Chapter 7: Citing Sources
Basic APA Citation Practices
In this section, you will learn basic APA in-text and reference citation conventions. For a more detailed APA guide, visit The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL). The Purdue OWL hosts an excellent collection of resources on APA style and formatting, including in-text citations, reference citations, and student paper formatting.
In-Text Citation Basics
There is a direct and important relationship between in-text citations and reference citations (the longer citations compiled in an alphabetical list at the end of your paper). In-text citations are shortened versions of reference citations—they refer the curious reader to the References list. In your scholarship, if you use an in-text citation to give credit to something another scholar said, there must also be a corresponding citation in the References list.
Basic Rules for In-text Citations (APA):
- (Last name, DATE)
- For one author, list the author’s last name (Cuff, 2022)
- For two authors, list both last names, separated by “&” (Cuff and Roberts, 2022)
- For more than two authors, list the first author’s last name with et al. after (Cuff et al., 2022)
Integrating In-Text Citations Into Your Sentences: Direct Quotes
Narrative Quotation
Last name (year) + signal verb + “quote” (pages).
For example:
Cuff (2002) argues, “there are a variety of strategies to support students in mastering citation practices” (p. 2).
Parenthetical Citation
For example:
She says “there are a variety of strategies to support students in mastering citation practices” (Cuff, 2022, p. 2).
Integrating In-Text Citations Into Your Sentences: Paraphrase
For a paraphrase, you DO NOT need the page number.
For example:
In “Canada’s New Food Guide: A Fail on Culture and Sustainability,” Sarah Duignan (2019) argues that ______________.
OR
In “Canada’s New Food Guide: A Fail on Culture and Sustainability,” the author argues that ________________ (Duignan, 2019).
If you want to review the difference between a direct quote, a paraphrase and a summary, circle back to Chapter 6: When to Direct Quote, Paraphrase, or Summarize
Media Attributions
- If it’s not common knowledge, cite it! (1) © Lindsay Cuff is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike) license
- APA-in-text-citation © Dr. Karen Palmer and Dr. Sandi Van Lieu is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license
- quotation marks is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license
- hands-5655424_1920 © HaticeEROL is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license
An author reiterates a main idea, argument, or detail of a text in their own words without drastically altering the length of the passage(s) they paraphrase. Contrast with summary.
