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There are times when you will refer to a work but not use a quote. When you refer to another source's work, you have to cite the author and year the work came from.
| Example 1 | Plagiarism is generally treated as a serious academic offense at most universities (Johnson, 2003). |
| Example 2 | Johnson in his work points out that plagiarism is treated as a serious academic offense at most universities (2003). |
If you are quoting a source word for word, you must include the page number on which the quote appears with the in-text citation.
| Example | According to Johnson (2003), "Universities treat plagiarism very seriously and may expel students as a result" (p. 32). |
|
Example (Author after quote) |
As this plagiarism expert states, "Universities treat plagiarism very seriously and may expel students as a result" (Johnson, 2003, p. 32). |
For sources that do not use page numbers, cite the paragraph the quote came from.
| Example | According to Anderson (2012), "Research begins by first brainstroming what you want to write your paper on" (para. 3). |
For citing longer quotations (40 words or more), you will want to omit quotation marks and create a freestanding block. In this case, start the quotation on a new line, indent 1/2 inch from left margin and keep double spaced.
Example:
In Johnson’s (2003) book on plagiarism, he states:
Universities treat plagiarism as a very serious offense
and may expel students as a result. As such, it is important
for librarians and professors alike to make sure students
learn how to cite sources properly and credit the authors
of the works they use. (p. 32)
Unknown Author/Date: Sometimes sources will not provide an author or date. When citing, include the title of the work or shorter version of it, and n.d. for no date.
| Example: | In a study of how students researched, it was found those who started their projects early ended up creating higher quality papers ("Research Habits," n.d.). |
Two Authors: Within the sentence use the word "and" in between the authors and in the citation use "&".
| Example |
James and Jones (2001) found that college students who did not sleep enough had lower grades. |
| Example | One study found that college students who did not sleep enough had lower grades (James & Jones, 2001). |
Three to Five Authors: In the first reference, use all authors when citing. For later references to the same work, just use the first author followed by "et al."
| First citation | Frogs prefer to ride unicycles over bicycles (Donalds, Wilson, Brown, Smith, & Alexander, 1998). |
| Subsequent citations of the study | Frogs have have natural aptitude for riding unicycles due to their anatomy (Donalds et al., 1998). |
Six or more authors:
Use the first author and "et al." for all references.
| Example | (Miller et al., 2013) |
Work Discussed in Secondary Source:
When discussing a work found in a secondary source, first mention the work discussed and in parentheses mention the secondary work "as cited in."
| Example | According to Lewis's study (as cited in Wilson, 2001), business students were more likely to use the APA format in writing papers. |
Discussing the same source multiple times in a paragraph
Need to discuss the same source multiple times in a paragraph? Dennis Johnson of Rasmussen College has some great advice on how to make sure the proper citations are included while avoiding an awkward amount of in-text citations. Follow this link to read examples: https://rasmussen.libanswers.com/faq/32328