice activity will test the knowledge gained from the tutorial in a fun and interactive manner, helping to increase learner confidence in identifying citation errors. The game is set in a warehouse with a conveyor belt that brings in boxes of citations. You must decide whether the citation “passes inspection” by accepting the citation and sending it forward or rejecting the citation and sending it to the bin. There are two levels to the game (in-text citations and reference citations) and twenty citations to evaluate worth one point each.
For faculty, the game is also listed on the title page, so they can decide whether to assign both the tutorial and game or the game alone. Faculty can contact the Instructional Design Librarian Darlene Aguilar if they have questions or are interested in implementing the tutorial in their courses. The tutorial can be embedded in Brightspace courses with a grade item worth 20 points based on the game score.
Aside from these citation tutorials, we offer various interactive tutorials on information literacy including “Advanced Search Tips” and “Evaluating Information.” You can find all of our library tutorials on the Research Tutorials page.
A link to our “How To” YouTube video tutorial series is also available on that page. These video tutorials range from using databases to using library technology. We evaluate all our tutorials and videos for accessibility and include alternative formats, transcripts, and closed captions.