APA STYLE: The Cheat Sheet

APA:

The APA style calls for three kinds of information to be included in in-text cited quotes. The author's last name and the work's date of publication and, in the case of quoted text, page number, must always appear.

IF THE QUOTE IS LESS THAN 40 WORDS:

Using a signal phrase where you list the author and year before the quotation, and put the page number at the end:

As Marshall Mathers (2008) revealed, “Guns and violence have been around me my whole life – in my family life, in my social life, everywhere” (p. 134). 

Notice that the period comes after the parenthentical.

Or you can quote without a signal phrase, and put the author, year, and page number at the end:

The hip hop artist noted, “Guns and violence have been around me my whole life – in my family life, in my social life, everywhere” (Mathers, 2008, p. 134). 

Again, notice that the period comes after the parenthetical.

IF THE QUOTE IS MORE THAN 40 WORDS:

If the quotation is more than 40 words, you need to do an indented block quotation.  Notice, that as always, the author, year, and page number are shown. 

            Marshall Mathers went on to explain his attitudes towards guns:

Anybody who has a gun will tell you that at first it makes them feel powerful.  I was infatuated.  Obviously I don’t feel that way now.  I’ve lost too many friends, family members, loved ones to gun violence.  I would much rather use my fists.  Kidding.  (Mathers, 2008, p. 134)

**  Notice that in the above example (indented quote), this time the period comes before the parenthetical.  The information in the parenthesis is not followed by a period.  This is different from the above examples about quotes less than 40 words.

SUMMARIZING AND PARAPHRASING:

For a summary or a paraphrase (not a direct quote) of another author’s writing:

According to Mathers (2008), guns hurt a lot of people and aren’t worth the powerful feeling they initially give a person (p. 134). 

-OR-

Guns hurt a lot of people and aren’t worth the powerful feeling they initially give a person (Mathers, 2008, p. 134). 

Again, notice that the period comes after the parenthetical.

In the two examples above, which say the same thing, note that the author and year and page number are indicated. 

** NOTE:  Your instructor may not require that you show page number for summary or paraphrasing, so check with him or her first.

At the end, you must always have a REFERENCES page.  In it, you will state your sources.  Example:

Mathers, M. (2008).  Eminem: the way I am.  New York: Penguin Group Inc.

Further sources on APA STYLE:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/DocAPA.html

Sample APA Paper: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/18/