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APA 7th Edition Citation Examples: Citing a Source Within a Source

Citing a Source within a Source

Scenario: You read a 2007 article by Linhares and Brum that cites an earlier article, by Klein. You want to cite Klein's article, but you have not read Klein's article itself.

Reference list citation

Linhares, A., & Brum, P. (2007). Understanding our understanding of strategic scenarios: What role do chunks play? Cognitive Science , 31 (6), 989-1007. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/03640210701703725

Your Reference list will contain the article you read, by Linhares and Brum. Your Reference list will NOT contain a citation for Klein's article.

In-text citation

Klein's study (as cited in Linhares & Brum, 2007) found that...

Your in-text citation gives credit to Klein and shows the source in which you found Klein's ideas.

See  Publication Manual , p. 258.

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What's the correct way to cite a paper cited by another paper?

The example is when you might be reading a certain paper, and the authors refer to another paper. You can't get that other paper as it's unpublished, or it's in a language that you can't read, or maybe something else.

My guess is:

Featherstone et al 1900 (in Thomas and Cullen 2002).

And how is it to be handled in the bibliography?

a different ben's user avatar

4 Answers 4

In APA style, you can write, (e.g., see this APA tutorial )

Featherstone et al 1900 (as cited in Thomas and Cullen 2002)

Of course, in general you should try your best to read the original and cite the original directly.

Someone in the comments asked:

"In such case do I need to list original paper also in reference section or only the recent one I am referring to?"

The reference to the original article is the more important reference to include, but you should include both in your reference list.

Jeromy Anglim's user avatar

The following is with regards to Chicago Style as of 11/25/2018 14.260: Citations taken from secondary sources Chapter Contents / Special Types of References / Citations Taken from Secondary Sources To cite a source from a secondary source (“quoted in . . .”) is generally to be discouraged, since authors are expected to have examined the works they cite. If an original source is unavailable, however, both the original and the secondary source must be listed.

Martin's user avatar

If you are using a quote from author A that author B is citing, you would go ahead and use the quote from author A and cite it like this:

Blah blah, blahblahblah, blah blah blah-blah blah (qtd. in Author B 65).

Wrzlprmft's user avatar

If you cannot get that paper, you should not cite it.

What is a citation? The word citation comes from Latin verb cio (past participle: citum ) that means to call somebody , to invite somebody , or preferably to demand someone to give his own testimony .

So, in your case, if you would like to cite that paper, that means that you invite that paper to give its own testimony. But if it's not available , how could it do it?

Simply, it can't .

DavideChicco.it's user avatar

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Citation Examples | Books, Articles, Websites & More

Published on April 9, 2021 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on June 27, 2022.

The most common citation styles are APA and MLA . To cite a source in these styles, you need a brief in-text citation and a full reference.

Use the interactive tool to understand how a citation is structured and see examples for common source types .

As well as switching between styles and sources, you can explore how a citation looks when there are multiple authors, different editions, no publication date, and other common scenarios.

If you’re still not sure how to cite your source correctly, dive into our comprehensive articles. For each source type, we provide a range of examples in APA , MLA , and Chicago style .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2022, June 27). Citation Examples | Books, Articles, Websites & More. Scribbr. Retrieved March 13, 2023, from https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/citation-example/

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Other students also liked, citation styles guide | examples for all major styles, apa vs. mla | the key differences in format & citation, how to avoid plagiarism | tips on citing sources, what is your plagiarism score.

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Research and Citation Resources

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Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

If you are having trouble locating a specific resource please visit the  search page  or the  Site Map . The Citation Chart  provides a detailed overview of MLA Style, APA Style, and Chicago Manual of Style source documentation by category.

Conducting Research

These OWL resources will help you conduct research using primary source methods, such as interviews and observations, and secondary source methods, such as books, journals, and the Internet. This area also includes materials on evaluating research sources.

Using Research

These OWL resources will help you use the research you have conducted in your documents. This area includes material on quoting and paraphrasing your research sources, as well as material on how to avoid plagiarism.

APA Style (7th Edition)

These OWL resources will help you learn how to use the American Psychological Association (APA) citation and format style. This section contains resources on in-text citation and the References page, as well as APA sample papers, slide presentations, and the APA classroom poster.

