Facing an issue of how to cite in APA format is common in the academic world. Because people do not know how to do it, they lose points, violate standards, or even write plagiarized papers. In this case, if researchers want to provide a clear study, they need to follow some rules. Basically, people need to know the main principles of the format, understand rules of long and short citations to avoid plagiarism cases, and cover other aspects, like instances of incomplete citation details.
General Aspects
Scholarly writing typically relies on paper formats to facilitate scientific communication of research findings. In this case, researchers should be aware of the fundamental guidelines of how to cite in APA format if they use this APA citation. In this case, the article presents an in-depth discussion of essential APA citation format with a focus on the standard format, long and short citations, and instances of incomplete citation details.
Standards of How to Cite APA Format
The APA in-text citation has a relatively unique style if people want to know how to cite in APA format. For instance, the APA style is based on the author-date format. Firstly, the author’s name used in the format is the last name. Then, the date referred to in the citation style is the publication date of the source. In this case, people present the author-date style as a parenthetical citation or integrated into the text. Moreover, parenthetical citations in the APA style format appear at the end of a sentence before the closing punctuation mark. People separate the elements by a comma, for example, (Jackson, 2019). Hence, integrating the in-text citation with the sentence requires the use of a signal phrase. In turn, researchers place the date of publication immediately after the author’s last name, for example, Jackson (2019) argues . . . in literature.
Long and Short Citations
There are additional rules for long and short quotations in this guide on how to cite in APA format. Basically, the in-text citation format is slightly modified for short quotations to include a page number, which is preceded by the abbreviation “p.” In this case, the page number allows the reader to identify the specific location of the quote within the text. Also, people place the in-text citation immediately after the end of the quote.
Other Cases
In a case where researchers know the name and year in the sentence, only they play the page number after the quote but before the closing punctuation. Then, people organize quotations with 40 or more words in a free-standing block for half an inch from the page margin. The necessary in-text citation elements placed after the closing punctuation mark. Hence, page numbers or an alternative identifier must be included when direct quotations are used in an essay. However, people may include page numbers for paraphrases or summaries.
How to Cite in APA Format for Incomplete Citation Details
Some sources used by a researcher may lack either the publication date or authors’ details. For instance, if researchers do not know the publication date of a source, they use the abbreviation “n.d.” In this case, the full meaning of the abbreviation is “no date.” Then, if people cannot find the author of the source, they can use a shortened title of the source material as the stand-in for the author’s name in the standard format. The shortened title should correspond to the title provided in the reference list. Moreover, it conforms to the capitalization and italicization rules for titles mentioned in the essay’s text.
Conclusion on How to Cite in APA Format
The basic guidelines on how to cite in APA format are explained exhaustively. However, other issues have not been highlighted in this discussion. For instance, it is about developing in-text citations for sources with multiple writers and editors. Detailed explanations for handling common issues an author may encounter while creating citations in the APA reference format. Moreover, people should consider information on citing a website APA and how to cite a government website APA if they want to be familiar with what is APA format.