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APA 7th ed. Citation Guide: Quoting

Contains the latest changes and updates to APA Style

Quoting

When you quote directly from a source, enclose the words in quotation marks and add the page number to the in-text citation. There are two basic formats which can be used.:

The homeless were typically neglected growing up since they "commonly come from families who are riddled with problems and marital disharmony" (Rokach, 2005, p. 477).

OR

As Rokach (2005) notes, the homeless "often have no one to care for them and no one knows them intimately" (p. 477).

Option one is the standard APA in-text citation format for quoting. The second option is used when the author's name for the work being cited is written in the lead in sentence before the quote

In-Text Citation for Author Variations

 

Paraphrase citation: (Laurel & Hardy, 2000)
Quote citation: (Laurel & Hardy, 2000, p. 55)

Narrative citation:

Laurel and Hardy (2000) studied differing forms of comedy before formalizing slapstick comedy as their performance style.

 

Paraphrase citation: (Charles et al., 2019)
Quote citation: (Charles et al., 2019, para. 5)
Narrative citation: Charles et al. (2019) discovered that children between the ages of 10 and 16 were more prone to peer pressure.

Paraphrase citation: (Microsoft, 2020)
Quote citation: (Microsoft, 2020, para. 8)
Narrative citation: Microsoft (2020), like many large corporations, has a corporate responsibility policy that claims it is committed to giving back to Canadians.

 Corporate Author with a known abbreviation:

If the organization is often referred by an abbreviation, use the following style:

Paraphrase citation:

1st Citation: (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health [CAMH], 2019)

Subsequent Citations: (CAMH, 2019)
Quote citation:

1st Citation: (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health [CAMH], 2019, para. 8)

Subsequent Citations: (CAMH, 2019, para. 8)
Narrative citation:

1st Citation: The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH, 2019) provides mental health services for patients found to be criminally insane and not fit for trial.

Subsequent Citations:  CAMH (2019) has responded to the large news coverage of recent patients who have left their care without authorization.

Long Quotations

What Is a Long Quotation?

If your quotation extends to more than forty words as you're typing your essay, it is a long quotation. This can also be referred to as a block quotation.

Rules for Long Quotations

There are 4 rules that apply to long quotations that are different from regular quotations:

  1. The line before your long quotation, when you're introducing the quote, usually ends with a colon.
  2. The long quotation is indented half an inch from the rest of the text, so it looks like a block of text.
  3. There are no quotation marks around the quotation.
  4. The period at the end of the quotation comes before your in-text citation as opposed to after, as it does with regular quotations.

Example of a Long Quotation

At the end of Lord of the Flies the boys are struck with the realization of their behaviour:

The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (Golding, 1960, p.186)

No Page Numbers

No Page Numbers

When you quote from electronic sources that do not provide page numbers (like Web pages), cite the heading and the paragraph number following it:

Bowlby described "three phases of the separation response: protest, despair, and detachment" (Garelli, 2001, Bowlby's Initial Stance section, para. 3).

If a source has no page numbers, no paragraph numbers and no headings, skip that part of the in-text citation. The in-text citation would have the author(s) last names and the year, e.g. (Garellio, 2001).

Missing Citation Information

 

Missing Components of a Citation

 

You may run into a situation where a source does not have all the information required for a citation, both reference entry or in-text.  This table provides the recommended solution for handling those cases.

Missing element Solution Reference Entry In-text Citation
Nothing - all elements are present Provide the author, date, title, and source of the work. Author. (Date). Title. Source. (Author, year)
Author* Provide the title, date, and source. *If the Author is listed as Anonymous, use that as the Author name. Title. (Date). Source. (Title, year)
Date Provide the author, write "n.d." (no date), and then provide the title and source. Author. (n.d.). Title. Source (Author, n.d.)
Title Provide the author and date, describe the work in square brackets, and then provide the source. Author. (Date). [Description of work]. Source (Author, year)
Author and date Provide the title, write "n.d." (no date), and then provide the source. Title. (n.d.). Source (Title, n.d.)
Author and title Describe the work in square brackets, and then provide the date and source. [Description of work]. (Date). Source. ([Description of work], year)
Date and title Provide the author, write "n.d." (no date), describe the work in square brackets, and then provide the source. Author. (n.d.). [Description of work]. Source (Author, n.d.)
Author, date, and title Describe the work in square brackets, write "n.d." (no date) and then provide the source [Description of work]. (n.d.). Source ([Description of work]. n.d.)
Source Cite as a personal communication or find another work to cite. No reference list entry (C.C. Communicator, personal communication, month, day, year)
       

 

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