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Why Use In-Text Citation?When writing a journal article, literature review, convention paper, or any other academic document, authors must include in-text citations whenever they refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. In addition, every time a work is cited within a paper (in APA style, a parenthetical citation), a corresponding entry must be included in the reference list. How to Cite a Research PaperThe rationale behind citing other people’s publications in your own manuscript is that you want to avoid intellectual dishonesty by giving credit to whoever reported a finding first or invented a specific technique. This is not only an ethical question, as being “sloppy” with your sources can easily be considered plagiarism (and even self-plagiarism, if you fail to refer to your own work), which can have legal consequences and damage your reputation. General rules for what information should be provided when citing sources in a research paper vary across fields and depend on the type of source (e.g., books, journal articles, patents, conference proceedings, websites, etc.). We are not going into such differences here but will focus on the correct way of referencing other people’s research in your own paper according to one of the most common styles used to cite sources within the social sciences and in several other academic disciplines, that is, APA (American Psychological Association) style. In research papers, in-text citations are most commonly used in the Introduction and Discussion Results sections. The following guidelines and examples are taken from the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition, 2nd printing, which details rules and application of APA style in research papers, including in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and references. For more information, consult the APA Style Manual website. This resource provides detailed guidelines for citing sources in your paper and includes examples of in-text citations for reference by research authors. Before submitting your manuscript to a journal or publisher, be sure to use our free APA citation generator for your references and in-text citations. APA Citation Rules: The BasicsOrder and structure of in-text citation contentWhen using APA format, follow the “author-date” method of in-text citation. Write the author’s last name and publication year for the source in parentheses and separate these pieces of information with a comma. When referring to external work or referencing an entire work but not directly quoting the material, you only need to make a reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your citation.
If you mention the name of the author of the work in the sentence or earlier in the paragraph, you only need to include the year of publication in the citation.
Verb tense used in referring to other worksAPA style requires authors to use past tense or present perfect tense (NOT present tense) when using signal phrases to refer to or discuss previous research (have a look at this article for more details on the correct tenses for different parts of a research paper).
Placement of in-text citations in the sentence (no quotation)When referring to a specific work or works, place the citation (publication date only) directly after the author of the study referenced.
When giving information that reflects the results or implications of previous work, place the citation (author and publication date) at the end of the sentence.
CapitalizationAlways capitalize author names and initials in in-text citations.
In-Text Citation Rules for Short QuotationsWhen quoting directly from a work, include the author, publication year, and page number of the reference (preceded by “p.”). Method 1: Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author’s last name; the publication year will follow in parentheses. Include the page number in parentheses at the end of the quoted text. Note that the quotation marks surround the text only, and not the parenthetical citation.
Method 2: If the author is absent in the signal phrase, include the author’s last name, the publication year, and the page number together in parentheses after the quoted text.
In-text Citation Rules for Long QuotationsLong direct quotations are those with at least 40 words of quoted text in a row. Long quotes should be placed in a separate block of lines without quotation marks, similar to creating a new paragraph. Begin the quotation on a new line and indent 0.5in/1.27cm from the left margin. Type the entire quotation within these new margins using double-spacing. Include the parenthetical citation after the final punctuation mark.
Summarizing and Paraphrasing Other WorksWhen paraphrasing another work, you only need to cite the author and year of publication in your in-text citation. It may be a good idea to include the page number as well if the paraphrased information is located on a specific page of the original text. APA guidelines encourage this inclusion but do not require it.
Common Signal Phrases for Introducing External Works
Citing Works by Multiple Authors/EditorsWhen making an in-text citation of works by multiple authors, there are specific rules to follow depending on the number of authors of a publication and the number of times you cite the same works.
Citing Multiple Works in One In-text CitationWhen citing more than one source in the same in-text citation, list all sources in the standard way and separate them with a semi-colon. List the sources alphabetically (by author’s last name or by title if no author is given) in the order they appear in the reference list.
Citing Works by the Same Author with the Same Publication YearWhen citing two or more sources with the same author and year of publication, assign lowercase letters directly after the year of publication (a, b, c) according to the alphabetical order of titles. You will use the same alphabetical designations in your in-text citations that you do in your reference list.
Citing a Work Quoted in another SourceWork quoted or paraphrased in another text is called a “secondary source.” While in your reference list you must cite the primary source as well, in your in-text citation you will add the words “as cited in” followed by the secondary source. For example, if a review article by Franklin you are citing includes a useful quote by Adams that supports your paper, your in-text citation would look like this:
Citing Web PagesEntire websiteWhen citing an entire website (with no specific webpage or article given), simply provide the title and web address within the text of your paper. No citation is needed in the References.
Webpage with author(s)A webpage with an individual author or authors should be cited in the same way as other texts, with the name or names written first, followed by the publication year.
Webpage with a group author Treat group authors as individual authors in in-text citations, but instead of the author’s last name, include the name of the group.
Webpage with missing informationEven when some central information is missing from a website (e.g., no author, date, or webpage title), you may still cite it as a source if you use the correct formatting. For information on how to cite a website with missing information, visit the APA Style Blog post on Missing Pieces. Citing social media sourcesFor a more comprehensive explanation of social media citations guidelines, visit the APA Style Blog post on How to Cite Social Media in APA Style. And when submitting your finished AP document to journals or for a class assignment, be sure to get academic editing and research paper proofreading. Professional editors with experience in APA, AMA, MLA, and other popular style guides will make sure that your document’s citations and references conform to the journal of your choice. Wordvice ResourcesWordvice provides a variety of other articles on topics such as the number of references your manuscript should contain, different citation styles if your target style does not use APA, and how to paraphrase correctly when citing sources in your paper, as well as more general advice on how to write research papers on the Wordvice academic resources website. How do I cite an online research paper in APA?World Wide Web Site. author's name (if known). date of publication or last revision (if known), in parentheses (year, month, day). title of document.. title of complete work (if applicable), in italics.. the word “Retrieved” followed by the date you accessed the source (month, day, year). the word “from” followed by the URL.. How do you cite a research paper in APA 7th edition?Journal Article. Author(s). ... . (Year).. Title of the article. ... . Title of the Journal, Note: Italicize and capitalize each word in the journal.. Volume Note: Italicize the journal volume. ... . (Issue), Note: If there is a issue number in addition to a volume number, include it in parentheses.. Page range.. How do you cite a citation in a research paper?Your in-text citation should include both authors: the author(s) of the original source and the author(s) of the secondary source. For example: (Habermehl, 1985, as cited in Kersten, 1987). In your reference list you should provide the details of the secondary source (the source you read).
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