Since I provide a lot of online content, I often get asked if people can share my information for professional presentations, with clients, or with colleagues.
In this post, I wanted to share some guidelines you can use for sharing online content, as well as some things that are specific to resources I offer. If you’re someone who does presentations, is interested in creating trainings and resources for your teams or clients, or if you’re toying with the idea of creating your own resources this will guide you in knowing how to do this ethically.
Because I’m an SLP, many of these guidelines will follow the standards of the American Psychological Association (APA) Manual.
As I’m writing this article the most recent version is the 7th edition, which you can purchase here. When I’m citing references in my courses or online content, I often use this format for creating references.
Rules for Writing a “Good” Reference List
It makes sense for me to start off by explaining my process for creating my own reference lists, as well as how I respond when someone asks me to cite resources for any recommendations I might be making in any of my content.
First, I’ll start with my personal guidelines for reference lists.
This one is difficult to talk about because it is always context-specific. If I’m providing a formal seminar for a professional development seminar, they often have the “five within five” rule. This means they want at least 5 of your sources that you cite to be published in the last 5 years. They often don’t specify if these have to be empirical studies or other publications, but if I’m doing a formal lecture, my goal is for as many as possible of those 5 sources to be empirical studies. If they aren’t, I’m certainly going to be making up for it by citing studies that occurred in the last 10 years, or that are as current as possible.
When I think about the year of publication, I want to include things that are as current as possible, but I don’t ONLY include current work. I also want to represent the body of work on whatever topic I’m discussing, which means also citing studies that are older, but have guided the progression of the work. There are many seminal studies that have informed research being done now, and it actually makes your framework stronger if you’re showing how the body of work has developed over the years. Many times, if I’m going to highlight seminal work that was published many years ago, I explain why I’m citing “old” research, and I may also add some additional citations that show why the work is still relevant.
When I think of the type of reference, I also aim for an even mix. I absolutely want to include empirical studies from peer-reviewed journals. But I also want to include clinical forms or theoretical pieces. In addition, I may include manuals, textbooks, or even self-published work from clinicians describing intervention protocols. It’s also relevant to cite chapters from textbooks, seminars that were attended, or articles from popular news sources. Last but not least, you can also cite online content. This can include YouTube videos, social media posts, blog articles, or podcast episodes.
The APA manual has updated its guidelines to include some of these new media that people now consume; and I like to make sure I give credit when I learn something from someone. That’s why although I like the “meat” of my reference lists to be from peer-reviewed sources or more traditional literature, I’ve also started including online content. There have been many times that an online post has helped me find a study that’s ended up on a reference list; so it makes sense in that context to credit the original person who shared the information in the first place, in addition to an additional source that shares similar ideas.
If less formal online content didn’t lead to me finding additional studies, I’ll often cite if I feel it’s a good explanation of concepts that are aligned with research. Reference lists are partially about proving you’ve done your work, but they can also be helpful in pointing your readers to other sources. That’s why I always like to give credit to as many people as possible.
There are some cases in my own personal online content that aren’t as long; such as in individual videos within a larger course, or a blog post or podcast episode that references a more lengthy course or piece of content. In those cases, I might not include the whole “spread” of references in each individual video, post, or episode. Rather, I aim to follow my guidelines over the entire framework I’m teaching in my course, for example. If it’s a blog post or podcast episode, I may provide a “sampling” of sources and send people to additional pieces of content that give additional information.
What types of sources do I include in my reference list?
In this section, I’ll give a summary of types of sources I might include in a reference list, with the goal of ensuring that I include as much cutting edge, current research (within the last 5-10 years) as well as older work that’s informed the body of research.
Empirical Studies: A meta-analysis is the “gold standard”, however these often don’t show individual, descriptive differences in different populations. Plus, they take a long time. Therefore, we also want to include other types of studies with true experimental designs, quasi experimental designs, qualitative and quantitative studies, as well as correlational research. It’s important to be aware of the types of studies you’re referencing; if you find that you ONLY have very small participant groups, mostly correlational research, or studies that rely on a lot of self-report, you want to make an effort to find additional studies with more rigorous designs. If that kind of research is not available, it’s important to be transparent about that when you present the information.
Clinical Forums/Theoretical Frameworks: Not all articles cited in peer reviewed sources are studies. Many are considered “secondary sources”. In other words, they cite other research and write an article that outlines some type of clinical protocol or recommendations for practice. Maybe they provide a summary of past research on an existing topic, or formulate a theory that could guide practice based on past studies. These are useful, and should absolutely be cited in references lists. However, when creating a reference list, you want to make sure you don’t ONLY have secondary sources; even if they do come from peer-reviewed journals. These kinds of articles are great for those in the field, because they often provide practical advice that isn’t always given in empirical studies. However, you want to make sure you ALSO have a decent mix of studies, not just articles that outline theories or protocols.
