website essay quote

Thursday, February 23: The Clark Library is closed today.

APA Style (7th Edition) Citation Guide: Websites

• Introduction
• Journal Articles
• Magazine/Newspaper Articles
• Books & Ebooks
• Government & Legal Documents
• Biblical Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Films/Videos/TV Shows
• How to Cite: Other
• Additional Help

Table of Contents

Entire Website - No Separate Pages or Sections

Page or Section from a Website

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

This Microsoft support page contains instructions about how to format a hanging indent in a paper.

It can sometimes be difficult to find out who the author of a website is. Remember that an author can be a corporation or group, not only a specific person. Author information can sometimes be found under an "About" section on a website.

If there is no known author, start the citation with the title of the website instead.

The best date to use for a website is the date that the content was last updated. Otherwise look for a copyright or original publication date. Unfortunately this information may not be provided or may be hard to find. Often date information is put on the bottom of the pages of a website.

If you do not know the complete date, put as much information as you can find. For example you may have a year but no month or day.

If an original publication date and a last updated date are provided, use the last updated date. If the more current date is "last reviewed" instead of "last updated," use the original publication date (since the review may not have changed the content).

If there is no date provided, put the letters (n.d.) in round brackets where you'd normally put the date.

Titles should be italicized when the document stands alone (e.g. books, reports, websites, etc.), but not when it is part of a greater whole (e.g. chapters, articles, webpages, etc.).

Website Name

Provide website names in title case without italics after titles of work. Include a period after the website name, followed by the URL. When the author of the work is the same as the website name, omit the site name from the reference.

Retrieval Date

If the content of a website is likely to change over time (e.g. Wikis), you must provide the date you last visited the website.

If a URL is too long to fit onto one line, try to break it at a slash (/).

Entire Website

Note: If you are quoting or paraphrasing part of a website, you should create a reference for a Page or Section. If you mention a website in general, do not create a reference list entry or an in-text citation. Instead, include the name of the website in the text and provide the URL in parentheses.

The Department of Justice has a site called ReportCrime.gov (https://www.reportcrime.gov/) to help people identify and report crimes in their area.

Note : If you cite multiple webpages from a website, create a reference for each. Include the date you retrieved the information if the content is likely to change over time.

Created by a Corporate or Group Author

Corporation/Group/Organization's Name. (Year website was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Title of page: Subtitle (if any). Website Name. URL

Example in which the content is unlikely to change over time:

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (2019, November 21). Justice served: Case closed for over 40 dogfighting victims . https://www.aspca.org/news/justice-served-case-closed-over-40-dogfighting-victims

Example in which the content is likely to change over time:

Adidas. (2020). Sustainability . Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.adidas.com/us/sustainability

Note: When the author and site name are the same, omit the site name in the reference.

In-Text Paraphrase:

(Corporation/Group's Name, Year)

Example: (Adidas, 2020)

In-Text Quote:

(Corporation/Group's Name, year, Section Name section, para. Paragraph Number if more than one paragraph in section)

Example: (Adidas, 2020, Sustainability section, para. 1)

Note: When there are no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, you may cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from.

Abbreviating Corporation/Group Author Name in In-Text citations:

Author names for corporations/groups can often be abbreviated. The first time you refer to the author, provide the full name, along with the abbreviation.

If the group name appears in the text of your paper, include the abbreviation in the in-text parenthetical citation:

Example: The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA, 2019) assisted in the rescue of 40 dogs.

If the group name first appears within a parenthetical citation, include the full group name as well as the abbreviation in square brackets:

Example: Forty dogs were rescued in Bendena, Kansas (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals [ASPCA], 2019).

Provide the full group name (without an abbreviation) in the reference list entry: 

Created by an Individual Author 

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year website was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Title of page: Subtitle (if any). Website Name. URL

Price, D. (2018, March 23). Laziness does not exist . Medium. https://humanparts.medium.com/laziness-does-not-exist-3af27e312d01

Shillam, S. (2018). Message from the Dean . University of Portland. Retrieved October 1, 2018, from https://nursing.up.edu/about/index.html

(Author Last Name, Year)

Example: (Shillam, 2018)

(Author Last Name, Year, Section Name section, para. Paragraph Number if more than one paragraph in section)

Example: (Shillam, 2018, Message from the dean section, para. 2)

Created by an Unknown Author 

Title of page: Subtitle (if any). (Year website was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Website Name. URL

Example in which the content is unlikely to change over time (because the restaurant has closed) :

Jarra's Ethiopian Restaurant [Reviews]. (2012, November 9). Yelp. https://www.yelp.com/biz/jarras-ethiopian-restaurant-portland

Powell's City of Books [Reviews]. (2020, February 25). Yelp. Retrieved February 28, 2020, from https://www.yelp.com/biz/powells-city-of-books-portland-4

("Title," Year)

Example: ("Powell's City of Books," 2020)

("Title," Year, Section Name section, para. Paragraph Number if more than one paragraph in section)

Example: ("Powell's City of Books," 2020, Review Highlights)

Note: When there are no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, you may cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. In this example, there is only one paragraph under the specific heading, so no paragraph number is needed.

• << Previous: Government & Legal Documents
• Next: Biblical Sources >>
• Last Updated: Sep 5, 2024 3:20 PM
• URL: https://libguides.up.edu/apa

Home ➔ Citation Questions ➔ Citing a Website in an Essay — APA and MLA Reference Guide

Citing a Website in an Essay — APA and MLA Reference Guide

Building a strong house starts with a sturdy foundation. Similarly, writing a good essay requires reliable information. Your citations and references prove to your reader that your ideas are based on facts. Searching for solid information can take time, but the Internet makes it easier by offering a wide range of sources.

You’ll find not only digital versions of print materials but also lots of content that’s only online, like blogs or research reports. To use this information in your essay, you need to know how to cite a website in an essay properly. This article will show you how to do that. We’ll focus on how to cite in two common styles, APA and MLA.

Note: Examples below are for the reference list entry only. For in-text citation guidelines, check — How to Cite a Source in an Essay .

Understanding the Essential Elements

When citing websites in your essay, it’s important to grasp the key components of a proper citation. So, what are these essential elements? Let’s break it down.

• Author: The first piece of the puzzle is the author’s name. If available, this typically includes the last name and initials of the author. Sometimes, you might have an organization or a company as the author. Remember, proper citation respects the hard work of the original creator.
• Date: The next element is the publication date. This is the year, and often the month and day, when the content was published or last updated. Dates are crucial as they allow readers to determine the timeliness and relevance of the source.
• Site Name: The name of the website where the content is published.
• Title: Here, we’re talking about the title of the web page or article. Be accurate and copy the article title exactly as it appears on the website. Remember, it’s a direct reflection of the content.
• Source: Finally, where did you find the information? This could be the website’s URL. This helps readers trace back to the original source if they wish.
• Page Number: If the source includes numbered pages, paragraphs, or sections, these details are included, particularly in direct quotations.
• Retrieval Date: For online sources that are likely to change over time (like a Wiki page), APA style recommends adding a retrieval date.

The order and format of these elements may vary between APA and MLA styles, but their inclusion remains a constant across both. Understanding these components is the first step in mastering the art of proper citation. Stay tuned as we delve deeper into the specific rules of each style in the following sections.

How to Cite a Website in APA

Citing a website in APA (American Psychological Association) style involves several key steps. Let’s walk through them.

• Example: Johnson, A. B., & Smith, C. D.
• Example: (2023, January 1)
• Example: How to bake bread at home
• Example: Baking 101
• Example: https://www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home

The final website citation would look like this:

Johnson, A. B., & Smith, C. D. (2023, January 1). How to bake bread at home. Baking 101. https://www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home

Remember to adhere to your institution’s guidelines for font and line spacing. Most often, APA citations are double-spaced and use a standard font, like 12-point Times New Roman.

That’s the basics of citing web pages in APA style. But remember, more complex situations will require additional rules. For example, multiple authors, no author, or no date all have their own guidelines.

• Example: How to bake bread at home. (2023, January 1). Baking 101. https://www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home
• Example: Johnson, A. B., & Smith, C. D. (n.d.). How to bake bread at home. Baking 101. https://www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home
• Example: Johnson, A. B., Smith, C. D., & Lee, E. F. (2023, January 1). How to bake bread at home. Baking 101. https://www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home
• Example: American Baking Association. (2023, January 1). How to bake bread at home. Baking 101. https://www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home
• Example: American Baking Association. (2023, January 1). How to bake bread at home. Baking 101. Retrieved June 24, 2023, from https://www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home

These are just common exceptions. Always refer to an APA style guide or manual for the most accurate and up-to-date website citation rules.

How to Cite a Website in MLA

The Modern Language Association (MLA) format for citing websites involves several key steps, with variations for certain exceptions. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

• Example: Johnson, Amy B., and Charles D. Smith.
• Example: “How to Bake Bread at Home.”
• Example: Baking 101,
• Example: Johnson Publishing,
• Example: 1 Jan. 2023,
• Example: www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home

Johnson, Amy B., and Charles D. Smith. “How to Bake Bread at Home.” Baking 101, Johnson Publishing, 1 Jan. 2023, www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home .

Remember to follow the formatting guidelines provided by your institution, but generally, MLA citations are double-spaced and use a legible font like Times New Roman.

Now, let’s go over the exceptions:

• “How to Bake Bread at Home.” Baking 101, Johnson Publishing, 1 Jan. 2023, www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home .
• Johnson, Amy B., et al. “How to Bake Bread at Home.” Baking 101, Johnson Publishing, 1 Jan. 2023, www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home .
• American Baking Association. “How to Bake Bread at Home.” Baking 101, Johnson Publishing, 1 Jan. 2023, www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home .
• Johnson, Amy B., and Charles D. Smith. “How to Bake Bread at Home.” Baking 101, www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home . Accessed 25 June 2023.

Although it’s not required in every website citation, the accessed date can be a helpful piece of information to include, providing additional context about the currency of your information.

Always refer to an MLA guide or publication manual for the most accurate and up-to-date rules for citing a website. This is just a general guide and may not cover all possible scenarios you may encounter.

Bonus: How to Cite a Website in Chicago Style

Citing a website in the Chicago Manual of Style involves certain key steps. Here’s a straightforward guide to assist you, along with examples of common exceptions.

• Example: Amy B. Johnson and Charles D. Smith
• Example: “How to Bake Bread at Home”
• Example: (2023),
• DOI example: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ajae/aaq063

The final citation would look like this:

Johnson, Amy B., and Charles D. Smith. “How to Bake Bread at Home.” Baking 101, (2023), https://www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home .

Now let’s consider the exceptions:

• “How to Bake Bread at Home.” Baking 101, (2023), https://www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home .
• Amy B. Johnson, Charles D. Smith, and Elizabeth F. Lee. “How to Bake Bread at Home.” Baking 101, (2023), https://www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home .
• American Baking Association. “How to Bake Bread at Home.” Baking 101, (2023), https://www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home .
• Amy B. Johnson and Charles D. Smith. “How to Bake Bread at Home.” Baking 101, Accessed June 26, 2023, https://www.baking101.com/bake-bread-at-home .

Please note that the above examples are for the bibliography. Footnotes or endnotes in Chicago style may differ slightly, so always be sure to check with your instructor or refer to the Chicago Manual of Style.

The list of references

• Citation Guide: How to cite Websites — Dixie State University Library
• APA Quick Citation Guide — PennState University Libraries
• Citing Internet Sources — Yale Poorvu Center of Teaching and Learning

Was this article helpful?

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / Harvard Referencing / How to reference a website using the Harvard referencing style

How to reference a website using the Harvard referencing style

This guide covers how to reference a website in Harvard style. When citing information sourced from the web, it is of paramount importance that you make very clear what it is you are referencing. As sources on the internet can vary widely, your reference should aim to provide a trail that can lead the reader directly to the source. An internet source could be almost anything, including but not limited to scholarly journal articles, newspaper articles, blog posts, and personal web pages. Your reference format for internet sources will vary based on the type of source.

Since most websites are updated from time to time, it is possible that anything you quote may be changed or removed. This means that it is important to record within your citation the date that you last accessed the site.  

Another important fact to be mindful of is that most websites do not have page numbers. If you need to reference a specific location on a website, you can use paragraph numbers in place of page numbers (abbreviated ‘para.’ in your in-text citation).  

Citation styles for different online sources

This section will elaborate on the citation style to be utilized for the following sources, along with examples for each source type.  

Web pages authored by an individual/individuals

Your references for this type of web page will include the following information:  

• Author’s/Authors’ names
• The year the site was published or last updated (in round brackets)
• Title of the web page (in italics)
• Available at: URL (Accessed: date)  

In-text citation

B. Johnson (2016) made his argument quite clear stating…

Reference list

Johnson, B. (2016) The rise of the Ubermensch. Available at: http://www.bjohnsonsworld.co.uk/theriseoftheubermensch (Accessed: 23 October 2017).

In-text citation (two authors)

After years of research, Russell and Verstappen (2013) found that…

Russell, J. and Verstappen, M. (2013) Rubber compounds and their rate of wear . Available at: http://www.dailysciencefixforyou.com/rubbercompounds (Accessed: 24 November 2019).

Web pages authored by a company or organization

Here’s the information you will need to include for this type of reference:

• Name of the company/organization
• Year the site was published or last updated (in round brackets)            
• Title of the web page (in italics)      
• Available at: URL (Accessed: date)                          

A patient may suffer mild psychosis (Rural Health Institute, 2018) as a result of…

Rural Health Institute (2018) The effects of shock therapy. Available at: http://www.rhi.co.uk/shocktherapy (Accessed: 31 October 2019).

Web pages with no author  

Citation structure :

• Title of the webpage (in italics)
• The year the site was published/last updated (in round brackets)
• Available at: URL (Accessed: date)          

Renderings of the architect’s master plan can be found online ( Gumpert’s Modernism, 2013) …

Reference List

Gumpert’s Modernism (2013) Available at: https://www.stellararchitecture.com/modernism/ (Accessed: 24 July 2020)

Web pages with no author or title

Citation structure:

• URL of the page
• (Accessed: date)        

In-text citation    

Salt dough cookies (http://www.wholesomerecipes.com/saltdough.html, 2018) are a wonderful way to….

http://www.wholesomerecipes.com/saltdough.html (2018) (Accessed: 12 September 2020).

Web pages without a date

Citation information:  

• Author’s name
• Mention that no dates were available (use ‘no date’ in round brackets)
• Title of the web page, if available (in italics)

Cuba struggled through the decade (Banana Republic News, no date) facing a constant onslaught of….

Banana Republic News (no date) The trials and tribulations of Cuba. Available at: https://www.bananafyinews.com/cuba.html (Accessed: 15 July 2019).

Multiple pages from the same website

If you need to cite multiple pages from the same website, and the pages have different authors and/or publication dates associated with them, then you can simply use corresponding individual in-text citations and reference list entries for each page that you cite. In this case, you would also include the unique URL for each page in its corresponding reference list entry. However, if the pages you are citing all have the same author and publication date, you can differentiate between them in both your reference list entries and in-text citations by adding a lowercase letter after the date.

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022a)

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022b)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022a)  International travel . Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/international-travel/index.html (Accessed: 18 July 2022).

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022b) Cruise ship travel during COVID-19 . Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/cruise-travel-during-covid19.html (Accessed: 18 July 2022).

Note that if the web page has no date, insert a hyphen between the words ‘no date’ and the lowercase letter to improve readability, for example: (no date-a) or (no date-b).

Web blogs or video blogs

When citing any information from blogs or vlogs, you need to keep in mind that you are treading a very thin line between objectivity and subjectivity. Blogs or vlogs are meant to be informal as most people use them to express their perspectives on issues or topics that are close to their heart, or to comment on issues from the public domain. So, be incredibly careful as most blogs are not very well reasoned or objective in their stance.

• The year that the blog/vlog was published or last updated (in round brackets)
• Title of the blog/vlog (in single quotation marks)
• Title of the site that hosts the blog/vlog (in italics)
• The day or month the blog/vlog was posted

Note that if you’re trying to cite a vlog that was posted on YouTube, you’ll need to know how to cite a YouTube video in Harvard style .

Engelbert D’Souza (2015) has expounded on the “Mandela Effect” at great length….

D’Souza, E. (2015) ‘The Mandela Effect’, Engelbert’s monthly blog , 6 November. Available at: https://www.engelbertsmonthlyblog/november/mandelaeffect/ (Accessed: 11 September 2016).

Social networking sites  

Citation information:

• Year (in round brackets)
• Title of the post (in single quotation marks)
• [Instagram]
• Day/month of the post
• Available at: URL (Accessed: date)    

In-text citation  

Hendrix was a master of distortion and feedback (Casanova, 2018) …

Casanova, G. (2018) ‘Jimi Hendrix: wild blue angel’ [Instagram]. 18 September. Available at: https://www.instagram.com (Accessed: 7 October 2019)

• Author (if available, otherwise use the title)
• The year the article was published or last updated (in round brackets)
• Title of the post (in italics)
• Day/month the post was uploaded

The Trump rally drew large crowds in South Carolina ( Trump campaign , 2016).

Trump campaign (2016) [Facebook] 24 October. Available at: https://www.facebook.com (Accessed: 28 February 2019).

• Author of the tweet
• Twitter handle (in square brackets)
• The year the tweet was posted (in round brackets)
• The full body of the tweet (if it is too long, use an ellipsis to shorten it)
• The day/month the tweet was posted

Jasper Kuhn (2018) was quite critical about the proceedings…

Kuhn, J. [@kuhnper] (2018) It was appalling to see the leaders of the state bicker like rabid dogs in the assembly [Twitter] 31 January. Available at: https://twitter.com/kuhnper/status/161664645.654654.655 (Accessed: 17 July 2018).

Key takeaways

• While referencing anything from a website, the main aim is to provide a trail that can lead the reader directly to the source.  
• An important point to keep in mind is that you will need to cite the date you last accessed the site.  
• Since most websites do not have page numbers, use paragraph numbers to show where you found the information you used.  

Published October 29, 2020.

Harvard Formatting Guide

Harvard Formatting

• et al Usage
• Direct Quotes
• In-text Citations
• Multiple Authors
• Page Numbers
• Writing an Outline
• View Harvard Guide

Reference Examples

• View all Harvard Examples

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Harvard Referencing Examples

Writing Tools

Citation Generators

Other Citation Styles

Plagiarism Checker

Upload a paper to check for plagiarism against billions of sources and get advanced writing suggestions for clarity and style.

Get Started

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Happiness Hub Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• Happiness Hub
• This Or That Game
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Education and Communications
• College University and Postgraduate
• Academic Writing

How to Cite a Quote

Last Updated: June 27, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was reviewed by Gerald Posner . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. There are 18 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,272,389 times.

According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, the word "plagiarize" can mean trying to pass off someone else's ideas, work or words as your own, or using those ideas, work or words without giving due credit to the source. You can avoid either misdeed by simply giving credit where credit is due. The three primary citation styles are APA, MLA, and CMS.

Sample Citations

Cite a Quote in APA Style

Example: Smith (2013) states that citing quotes can be challenging.

The author remarks on the "difficulty of citing quotes," (Smith, 2002, p. 32) but does not go into depth. or Smith (2002) mentions the "difficulty of citing quotes" (p. 32) but does not go into depth.

These scholars agree that "quotes are useful" (Hu, Koller, and Shier, 2013, p. 75). or Hu, Koller, and Shier agree that "quotes are useful" (p. 75).

In a study, it was determined that “the sky is in fact blue” (“Obvious Observations,” 2013).

Another study showed that “clouds are white” (“More Obvious Observations,” n.d., para. 7).

The message affirmed that “the sky is in fact blue” (John Smith, email, August 23, 2013).

Book with one or more authors: Lastname, First Initials (year published). Title of Book . Location: Publisher. Book with no author: [7] X Trustworthy Source APA Style Definitive source for current APA style writing and citation guidelines Go to source Title of Book. (Year). Location: Publisher. Web page: Lastname, First Initials (date of publication). Title of document. URL. If there is no date, write n.d. If there is no author, start with "Title. (date)." [8] X Research source

Cite a Quote in MLA Style

The meat factory workers of Chicago “were tied to the great packing-machine, and tied to it for life” (Sinclair, 99). or Upton Sinclair described the workers as "tied to the great packing-machine, and tied to it for life” (99).

Two or three authors The authors state, “citing quotes can be annoying” (Hu, Koller, and Shier 45). More than three authors: The authors state, “citing different sources can be confusing” (Perhamus et al. 63). [11] X Research source

Citing How to Cite Like a Champion and Be Better Than Other Writers : Citing sources can get annoying because “it can take a while” (Cite like a Champion 72).

The sky is blue but “clouds are white” (Obvious Observations Online).

An email message confirmed that “the sky is indeed blue” (Smith).