These OWL resources will help you learn how to use the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation and format style. This section contains resources on in-text citation and the Works Cited page, as well as MLA sample papers, slide presentations, and the MLA classroom poster

Chicago Manual of Style

This section contains information on the Chicago Manual of Style method of document formatting and citation. These resources follow the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style, which was issued in 2017.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Style

These resources describe how to structure papers, cite sources, format references, and handle the complexities of tables and figures according to the latest Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) guidelines.

American Medical Association (AMA) Style

These resources provide guidance on how to cite sources using American Medical Association (AMA) Style, 10th Ed., including examples for print and electronic sources.

Research Overview

We live in an age overflowing with sources of information. With so many information sources at our fingertips, knowing where to start, sorting through it all and finding what we want can be overwhelming! This handout provides answers to the following research-related questions: Where do I begin? Where should I look for information? What types of sources are available?

Conducting Primary Research

Primary research involves collecting data about a given subject directly from the real world. This section includes information on what primary research is, how to get started, ethics involved with primary research and different types of research you can do. It includes details about interviews, surveys, observations, and analysis.

Evaluating Sources of Information

Evaluating sources of information is an important step in any research activity. This section provides information on evaluating bibliographic citations, aspects of evaluation, reading evaluation, print vs. online sources, and evaluating Internet sources.

Searching Online

This section covers finding information online. It includes information about search engines, Boolean operators, Web directories, and the invisible Web. It also includes an extensive, annotated links section.

Internet References

This page contains links and short descriptions of writing resources including dictionaries, style manuals, grammar handbooks, and editing resources. It also contains a list of online reference sites, indexes for writers, online libraries, books and e-texts, as well as links to newspapers, news services, journals, and online magazines.

Archival Research

This resource discusses conducting research in a variety of archives. It also discusses a number of considerations and best practices for conducting archival research.

This resources was developed in consultation with Purdue University Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections staff.

American Psychological Association

Appropriate Level of Citation

The number of sources you cite in your paper depends on the purpose of your work. For most papers, cite one or two of the most representative sources for each key point. Literature review papers, however, typically include a more exhaustive list of references.

Provide appropriate credit to the source (e.g., by using an in-text citation) whenever you do the following:

Avoid both undercitation and overcitation. Undercitation can lead to plagiarism and/or self-plagiarism . Overcitation can be distracting and is unnecessary.

For example, it is considered overcitation to repeat the same citation in every sentence when the source and topic have not changed. Instead, when paraphrasing a key point in more than one sentence within a paragraph, cite the source in the first sentence in which it is relevant and do not repeat the citation in subsequent sentences as long as the source remains clear and unchanged.

Figure 8.1 in Chapter 8 of the Publication Manual provides an example of an appropriate level of citation.

citation within research paper

This guidance is the  same  as in the 6th edition.

Related handouts

From the APA Style blog

How to cite your own translations

How to cite your own translations

If you translate a passage from one language into another on your own in your paper, your translation is considered a paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

Key takeaways from the Psi Chi webinar So You Need to Write a Literature Review

Key takeaways from the Psi Chi webinar So You Need to Write a Literature Review

This blog post describes key tasks in writing an effective literature review and provides strategies for approaching those tasks.

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How to cite a work with a nonrecoverable source

In most cases, nonrecoverable sources such as personal emails, nonarchived social media livestreams (or deleted and unarchived social media posts), classroom lectures, unrecorded webinars or presentations, and intranet sources should be cited only in the text as personal communications.

The “outdated sources” myth

The “outdated sources” myth

The “outdated sources” myth is that sources must have been published recently, such as the last 5 to 10 years. There is no timeliness requirement in APA Style.

From COVID-19 to demands for social justice: Citing contemporary sources for current events

From COVID-19 to demands for social justice: Citing contemporary sources for current events

The guidance in the seventh edition of the Publication Manual makes the process of citing contemporary sources found online easier than ever before.

Citing classical and religious works

Citing classical and religious works

A classical or religious work is cited as either a book or a webpage, depending on what version of the source you are using. This post includes details and examples.

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Academic Writer—APA’s essential teaching resource for higher education instructors

Academic Writer’s advanced authoring technology and digital learning tools allow students to take a hands-on approach to learning the scholarly research and writing process.

citation within research paper

APA Style webinar on citing works in text

Attend the webinar, “Citing Works in Text Using Seventh Edition APA Style,” on July 14, 2020, to learn the keys to accurately and consistently citing sources in APA Style.

