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I have read something from an author and I think I would like to use part of his idea in my own context. But how should I cite the author so that it isn't misleading? Let me give an example.

Suppose I have read this and wanted to use this idea from Dunne & Raby in my article:

Critical design uses designed artifacts as an embodied critique or commentary on consumer culture.

Since my article is written in my own context, I may end up using the sentence this way:

The design of Product X is an embodied critique on the consumer culture.

Now, if I were cite Dunne & Raby:

The design of Product X is an embodied critique on the consumer culture (Dunne & Raby, 1999).

This may appear as if Dunne & Raby said that Product X is an embodied critique on the consumer culture when they were actually commenting about something more general.

I can't put quotes either since I'm lifting it entirely from its original statement.

Would how I have cited the author correct in the form of APA citation? If not, how should I cite it so that it would be clearer?

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  • To put it simply, you are not quoting anyone, so you won't be 'citing' anything. If you find a sentence structure suitable to your context, you may use it -- I don't think you need to acknowledge 'inspiration' from another source for that. Remember never to change anything, not even punctuation, if you claim to quote someone. -- Quote exactly or don't quote at all. – Kris Nov 17 '13 at 8:45
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    Better to ask questions of this type on writersSE. They're OT on ELU. – Kris Nov 17 '13 at 8:46
  • According to Dunne and Raby (1999), the design of Product X is an embodied critique on the consumer culture. You might perhaps hotlink; According to Dunne and Raby (1999), the design of Product X is an embodied critique on the consumer culture. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 17 '13 at 8:52
  • @ xenon Will you be providing a bibliography? I would definitely include details of Dunne & Raby's work in that. Otherwise I suspect Kris' comment is valid. – WS2 Nov 17 '13 at 9:45
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The standard way of providing this sort of oblique reference is to use compare, abbreviated to cf.

cf. abbreviation
compare with (used to refer a reader to another written work or another part of the same written work).

Origin:
from Latin confer 'compare'

[ODO]

See also Cornell University's guide.

The first example of use I found using Google uses it to provide Bible references where the reader is directed to supporting text which is not directly quoted. This is the same as your use:

The most common Greek word for “wrath” is orge. The term occurs 36 times in the New Testament (cf. Romans 1:18; 2:5). Source

Thus your reference would be

The design of product X is an embodied critique on the consumer culture (cf. Dunne & Raby, 1999)

You are not directly quoting, so your reference should not give that impression. Cf. provides the mechanism to show that you are basing a statement of your own on other evidence.

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Just don't cite anyone. Alternatively, you may add "as described above" or something similar.

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