Book with one author: Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book . City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. Note: The Medium of Publication is "Print" for paper books. Other media include Web and Radio. Book with multiple authors: Lastname, Firstname of first alphabetical author, then Firstname Lastname for other authors. Title of Book . City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. Book with no known author: Title of publication . City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. Web page: [16] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source “Name of Article.” Name of Website. Name of website owner, date of publication. Web. Date of access. Note: Write n.d. if no publishing date is listed. Personal interview: Lastname, Firstname of interviewee. Personal interview. Date. Published interview: Lastname, Firstname of interviewee. Interview with (Name of Interviewer). Publication or program (year): page numbers if applicable. Medium of publication. Personal message: Lastname, Firstname of sender. “Title of Message.” Medium. Date.

Cite a Quote in CMS

The people who worked in the meat factories of Chicago at the turn of the century “were tied to the great packing-machine, and tied to it for life.” 1

1 Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (Doubleday, Page & Company: 1906), 99.

With an author: John Doe, “Citing Sources,” Organization of Writing Fanatics, last modified August 23, 2013, www.blahcitingblahblah.com Page without an author: “Citing Sources,” Organization of Writing Fanatics, last modified August 23, 2013, www.blahcitingblahblah.com

Unpublished interview: John Doe, (musician) in discussion with the author, Aug 23, 2013. Published interview: John Doe, interviewed by Jane Doe, Music Lovers, Aug 23, 2013. Personal communication: John Doe, email to the author, Aug 23, 2013.

' Book with one author: Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication. Book with two authors: Lastname, Firstname and Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication. Book with no known author: Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication. Web page with author: Lastname, Firstname. “Title of Web Page.” Publishing Organization or Name of Website in Italics. Publication date and/or access date if available. URL. Web page without an author: “Title of Web Page.” Publishing Organization or Name of Website in Italics. Publication date and/or access date if available. URL. Published Interview: Lastname, Firstname of interviewee, place where interview was held, by Interviewer's Firstname Lastname, date.

Community Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/apaquickguide/intext
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_author_authors.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_electronic_sources.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_basic_rules.html
• ↑ http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/cite-book-no-author.aspx
• ↑ https://libguides.jcu.edu.au/apa/reference-list
• ↑ https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/mlacitation/intext
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_text_citations_the_basics.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_other_common_sources.html
• ↑ https://research.wou.edu/c.php?g=551307&p=3785495
• ↑ https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/books.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/web_sources.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/interviews_personal_communication.html
• ↑ https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html

About This Article

To cite a quote using APA, put parentheses with the citation directly after the quoted material. For a citation with one or more authors, include their last names, the year of publication, and page number preceded by a "p.” If you're citing something but don't know the author, put the title of the publication and its date in parentheses. You can follow the same author-date format to cite web pages, but if you don't know the author or the date, use a shortened version of the web page title and write "n.d." after for "no date." To learn how to cite a quote using MLA or CMS, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

• Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Apr 26, 2018

Did this article help you?

Ritchel Noay

Feb 14, 2019

Dec 16, 2018

Bahadr Trker

Mar 10, 2017

Siege Martenes

Sep 13, 2016

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

Don’t miss out! Sign up for

wikiHow’s newsletter

Have a thesis expert improve your writing

Check your thesis for plagiarism in 10 minutes, generate your apa citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Working with sources
• How to Quote | Citing Quotes in Harvard & APA

How to Quote | Citing Quotes in Harvard & APA

Published on 15 April 2022 by Shona McCombes and Jack Caulfield. Revised on 3 September 2022.

Quoting means copying a passage of someone else’s words and crediting the source. To quote a source, you must ensure:

• The quoted text is enclosed in quotation marks (usually single quotation marks in UK English, though double is acceptable as long as you’re consistent) or formatted as a block quote
• The original author is correctly cited
• The text is identical to the original

The exact format of a quote depends on its length and on which citation style you are using. Quoting and citing correctly is essential to avoid plagiarism , which is easy to detect with a good plagiarism checker .

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Be assured that you'll submit flawless writing. Upload your document to correct all your mistakes.

Table of contents

How to cite a quote in harvard and apa style, introducing quotes, quotes within quotes, shortening or altering a quote, block quotes, when should i use quotes, frequently asked questions about quoting sources.

Every time you quote, you must cite the source correctly . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style you’re using.

Citing a quote in Harvard style

When you include a quote in Harvard style, you must add a Harvard in-text citation giving the author’s last name, the year of publication, and a page number if available. Any full stop or comma appears after the citation, not within the quotation marks.

Citations can be parenthetical or narrative. In a parenthetical citation , you place all the information in brackets after the quote. In a narrative citation , you name the author in your sentence (followed by the year), and place the page number after the quote.

• Evolution is a gradual process that ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (Darwin, 1859, p. 510) . Darwin (1859) explains that evolution ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (p. 510) .

Complete guide to Harvard style

Citing a quote in APA Style

To cite a direct quote in APA , you must include the author’s last name, the year, and a page number, all separated by commas. If the quote appears on a single page, use ‘p.’; if it spans a page range, use ‘pp.’

An APA in-text citation can be parenthetical or narrative. In a parenthetical citation , you place all the information in parentheses after the quote. In a narrative citation , you name the author in your sentence (followed by the year), and place the page number after the quote.

Punctuation marks such as full stops and commas are placed after the citation, not within the quotation marks.

