APA 7 th Edition
Summarizing,
Paraphrasing, and
Quoting
• When you summarize, you put the
main idea(s) into your own words,
including only the main point(s).
• Summarized ideas must be
Summarizing attributed to the original source.
• Summaries are significantly shorter
than the original.
• Summaries take a broad overview
of source material.
Summarize any ideas or text that you believe
are important. Proper summarization should
condense the main idea or text of several
pages (or even the entire source!) into a brief
overview.
By summarizing you save many paragraphs or
pages of unnecessary text. When using in-text
citations for summaries, you must always cite
Summarizing the author and publication year.
If there is no author listed, cite the article name
using the main words of the title and placing
quotation marks “ “ around them.
Summaries do not require page numbers; this is
because the text summarized will usually cover
several pages of text.
EX: Studies show that throughout colleges
and universities teachers are often hired
from one area of study to teach a different
area of study (Carpini, 2004; Wilson, 1998).
• Paraphrasing involves putting a passage
from source material into your own words.
• Attribute paraphrases to their original
sources.
• Paraphrases are usually shorter than, but
Paraphrasing may be the same length as the original
passage.
• Paraphrases take a more focused
segment of the source and condense it
slightly.
• EX: Lortie’s (1975) research reveals that
classroom experiences as well as
interactions among peers and colleagues
contribute to teacher learning (p. 79).
• Quotations must be identical to the
original.
• Quotations use a narrow segment
of the source.
• They must match the source
document word for word and must
be attributed to the original author.
• Use quotes when the actual words
are so integral to the discussion that
Quoting they cannot be replaced.
• Use quotes when the author’s words
are so precisely and accurately
stated that they cannot be
paraphrased.
EX: Stenberg and Lee (2002) agree that
teacher learning is an “intellectual and
ongoing process” (p. 327).
▪ Signal phrases introduce someone
else’s work – they signal that the words
and ideas that are about to be offered
belong to someone other than the
author of the paper. * According to
Jones (2013), research reveals….(p.4).
Signal Phrases ▪ In-text citations are the parenthetical
and In-Text pieces of information that appear
usually at the end of a quote,
Citation paraphrase, or summary (though they
sometimes appear before). * (Jones,
2013, p. 4)
▪ A simple rule:
Author or Title, Year, and Page: what isn’t
signaled up front must be cited at the
end.
• Limited signal, everything in citation
• Blah, blah, blah. . . end of paraphrased
sentence, in which you convey the
Signal author's ideas in your own words (Krepp,
1985, p. 103).
Phrases and • Blah, blah, blah " end of quoted
sentence" (Krepp, 1985, p. 103).
In-Text
Citation • Author and year in signal, page in
citation
(continued)
• Krepp (1985) reveals that . . . (p. 103).
• According to Krepp (1985), ". . ." (p. 103).
▪ Multiple Authors signaled
(Alphabetical)
*Studies (Jones, 1966; Krepp, 1985;
Signal Smith, 1973) show that….
No Author
Phrases and
▪
("Stocks Lose Again," 1991, p. B16).
In-Text *According to the news article “Stocks
Lose Again” (1991), the recent
Citation accounts of … (p. B16).
(continued) ▪ No Page Number
Provide other information in signal
phrase
*According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (2014)
website,……….
Documentation
Invert all individual authors’ names, providing the
surname first, followed by a comma and the author’s
initials.
Example: Author, A. A.
Use a comma to separate an author’s initials from
additional author names, even when there are only two
authors. Use an ampersand (&) before the final author’s
Number of name.
Authors Example: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B.
(for a References Provide surnames and initials for up to and including 20
authors. When there are two to 20 authors, use an
page) ampersand before the final author’s name.
Example: Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C.
When there are 21 or more authors, include the first 19
authors’ names, insert an ellipsis (but no ampersand), and
then add the final author’s name.
APA (2020)
Single Author Example:
In-Text (Richards, 2020)
Citations
Based on Two Authors Example:
(Richards & Trentham, 2020)
Number of
Authors Three or More Authors Example:
(Richards et al., 2020)
Write the author’s name exactly as it appears on the
published work, including hyphenated surnames and
two-part surnames.
Example:
Santos-García, S., & Velasco Rodríguez, M. L.
Unique Authors Retain the author’s preferred capitalization.
Example:
hooks, b.
van der Waal, P. N.
APA (2020)
Reference List Citation:
When two authors of the same source share a
surname, use first initials with the last names.
Ehrlich, P., & Ehrlich, A. (1998). Betrayal of science
Two Authors and reason: How anti-environmental rhetoric
threatens our future. Island Press.
with the In-Text Citation:
Same Last If multiple authors within a single reference share
the same surname, the initials are not needed in
Name the in-text citation; cite the work in the standard
author–date format.
