How to Quote in APA

How to Quote in APA. In using the APA format, quoting requires three important things: the surname of the author of the source, the year the source was published, and the page number. Put these three items inside parentheses. For example, (Stevens, 2005, p. 35). Place the parentheses after the quoted passage. For example,

In fact, "two out of every ten smokers suffer from lung cancer" (Stevens, 2005, p. 35).

That is the general rule. However, there are several exceptions. If, for instance, the full name of the author is already introduced in the sentence where the same quote appears, there is no need to include the author's surname in the parentheses. Also, include the year of publication of the source in parentheses after the author's name and the page number of the source in parentheses at the end of the quote. For example:

According to John Stevens (2005), "two out of every ten smokers suffer from lung cancer" (p. 35).

Another exception is when the source of your quoted passage does not have an author. In this case, place the title of the source in place of the author's surname. For example:

In fact, "five children experience extreme malnutrition in communities under severe poverty" (World Health Statistics, 2006, p. 99).

If the title of the source is already mentioned in the same sentence where the quoted passage is placed, place the year of publication of the source beside it in parentheses and place the page number in parentheses at the end of the quote. For example:

According to the report from World Health Statistics (2006), "five children experience extreme malnutrition in communities under severe poverty" (p. 99).

A few important reminders. Always put the in-text citation in parentheses before the period and after the quotation marks or after the name of the author or the title of the source. Now that you know the basic principles on how to quote in APA, you may also want to read how to quote in MLA, or how to quote in an essay, or how to quote, or know more about direct quotes.

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