• Evolution is a gradual process that ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (Darwin, 1859, p. 510) .
• Darwin (1859) explains that evolution ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (p. 510) .

Complete guide to APA

The only proofreading tool specialized in correcting academic writing.

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts and by native English editors. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students.

Correct my document today

Make sure you integrate quotes properly into your text by introducing them in your own words, showing the reader why you’re including the quote and providing any context necessary to understand it.  Don’t  present quotations as stand-alone sentences.

There are three main strategies you can use to introduce quotes in a grammatically correct way:

• Add an introductory sentence
• Use an introductory signal phrase
• Integrate the quote into your own sentence

The following examples use APA Style citations, but these strategies can be used in all styles.

Introductory sentence

Introduce the quote with a full sentence ending in a colon . Don’t use a colon if the text before the quote isn’t a full sentence.

If you name the author in your sentence, you may use present-tense verbs, such as “states’, ‘argues’, ‘explains’, ‘writes’, or ‘reports’, to describe the content of the quote.

• In Denmark, a recent poll shows that: ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• In Denmark, a recent poll shows that support for the EU has grown since the Brexit vote: ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• Levring (2018) reports that support for the EU has grown since the Brexit vote: ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (p. 3).

Introductory signal phrase

You can also use a signal phrase that mentions the author or source but doesn’t form a full sentence. In this case, you follow the phrase with a comma instead of a colon.

• According to a recent poll, ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• As Levring (2018) explains, ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (p. 3).

Integrated into your own sentence

To quote a phrase that doesn’t form a full sentence, you can also integrate it as part of your sentence, without any extra punctuation.

• A recent poll suggests that EU membership ‘would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ in a referendum (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• Levring (2018) reports that EU membership ‘would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ in a referendum (p. 3).

When you quote text that itself contains another quote, this is called a nested quotation or a quote within a quote. It may occur, for example, when quoting dialogue from a novel.

To distinguish this quote from the surrounding quote, you enclose it in double (instead of single) quotation marks (even if this involves changing the punctuation from the original text). Make sure to close both sets of quotation marks at the appropriate moments.

Note that if you only quote the nested quotation itself, and not the surrounding text, you can just use single quotation marks.

• Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: ‘ ‘ Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, ‘ he told me, ‘ just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had ‘ ‘ (Fitzgerald 1).
• Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: ‘”Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had “  (Fitzgerald 1).
• Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: ‘“Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had”’ (Fitzgerald 1).
• Carraway begins by quoting his father’s invocation to ‘remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had’ (Fitzgerald 1).

Note:  When the quoted text in the source comes from another source, it’s best to just find that original source in order to quote it directly. If you can’t find the original source, you can instead cite it indirectly .

Often, incorporating a quote smoothly into your text requires you to make some changes to the original text. It’s fine to do this, as long as you clearly mark the changes you’ve made to the quote.

Shortening a quote

If some parts of a passage are redundant or irrelevant, you can shorten the quote by removing words, phrases, or sentences and replacing them with an ellipsis (…). Put a space before and after the ellipsis.

Be careful that removing the words doesn’t change the meaning. The ellipsis indicates that some text has been removed, but the shortened quote should still accurately represent the author’s point.

Altering a quote

You can add or replace words in a quote when necessary. This might be because the original text doesn’t fit grammatically with your sentence (e.g., it’s in a different tense), or because extra information is needed to clarify the quote’s meaning.

Use brackets to distinguish words that you have added from words that were present in the original text.

The Latin term ‘ sic ‘ is used to indicate a (factual or grammatical) mistake in a quotation. It shows the reader that the mistake is from the quoted material, not a typo of your own.

In some cases, it can be useful to italicise part of a quotation to add emphasis, showing the reader that this is the key part to pay attention to. Use the phrase ’emphasis added’ to show that the italics were not part of the original text.

You usually don’t need to use brackets to indicate minor changes to punctuation or capitalisation made to ensure the quote fits the style of your text.

If you quote more than a few lines from a source, you must format it as a block quote . Instead of using quotation marks, you set the quote on a new line and indent it so that it forms a separate block of text.

Block quotes are cited just like regular quotes, except that if the quote ends with a full stop, the citation appears after the full stop.

To the end of his days Bilbo could never remember how he found himself outside, without a hat, a walking-stick or any money, or anything that he usually took when he went out; leaving his second breakfast half-finished and quite unwashed-up, pushing his keys into Gandalf’s hands, and running as fast as his furry feet could carry him down the lane, past the great Mill, across The Water, and then on for a mile or more. (16)

Avoid relying too heavily on quotes in academic writing . To integrate a source , it’s often best to paraphrase , which means putting the passage into your own words. This helps you integrate information smoothly and keeps your own voice dominant.

However, there are some situations in which quotes are more appropriate.

When focusing on language

If you want to comment on how the author uses language (for example, in literary analysis ), it’s necessary to quote so that the reader can see the exact passage you are referring to.

When giving evidence

To convince the reader of your argument, interpretation or position on a topic, it’s often helpful to include quotes that support your point. Quotes from primary sources (for example, interview transcripts or historical documents) are especially credible as evidence.

When presenting an author’s position or definition

When you’re referring to secondary sources such as scholarly books and journal articles, try to put others’ ideas in your own words when possible.

