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Whether citing a direct quotation from a source or your own paraphrased wording of the text, you must always cite your sources parenthetically. Below are samples of how to cite both direct quotations and paraphrases in the text of the paper.
Noting Differences Between MLA and APA Citations
There are several significant differences between MLA format and APA format of citations.
1) The year of publication of the source is included in APA citations, but not in MLA. There is a comma and space between the author(s) and the year of publication in APA.
2) A page number may also be included in the citation in APA, at the discretion of the writer. This is useful in citing longer works. The page number comes after the year of publication, separated by a comma followed by a space.
3) When a page number is included in APA citations, they are preceded by p. and a space (or pp. and a space for multiple pages). This is not done in MLA.
4) While the parenthetical citation in both MLA and APA is generally placed after the sentence and before the end punctuation, there are deviations from this in APA. In APA when there are multiple authors an ampersand (&) symbol is placed in front of the last author listed. It would be inappropriate to write out the word “and” in this case.
5) Students interested in these and other stylistic variations between MLA and APA should consult the resources listed at the end of this document.
Direct Quotations
Direct quotations need to be enclosed by quotation marks and cited parenthetically. Include the author’s last name, date and specific page citation in the parentheses that follow the direct quotation, separated with commas. If you introduce the quotation with the author early on in the sentence, you need only to include the date and page number (if useful) in the parentheses that follow. Any punctuation marks (i.e., periods, commas, and semicolons) should follow the parenthetical citation. If you are citing from a source that does not have a page number (i.e., a web-based electronic source), include only the author’s last name and date; if the source has no author, then include the title of the work or website and (if available) a page number in parentheses.
Examples:
Paraphrases
If you reword a quotation, you must provide a citation, even though you need not use quotation marks. Paraphrases require only author and date (although a page number can be included if the idea is specific to a particular page of the document) .
Examples:
The above examples are written in the student’s own words but contain the substance of the idea in Kim and DeBerardinis’s quotation, and so therefore it must be cited.
Additionally, if you include factual information not widely known, or controversial or disputed “facts,” you must cite the source from which you learned that information.
For example:
Block Quotations
Quotations that are longer than 40 words need to be cited as a free-standing block of text without quotation marks. Never “block” a paraphrase. Begin the quotation on a new line and indent the entire quotation one inch from the left margin (note that this one-inch indentation is an additional half-inch, or “tab” from the left margin, beyond a paragraph indentation). Double-space the block quotation. Cite parenthetically after the closing punctuation mark.
If the author is identified and a complete sentence is quoted, the date of publication appears after the author’s name. The complete sentence that is quoted will end with a period, and will be followed by a space and the parentheses with the page number.
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