(Ehrlich & Ehrlich, 1998)
When multiple references have an identical
author (or authors) and publication year,
Citing Works include a lowercase letter after the year. These
letters are assigned when the references are
With the placed in order in the reference list.
Same Author The year–letter combination is used in both the
in-text citation and the reference list entry. Use
and Year only the year with a letter in the in-text citation,
even if the reference list entry contains a more
specific date.
In-text: (Blondaux & O'Hanrahan, 2018a)
Reference list: Blondaux and O'Hanrahan (2018b)
Kang, C. (2020a, October 28). Big tech’s chief
executives are becoming regulars on
Capitol Hill. New York Times.
Web Sources https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/tec
with the Same hnology/big-techs-chief-executives-are-
becoming-regulars-on-capitol-hill.html
Author, Same
Kang, C. (2020b, October 22). Top
Year, and investigator in Google case says there
Different Day of ‘was not a rush’ to sue. New York Times.
Post https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/tec
hnology/doj-google-jeffrey-rosen.html
In-text citation examples
Parenthetical: (Kang 2020a; Kang 2020b)
Narrative: Kang (2020a)and (2020b)
On a page from an organizational or government
agency website, the organization or government agency
itself is considered the author, unless otherwise specified.
The author of a webpage or website may also be
located on an “about us” or acknowledgments page.
An abbreviation for the group author can be used in the
text (e.g., NIMH for National Institute of Mental Health);
however, do not include an abbreviation for a group
author in a reference list entry.
Organization As
Author Correct: National Institute of Mental Health.
Incorrect: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
Incorrect: NIMH.
APA (2020)
When numerous layers of government agencies are listed as the
author of a work, use the most specific agency as the author in the
reference (e.g., use “National Institute of Nursing Research” rather
than “U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National
Institutes of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research”). The
names of parent agencies not present in the group author name
appear in the source element as the publisher.
Example:
Government National Institute of Nursing Research. (2015). A family’s
perspective: Pediatric palliative care stories (NIH
Agencies As Publication No. 15-NR-8018). U.S. Department of
Author Health and Human Services, National Institutes of
Health. https://www.ninr.nih.gov/sites/files/docs/
NINR_508c_FamilyStories_0.pdf
Parenthetical citation: (National Institute of Nursing Research, 2015)
Narrative citation: National Institute of Nursing Research (2015)
APA (2020)
Books
Electronic:
Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice:
From attitudes to social action (2nd ed.).
American Psychological Association. https://
doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000
Print:
Print and Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of
Electronic humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books.
Books
Parenthetical citations: (Jackson, 2019)
(Sapolsky, 2017)
Narrative citations:
From the research of Jackson (2019) and Sapolsky (2017), a
clear percentage of …………..
APA (2020)
Crimi, C. (2019). Weird little robots (C. Luyken, Illus.).
Candlewick Press.
Pitman, G. E. (2016). This day in June (K. Litten, Illus.).
Magination Press.
Slater, D. (2017). The antlered ship (T. Fan & E. Fan, Illus.).
Children’s Book Beach Lane Books.
with Illustrator
Parenthetical citations: (Crimi, 2019)
Different Than (Pitman, 2016)
Author (Slater, 2017)
Narrative citations:
The research conducted by Crimi (2019), Pitman (2016),
and Slater (2017) revealed……………
APA (2020)
Beaton, K. (2016). King baby (K. Beaton, Illus.). Arthur A.
Levine Books.
Children’s Book Parenthetical citation: (Beaton, 2016)
with Author
Same As Narrative citation: Beaton (2016) illustrated the story……….
Illustrator
APA (2020)
Numeroff, L. J. (2007). If you give a mouse a cookie (F.
Bond, Illus.). Laura Geringer Books. (Original work
published 1985)
Sendak, M. (2012). Where the wild things are (M. Sendak,
Illus.; 50th anniversary ed.). HarperCollins Publishers.
Republished or (Original work published 1963)
Anniversary
Parenthetical citations: (Numeroff, 1985/2007)
Addition of a (Sendak, 1963/2012)
Children’s Book Narrative citations:
The books by Numeroff (1985/2007) and Sendak (1963/2012)
uncover the imagination……………………..
APA (2020)
Edited Books
Print:
Kesharwani, P. (Ed.). (2020). Nanotechnology based
approaches for tuberculosis treatment. Academic
Press.
Electronic:
Torino, G. C., Rivera, D. P., Capodilupo, C. M., Nadal,
Whole Edited K. L., & Sue, D. W. (Eds.). (2019). Microaggression
theory: Influence and implications. John Wiley &
Book Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119466642
Parenthetical citations: (Kesharwani, 2020)
(Torino et al., 2019)
Narrative citations:
According to Kesharwani (2020) and Torino et al. (2019),
research reveals …………………….