How to Cite a Research Paper

Last Updated: January 31, 2023 References

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD . Jennifer Mueller is a wikiHow Content Creator. She specializes in reviewing, fact-checking, and evaluating wikiHow's content to ensure thoroughness and accuracy. Jennifer holds a JD from Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 2006. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 379,344 times. Learn more...

When writing a paper for a research project, you may need to cite a research paper you used as a reference. The basic information included in your citation will be the same across all styles. However, the format in which that information is presented is somewhat different depending on whether you're using American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA), Chicago, or American Medical Association (AMA) style.

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Cite a Web Site in APA With No Author, Date, or Page Number

About This Article

Jennifer Mueller, JD

To cite a paper APA style, start with the author's last name and first initial, and the year of publication. Then, list the title of the paper, where you found it, and the date that you accessed it. In a paper, use a parenthetical reference with the last name of the author and the publication year. For an MLA citation, list the author's last name and then first name and the title of the paper in quotations. Include where you accessed the paper and the date you retrieved it. In your paper, use a parenthetical reference with the author's last name and the page number. Keep reading for tips on Chicago and AMA citations and exceptions to the citation rules! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Research Skills Tutorial

What Is A Citation?

When to cite.

A citation is a reference to the source of information used in your research. Any time you directly quote, paraphrase or summarize the essential elements of someone else's idea in your work, an in-text citation should follow. An in-text citation is a brief notation within the text of your paper or presentation which refers the reader to a fuller notation, or end-of-paper citation , that provides all necessary details about that source of information. Direct quotations should be surrounded by quotations marks and are generally used when the idea you want to capture is best expressed by the source.  Paraphrasing and summarizing involve rewording an essential idea from someone else's work, usually to either condense the point or to make it better fit your writing style. You do not have to cite your own ideas, unless they have been published. And you do not have to cite  common knowledge , or information that most people in your audience would know without having to look it up.

In-Text Citations

In-text citations alert the reader to an idea from an outside source.  

Parenthetical Notes

In MLA and APA styles, in-text citations usually appear as parenthetical notes (sometimes called parenthetical documentation ). They are called parenthetical notes because brief information about the source, usually the author's name, year of publication, and page number, is enclosed in parentheses as follows:  

MLA style: (Smith 263)

APA style: (Smith, 2013, p. 263)  

Parenthetical notes are inserted into the text of the paper at the end of a sentence or paragraph:>

Example of a parenthetical in-text citation.

In MLA and APA styles, in-text citations are associated with end-of-paper citations that provide full details about an information source. Note: Different source types and situations require different information within the parentheses. Refer to a style guide for the style you are using for details.

Note Numbers

In Chicago and CSE styles, in-text citations usually appear as superscript numerals, or note numbers , as follows:

citation within research paper

These note numbers are associated with full citations that can appear as footnotes (bottom of page), endnotes (end of chapter or paper), or lists of cited references at the end of the paper.  

End-of-Paper Citations

End-of-paper citations, as well as footnotes and endnotes, include  full details about a source of information.  Citations contain different pieces of identifying information about your source depending on what type of source it is. In academic research, your sources will most commonly be articles from scholarly journals, and the citation for an article typically includes:  

There are many other types of sources you might use, including books, book chapters, films, song lyrics, musical scores, interviews, e-mails, blog entries, art works, lectures, websites and more. To determine which details are required for a citation for a particular source type, find that source type within the style guide for the citation style you are using. At the end of your research paper, full citations should be listed in order according to the citation style you are using:

citation within research paper

Citations  In Library Databases

When you search the library's databases for articles or e-books, the list of search results you see is actually a list of full citations. Instead of being formatted according to MLA, APA, CSE, or Chicago style, these citations are formatted according to the database vendor's style. It is up to you to take the source information you find in a library database (or elsewhere) and format it according to the citation style you are using.

Database results list containing citation information.

Accessibility Note

Please note: If you need to request accommodations with content linked to on this guide, on the basis of a disability, please contact Accessibility Resources and Services by emailing them at [email protected]  Requests for accommodations should be submitted as early as possible to allow for sufficient planning. If you have questions, please visit the Accessibility Resources and Services website https://www.esc.edu/accessibility/

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How To Use Citations In A Research Paper

Learning how to cite a research paper is an essential aspect of academia. Students learn this the first time they step foot in college. Similarly, they continue to use quotations in all of their work. There are several citation methods to choose from. The one you use depends on a number of factors.

In general, there are more than a dozen examples of citations in a research paper. Each referencing system helps to encourage crediting authors and discourage plagiarism. Over time, several citation formats have evolved to become what they are today. Therefore, from this article, you can learn 5 types of citations, as well as find out about in-text references, citation types, and how to properly cite a research paper.

Research Papers Citation Elements

Several elements make up research papers. These elements are presented in different configurations to develop a citation type. Below are the components of any citation type.

Some or all of these elements can constitute a citation type. You can find similar components as you buy from providers that write my essay for me . Additionally, you are sure of getting quality output from this service.

Citing a Research Paper APA Style

APA stands for American Psychological Association. Social science and psychology researchers mostly use this citation style. Also, there is a consistent format to follow when using APA for referencing. Similarly, you need to adhere to other general guidelines when using APA citation in an academic paper. Below are some guidelines for an APA research paper citation.

Use author's first and last name in this one. However, you should write the last name then the initial of the first name. You also need to put a comma after the last name before the first name initial. If you have multiple authors, separate each using a comma. Put an ampersand right before the last author’s name. APA citation in the research paper example using authors Steven King and Daniel John is shown below.

“King, S., & John, D.”

Next, include date of publication. Write year of publication after authors' names. Use the year work was written for an unpublished document. If a date is missing, use a term n.d. Using the same example of research papers citations from step 1, you can cite the date 2020 like this:

“King, S., & John, D. (2020)”

The reference will be different if there was no date of publication or writing.

“King, S., & John, D. (n.d.)”

At this point, include your title when you cite a research paper. You should write a title using sentence capitalization. If there is a subtitle, separate it from a title using a colon. Include an index number of an organization in parentheses where applicable. From an earlier APA citation research paper example, the work is titled, "Life Lessons: The challenge of a lifetime." Also, the index number is 4563. Therefore, cite  as follows:

“King, S., & John, D. (2020). Life Lessons: The challenge of a lifetime. (Report No. 4563)”

Include where you sourced a paper from by stating the journal, publication, or report it was published in. Provide whatever information is at your disposal for unpublished work. An example of how you can cite is thus:

“King, S., & John, D. (2020). Life Lessons: The challenge of a lifetime. (Report No. 4563). University of Brussels Journal of Social Science. Retrieved from university archives on October 30, 2021.”

Like with all references, include a quotation within your writing. Therefore, reference any statement or research you have used. You can do an APA citation as follows.

“(King, & John, 2020).” or “(King, & John, n.d.).” as required.

MLA Citation

MLA means Modern Language Association. This cite a research paper format is popular in faculties of humanities and arts. Unlike writing an APA paper , any MLA citation for research paper follows a set of principles. Therefore, a quotation appears as a form of documentation. You also have a format for in-text, footnote, and reference page for MLA citation type. We are going to use authors Becky Andrew and Rebecca Adam to demonstrate. For more information, check out MLA guidelines for research paper and cite accordingly. These guidelines are comprehensive, so they include all the details you may need to learn how to cite in MLA style.

Like with APA citation, you should flip the names. However, write the first name in full, and separate last and first names using a comma. See an example of how to cite below.

“Andrew, Becky, and Adam, Rebecca.”

Include a research paper title and subtitle where applicable. Similarly, you will use sentence capitalization format when citing a research paper.

“Andrew, Becky, and Adam, Rebecca. “Toxic Personality: Its Effects and How to Minimize it in the Working Environment.”

Specify where you got a paper from. If it is an extract from a collection or thesis, you will need to state it. Provide a source of information in sequential order. You can cite as follows.

“Andrew, Becky, and Adam, Rebecca. “Toxic Personality: Its Effects and How to Minimize it in the Working Environment.” Department of Humanities Journal, 2012. Dartmouth College Department Archives. Accessed June 23, 2015.”

You may also need to provide a reference within a body of your research writing. It must be done when using information from another author. Therefore, you will provide citations in paratheses. However, you will exclude authors’ first names. You will include a page number when you cite a research paper, like so.

Example: (Andrew & Adam, p. 2)

Chicago Citation

Another commonly used citation format for research paper in humanities is Chicago. Use footnotes and endnotes when making citations. In particular, it ensures the credibility of research and referencing in academia. Chicago also has a system referencing within the text and referencing page. Write my annotated bibliography when developing quality research articles is a good option when developing research content. This way, you can see how professionals cite properly in such cases.

