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APA Citation Style

This video explains how to format and coordinate your APA in-text citations with your APA reference citations in the context of a discussion board post. But the same principles for using APA in-text citations apply to anything that you write, which cites sources: DB posts, APA research papers, APA PowerPoints, and so on. APA in-text citations are just an abbreviated form of a reference citation (which is given only once). But APA in-text citations have to be used in every sentence that borrows from a source. But don't worry. There are simple, easy-to-understand tips and tricks for in-text citations that will have you citing perfectly in just a few minutes. In-text citations--the easy way!

General guidelines for Writing In-Text and the  Use of quotations

 

From Chapter 8, "Works Credited in the Text", p.253, APA 7th Ed. Publication Manual.

  • Cite works that have influenced your work, whether you use direct words, paraphrases, or point to their research and ideas.
  • Choose to cite primary sources rather than secondary sources whenever possible.
  • If you use facts and statistics, identify your source unless they are common knowledge.
  • You may need to secure copyright permission to use lengthy quotations or complete tables
  • Generally, all of the citations used in your text will point to an item listed on your reference page. Exceptions to this rule include personal communication, quotations from research participants, and general mentions of websites or periodicals.
  Essential FAQs

 

  • APA, 7th ed., uses an author/date style. The attribution includes the author's last name, followed by the date.
  • Citing in the Text- Two ways to do this: 
    • Narrative paraphrase places the author/date in the sentence: 

Ex. The hymns of the church, according to Little (2019), ground us in foundational theology.

  • Parenthetical paraphrased citation places the author/date at the end of the sentence within parentheses ( ).: 

Ex. The hymns of the church ground us in foundational theology (Little, 2019).

Both examples point to the full citation in the reference list, which is shown below:

Little, D. A. (2019). Why sing hymns? One Magazine, 16(1), 54-55. https://doi.org/11.20873.edu00002000  

  Examples

 

Short quotation: 

  • Fewer than 40 words.
  • Double quotation marks.
  • The period follows the parentheses.
  • Parenthetical or embedded citation including page number(s). A parenthetical citation will be included within the punctuation.

Example Short Quotation:

Effective teams can be difficult to describe because "high performance along one domain does not translate to high performance along another" (Ervin et al., 2018, p. 470). - taken from the APA Style Blog:

Long [block] quotation:

  • 40 words or more.
  • Set off in block - indented five spaces.
  • No quotation marks.
  • The period comes after the quote and not after the parentheses.

Example Long Quotation:

Researchers have studied how people talk to themselves:

Inner speech is a paradoxical phenomenon. It is an experience that is central to many people's everyday lives, and yet it presents considerable challenges to any effort to study it scientifically. Nevertheless, a wide range of methodologies and approaches have combined to shed light on the subjective experience of inner speech and its cognitive and neural underpinnings. (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015, p. 957)   - taken from the APA Style Blog.