Citation Guide (including AMA)

Every time you quote or paraphrase someone else’s work, you must indicate:

• who wrote the work
• what is it called
• and where we (the reader) can find a copy.

You give us this information in two places:

1. In the body of the paper, specifically the paragraph where you are quoting or paraphrasing. This is often called an In Text or Parenthetical Citation because you will put brief information about the work in parentheses. Check out our guidelines and examples in the left-hand column, as well as these resources from the official APA Style & Grammar Guidelines:
   • Author-Date Citation System
   • Parenthetical versus Narrative In-Text Citation Options
2. In the References page at the end of the paper. This is where you put all of the information we need to find a copy of the works you used in your paper. Check out our guidelines and examples in the left-hand column, as well as these resources from the official APA Style & Grammar Guidelines:
   • Creating an APA Style Reference List Guide (2-page handout)
   • Sample Annotated Student Paper (7-page handout)

When you quote directly or paraphrase from a source (book, article, or webpage) in your paper, you need to insert an in-text citation. 

Check out the new APA In-Text Citation Checklist!

You have two format options: parenthetical and narrative

Parenthetical In-Text Citation

This citation typically consists of the author’s last name(s), year of publication, and page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence. The period goes after the closed parenthesis.

“This is a direct citation” (Chapman, 2019, p. 126).

When paraphrasing the idea in your own words, do not use quotation marks and do not include a page number (Jackson, 1999).

Narrative In-Text Citation

Another option is to use the author’s name in the sentence, followed directly by the year in parentheses, with the page numbers in parentheses at the end of the sentence.

According to Chapman (2019), "This is a direct citation" (p. 216).

Jackson (1999) explains that when paraphrasing the idea in your own words, do not use quotation marks and do not include a page number.

Additional Resources from the Excelsior College Online Writing Lab:

• APA Citations in the Body of Your Paper: multiple examples
• APA Side by Side: Examples that "provide reference information and corresponding in-text citation information for common source types and situations you are likely to encounter while working with your sources".