Documentaries are television programs, films or radio programmes whose primary purpose is to convey information, give facts or shed some light on a particular subject that is either, unusual, unknown or interesting to the viewers and listeners. Documentaries examine people, events or both based on facts. The word documentary could be loosely translated to relating to documents or a factual record. Today we see a lot of documentaries in virtually every subject out there thus may be difficult to teach students how to cite a documentary APA.
These documentaries are not fictional, meaning they are based on real life events, animals or people. From the word documenting, a documentary strives to express everything as perceived with little to no distortion of any kind and not driven by other factors such as fictitious matter, personal feelings, insertion or interpretation; it is based on verifiable facts.
The list of topics that are covered by the genre of documentaries is vast and only limited by the human imagination and thus students need help citing a documentary APA. Some of these documentaries offer useful information that the producers feel s not being covered by mainstream media outlets. A documentary as earlier stated can be any number of things; funny, disturbing, poignant, absurd, inspirational, shocking or any combination. Like we said, the topics are practically limitless.
Traditionally, most of the documentaries fell between the duration of 30 minutes and 2 hours. However, with the onset of the 21st century, where almost all teenagers and adults have smartphones with internet access, the duration for these documentaries has reduced to just a few minutes and distributed as web video which is not easy to cite a documentary APA. Therefore is only sensible that such a rich source of information is integrated into the school system.
Students nowadays can access classroom content from documentaries posted online, a good example is the use of historical documentaries to complete written assignments. Ok, that’s all well and good, however, students are having problems with activities such as how to cite a documentary in APA. APA is the acronym for American Psychological Association; it is the most common style of writing used to cite and reference source materials especially in the field of education, nursing, and social sciences.
How to Cite Documentary APA Format
When writing your term paper or essay you may use a documentary APA citation as for source material, and just like is the case for other resources; it is important to include in text citation APA documentary in the body of your paper. Also, you should include a corresponding reference entry at the end of your paper. According to the 6th edition of the APA manual of style, there are specific guidelines on how to format the citations and references of a documentary source. Therefore to cite documentary APA in the body of your paper.
If you have been wondering what the best way is for APA citing documentary, you are in luck. In APA citing a documentary is, for the most part, the same as citing an online source or a book. However, instead of authors, you include the directors and producers of the film. Therefore, when citing a documentary instead of the normal last name of the author and the year of publication in the in-text citations, you will have the director’s last name and the release date for the documentary. The corresponding reference list should have the following elements of how to cite documentary APA;
- Name of the producer(s)
- The director(s) of production
- Release date (year)
- The title of the documentary
- Country of origin / Location
- The studio that produced the documentary.
When citing documentary APA the general format follows the steps outlined above with punctuation marks separating some of the elements in the reference. You can have a better view of the template from our website. The template is made available for everyone willing to use it. You use the template to format your APA citation documentary and reference entries on your own.
Why Should You Learn How to Cite a Film APA Writing Style
Learning how to cite a documentary in APA in the text shows that you have taken figures, ideas, opinions, facts etc. from another source that is not your own. Citations were conceptualized as a way to uniquely identify the sources you have used in your work and also to verify the authenticity of your work based on the citations used to support your subject matter.
You can find our templates ready for you on our website and take this advantage to learn of the various witting styles we cater for on our website. By learning how to cite a film APA and reference with not only APA but also other writing styles such as MLA, Chicago and Harvard you become a well-rounded writer capable of delivering a high-quality formatted paper in no time.
Importance of citing a documentary APA online
As a writer, it is your duty to learn and show the reader of your work every piece of information that was obtained from external sources such as documentary films through citing a documentary APA and referencing g it. By learning how to cite documentary APA you know it is important to give credit where credit is due in your completed work for these reasons;
- Citations act as a fact confirmation mechanism
- Citing makes you a better researcher
- You gain invaluable writing skills
- Accurate bibliographies show your scientific prowess
- You reassure the reader of the correctness of the content.
- Careful citing will build your credibility as a student
- Avoid cases of plagiarism
Use Modern APA Format Documentary for Your Papers
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