Automated Detection of Reference and Citation Errors in APA Style Manuscripts 

Neil W. Webre, Emeritus Professor, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and President, CiteRefs
&
Michael F. DiPaola, Associate Professor, The College of William & Mary

 Abstract:

One of the more onerous and error-prone editing chores in reviewing APA-formatted manuscripts is finding the errors in their citations and references. It is an exacting job, ill-suited to most people. Fortunately, an automated, online tool for finding APA citation and reference errors exists on the Internet; its use is free and very convenient. This workshop is an introduction to the tool, which is provided by CiteRefs. It can save you a lot of work, and help you produce an APA-formatted document with fewer errors.

A. Introduction

Using the computer and World Wide Web to automatically find the citation and references errors in APA-formatted documents can be a terrific boon to:

•         Graduate students writing doctoral dissertations

•         Professors reviewing the dissertations

•         Professionals/professors writing scholarly papers

•         Professionals/professors writing book manuscripts

•         Journal/book editors and reviewers.

    The service is provided on the Web free of charge by CiteRefs via their web site http://www.citerefs.com.

B. The Process

The process is designed to have no effect on the writing of the document. Write as you normally would. It is designed for unsophisticated computer users, and it produces an easy-to-understand and easily-used output. There is nothing to buy, and no software to install, learn, maintain, etc.

 When ready for an analysis, you must submit an electronic copy of the manuscript to CiteRefs. That almost always means a Microsoft Word document, though other word processors are perfectly acceptable. How?

1.      Visit the CiteRefs web site http://www.citerefs.com and request service.

2.      CiteRefs sends a confirming email, to which you reply, attaching a copy of your document.

3.      CiteRefs’ unique software scans it, annotating the problems it finds.

4.      CiteRefs emails you an annotated copy of the manuscript.

Turnaround is almost always less than 24 hours, and usually just a few hours.

C. CiteRefs Scan: Step 1 - Finding Errors in the Reference List

CiteRefs' software scans the reference list, building an electronic version of it and finding errors in the author and publication date portions. All references with problems are listed, with the problems noted. Examples:

Problems Found in Your Reference List (Samples)   INVALID: Could not find a correctly-formed publication date (i.e. a year, or 'in press' or 'n.d.' in parentheses following the author(s) - PMAPA 4.07, p. 223). American Federation of Teachers. Educational Issues Department. [On-line]. Available: http://www.aft.org/edissues NOTE[26] This reference may have more than six authors. If so, list only the first six, and replace all authors after the sixth with 'et al.'. (PMAPA 4.08, p. 224) Clark, C., Moss, P. A., Goering, S., Herter, R. J., Lamar, B., Leonard, D., Robbins, S., Russell, M., Templin, M., Wascha, K. (1996, Spring). Collaboration as dialogue: Teachers and researchers engaged in conversation and professional development. American Educational Research Journal, 33(1), 193-231. NOTE[24] There is an irregularity in the number or placement of commas in the author clause of this reference. It may not be an error, but examine it. If you see no obvious problem, then CLICK HERE for a list of probable causes. Ornstein, A. C., & Lasley II, T. J. (2000). Strategies for effective teaching (3rd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. and so on ... Reference List Analysis Summary Number of valid references = 360 Number of warning notes = 20 Number of invalid references = 0

Hint: In the third example, the suffix “II” is misplaced. Should be “… Lasley, T. J., II.”

D. CiteRefs Scan: Step 2 - Finding Citation Errors

After building an electronic reference list, CiteRefs’ software scans the body of the manuscript finding the citations in it. When a possible citation is detected, CiteRefs looks it up in its electronic reference list. If found, it colors the citation blue. If not found, it colors it red.

Red colored items have a trailing * which, when clicked, brings up a web page providing additional help, and laying out the problem CiteRefs had in finding a matching reference. It includes suggestions as to what the problem might be, with a reference to the applicable section of the Publication Manual of the APA.

