APA 6th Edition Paraphrase Citation Example for Authors

As a researcher, you’re required to cite your references as you compose your thesis. Take a look at this article about an APA 6th Edition paraphrase citation example.

To work on a thesis, you have to learn to cite. Your research paper shouldn’t show any sign of plagiarism, the publication company you’ll submit it will see otherwise. You might face legal consequences if you don’t observe proper citation.

Whether you’re citing a sentence or a paragraph, you need to have knowledge about the APA Citation Style. Citations are necessary if your reference is significant with the relevance of your thesis. Page by page, you need to insert with each quotation a parenthetical citation depicting where you got the information.

Through this article, you will learn how to APA cite.

a pile of old pages of a book atop one another — Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

What is APA?

APA, also known as American Psychological Association, is the standard format used by many researchers. It’s one of the many academic writing parameters that most academicians take note of when referring to a source.

It last updated its academic writing manual last fall of 2019, which is the 7th one.

You can paraphrase using APA, with matching in-text citation. You’re free to share the information to anyone using such standard. Make sure you have the main idea of the source’s main content included.

If you wish to direct quote an author of a book, you may include their surname. You also have to add the date it was published (put “n.d.” if none). You can paraphrase the quotation first before doing so.

Though you may put the idea word for word, you have to consider doing the effort to paraphrase. That way, your readers will appreciate your effort to put an in-text citation with a sentence that tells how much you understand the reference.

When you insert a new quote in your own words, you should make sure to not commit plagiarism by wrongfully citing the author. If you wish to paraphrase, you still have to mention the source using the aforementioned method.

How to APA In-text Cite?

First, you’d have to know your source. Search for the author of the peer-reviewed journal you’re referring to and gather necessary information. If there are more than two authors, write “et al.” at the end. It’s a Latin term that simply means “and others”.

Should you find the need to login to JSTOR, do so. JSTOR is a digital library where almost all research papers and journals alike can be easily found.

When you’re reading a long research study, just skip to main ideas to save you time.

Make sure to also be familiar with the title which you can see either at the front or print page. Also, take note of the year when it was published should it appear available.

For the sake of the bibliography, look up the page number you used, so you can put it in the reference list. If you found it online, copy the URL as well.

At the end of each sentence you used a reference with, there should be a parenthetical in-text citation. It usually contains the surname of the author, a comma, then the year it was published. You can skip the other details because you’ll require them in the bibliography part. The same thing applies to a quote.

You can try to practice paraphrasing should you want to input the phrase in your own words. If you cannot find the year the journal was published, just put “n.d.” instead of the year number as it’s inexistent.

If you find it hard to do citation manually, consider using online citation tools. These pieces of software have AI technology to quickly cite your references. Additionally, they can also help you in paraphrasing.

Bravo! You finally now know how to make an in-text citation.