When using paraphrases and quotations in a paper, it is necessary to cite the source with an in-text citation. Correctly formatting in-text citations is important because they give credit to the source and help you avoid accidental plagiarism. In-text citations are brief (usually only the author’s last name, year of publication, and page number if given) since the full citation information is provided on a separate References page.
Mention the author at the beginning of your sentence and cite the publication year in parentheses after name OR, when there is no mention of the author in your sentence, include author’s name, date, and page number at the end of the sentence in parentheses.
Cite both author’s names.
Cite the first author’s last name and replace the other authors’ names with et al., which is Latin for “and others.”
An indirect source is a source that is cited within another source. This situation often occurs when the author of the source you found quotes other people. Because the words belong to the person who said or wrote them, not the author of the text in which they appear, use "as cited in" to indicate the source you actually consulted.
When a source has no known author, cite a shortened version of the source title in the in-text citation. Remember to italicize long works (websites, books, films) and put short works in quotation marks (songs, articles, poems). Include the publication year as well if available. If no year is given, write n.d. for “no date.”
When a source has no page numbers listed, cite the section heading and paragraph number to provide a location for readers.
For an example of an APA style paper, visit the Writing Center’s Resource Library at: https://www.rockvalleycollege.edu/StudentServices/Tutoring/WritingCenter.cfm