APA Citation Guide

What Is Required for APA Citation?

APA format features rules and guidelines that make papers and writing projects consistent. They cover the following:

  • Layout of the paper (margins, spaces between lines, font size, etc.)
  • Citations (source documentation) at end of paper - titled References
  • In-Text citations near quoted or paraphrased information

Two Types of Citations Needed in Paper

With APA format, each information source you use — such as a website you directly quote or an article idea you paraphrase (put into your own words) — must have the following:

1. a Full Citation  and   2. an In-Text Citation.

More about each citation is below.

1. Full Citations

Full citations provide details about sources you use in your research paper or project. These details (items such as authors, titles, dates, and more) go in a specific order and must be formatted according to APA guidelines. All of your full citations go into an alphabetical list at the end of your paper or project named References.

2. In-Text Citations

In-Text citations (also called parenthetical documentation or citation) are a small part of your full citation that goes in your paper or project near where you use information from that source. In-text citations are required when you do the following:

  • Directly quote from a source - use the exact words in the same order - quotation marks needed around words from the source
  • Indirectly quote from a source - use ideas from the source with different wording (paraphrasing, summarizing) - no quotation marks

APA Student Paper Examples

To download an APA 7th Edition Student Sample Paper, follow the steps below.

Or you can click on the screenshot image below to download the Student Sample Paper file.

Partial Screenshot of APA Website with Sample Paper Link