Books, Book Chapter, Manuals: This can include textbooks, textbook chapters, teacher’s manuals, assessments or guides that outline any type of protocol for intervention or assessment, or a less formal nonfiction book. Textbooks tend to be considered more rigorous, however the challenge is that it takes longer for them to be updated. Books can also include “pop culture” books, or books written by journalists. These tend to vary widely in quality, so you certainly have to be a good consumer; however I do include them in my reference lists if I find a good one.
Online Articles: There are a wide range of articles I’d include here. First, most peer-reviewed articles are available online now, so that is usually my go-to option. Empirical articles, and clinical forums, and theoretical frameworks would fit under this category. However, you can also include articles from popular news sources here as well. You have to be a good consumer of journalism pieces, but many of them can be useful on a reference list if they’re well-researched. Online articles can also include blog posts as well. Again, they vary widely in quality, but you can include them in APA format if you find one that is appropriate. If I’m going to include sources that are considered less rigorous, I make sure that I also have other peer-reviewed sources as well.
Live Seminars/Workshops/Online Courses: If you attend a live conference, you can cite it in a reference list. You can also include online seminars from popular continuing education sites. If I attend a great seminar, what I like to do is include that seminar in my reference list. Then, I’ll take it a step further, and take a look at the reference list from the session and see if I can get my hands on a few of the articles. If I can, then I might also include them in my reference list if I feel they’re relevant and good quality.
Therapy Products/Teaching Resources: I don’t do this one as often; but it’s technically something you can do. With so many resources being available from small business owners, it’s always nice to credit someone who taught you something. While I would not create a reference list that contained ONLY commercial therapy or teaching materials; I certainly might include a few on a reference list if they informed what I’m writing or speaking about.
Podcast Episodes, YouTube Videos, Social Media Posts: With so much information available online, APA has created guidelines for citing online media in reference lists. I’m a firm believer of giving people credit if they’ve taught me something. There are many people I follow online, and although I know they often give presentations or mentor clinicians, some of them primarily share content via social media on online platforms. If that’s the case, I may include someone’s YouTube video or podcast episode in a reference list. I have yet to include a social media post in a reference list, but it is something I might consider doing if I thought the information was high quality and if it was the only way I could find to credit someone with teaching me something.
Statutes and Laws: This is just one example of citing something relevant to legal guidelines, but is important to mention. Because I often talk about policy and reform, it’s important to include citations from legal documents in some of my reference lists. The APA Manual has a lengthy list of different types of legal documents that might be relevant to cite with the formatting instructions.
*This is not an exhaustive list. You can see the APA Manual for other examples; these are just the ones I use most often.
How to ethically share free and paid online content
I sometimes get questions from people about how to share my content, which I always appreciate. I’m going to walk through a few options for you if you want to share my information.
Some of this might apply to other online business owners; however if you have a question about sharing someone’s content, it’s always best to ask.
First, let’s start with my free information. As a general rule, if something is freely available on my blog, podcast, or any other location that is not password protected, you can feel free to share it.
When I was teaching at a university, the rule for sharing articles in university courses was that you were supposed to share the permalink to the article instead of simply downloading the article and including it in your course handout.
The context is slightly different in the university scenario, but a similar rule applies when you share online content.
If someone is offering a free download that you can sign up for, the best way to share that in a way that’s respectful of the author’s intellectual property is to share the sign up page.
For example, I offer a free Ultimate Guide to Sentence Structure. I prefer that if people enjoy the guide, that they share the link to sign up for the guide rather than sharing the download itself.
However, if you listen to a podcast episode, read a blog article, or find a helpful YouTube video, you can share the link directly with anyone you’d like. I always appreciate when people do this!
For paid content, the rules are a little different.
In the past, I’ve had students from some of my courses ask if they can repurpose some of my information or cite my course in a presentation.
If you want to repurpose my content, this often requires some back and forth communication for me to officially give permission to make sure you’re abiding by copyright guidelines. Additionally, it can help me to explain what I do and don’t want you to share, and how to make the appropriate attributions and citations. I rarely turn people down for situations like this as long as they’re willing to credit me appropriately, and I always appreciate it when people ask first.
For people who are in my courses, here are some examples of how you might cite course content in a reference list:
If you want to cite an entire course, you can use this format:
Dudek-Brannan, K. (2023). The School of Clinical Leadership [Online course]. Dr. Karen, LLC.
