How to Cite Sources for WGU C717 Task 2
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How to Cite Sources for WGU C717 Task 2
By Dan Palmer, MBA
WGU C717 Task 2 doesn’t always require external sources the way a research-heavy task would, but most rubrics still expect at least one reference supporting your discussion of employee rights, employer responsibilities, or the ethical framework you apply — and this is where papers that are otherwise well-argued lose points on a technicality. Not because the source is wrong, but because the citation format is inconsistent, or the source doesn’t actually connect to the specific claim it’s attached to.
Here’s how to source and cite this task correctly, using APA 7 formatting throughout.
What kind of source actually fits this task
Unlike a course built around a single scholarly framework, C717 Task 2 usually calls for sources in two different categories:
Legal/regulatory sources — supporting factual claims about employee rights (minimum wage and overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act, workplace safety expectations, anti-discrimination protections). These don’t need to be academic journal articles; a citation to the relevant act or a reputable legal-reference source is appropriate and often expected.
Ethical framework sources — supporting the analytical lens you apply to the dilemma itself (utilitarian reasoning, rights-based reasoning, the common-good approach). The Markkula Center’s ethical decision-making framework is the source I see referenced most consistently across strong submissions, because it names the specific lenses (utilitarian, rights, justice, common good, virtue, care) in a way that maps directly onto rubric language asking you to “apply an ethical framework.”
Mixing both types in a single Task 2 paper — one source grounding the factual/legal claim, one grounding the ethical-reasoning claim — tends to produce a more complete-looking analysis than relying on just one or the other.
Formatting the in-text citation correctly (APA 7)
APA uses author-date citation, not footnotes or endnotes. For a source with a named organizational author, like the Markkula Center:
(Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, 2025)
If you’re citing a specific concept from their framework directly in a sentence:
According to the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics (2025), the utilitarian approach evaluates an action based on which option produces the most good and does the least harm.
Note the pattern: author (or organization name) and year go together, either in parentheses at the end of the sentence or worked into the sentence itself with just the year in parentheses. Page numbers are expected for direct quotes but optional for paraphrased content — though APA guidelines encourage including one anyway when it helps a reader locate the original passage in a longer document.
Formatting the reference list entry
For an organizational-author web resource without a traditional print citation, the reference list entry follows this pattern:
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. (2025). A framework for ethical decision making. Santa Clara University. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/a-framework-for-ethical-decision-making/
Notice the title is italicized, only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized (sentence case), and the URL is included in full without a “Retrieved from” prefix — a change from earlier APA editions that a lot of recycled UGC Task 2 papers online still get wrong, since many were written under APA 6 conventions and never updated.
A mistake that’s specific to this task
Because so many circulated C717 Task 2 papers online were written years apart, across different APA edition requirements, copying a citation format directly from one of them is a common way this task loses easy points. I’ve seen submissions with a perfectly reasonable source undermined by a reference list entry still using “Retrieved from” phrasing, inconsistent capitalization, or a missing publication year — all APA 6 habits that read as dated under APA 7 grading. If you’re drawing structural inspiration from an older uploaded paper, always run the citation format itself against a current APA 7 reference, not just the content.
Common mistakes that cost points here
- Citing a source but never connecting it to a specific claim. A reference list entry with no clear corresponding statement in your analysis reads as decorative rather than substantive.
- Using a source to support a claim it doesn’t actually make. Citing the Markkula framework generically at the end of a paragraph, without tying it to the specific ethical lens you’re applying, is a common way source and analysis drift apart.
- Inconsistent author-date format between in-text citations and the reference list. If your in-text citation says (Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, 2025), your reference list entry needs to start with that exact same name and year — not a shortened or reworded version.
- Treating a general web search result as equivalent to a citable source. Not every ethics-related page you find while researching is written by an identifiable author or organization; if you can’t tell who wrote it, it’s a weak citation candidate regardless of how relevant the content looks.
Third-Party Resources
- APA Style Formatting and Style Guide — Purdue OWL — the standard reference for APA 7 formatting rules used throughout this guide.
- In-Text Citations: The Basics — Purdue OWL — direct guidance on the author-date in-text format shown above, including page-number conventions for quotes versus paraphrases.
- A Framework for Ethical Decision Making — Markkula Center for Applied Ethics — the ethical-framework source referenced in the citation examples above.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a source for every paragraph, or just one for the whole paper? Most rubrics expect at least one properly cited source somewhere in the analysis — check your specific task instructions for an exact minimum, since this varies more between C717 Task 2 versions than the core rights-and-responsibilities content does.
Can I cite WGU’s own course material? Generally, course-of-study content is meant to inform your understanding rather than serve as a citable external source — check your specific rubric wording, since some tasks explicitly want sources beyond the assigned readings.
Is it acceptable to cite a law (like the Fair Labor Standards Act) directly without a secondary source? Yes — citing the act by name in your text is standard practice, and APA does have a specific format for legal citations if your rubric expects a formal reference list entry for it, distinct from the standard author-date web-source format shown above.
For the complete rubric breakdown and a fully worked sample, see the WGU C717 Task 2 guide. To confirm your scenario variant first, see FZP1 vs. EKP1: Which WGU C717 Task 2 Scenario Do I Have?. To get the dilemma classification right before you write your analysis, see How to Identify the Type of Ethical Dilemma in WGU C717 Task 2.
Want a second look at your citations before you submit? Message me on WhatsApp.
Dan Palmer, MBA, writes WGU MBA course guides for Gradevia, focusing on the quantitative and analytics-heavy courses (C200, C207, C211, C213, C214, C717).