The authors Kamala Dunn and Matt Daniel will be used as a Chicago citation in research paper example.

Firstly, flip the authors’ names. You will present authors’ last names, followed by first names, spelled in full. Additionally, you will include an initial of a middle name if an author uses one when you cite it.

“Dunn, Kamala, and Daniel, Matt.”

Include a paper’s title. Make sure you write it using a title case. Similarly, you will want to include a type of work or article. See an example of how to cite this below.

“Dunn, Kamala, and Daniel, Matt. “The New Century Challenge: Protecting Culture from the Brutal Post Modernity Movement.” Thesis.”

Using Chicago citation requires you to include a year and location of publication. Use a year when paper was written for an unpublished paper when you cite.

Example: “Dunn, Kamala, and Daniel, Matt. “The New Century Challenge: Protecting Culture from the Brutal Post Modernity Movement.” Thesis. University of California, 2013.”

Make a process of finding a paper easy. Therefore, you should include a URL that will lead readers to the specific writing. Alternatively, you can provide DOI assigned to writing. Here is an example of such citing in a research paper.

“Dunn, Kamala, and Daniel, Matt. “The New Century Challenge: Protecting Culture from the Brutal Post Modernity Movement.” Thesis. University of California, 2013. DOI39576AS”

For in-text citation, you can use parenthetical or footnote citation. Parenthetical citation will appear as follows.

“(Dunn and Daniel 2013).”

While footnote version is similar to full quotation, you do not interchange first and last names.

ASA Citation

The full meaning of ASA is American Sociological Association. This citation was created by this association. Therefore, all ASA journals use this quotation format. As a result, researchers and students in sociology use it when writing research papers. You may decide to purchase research papers . This service can give you quality writing, using citations for a research paper of your choice. Authors Peter Kelly and Rain Bug will be used to demonstrate how one should cite in ASA style.

The first step involves writing the authors’ names as you cite. This step follows a familiar step of swapping the first and last names in full.

“Kelly, Peter, and Bug, Rain.”

Here you should include paper’s title. However, you also need to include the date of publication before the title.

Example: “Kelly, Peter, and Bug, Rain. 2008. “The Relationship Between Crime and Cognition.”

To use the ASA citation style, you must include the publication name and page number. According to our how to cite in a research paper guide, you should also include a journal identifier as you cite, where applicable.

“Kelly, Peter, and Bug, Rain. 2008. “The Relationship Between Crime and Cognition.” National Journal of Sociology Volume 45. 67-74.”

You also need to develop quotations within the main text of all articles. You can use the last name of the authors as follows.

“Kelly and Bug (2008).”

Turabian Citation

The Turabian quotation system is an extract of the Chicago citations for research paper. It is also used for endnotes or footnotes. However, the major difference between the two styles is that Turabian contains less information. Therefore, it is mostly used for papers that remain unpublished. Also, the numbering scheme for each citation is different.

The author information used in the Chicago citation example may be used when demonstrating how one may cite in Turabian. If this seems too complicated for you, you can turn to professional research paper writers — a platform that knows how to cite using any quotation style and can do a proper citation format for a research paper.

Write the name of the authors with the first and last names interchanged. Similarly, each first name should be written fully.

Write the title of the paper using title case and format.

In-text References

As the name implies, you use it within a text. It allows you to recognize the ideas and research of others. You can include an in-text reference next to a quotation or paraphrased statement. Doing this helps when citing research papers. In-text references are used in a research paper, a book, and other publications. Similarly, any quotation format usually has an in-text reference style. Each citation type has a different rule for short quotations, long quotations, paraphrase, citing authors, and sources.

Useful information: If you have no time for writing by yourself, you can consider hiring a  research proposal writer . 

Learning how to cite research paper is an essential aspect of studying in college. It allows a writer to prevent plagiarism by attributing knowledge to the information’s author. In general, there are several ways to cite. Each citation system has its particular rules for referencing research within the text and in the bibliography. Therefore, you must strictly adhere to each method within any research paper as you cite sources.

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13.1 Formatting a Research Paper

Learning objectives.

