How do I do in-text citations using the APA format?
Answer
Basic Rules for In-Text Citations in the APA Format
Quotations: When you are quoting directly (word for word) from a source, use the following format:
(Last name of Author & Last Name of Second Author if applicable, year of publication, p. the page number or pp. for range of page numbers)
Note: For three or more authors, use et al. after the first author's last name (no period after the "et").
Examples:
The study showed that "children fare better with one-on-one tutoring" (Smith, 2015, p. 199).
The influences of technology "continue to have an incredible impact on education" (Werner & Frank, 2020, pp. 100-101).
The outcome of the drug study "showed promise in the younger demographic but not in the older" (Heinz et al., 2012, p. 23).
Paraphrase/Summary: When you are paraphrasing (taking a specific passage and putting it in your own words) or summarizing (condensing the main ideas of an entire work into a few words), use the following basic format (page numbers are not needed for paraphrases in APA):
(Last name of author, year of publication)
Example:
The data indicates that further studies need to be made (Smith, 2015).
Narrative: You can also introduce the author and date in the text of your sentence; this is called a signal phrase or a narrative citation. When you mention the author's name in the text of the sentence, include the year in parentheses immediately after it. For direct quotations, put the page number in parentheses at the end.
Examples:
According to Smith (2015), "children fare better with one-on-one tutoring" (p. 48).
Werner and Frank (2020) found that the influences of technology "continue to have an incredible impact on education" (pp.100-101).
Heinz et al. (2012) found that the drug study "showed promise in the younger demographic but not in the older" (p. 23).
Smith (2015) studied the role of student-teacher ratio in elementary schools.
Additional Resources:
Owl at Purdue- Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing