Cite It

The APA places a heavy emphasis on date of publication.

Date of publication helps distinguish between works, so it is always in the in-text citation and has a prominent place in the bibliographic entry. See the style guide for more specific rules, and see the following example of a cited journal article.

In-Text Citation

Direct Quotation

A direct quotation is text taken directly from a source.

To avoid plagiarism, you must always mark a quotation with quotation marks.

The citation for a direct quote must include:

• The authors’ names

• The year of publication

• The page number or, if the source has no page numbers, the paragraph number or name of the cited section

The citation for a direct quote may be either narrative or parenthetical:

Narrative Citation

In a narrative citation, the body of the text contains information about the source of a quote. In this example, the narrative tells the reader the names of the quote’s authors:

Place in parentheses any part of the citation not mentioned in the narrative. The year of publication should always be next to the authors’s names, but the page number can go after the quote.

Parenthetical Citation

If the authors’s names or other elements of the citation are not in the narrative, place them in parentheses after the quote:

Each of the three essential elements of a citation is present, separated by commas, inside the parentheses.

Note the following:

• Keep the year of publication near the authors’ names.

• Always include the page number or other section identifier with a direct quotation. Abbreviate page as p. and pages as pp.

• Place the final punctuation mark to the right of the parenthetical citation. The parenthetical citation goes outside the quotation mark but inside the period.

Paraphrase

Narrative Citation

Parenthetical Citation

Note the following:

• A page number is unnecessary when you paraphrase, though you may still include it if you wish.

• If you don’t name the authors in the text, place the names in a parenthetical citation.

• Always place names and publication year next to each other.

• When you paraphrase, completely reword the thought of the original work to avoid plagiarism.

Block Quotation

Note the following:

• Place a quotation longer than forty words in a block quotation.

• Indent the entire block quotation half an inch.

• If you quote more than one paragraph, indent every paragraph after the first an additional half inch.

• Do not place quotation marks around a block quotation.

• Place the parenthetical citation after the final punctuation mark.

Bibliographic Entry

Note the following:

• Date of publication immediately follows the authors’ names.

• Write article or book titles in sentence case. Write journal titles in title case.

• Do not place quotation marks around the article title.

• Italicize the journal title and volume number.

• If the article is from the open web, include an address unless a DOI is available.

• Include a DOI, written as a URL, whenever possible.

• Do not place a final period after a DOI or URL.