In this chapter, you will learn how to use APA style , the documentation and formatting style followed by the American Psychological Association, as well as MLA style , from the Modern Language Association. There are a few major formatting styles used in academic texts, including AMA, Chicago, and Turabian:

While all the formatting and citation styles have their own use and applications, in this chapter we focus our attention on the two styles you are most likely to use in your academic studies: APA and MLA.

If you find that the rules of proper source documentation are difficult to keep straight, you are not alone. Writing a good research paper is, in and of itself, a major intellectual challenge. Having to follow detailed citation and formatting guidelines as well may seem like just one more task to add to an already-too-long list of requirements.

Following these guidelines, however, serves several important purposes. First, it signals to your readers that your paper should be taken seriously as a student’s contribution to a given academic or professional field; it is the literary equivalent of wearing a tailored suit to a job interview. Second, it shows that you respect other people’s work enough to give them proper credit for it. Finally, it helps your reader find additional materials if he or she wishes to learn more about your topic.

Furthermore, producing a letter-perfect APA-style paper need not be burdensome. Yes, it requires careful attention to detail. However, you can simplify the process if you keep these broad guidelines in mind:

General Formatting Guidelines

This chapter provides detailed guidelines for using the citation and formatting conventions developed by the American Psychological Association, or APA. Writers in disciplines as diverse as astrophysics, biology, psychology, and education follow APA style. The major components of a paper written in APA style are listed in the following box.

These are the major components of an APA-style paper:

Body, which includes the following:

All these components must be saved in one document, not as separate documents.

The title page of your paper includes the following information:

List the first three elements in the order given in the previous list, centered about one third of the way down from the top of the page. Use the headers and footers tool of your word-processing program to add the header, with the title text at the left and the page number in the upper-right corner. Your title page should look like the following example.

Beyond the Hype: Evaluating Low-Carb Diets cover page

The next page of your paper provides an abstract , or brief summary of your findings. An abstract does not need to be provided in every paper, but an abstract should be used in papers that include a hypothesis. A good abstract is concise—about one hundred fifty to two hundred fifty words—and is written in an objective, impersonal style. Your writing voice will not be as apparent here as in the body of your paper. When writing the abstract, take a just-the-facts approach, and summarize your research question and your findings in a few sentences.

In Chapter 12 “Writing a Research Paper” , you read a paper written by a student named Jorge, who researched the effectiveness of low-carbohydrate diets. Read Jorge’s abstract. Note how it sums up the major ideas in his paper without going into excessive detail.

Beyond the Hype: Abstract

Write an abstract summarizing your paper. Briefly introduce the topic, state your findings, and sum up what conclusions you can draw from your research. Use the word count feature of your word-processing program to make sure your abstract does not exceed one hundred fifty words.

Depending on your field of study, you may sometimes write research papers that present extensive primary research, such as your own experiment or survey. In your abstract, summarize your research question and your findings, and briefly indicate how your study relates to prior research in the field.

Margins, Pagination, and Headings

APA style requirements also address specific formatting concerns, such as margins, pagination, and heading styles, within the body of the paper. Review the following APA guidelines.

Use these general guidelines to format the paper:

Cover Page

Begin formatting the final draft of your paper according to APA guidelines. You may work with an existing document or set up a new document if you choose. Include the following:

APA style uses section headings to organize information, making it easy for the reader to follow the writer’s train of thought and to know immediately what major topics are covered. Depending on the length and complexity of the paper, its major sections may also be divided into subsections, sub-subsections, and so on. These smaller sections, in turn, use different heading styles to indicate different levels of information. In essence, you are using headings to create a hierarchy of information.

The following heading styles used in APA formatting are listed in order of greatest to least importance:

Visually, the hierarchy of information is organized as indicated in Table 13.1 “Section Headings” .

Table 13.1 Section Headings

A college research paper may not use all the heading levels shown in Table 13.1 “Section Headings” , but you are likely to encounter them in academic journal articles that use APA style. For a brief paper, you may find that level 1 headings suffice. Longer or more complex papers may need level 2 headings or other lower-level headings to organize information clearly. Use your outline to craft your major section headings and determine whether any subtopics are substantial enough to require additional levels of headings.

Working with the document you developed in Note 13.11 “Exercise 2” , begin setting up the heading structure of the final draft of your research paper according to APA guidelines. Include your title and at least two to three major section headings, and follow the formatting guidelines provided above. If your major sections should be broken into subsections, add those headings as well. Use your outline to help you.

