An Unlikely Convergence: Journalism and Public Relations?

September 9, 2012

I am sitting at my dining room table, enjoying my daily ritual: a post-lunch “digestivo.” I became partial to a good digestivo when I was a U.S. Navy public affairs officer, based at a NATO military headquarters in Naples, Italy, serving as a senior NATO spokesperson. After lunch, before going back to work, I would usually stop off at the coffee bar next to my office to have an espresso with my Italian friends. Now, my digestivo is a home-brewed double shot of authentic Italian espresso (Kimbo, an Italian roast that “represents the Neapolitan coffee culture”).

When to Cite in an APA-Style Paper

I often receive the question, “How many sources do I need in my APA paper’s text or reference list?” There is no definitive answer to this question, since the number of in-text citations and sources on a reference list depend on an individual author’s work.

The best response to this question can be found in the American Psychological Association’s publication manual (APA, 2010), which has provided the following guidance. Words inside brackets are authored by me:

When to Cite

Cite the work of those individuals whose ideas, theories, or research have directly influenced your work. They may provide key background information, support or dispute your thesis, or offer critical definitions of data. Citation of an article implies that you have personally read the cited work [see Note 1]. In addition to crediting the ideas of others that you used to build your thesis, provide documentation for all facts and figures that are not common knowledge [see Note 2].

The number of sources you cite in your work will vary by the intent of the article [or paper, as in a college course]. For most articles [or papers], aim to cite one or two of the most representative sources for each key point [see Note 3]. (p. 169)

The following figure provides an example of citation levels, based on an actual APA-style paper (click the image to enlarge the figure):

NOTE: Adapted from “Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6^th ed.),” by American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 170. Copyright 2010 by the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.

NOTE 1: When citing sources, cite the original or primary source of the work. See Tip 24 in my APA citation and writing Wiki. For example, if you wish to cite Peter G. Northouse’s introduction to leadership, you would read his original work (e.g., Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, 2^nd ed., 2012) before you quote or attribute and cite his work. The APA publication manual discourages citation of secondary sources. For example, Northouse (2012, p. 19) used a quote and citation from another author to describe George Washington’s leadership style. Northouse wrote, “Washington … as Schwartz (1987, p. 147) has suggested, ‘was ‘great’ because he was ‘good.’” If you wanted to cite Schwartz or use Schwartz’s quote in your paper, you must locate and read the original Schwartz material, to ensure that you quote or attribute Schwartz’s material accurately. Secondary citations are prone to errors. See the APA publication manual, article 6.17 (p. 178), for guidelines about citing secondary sources. Don’t use secondary sources to simply save time needed to research the original source. According to APA (2010), only use secondary sources “when the original work is out of print, unavailable through usual sources, or not available in English” (p. 178). And if you must use a secondary citation, use the following format for an in-text citation and cite only the secondary author(s), not the primary source, in the reference list: Northouse (2012) suggested that George Washington was a great leader because of his goodness (as cited in Schwartz, 1987).

NOTE 2: If you chose to write in a paper that “George Washington was a great leader,” you would not need to cite your source (e.g., Northouse, 2012, or Schwartz, 1987) because it is common knowledge that Washington, the first U.S. president, was a great leader. However, if you chose to quote Northouse, then you must cite the source of the quote.

NOTE 3: Do not “pad” your paper with citations or a long reference list in an attempt to have your paper seen as being more “scholarly” or to impress a professor. Papers that focus on a review of literature as their primary thesis or topic often contain lengthy reference lists. However, in most articles or papers, be judicious in your use of in-text and reference list citations. Articles or papers that borrow excessively from the work of other authors (e.g., an overabundance of in-text and reference list citations) are usually less credible than articles or papers with a reasonable number of citations that are based primarily on an author’s original work. Finally, when citing sources, make sure that all in-text citations appear on the reference list (with the exception of some elements of a secondary citation, as described in Note 1); and ensure that all sources listed in a reference list have a corresponding in-text citation.

References:

American Psychological Association, 2010. Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6^th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Northouse, P. G., 2012. Introduction to leadership (2^nd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.

Harrisburg U Social Media Summit 2012 Results

I thoroughly enjoyed Harrisburg University's 2012 Social Media Summit this week. A full day of panel presentations and workshops with social media experts from around the world provided valuable information about what is happening today and into the future with social networks; information assurance (security); legal affairs; education; new applications to public relations, marketing, and advertising; and much more.










Thanks in particular to Marist College fan Chris Dessi (pictured in the center, doing the Jersey fist pump!) and other social media experts for a brilliant panel on the future of social networking. Click here to see video of this panel and others.

Congratulations to HU for another successful summit!

Mark

PRSA CEO: Social Media Has Become Strategic PR Function

In this video, Gerry Corbett, chair and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America, explains why social media has become a strategic public relations function.

Click the image to play the following Facebook video:

So, who teaches how to manage social media in our colleges and universities? Marketing? IT? Or PR? Public relations faculty need to engage.

Mark

Google Announces New Social Media Analytic Tools

Figure courtesy of Google

Finally, social media managers have a new set of no cost tools to help take some of the mystery out of analyzing the value of social media activities. Response to Google's March 20 announcement about its new analytics package for social media has been generally favorable.

You haven't heard about this yet? Well, you need to get onboard, as Google Analytic's new "Social Reports" option provides a powerful (and free!) means for measuring the impacts and effectiveness of your social media programs.