Dudek-Brannan, K. (2021). Language Therapy Advance Foundations [Online course]. Dr. Karen, LLC.
How to cite specific modules or resources within a course:
Dudek-Brannan, K. (2023). Creating an integrated service-delivery model. In K. Dudek-Brannan The School of Clinical Leadership [Online course]. Dr. Karen, LLC.
Dudek-Brannan, K. (2021). Self-questioning strategy. In K. Dudek-Brannan Language Therapy Advance Foundations [Online course]. Dr. Karen, LLC.
Finally, some of my students ask if they can share information with parents, students and staff.
One thing that you should NOT do is share your login information for an online course you’ve paid for. This is MY rule, but I’m fairly certain that most other course creators feel similarly. This would be similar to photocopying copyrighted materials. One place where there is a exception to the “don’t share the login rule” would be if a parent signed up for one of my resources that’s appropriate for parents, and they wanted to watch the trainings with their partner. But…if you’re a professional in a building, please don’t share your login with 10 other team members 🙂
Next, the downloads. These are also copyrighted material, and anything you’ve purchased should not be downloaded and shared with others who haven’t paid for the course.
However, I do have some editable resources that are designed to be shared. These resources are provided in editable formats. This might include Google documents, Google slides, or Microsoft word documents. What you can do in this case is save the document to your drive or device, and then use the editable document in a client session or when you’re working with a family. This includes several therapy protocols, and it also includes some data sheets as well. In this case, it’s fine for you to save the template that I’ve created, make edits as you’re working with a client, family, or coworker to training them in a protocol, and then save that version with your updates. At that point, you’ve taken the template I’ve created and made it your own, and you’re free to share it. For example, if you’re working semantic feature analysis with one of your students and using one of my editable documents, you can use the updated version of the document to send home with your students to help engage families. You could also do a similar activity with a coworker to train them in a strategy you’ve learned from me.
In this video, I also talked about the The Reading is Fundamental National Literacy Month Campaign happening in September 2024.
As a member of the BE podcast network, on De Facto Leaders, I’m partnering with Reading is Fundamental to support literacy and book distribution.
Reading is Fundamental is a nonprofit that focuses on connecting educators and families with materials and training aligned with evidence-based literacy instruction.
Not only is their model aligned with the science of reading; they also offer unique book ownership solutions for professionals and families to address book equity issues. You can learn more about Reading is Fundamental here:
As part of this special event, from September 15-October 15.
I’m offering 25% off the School of Clinical Leadership and Language Therapy Advance Foundations. You can sign up for Language Therapy Advance Foundations at drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy.
You can sign of for the School of Clinical Leadership at drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership
Enter coupon code RIF25 on the check out page to get this special rate.
If you’re already a member of either program and you refer a friend, I’m offering a $100 referral bonus if they sign up. Just have them email me at talktome@drkarenspeech.com to let me know you referred them.
As part of the National Literacy Month RIF series, I’ll be publishing two episodes a week during the month of September.
In October, I’ll resume the standard once a week schedule and will publish some shorter episodes that outline my key take-aways based on the September interviews.
These shorter episodes will give you a chance to catch up on listening to the extra episodes; and will also give you the chance to hear my take on each interview.
Here are some questions and topics I’m hoping to answer with this special series:
✅Should we focus on word decoding in secondary school if kids can use screen readers and if we’re now “reading to learn”?
✅Read-alouds: Where do they fit in to in the “science of reading”? How can we use this model intentionally to build language and vocabulary?
✅What do the mandates really say about using terms like “dyslexia” and “developmental language disorder” as school eligibility categories?
✅Book deserts: What they are and how educators and school leaders can work together to increase access to books at the school, community, and policy level.
✅Explicit instruction: What exactly do we need to be teaching explicitly? Will kids all kids learn to read “naturally”?
✅Unpacking characteristics of dyslexia and developmental language disorder to design effective literacy intervention.
Here’s what you can do right now to support this campaign and ensure you don’t miss any of the interviews:
- Go to Apple, Spotify, or any other directory you use for podcasts and subscribe to the De Facto Leaders podcast.
- Leave De Facto Leaders a rating and review. This helps get my show in to the hands of people who need the information.
- Do you have a colleague or friend who needs to learn more about the research surrounding language and literacy? If so, tell them about the De Facto Leaders podcast so they can listen to all the episodes in this special campaign.
The best way to do that is to encourage them to search it on their favorite directory, or share this page on my website with past episodes. The first episode in the Reading is Fundamental Series is going live on Wednesday, September 4. Mark your calendars so you don’t miss it!