Because Jorge used only level 1 headings, his Exercise 3 would look like the following:

Citation Guidelines

In-text citations.

Throughout the body of your paper, include a citation whenever you quote or paraphrase material from your research sources. As you learned in Chapter 11 “Writing from Research: What Will I Learn?” , the purpose of citations is twofold: to give credit to others for their ideas and to allow your reader to follow up and learn more about the topic if desired. Your in-text citations provide basic information about your source; each source you cite will have a longer entry in the references section that provides more detailed information.

In-text citations must provide the name of the author or authors and the year the source was published. (When a given source does not list an individual author, you may provide the source title or the name of the organization that published the material instead.) When directly quoting a source, it is also required that you include the page number where the quote appears in your citation.

This information may be included within the sentence or in a parenthetical reference at the end of the sentence, as in these examples.

Epstein (2010) points out that “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive” (p. 137).

Here, the writer names the source author when introducing the quote and provides the publication date in parentheses after the author’s name. The page number appears in parentheses after the closing quotation marks and before the period that ends the sentence.

Addiction researchers caution that “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive” (Epstein, 2010, p. 137).

Here, the writer provides a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence that includes the author’s name, the year of publication, and the page number separated by commas. Again, the parenthetical citation is placed after the closing quotation marks and before the period at the end of the sentence.

As noted in the book Junk Food, Junk Science (Epstein, 2010, p. 137), “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive.”

Here, the writer chose to mention the source title in the sentence (an optional piece of information to include) and followed the title with a parenthetical citation. Note that the parenthetical citation is placed before the comma that signals the end of the introductory phrase.

David Epstein’s book Junk Food, Junk Science (2010) pointed out that “junk food cannot be considered addictive in the same way that we think of psychoactive drugs as addictive” (p. 137).

Another variation is to introduce the author and the source title in your sentence and include the publication date and page number in parentheses within the sentence or at the end of the sentence. As long as you have included the essential information, you can choose the option that works best for that particular sentence and source.

Citing a book with a single author is usually a straightforward task. Of course, your research may require that you cite many other types of sources, such as books or articles with more than one author or sources with no individual author listed. You may also need to cite sources available in both print and online and nonprint sources, such as websites and personal interviews. Chapter 13 “APA and MLA Documentation and Formatting” , Section 13.2 “Citing and Referencing Techniques” and Section 13.3 “Creating a References Section” provide extensive guidelines for citing a variety of source types.

Writing at Work

APA is just one of several different styles with its own guidelines for documentation, formatting, and language usage. Depending on your field of interest, you may be exposed to additional styles, such as the following:

References List

The brief citations included in the body of your paper correspond to the more detailed citations provided at the end of the paper in the references section. In-text citations provide basic information—the author’s name, the publication date, and the page number if necessary—while the references section provides more extensive bibliographical information. Again, this information allows your reader to follow up on the sources you cited and do additional reading about the topic if desired.

The specific format of entries in the list of references varies slightly for different source types, but the entries generally include the following information:

The references page is double spaced and lists entries in alphabetical order by the author’s last name. If an entry continues for more than one line, the second line and each subsequent line are indented five spaces. Review the following example. ( Chapter 13 “APA and MLA Documentation and Formatting” , Section 13.3 “Creating a References Section” provides extensive guidelines for formatting reference entries for different types of sources.)

References Section

In APA style, book and article titles are formatted in sentence case, not title case. Sentence case means that only the first word is capitalized, along with any proper nouns.

Key Takeaways

Writing for Success by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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  3. Research Citation & Referencing

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COMMENTS

  1. In-Text Citations: The Basics

    When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, like, for example, (Jones, 1998). One complete reference for each source should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

  2. APA: Citing Within Your Paper

    An in-text citation is a citation within your writing that shows where you found your information, facts, quotes, and research. All APA in-text citations require the same basic information: Author's last name (no first names or initials) Year of publication (or "n.d." if there is "no date": (LastName, n.d., p.#))

  3. How to Cite Sources

    The most commonly used citation styles are APA and MLA. The free Scribbr Citation Generator is the quickest way to cite sources in these styles. Simply enter the URL, DOI, or title, and we'll generate an accurate, correctly formatted citation. Generate accurate citations with Scribbr Webpage Book Video Journal article Online news article APA Cite

  4. MLA: Citing Within Your Paper

    An in-text citation can be included in one of two ways as shown below: 1. Put all the citation information at the end of the sentence: 2. Include author name as part of the sentence (if author name unavailable, include title of work): Each source cited in-text must also be listed on your Works Cited page.