According to the Google announcement, "The new reports bridge the gap between social media and the business metrics you care about - allowing you to better measure the full value of the social channel for your business." Specifically, Social Reports will help social media managers:

1. place a value on traffic from social media sites by measuring how they lead to direct engagements with key audience members;
2. develop a more refined understanding of social activities on and off of social media sites, which help optimize engagement and key performance indicators; and
3. make more efficient and better qualified decisions about SM programs based on credible data.

For a better understanding of how the Social Reports program works, check out "About Social Analytics" on the Google Analytics Help page. According to Google, the following four elements define social impact: sources, conversions, pages, and social plugins. Google defines these elements as follows (source):

Sources: As your content is shared and people come to your site, it's important to understand how visitors from different social sources engage with your site.

Conversions: Shared content URLs become the entry points into your site, driving traffic from social sources. Measuring the conversion and monetary value of this traffic will help you understand the impact of Social on your business.

Pages: People increasingly engage with, share, and discuss content on social networks. It’s important to know which pages and content are being shared, where they're being shared, and how.

Social Plugins: Adding Social Plugin buttons to your site (for example, Google "+1" buttons) allows your users share content to social networks directly from your site. Your social plugin data shows you which content is being shared, and on which networks.

By integrating analysis of all these elements (and visitor flow through sites), social media managers can now obtain a more complete and accurate understanding of how social media affects performance, justify the cost of social media activities, and demonstrate social media's contribution to an organization's bottom line.

To get started with setting up and evaluating your Social Reports, read the tutorials provided by Google at its "About Social Analytics" page.

Michael Bernardini (Marist, '13) Selected as Fall '12 COMMARTS Intern

Michael Bernardini

The Marist College School of Communication and the Arts has announced selection of communication major Michael Bernardini (’13) as the school’s fall 2012 communication intern. Michael has an academic concentration in public relations and a minor in global studies.

Michael (on LinkedIn) will begin his intern duties when the fall semester convenes on August 27. As the school’s intern, he will provide direct support to Dean Steven Ralston, faculty, staff, and contract employees. He will also promote awareness of the school’s student activities and accomplishments. His duties will include assisting with management of public relations, advertising, marketing and other strategic communication functions that contribute to strong relationships with the school’s key audiences.

Michael, a resident of Lansdale, PA, is a 2009 graduate of Perkiomen Valley High School in Collegeville, PA. In addition to his academic accomplishments, he currently serves as the vice-president of Marist’s Red Foxes Chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). He will serve as president of the chapter during the next academic year.

Michael is also employed by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion (the Marist Poll) and he has completed communication internships with Say Communications (healthcare, London, England); Sprout Creek Farm (social media, Poughkeepsie, NY); and Saint Francis Hospital and Health Centers (Poughkeepsie, NY).

Congratulations to Michael and all of this semester’s applicants for this position. All students were well qualified, with impressive resumes, which made for an extremely challenging selection process.

Any students interested in applying for future positions as the school’s communication intern should contact me at mark.vandyke@marist.edu.

Marist Poll Student Worker Saves a Life

From Left: Jason Sokolowski, Bobby
Berlin, Daniela Charter

Congratulations to Marist Poll field supervisor Daniela Charter and Marist College communication major Jason Sokolowski for saving a life.

While working one of his shifts for the Marist Poll on the evening of April 16, Jason's random call -- one of hundreds that he might make in a night -- woke up Bobby Berlin of Manhattan. Berlin's speech was slurred and her answers to Jason's questions about Mayor Bloomberg didn't make sense. Sokolowski, who lost a close high-school friend to a diabetic attack last November, sensed that something was wrong and again asked Berlin, "Are you O.K.?"

A recording of the call documented Berlin responding, "Ahh, what? Awww, wuh."

Sokolowski asked again, "Are you O.K., mam?"

Berlin replied, "No." 

Click image to listen to YNN report and
audio of actual Marist Poll phone call.


At that point Sokolowski called in his supervisor, Daniela Charter, a four-year veteran of the Marist Poll. Suspecting that Ms. Berlin was experiencing a medical emergency, the team called Dutchess County, N.Y., 911 emergency services, who connected with Manhattan emergency services, who then traced Berlin's phone number. Arriving at her apartment, Manhattan first responders found Berlin nearing a diabetic coma. Following treatment, she has since recovered and is now back in her apartment.

Asked about the call, Bobby Berlin said, "If something hadn't been done, I don't think I would have made it until morning."

Remaining humble about his role in saving Bobby Berlin's life, Jason Sokolowski chalked up the incident to a "perfect storm" of random chances. "It all came together for her," Sokolowski concluded. "It just wasn't her time to go."

Jason Sokolowski is a Marist College junior in the School of Communication and the Arts. He has an academic concentration in advertising with a minor in psychology.

The Marist Institute for Public Opinion, better known as the Marist Poll, is a survey research center located at Marist College. Founded in 1978, the institute measures public opinion on a wide variety of topics at the local, regional, state, and national level. The data collected by the Poll are widely reported by journalists and analysts around the world.

For me, students like Jason Sokolowski and staff members like Daniela Charter are just one of the many rewards of teaching and studying at Marist College. Go Red Foxes!

News reports by YNN TV's John Wagner and NBC-TV4 New York's Melissa Russo contributed to this blog post. See additional stories and photographs by the Washington Post, the Poughkeepsie Journal, and Marist College Public Affairs.