But if a passage does a great job at expressing, explaining, or defining something, and it would be very difficult to paraphrase without changing the meaning or losing the weakening the idea’s impact, it’s worth quoting directly.

A quote is an exact copy of someone else’s words, usually enclosed in quotation marks and credited to the original author or speaker.

To present information from other sources in academic writing , it’s best to paraphrase in most cases. This shows that you’ve understood the ideas you’re discussing and incorporates them into your text smoothly.

It’s appropriate to quote when:

• Changing the phrasing would distort the meaning of the original text
• You want to discuss the author’s language choices (e.g., in literary analysis )
• You’re presenting a precise definition
• You’re looking in depth at a specific claim

Every time you quote a source , you must include a correctly formatted in-text citation . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style .

For example, a direct quote in APA is cited like this: ‘This is a quote’ (Streefkerk, 2020, p. 5).

Every in-text citation should also correspond to a full reference at the end of your paper.

In scientific subjects, the information itself is more important than how it was expressed, so quoting should generally be kept to a minimum. In the arts and humanities, however, well-chosen quotes are often essential to a good paper.

In social sciences, it varies. If your research is mainly quantitative , you won’t include many quotes, but if it’s more qualitative , you may need to quote from the data you collected .

As a general guideline, quotes should take up no more than 5–10% of your paper. If in doubt, check with your instructor or supervisor how much quoting is appropriate in your field.

If you’re quoting from a text that paraphrases or summarises other sources and cites them in parentheses , APA recommends retaining the citations as part of the quote:

• Smith states that ‘the literature on this topic (Jones, 2015; Sill, 2019; Paulson, 2020) shows no clear consensus’ (Smith, 2019, p. 4).

Footnote or endnote numbers that appear within quoted text should be omitted.

If you want to cite an indirect source (one you’ve only seen quoted in another source), either locate the original source or use the phrase ‘as cited in’ in your citation.

A block quote is a long quote formatted as a separate ‘block’ of text. Instead of using quotation marks , you place the quote on a new line, and indent the entire quote to mark it apart from your own words.

APA uses block quotes for quotes that are 40 words or longer.

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 Reference Generator.

McCombes, S. & Caulfield, J. (2022, September 03). How to Quote | Citing Quotes in Harvard & APA. Scribbr. Retrieved 9 September 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/working-sources/quoting/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, how to paraphrase | step-by-step guide & examples, how to avoid plagiarism | tips on citing sources, the 5 types of plagiarism | explanations & examples.

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics

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.

Guidelines for referring to the works of others in your text using MLA style are covered throughout the  MLA Handbook  and in chapter 7 of the  MLA Style Manual . Both books provide extensive examples, so it's a good idea to consult them if you want to become even more familiar with MLA guidelines or if you have a particular reference question.

Basic in-text citation rules

In MLA Style, referring to the works of others in your text is done using parenthetical citations . This method involves providing relevant source information in parentheses whenever a sentence uses a quotation or paraphrase. Usually, the simplest way to do this is to put all of the source information in parentheses at the end of the sentence (i.e., just before the period). However, as the examples below will illustrate, there are situations where it makes sense to put the parenthetical elsewhere in the sentence, or even to leave information out.

General Guidelines

• The source information required in a parenthetical citation depends (1) upon the source medium (e.g. print, web, DVD) and (2) upon the source’s entry on the Works Cited page.
• Any source information that you provide in-text must correspond to the source information on the Works Cited page. More specifically, whatever signal word or phrase you provide to your readers in the text must be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of the corresponding entry on the Works Cited page.

In-text citations: Author-page style

MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:

Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:

Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads . Oxford UP, 1967.

In-text citations for print sources with known author

For print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase (usually the author’s last name) and a page number. If you provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical citation.

These examples must correspond to an entry that begins with Burke, which will be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of an entry on the Works Cited page:

Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method . University of California Press, 1966.

In-text citations for print sources by a corporate author

When a source has a corporate author, it is acceptable to use the name of the corporation followed by the page number for the in-text citation. You should also use abbreviations (e.g., nat'l for national) where appropriate, so as to avoid interrupting the flow of reading with overly long parenthetical citations.

In-text citations for sources with non-standard labeling systems

If a source uses a labeling or numbering system other than page numbers, such as a script or poetry, precede the citation with said label. When citing a poem, for instance, the parenthetical would begin with the word “line”, and then the line number or range. For example, the examination of William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” would be cited as such:

The speaker makes an ardent call for the exploration of the connection between the violence of nature and the divinity of creation. “In what distant deeps or skies. / Burnt the fire of thine eyes," they ask in reference to the tiger as they attempt to reconcile their intimidation with their relationship to creationism (lines 5-6).

Longer labels, such as chapters (ch.) and scenes (sc.), should be abbreviated.

In-text citations for print sources with no known author

When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name, following these guidelines.

Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (such as an article) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire Web sites) and provide a page number if it is available.

Titles longer than a standard noun phrase should be shortened into a noun phrase by excluding articles. For example, To the Lighthouse would be shortened to Lighthouse .

If the title cannot be easily shortened into a noun phrase, the title should be cut after the first clause, phrase, or punctuation:

In this example, since the reader does not know the author of the article, an abbreviated title appears in the parenthetical citation, and the full title of the article appears first at the left-hand margin of its respective entry on the Works Cited page. Thus, the writer includes the title in quotation marks as the signal phrase in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader directly to the source on the Works Cited page. The Works Cited entry appears as follows:

"The Impact of Global Warming in North America." Global Warming: Early Signs . 1999. www.climatehotmap.org/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2009.