APA (2020)
Harris, K. R., Graham, S., & Urdan T. (Eds.). (2012). APA
educational psychology handbook (Vols. 1–3).
American Psychological Association.
Several
Volumes of a Parenthetical citation: (Harris et al., 2012)
Multi-Volume
Work Narrative citation: Harris et al. (2012) declare that the
………………………………………………….
APA (2020)
Aron, L., Botella, M., & Lubart, T. (2019). Culinary arts:
Talent and their development. In R. F. Subotnik,
P. Olszewski-Kubilius, & F. C. Worrell (Eds.), The
psychology of high performance: Developing
human potential into domain-specific
talent (pp. 345–359). American Psychological
Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/
0000120-016
Chapter in an Dillard, J. P. (2020). Currents in the study of
Edited Book persuasion. In M. B. Oliver, A. A. Raney, & J.
Bryant (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory
and research (4th ed., pp. 115–129). Routledge.
Parenthetical citations: (Aron et al., 2019)
(Aron et al., 2019; Dillard, 2020)
Narrative citations: Aron et al. (2019) and Dillard (2020)
APA (2020)
Bronfenbrenner, U. (2005). The social ecology of
human development: A retrospective
conclusion. In U. Bronfenbrenner (Ed.), Making
human beings human: Bioecological
Chapter in an perspectives on human development (pp. 27–
40). SAGE Publications. (Reprinted from Brain
Edited Book, and intelligence: The ecology of child
Reprinted from development, pp. 113–123, by F. Richardson,
Another Book Ed., 1973, National Educational Press)
Parenthetical citations: (Bronfenbrenner, 1973/2005)
Narrative citations: Bronfenbrenner (1973/2005)
APA (2020)
Journals
Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J.
(2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of
storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups
in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media
Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/
Journal Article ppm0000185
Parenthetical citation: (Grady et al., 2019)
Narrative citation: Grady et al. (2019)
APA (2020)
Jerrentrup, A., Mueller, T., Glowalla, U., Herder, M.,
Henrichs, N., Neubauer, A., & Schaefer, J. R. (2018).
Teaching medicine with the help of “Dr. House.”
Journal Article PLoS ONE, 13(3), Article e0193972. https://doi.org/
with an Article 10.1371/journal.pone.0193972
Number
Parenthetical citation: (Jerrentrup et al., 2018)
Narrative citation: Jerrentrup et al. (2018)
APA (2020)
Missing volume number
Stegmeir, M. (2016). Climate change: New discipline
practices promote college access. The Journal of
College Admission, (231), 44-47. https://www.
nxtbook.com/ygsreprints/NACAC/nacac_jca_
spring2016/#/46
Missing issue number
Journal Article Sanchiz, M., Chevalier, A., & Amadieu, F. (2017). How do
with Missing older and young adults start searching for
information information? Impact of age, domain knowledge
and problem complexity on the different steps of
information searching. Computers in Human
Behavior, 72, 67–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.
02.038
Parenthetical citation: (Stegmeir, 2016, p. 44)
Narrative citation: Sanchiz et al. (2017)
APA (2020)
Butler, J. (2017). Where access meets multimodality: The
case of ASL music videos. Kairos: A Journal of
Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, 21(1).
Journal Article http://technorhetoric.net/21.1/topoi/butler/index
with Missing .html
Page or Article
Number
Parenthetical citations: (Butler, 2017)
Narrative citations: Butler (2017)
APA (2020)
Freeberg, T. M. (2019). From simple rules of individual
proximity, complex and coordinated collective
Online-Only movement [Supplemental material]. Journal of
Comparative Psychology, 133(2), 141–142. https://
Supplemental doi.org/10.1037/com0000181
Material to a
Journal Article Parenthetical citation: (Freeberg, 2019)
Narrative citation: Freeberg (2019)
APA (2020)
Ho, H.-K. (2014). Teacher preparation for
early childhood special education in
Taiwan (ED545393). ERIC.
Informally https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED545393
.pdf
Published Parenthetical citation: (Ho, 2014)
Work from Narrative citation: Ho (2014)
Database
*ERIC (Education Resource Information
Center) assigns document numbers to works
in its database. Include this number in
parentheses after the title of the work.
Magazines
Lyons, D. (2009, June 15). Don't ‘iTune’ us: It’s geeks versus
writers. Guess who’s winning. Newsweek, 153(24),
27.
Schaefer, N. K., & Shapiro, B. (2019, September 6). New
middle chapter in the story of human evolution.
