Parts of an In-Text Citation
Paraphrasing
In-text citations in APA Style contain an author and a date. If you are paraphrasing a source, you need to include the author's last name and the year of publication. There are several ways to provide an in-text citation for a single author.
Using a lead-in at the beginning of the sentence helps you introduce the source.
For example:
Miller (2011) showed that each one must...
The in-text citation can also be used at the end of the sentence.
For example:
Results from another study did not include children (Miller, 2011).
Direct Quotes
If you using a direct quote from a source, you need to include the page number where it is located in addition to the author-date citation.
For example:
Miller (2011) showed that each one must "have a black stripe and rounded corners" (p. 12).
Each one "must have a black stripe and rounded corners" (Miller, 2011, p. 12).
Long Quotes
Quotes that are longer than 40 words are considered block quotations. Follow these rules:
- The long quotation is indented half an inch from the rest of the text, so it looks like a block of text.
- There are no quotation marks around the quotation.
- The period at the end of the quotation comes before your in-text citation as opposed to after, as it does with regular quotations.
For example:
At the end of Lord of the Flies the boys are struck with the realization of their behavior:
The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (Golding, 1960, p.186)