About
Contents
What this guide is for
This guide was created to provide assistance with citation for business sources, many of which can be difficult to fit into the templates of common citation styles. It is based on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed. All page and section numbers refer to this manual.
Although the guide also contains some general guidance on using the APA citation style, its main focus is complex business sources. We recommend that you visit your local library's website for areas of APA that are not covered here.
What this guide is not for
- This guide is not focused on common types of sources that are covered well by other APA guides (e.g., books, most journal articles, or basic websites).
- It also is not intended as a place where you can ask citation questions. Please contact your local library if none of the resources listed in this guide come close to the specific resource and issue you are dealing with.
- Also see our Disclaimer for further discussion of the limitations of this guide.
Who is responsible
This APA Guide is a result of a collaborative effort of many BC College and University Librarians. To edit this wiki you must be a contributor associated with the Business Librarians of B.C. group.
Librarians currently contributing to this wiki represent the following institutions:
- British Columbia Institute of Technology
- Capilano University
- Kwantlen Polytechnic University
- Simon Fraser University
History
The idea for this guide first came up during a meeting of the Business Librarians of BC (BUSLIB-BC) group. We were sharing news about recent initiatives and efforts at our institutions when a theme became obvious: many of us had just created or updated guides to using APA with business resources!
There was a brief pause in the meeting, then the discussion switched over to how incredibly inefficient it was for us all to be making such similar guides. We decided to look into how (and who... and when) to create a joint guide -- one that would have a BC focus (BC librarians building it, BC examples used where possible) and that would provide consistent, current, and quality citation examples for all BC researchers. Ideally (because what good is a dream without ideals at the core?), the guide would also serve as
Sarah Parker (then at SFU) and Anita Chan (then at Capilano University) started off our collaborative project in the best possible way -- by collaborating on a proposal. They investigated possible platforms, recommended procedures for creating and maintaining the guide, and worked out a process for sharing responsibility in a way that would spread the joy and the work without overwhelming anyone.
The BUSLIB-BC team met and approved the draft proposal, then formed a working group to take it to the next stage. That group had a few business librarians (Linda Matsuba and Deirdre Grace of BCIT, plus Mark Bodnar of SFU), as well as an APA/citation expert (Ulrike Kestler of Kwantlen Polytechnic University). Brandon Weigel of the BC Electronic Library Network (ELN) was also available to the group for assistance as required.
Sarah Parker (SFU) built the initial wiki (a huge task that involved much investigation and experimentation with possible extensions) on the ELN servers with assistance from ELN folks and documented key procedures. ELN was chosen as a neutral site, in part because that meant that the wiki wouldn't appear to be "owned by" (and the sole responsibility of) any single institution.
After a few false starts and some interregnums during which our regular work duties took precedence, we finally moved to beta stage in the Summer of 2017.
License
This guide was created in a spirit of sharing and mutual support, so its success will only be enhanced if it is shared further.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License