In APA, in-text citations are inserted in the body of your research paper to briefly document the source of your information. Brief in-text citations point the reader to more complete information in the reference list at the end of the paper.
Any time a source is directly quoted or paraphrased it needs to be cited within the text, in addition to appearing in the list of references.
Direct Quote: You will need to include the author, year of publication, and page number of the quote.
Paraphrasing: APA requires that, with paraphrasing, the author and year of publication be included in the in-text citation. The inclusion of the page number is not required but is encouraged.
Signal Phrase
If you refer to the author's name in a sentence you do not have to include the name again as part of your in-text citation. Instead include the date after the name and the page number (if there is one) at the end of the quotation or paraphrased section.
Number of Authors/Editors | First Time Paraphrased | Second and Subsequent Times Paraphrased | First Time Quoting | Second and Subsequent Times Quoting |
---|---|---|---|---|
Two |
(Case & Daristotle, 2011) |
(Case & Daristotle, 2011) |
(Case & Daristotle, 2011, p. 57) | (Case & Daristotle, 2011, p. 57) |
Three or more | (Case et al., 2011) | (Case et al., 2011) | (Case et al., 2011, p. 57) | (Case et al., 2011, p. 57) |