  5. How To Cite a Research Paper: Citation Styles Guide

    For the reference lists located at the end of the research paper, you need to cite four major elements: Author: includes the individual author names format and group author names format Date: includes the date format and how to include retrieval dates Title: includes the title format and how to include bracketed descriptions

  6. Citing a Source Within a Source

    Citing a Source Within a Source - APA 7th Edition Citation Examples - LibGuides at University of Maryland Global Campus Citing a Source within a Source Scenario: You read a 2007 article by Linhares and Brum that cites an earlier article, by Klein. You want to cite Klein's article, but you have not read Klein's article itself.

  7. How To Cite a Research Paper (With APA Citation Examples)

    Here's how to cite a published book using the APA format for both in-text citations and references in your bibliography: 1. Gather your materials Whether you're using printed books and newspapers or online sources, it's useful to have everything ready so you can easily create your in-text citations as you write your paper.

  8. In-Text Citations: The Basics

    When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

  9. What's the correct way to cite a paper cited by another paper?

    The word citation comes from Latin verb cio (past participle: citum) that means to call somebody, to invite somebody, or preferably to demand someone to give his own testimony. So, in your case, if you would like to cite that paper, that means that you invite that paper to give its own testimony. But if it's not available, how could it do it?

  10. The Basics of In-Text Citation

    The point of an in-text citation is to show your reader where your information comes from. Including citations: Avoids plagiarism by acknowledging the original author's contribution Allows readers to verify your claims and do follow-up research Shows you are engaging with the literature of your field

  11. Citation Examples

    Research paper ... Compare your paper to billions of pages and articles with Scribbr's Turnitin-powered plagiarism checker. ... Generate accurate APA, MLA, and Chicago citations for free with Scribbr's Citation Generator. Start citing. Citation Examples | Books, Articles, Websites & More. Published on April 9, 2021 by Jack Caulfield. Revised ...

  12. Research and Citation Resources

    APA Style (7th Edition) These OWL resources will help you learn how to use the American Psychological Association (APA) citation and format style. This section contains resources on in-text citation and the References page, as well as APA sample papers, slide presentations, and the APA classroom poster.

  13. How to Cite a Research Paper in APA (with Pictures)

    If you're citing a research article or paper in APA style, you'll need to use a specific citation format that varies depending on the source. Assess whether your source is an article or report published in an academic journal or book, or whether it is an unpublished research paper, such as a print-only thesis or dissertation.

  14. How do you cite a source that you found in another source?

    Use secondary sources sparingly, for instance, when the original work is out of print, unavailable through usual sources, or not available in English. Give the secondary source in the reference list; in text, name the original work and give a citation for the secondary source. For example, if Allport's work is cited in Nicholson and you did not ...

  15. Appropriate Level of Citation

    For most papers, cite one or two of the most representative sources for each key point. Literature review papers, however, typically include a more exhaustive list of references. Provide appropriate credit to the source (e.g., by using an in-text citation) whenever you do the following: paraphrase (i.e., state in your own words) the ideas of others

  16. 5 Ways to Cite a Research Paper

    MLA Research Paper Citation Method 1 APA 1 Start with the author's last name and first initial. In APA style, the author's name is inverted, meaning you list the last name first. Place a comma after the last name, then the first initial. Separate the names of multiple authors with commas, using an ampersand (&) before the last name. [1]

  17. LibGuides: Research Skills Tutorial: What Is a Citation?

    In academic research, your sources will most commonly be articles from scholarly journals, and the citation for an article typically includes: author (s) article title publication information (journal title, date, volume, issue, pages, etc.) and, for online sources: DOI (digital object identifier). URL of the information source itself

  18. How To Use Citations In A Research Paper

    Using the same example of research papers citations from step 1, you can cite the date 2020 like this: "King, S., & John, D. (2020)". The reference will be different if there was no date of publication or writing. "King, S., & John, D. (n.d.)". Step 3. At this point, include your title when you cite a research paper.

  19. 13.1 Formatting a Research Paper

    In-text citations of research sources References page All these components must be saved in one document, not as separate documents. Title Page The title page of your paper includes the following information: Title of the paper Author's name Name of the institution with which the author is affiliated