Cite APA Style 7

Provide appropriate credit to the source (e.g., by using an in-text citation) whenever you do the following:

• paraphrase (i.e., state in your own words) the ideas of others
• directly quote the words of others
• refer to data or data sets
• reprint or adapt a table or figure, even images from the internet that are free or licensed in the Creative Commons
• reprint a long text passage or commercially copyrighted test item

~ APA Appropriate Level of Citation

To get your in text citation, you actually need to have your references first. That's because your in text citation is based on your references citation. What the in text citation really does is refer your reader to the specific source on your References page. 

APA uses the Author-Date Citation System, which allows for a parenthetical or narrative format for in text citations. 

~ APA Author–Date Citation System

References List Citation Example

Article Citation from the Reference List Example

When you paraphrase (put into your own words) ideas from another author's work you still need to cite it. All that is required is a reference to the author and year of publication. It is possible that your instructor might also require page number, so be sure to check.

Example

Though most teens belong to at least one social site, there is very little peer reviewed research on the topic (Thompson, 2012). 

When your in text citation is not a direct quote, all that is required is the author-date citation in either narrative or parenthetical format. 

Examples

• One Author
  Though most teens belong to at least one social site, there is very little peer reviewed research on the topic (Thompson, 2012). 
• Two Authors
  Though most teens belong to at least one social site, there is very little peer reviewed research on the topic (Thompson & Gragan, 2019).
• Three or More Authors 
  Include the name of only the first author plus “et al.” in every citation.

Though most teens belong to at least one social site, there is very little peer reviewed research on the topic (Thompson, et al., 2020)

~ APA Author–Date Citation System

When the quotation is more than 40 words in text, do not use quotation marks, but indent the quotation into its own block of text. Parenthetical or narrative format may be used. 

Example

Miele (1993) found the following:

The “placebo effect,” which had been verified in previous studies, disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner. Furthermore, the behaviors were never exhibited again, even when reel drugs were administered. (p. 276)

~ APA Quotations

When the quotation is less than 40 words, you have to use quotation marks. In the example below, the reference is placed immediately before the final punctuation of the sentence.  A list of all sources cited in the paper must be included at the end of the paper.

1. Separate the elements (author’s name, publication year and page number) with commas.
2. When the author's name does not appear within the quote, place the author's name, the date, and the page number in parentheses at the end of the quotation.

Example

She stated, “The ‘placebo effect’ . . . disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner” (Miele, 1993, p. 276), but she did not clarify which behaviors were studied.

~ APA Quotations