21 Why did Tom and Lisa decide to review their citation style early?
A Their professor penalized them previously.
B The university recently changed the official guidelines.
C They want to try out a new software tool.
22 What surprised Lisa about the updated APA manual?
A The removal of publisher locations for books.
B The strict rules for formatting tables.
C The inclusion of social media references.
23 Which section of their essay requires the most citation corrections?
A The literature review.
B The methodology.
C The data analysis.
24 What do they find most difficult about paraphrasing?
A Keeping the original author’s voice.
B Changing the sentence structure adequately.
C Finding accurate synonyms.
Questions 25–30
Complete the flow-chart below.
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
Checking Citations Before Submission
Phase 1: In-text Citations
Verify that every direct quote includes a precise 25 ……………….. .
Ensure the formatting perfectly matches the specific 26 ……………….. type.
Phase 2: Reference List Compilation
Organize all entries in strict 27 ……………….. order.
Double-check that all journal titles are written in 28 ……………….. .
Phase 3: Final Verification
Run the document through the university’s official 29 ……………….. software.
Print a physical copy to do a manual 30 ……………….. .
Keys
21 A
22 C
23 A
24 B
25 page
26 source
27 alphabetical
28 italics
29 plagiarism
30 proofread
Transcripts
Part 3: You will hear two university students discussing how to check and format the citations for their upcoming sociology assignment.
LISA: Hi Tom. Thanks for meeting up. We really need to sort out the referencing for our sociology assignment.
TOM: I agree. I initially thought we should use that new automatic citation software everyone is talking about.
LISA: Our professor penalized us quite heavily for incorrect formatting last semester because the software glitched. That’s exactly why we need to review it manually early on.
TOM: Right, let’s do it ourselves. I bought the updated APA manual, the 7th edition. Have you looked at it?
LISA: I have. I was glad they removed the publisher locations for books. But what truly caught me off guard was seeing an entire chapter dedicated to referencing social media posts like tweets and podcasts.
TOM: Yeah, referencing a video feels so strange for an academic paper! Anyway, let’s look at our draft. Which part needs the most work?
LISA: Your data section is fine because it’s mostly our own primary research. The methodology is also solid. However, I went through the literature review last night, and almost half of the citations there are either missing or formatted incorrectly.
TOM: Ah, that makes sense since we synthesised so many different articles there. I’ll focus on fixing that section today. Also, I struggle a bit when we don’t use direct quotes.
LISA: You mean paraphrasing? Finding the right synonyms can be tedious.
TOM: My biggest issue is completely changing the sentence structure adequately so it doesn’t look like I just swapped a few words from the original author’s text.
LISA: Exactly, altering the grammar while keeping the meaning is the toughest challenge. Okay, let’s create a systematic process, a flow-chart, for checking everything before we submit on Friday. What’s the first step for the in-text citations?
TOM: Well, obviously we need to make sure the author’s surname and the publication year are there.
LISA: Yes, but the most common mistake is forgetting the exact location for direct quotes. We must verify that every single quotation includes a precise page number, otherwise it’s invalid.
TOM: Good point, I’ll check those numbers. After that, we need to look at the type of material. A book is cited differently than a website.
LISA: Right. So we must ensure the formatting perfectly matches the specific source type we are referencing.
TOM: Okay. Moving on to the reference list at the end of the essay. I usually just list them in the chronological order of when I read them.
LISA: Oh, no, you definitely can’t do that. The guidelines are very strict; you have to organize all the entries in alphabetical order based on the author’s last name.
TOM: Ah, right. I will rearrange them. And what about the font styles?
LISA: You absolutely must double-check that all the journal titles are formatted in italics. That’s a strict requirement.
TOM: Italics, got it. Finally, the submission phase. Should we just email it to the tutor?
LISA: Not yet. First, we are required to run the entire document through the university’s official plagiarism software to ensure our similarity score is adequately low.
TOM: Oh, of course, Turnitin. I completely forgot about that mandatory step. And after we get the report?
LISA: Even if the digital report is clean, staring at a screen makes you miss typos. I highly recommend we print out a physical copy so we can do a final manual proofread together.
TOM: That sounds like a solid plan. Let’s get to work!