Science, 365(6457), 981–982. https://doi.org/
Magazine 10.1126/science.aay3550
Articles Schulman, M. (2019, September 9). Superfans: A love
story. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/
magazine/2019/09/16/superfans-a-love-story
Parenthetical citations: (Lyons, 2009)
(Schaefer & Shapiro, 2019)
Narrative citations: Lyons (2009)
Schaefer and Shapiro (2019)
APA (2020)
Newspapers
Carey, B. (2019, March 22). Can we get better at
forgetting? The New York Times. https://www.
nytimes.com/2019/03/22/health/memory-forgetting-
psychology.html
Harlan, C. (2013, April 2). North Korea vows to restart
shuttered nuclear reactor that can make bomb-
grade plutonium. The Washington Post, A1, A4.
Newspaper Stobbe, M. (2020, January 8). Cancer death rate in U.S.
Articles sees largest one-year drop ever. Chicago Tribune.
Parenthetical citations: (Carey, 2019)
(Carey, 2019; Harlan, 2013; Stobbe, 2020)
Narrative citations:
Carey (2019), Harlan (2013), and Stobbe (2020)
APA (2020)
Websites
For a page from an organization’s website without
individual authors, use the name of the organization as
the author.
Provide as specific a date as possible for the webpage.
Some online works note when the work was last updated.
If this date is clearly attributable to the specific content
you are citing rather than the overall website, use the
Information updated date in the reference.
Needed to Do not include a date of last review in a reference
because content that has been reviewed has not
Document necessarily been changed. If a date of last review is
noted on a work, ignore it for the purposes of the
Websites reference.
Italicize the title of the webpage.
If the author of the webpage and the site name are the
same, omit the site name from the source element to
avoid repetition.
End the reference with the URL.
APA (2020)
Bologna, C. (2019, October 31). Why some people with
anxiety love watching horror movies. HuffPost.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anxiety-love-
watching-horror-movies_l_
5d277587e4b02a5a5d57b59e
Woodyatt, A. (2019, September 10). Daytime naps once
Webpage on a or twice a week may be linked to a healthy heart,
researchers say. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/
Website
09/10/health/nap-heart-health-wellness-intl-scli/
index.html
Parenthetical citations: (Bologna, 2019; Woodyatt, 2019)
Narrative citations: Bologna (2019) and Woodyatt (2019)
APA (2020)
Webpage on a World Health Organization. (2018, May 24). The top 10
causes of death. https://www.who.int/news-room/
Website with an
fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death
Organizational
Group As Parenthetical citations: (World Health Organization, 2018)
Author Narrative citations: World Health Organization (2018)
APA (2020)
Giovanetti, F. (2019, November 16). Why we are so
obsessed with personality types. Medium.
Webpage on a https://medium.com/the-business-of-wellness/why-
we-are-so-obsessed-with-personality-types-
Website with an 577450f9aee9
Individual
Author Parenthetical citation: (Giovanetti, 2019)
Narrative citation: Giovanetti (2019)
APA (2020)
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). U.S. and world population
clock. U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved
January 9, 2020, from https://www.census.gov/
popclock/
Webpage on a Parenthetical citation: (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.)
Website with a Narrative citation: U.S. Census Bureau (n.d.)
Retrieval Date
***When contents of a page are designed to change
over time but are not archived, include a retrieval
date in the reference.*** (This is not a common
occurrence for all websites)
APA (2020)
Do not create references or in-text citations for whole
websites.
To mention a website in general, and not any particular
information on that site, provide the name of the website
Referencing a in the text and include the URL in parentheses. For
example, you might mention that you used a website to
Whole Website create a survey.
Example:
We created our survey using Qualtrics
(https://www.qualtrics.com).
APA (2020)
Any communication that cannot be directly retrieved by
a reader is considered “personal communication.”
Emails, phone conversations, interviews, text messages,
Information and social media messages are all examples of personal
communication. You do not include personal
for communication in your reference list; instead,
parenthetically cite the communicator's name, the
Documenting phrase "personal communication," and the date of the
communication in your main text only.
an Interview
(E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2019).
Audiovisual Media
Harvard University. (2019, August 28). Soft robotic
gripper for jellyfish [Video]. YouTube. https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=guRoWTYfxMs
You Tube
Parenthetical citation: (Harvard University, 2019)
Narrative citation: Harvard University (2019)
APA (2020)
Cuddy, A. (2012, June). Your body language may
shape who you are [Video]. TED Conferences.
https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_
TED Talk from body_language_shapes_who_you_are
the TED website
Parenthetical citation: (Cuddy, 2012)
Narrative citation: Cuddy (2012)
APA (2020)
TED. (2019, November 13). The danger of AI is weirder
than you think | Janelle Shane [Video].
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
TED Talk from OhCzX0iLnOc
YouTube
Parenthetical citation: (TED, 2019)
Narrative citation: TED (2019)
APA (2020)
