APA Basics

In-Text Citation
In-text citation is used to cite information where it is used in the body of the essay.
▪ APA requires three pieces of information:
 Source
 Publication year
 Page number
Sometimes sources won’t have some of the information necessary for in-text citation, so we
have to use alternate information. You can use an order of operation to know what to do when
a source does not have one of the required pieces of information. Go in order. Don’t skip a
step.

Source: Author’s Name OR Organization OR “Article Title”

▪ If a source has a person named as author, use the author’s last name.
 Sources with multiple authors have special formatting. Review the rules before
you cite the source.
 APA Examples
▪ According to Martin (2018), “Quote” (p. 82).
▪ Paraphrase (Martin, 2018, p. 82).
▪ If a source does not have an author, check to see if an organization is the author.
 Note that an organization name is not the same as a publication name.
 The American Cancer Society is the name of an organization, but The New York
Times is a publication name.
 Look for .org or .gov in URLs or words like “society,” “association,” or
“department,” etc. in the name to identify organizations.
 APA Examples
▪ According to American Heart Association (2019), “Quote” (para. 1).
▪ Paraphrase (American Heart Association, 2019, para. 1).
▪ If a source does not have an author and was not written by an organization, use the
article title.
 Use the full “Article Title” in signal phrases.
 Use a partial “Article Title” (first 1-3 words of the title) in parentheticals.
 APA Examples
▪ According to “Thirteen-Year Cicadas Make Appearance Four Years Early”
(2020), “Quote” (para. 2).
▪ Paraphrase (“Thirteen-Year Cicadas,” 2020, para. 2).
Date: Publication Year OR n.d.
▪ If a source has a publication date, include the publication year in parentheses.
 Only include the year in-text, not the day or month.
 APA Examples
▪ According to Levy (2016), “Quote” (p. 29).
▪ Paraphrase (Levy, 2016, p. 29).
▪ If a source does not have a publication date, use the abbreviation “n.d.” which means
“no date” in place of the year.
 Copyright dates are not the same as publication dates. If a source only has a
copyright date, it is a n.d. source.
 APA Examples
▪ According to Thompson (n.d.), “Quote” (para. 2).
▪ Paraphrase (Thompson, n.d., para. 2).

Location: Page OR Paragraph Number

▪ If a source has numbered pages, use the page number.
 Use fixed page numbers. These are the page numbers printed by the publication.
 Do not use PDF page numbers or page numbers from website printouts.
 Use the abbreviation p. for one page or pp. for a page range.
 APA Examples
▪ According to Johnson (2017), “Quote” (p. 43).
▪ Paraphrase (Johnson, 2017, p. 43).
▪ If a source does not have numbered pages, count paragraphs to find the paragraph
number.
 Use the abbreviation para. for one paragraph or paras. for a paragraph range.
 APA Examples
▪ According to Smith (2019), “Quote” (para. 3).
▪ Paraphrase (Smith, 2019, para. 3).

Signal Phrase Citation

A signal phrase is a phrase at the beginning of a sentence that is used to cite a source or
“signal” that the sentence contains research information.
▪ Use a signal phrase before the quote, not after (tagline).
▪ A signal phrase can be used with either a quote or a paraphrase.
▪ A signal phrase prevents a dropped or dangling/floating quote. Dropped quotes appear
in a paper without introduction or context and disrupt the flow of thought, create an
abrupt change in voice, and/or leave the reader wondering why the quote is included.
 ▫ Dropped Quote = Cities and populations have expanded and most Californians
insist on driving their own vehicles everywhere they go. "Public transportation
has not caught on in most California cities due to their geographic sprawl"
(Briggman, 2014, p. 10).
▪ Use a variety of signal phrases to avoid repetitive wording.
▫ According to + the source
▪ According to Johnson
▫ Source + verb (action word)
▪ Johnson reports
▫ Complete sentence introducing the source and providing context: quote or
paraphrase
APA Signal Phrase Examples
▪ According to Smith (2014), “Quote” (p. 72).
▪ Smith (2014) explained, paraphrase (p. 72).

Parenthetical Citation
A parenthetical citation is used to cite the source in parentheses at the end of the sentence that
contains source information.
▪ Parentheticals are placed at the end of the sentence containing research information.
Ending sentence periods are placed after the parenthetical.
▪ A parenthetical is primarily used with paraphrases.
▪ A parenthetical can be used with quotes if the quotation is properly integrated with a
quote framing sentence.
▫ Framed Quote = Cities and populations have expanded and most Californians
insist on driving their own vehicles everywhere they go: "Public transportation
has not caught on in most California cities due to their geographic sprawl"
(Briggman, 2014, p. 10).

APA Parenthetical Citations

▪ Parenthetical citations contain three pieces of information:
 Paraphrase (Source, year, p. #).
▪ Commas are used to separate the info in the parenthetical.
▪ Periods are place after the ending parenthesis.
 The exception is the block quote when the period is place before the citation.
▪ APA Parenthetical Example
 Paraphrase (Smith, 2014, p. 72).
Indirect Sources
An indirect source is an authority/source quoted or cited within your resource (the direct
source). When possible, it is best to try to find the original source. If locating the original source
is not possible, you must cite the information as an indirect source.
For example, you have a resource written by George Smith (direct) and he quotes/paraphrases
Robert Johnson (indirect) and you want to use Johnson’s information in your essay, you need to
cite it as an indirect source.
APA Indirect Source
▪ Use the indirect source [Johnson] in the signal phrase and cite the direct source [Smith]
in the parenthetical using “as cited in” before the source.
▪ Use the publication year and page number from the direct source [Smith] in the
parenthetical.
 According to Johnson, ….. (as cited in Smith, 2009, p. 28).
▪ Only the direct source [Smith] is documented in the references list.

APA Long or Block Quotes

▪ In APA, long quotes are quotes that are longer than 40 words and must be formatted as
a block.
▪ The quote should be framed using a complete sentence ending with a colon before the
quote.
▪ The entire quote (not the signal phrase) is separated as a block and indented ½ inch
from the left margin.
▪ Do not use quotation marks. This is the one exception!
▪ The period is placed before the parenthetical. This is the one exception!

End-of-Text Documentation
The documentation or list of sources has entries for each source used in the body of the essay
with enough information to find the source.
The in-text citation must match the documentation. Any source cited in the essay must be
documented in the list of sources and any source documented in the list of sources must be
cited in the essay.
The format for the entry depends on the type of source.
▪ Identify the type of source you are using.
▪ Use the form modeled in your resources.
▪ Placement of information should be exact.
▪ Punctuation and spacing should be exact.
▪ Capitalization and formatting of titles should be exact.
APA Documentation
References is the title centered on the first line of the new page. The title should be bold but
not underlined or italicized.
▪ Entries are listed in alphabetical order.
▪ Entries are double-spaced and use a hanging indent.
▪ Dates have a special format.
 (Year, Month Day).
 Spell out the entire month.
▪ Resource titles have special rules for formatting.
 Italicize publication (journal, magazine, newspaper, webpage) titles and book
titles. Italicize the titles of online journals, newspapers, and magazines but do
not italicize general website titles. APA 7 italicizes the webpage title instead of
the website title for regular websites.
 Do not use quotation marks with article titles in the references.

APA has special capitalization rules used only in the documentation.

▪ Title case capitalizes the first word and all other significant words in the title.
 Congestive Heart Failure: Diagnosis and Treatment
 Used for publication titles.
▪ Sentence case capitalizes the first word of title/subtitle and any proper nouns.
 Congestive heart failure: Diagnosis and treatment
 Used for article and book titles.