Here is an example of annotated text paragraphs:

The Text of Your Document, with Citations Annotated Chapter 1: The Problem Introduction Teachers and administrators today function in an environment of change, mounting challenges, reform and renewal (Fullan, 1993; Owens, 1995; Pierce, 2000). In an ever-increasingly complex world, stakeholders worldwide clamor for education to solve social problems, produce workforce-ready graduates, and function effectively as surrogate parents. Amidst cries for accountability from parents, communities, employers, and legislators, professional educators seek answers to the complex and perplexing problems of educating all the nation's children, juggling the challenges of their daily tasks with the search to redefine educational effectiveness and improve their practice in pursuit of quality teaching (Glatthorn and* Fox, 1995*; Haycock, 2000; Murphy & Shipman, 1999; Zemelman, Daniels, and* Hyde, 1998; Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development [ASCD], n.d.). Among the responsibilities generally ascribed to a building administrator is that of instructional leader and evaluator of the teaching staff who implement the instruction (Drake & Roe, 1995*; Hughes , et al., 1999*; McEwan, 1994; Shinkfield & Stufflebeam, 1995; ASCD, 2000*; ERS, 1988*). For central office administrators, the duties generally reflect evaluation of building administrators, or, if supervisors or coordinators, possibly direct evaluation of teachers, and for many in various central office positions, oversight of the evaluation process for building personnel (Castetter, 1992; Fletcher & McInerney, 1995; Haertel, 1994*; Zemelman, Daniels, & Hyde, 1998*). and so on through the entire text of your paper ... Citation Analysis Summary Number of citations that match a reference = 782 Number of citations (or isolated years) we could not match with a reference = 118

{Note on the errors:

• Should be Glatthorn & Fox, 1996;

• Should be Drake & Roe, 1994;

• Should be Hughes, 1999;

• ASCD is an established abbreviation, but there are two ASCD, 2000 references;

• ERS is apparently an abbreviation but was never established as such;

• Haertel should be either 1994a or 1994b;

• Zemelman … was cited earlier and should be Zemelman, et al., 1998.}

Note: Clicking the *s brings up help pages. Hovering your mouse over the publication dates brings up the reference for blue dates, and a brief problem statement for red ones. Try the date hovering and and * clicking for yourself. (If the mouse hovering doesn't cause a colored panel to appear, click here for browser settings that will turn it on.)

E. CiteRefs Scan: Step 3 – Listing the Uncited References

Finally, CiteRefs lists all of the references in the reference list that were never cited in the body of the paper. APA format requires that all listed references be cited (though there are a couple of exceptions).
 

Uncited References in Your Reference List 1. Abdal-Haqq, I. (1998). Professional development schools: Weighing the evidence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. 2. Airasian, P., & Gullickson, A. (1994, July). Examination of teacher self-evaluation. Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 8(2), 195-203. 3. Altrichter, H., Posch, P., & Somekh, B. (1993). Teachers investigate their work: An introduction to the methods of action research. New York: Routledge. and so on ... Uncited Reference Summary Number of uncited references = 16

F. The Annotated Results, and Making Use of Them

The results come to you via an email message from CiteRefs with the annotated manuscript attached. The annotated manuscript is a web page, having all of the dynamic linkages, color, and interactivity common to web pages.

The big time savers for you are 1) the identification of errors in the reference list and 2) the blue-colored citations. The blue citations can be assumed to be correct, thereby relieving you of the tedious task of checking them manually. You need only deal with the red-colored (possible) citations, and that is where the errors lie.

The benefits are:

• A big reduction in the labor of editing the citations and references - the bigger the manuscript, the more the saving. The editing of these elements is poorly suited to most people; it is tedious and exacting.

• A resulting manuscript that is much freer of errors, with a positive reflection on your scholarly craftsmanship.

• An assist to those learning the APA format. The CiteRefs software has the APA rules built in, and it never forgets when a new fine point is added. Its referencing of the relevant APA Publication Manual section and page for each problem is a teaching tool for those learning to use APA form.

G. Using CiteRefs Professionally and in a Graduate Education Program
(Prof. DiPaola)

        CiteRefs is both a real time saver and a teaching tool.

• Students entering graduate programs unfamiliar with APA quickly learn how to cite and reference when required to check research papers through CiteRefs

• Doctoral candidates preparing a dissertation proposal or a dissertation for defense not only save time but more easily track their references.

• Students overwhelmingly endorse the use of CiteRefs after they have had an experience with the process.

• Time previously dedicated to tedious editing tasks can be used to work on substantive writing issues.

• Authors can be confident that personal manuscripts run through CiteRefs prior to journal submission are not missing citations or references.

• When editing manuscripts for a journal or edited book, manuscripts can be checked prior to publication to insure accurate reference and citations.

 H. Wrap-up

A much fuller description of the CiteRefs service, as well as a clickable request for service, is found on the home page, http://www.citerefs.com.

CiteRefs welcomes manuscripts submitted by graduate students, professors, practicing professionals, and journal editors/reviewers. Current clients range from Australia through the UK to the U. S. and Canada.

The authors can be contacted at nwebre@citerefs.com and mfdipa@wm.edu.

Presented: UCEA 2007 Conference, Alexandria, Virginia: Session 17.7