If the title of the work begins with a quotation mark, such as a title that refers to another work, that quote or quoted title can be used as the shortened title. The single quotation marks must be included in the parenthetical, rather than the double quotation.

Parenthetical citations and Works Cited pages, used in conjunction, allow readers to know which sources you consulted in writing your essay, so that they can either verify your interpretation of the sources or use them in their own scholarly work.

Author-page citation for classic and literary works with multiple editions

Page numbers are always required, but additional citation information can help literary scholars, who may have a different edition of a classic work, like Marx and Engels's  The Communist Manifesto . In such cases, give the page number of your edition (making sure the edition is listed in your Works Cited page, of course) followed by a semicolon, and then the appropriate abbreviations for volume (vol.), book (bk.), part (pt.), chapter (ch.), section (sec.), or paragraph (par.). For example:

Author-page citation for works in an anthology, periodical, or collection

When you cite a work that appears inside a larger source (for instance, an article in a periodical or an essay in a collection), cite the author of the  internal source (i.e., the article or essay). For example, to cite Albert Einstein's article "A Brief Outline of the Theory of Relativity," which was published in  Nature  in 1921, you might write something like this:

See also our page on documenting periodicals in the Works Cited .

Citing authors with same last names

Sometimes more information is necessary to identify the source from which a quotation is taken. For instance, if two or more authors have the same last name, provide both authors' first initials (or even the authors' full name if different authors share initials) in your citation. For example:

Citing a work by multiple authors

For a source with two authors, list the authors’ last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation:

Corresponding Works Cited entry:

Best, David, and Sharon Marcus. “Surface Reading: An Introduction.” Representations , vol. 108, no. 1, Fall 2009, pp. 1-21. JSTOR, doi:10.1525/rep.2009.108.1.1

For a source with three or more authors, list only the first author’s last name, and replace the additional names with et al.

Franck, Caroline, et al. “Agricultural Subsidies and the American Obesity Epidemic.” American Journal of Preventative Medicine , vol. 45, no. 3, Sept. 2013, pp. 327-333.

Citing multiple works by the same author

If you cite more than one work by an author, include a shortened title for the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the others. Put short titles of books in italics and short titles of articles in quotation marks.

Citing two articles by the same author :

Citing two books by the same author :

Additionally, if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence, format your citation with the author's name followed by a comma, followed by a shortened title of the work, and, when appropriate, the page number(s):

Citing multivolume works

If you cite from different volumes of a multivolume work, always include the volume number followed by a colon. Put a space after the colon, then provide the page number(s). (If you only cite from one volume, provide only the page number in parentheses.)

Citing the Bible

In your first parenthetical citation, you want to make clear which Bible you're using (and underline or italicize the title), as each version varies in its translation, followed by book (do not italicize or underline), chapter, and verse. For example:

If future references employ the same edition of the Bible you’re using, list only the book, chapter, and verse in the parenthetical citation:

John of Patmos echoes this passage when describing his vision (Rev. 4.6-8).

Citing indirect sources

Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited within another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example:

Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an indirect source.

Citing transcripts, plays, or screenplays

Sources that take the form of a dialogue involving two or more participants have special guidelines for their quotation and citation. Each line of dialogue should begin with the speaker's name written in all capitals and indented half an inch. A period follows the name (e.g., JAMES.) . After the period, write the dialogue. Each successive line after the first should receive an additional indentation. When another person begins speaking, start a new line with that person's name indented only half an inch. Repeat this pattern each time the speaker changes. You can include stage directions in the quote if they appear in the original source.

Conclude with a parenthetical that explains where to find the excerpt in the source. Usually, the author and title of the source can be given in a signal phrase before quoting the excerpt, so the concluding parenthetical will often just contain location information like page numbers or act/scene indicators.

Here is an example from O'Neill's  The Iceman Cometh.

WILLIE. (Pleadingly) Give me a drink, Rocky. Harry said it was all right. God, I need a drink.

ROCKY. Den grab it. It's right under your nose.

WILLIE. (Avidly) Thanks. (He takes the bottle with both twitching hands and tilts it to his lips and gulps down the whiskey in big swallows.) (1.1)

Citing non-print or sources from the Internet

With more and more scholarly work published on the Internet, you may have to cite sources you found in digital environments. While many sources on the Internet should not be used for scholarly work (reference the OWL's  Evaluating Sources of Information  resource), some Web sources are perfectly acceptable for research. When creating in-text citations for electronic, film, or Internet sources, remember that your citation must reference the source on your Works Cited page.

Sometimes writers are confused with how to craft parenthetical citations for electronic sources because of the absence of page numbers. However, these sorts of entries often do not require a page number in the parenthetical citation. For electronic and Internet sources, follow the following guidelines:

• Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name).
• Do not provide paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your Web browser’s print preview function.
• Unless you must list the Web site name in the signal phrase in order to get the reader to the appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like  CNN.com  or  Forbes.com,  as opposed to writing out http://www.cnn.com or http://www.forbes.com.

Miscellaneous non-print sources

Two types of non-print sources you may encounter are films and lectures/presentations:

In the two examples above “Herzog” (a film’s director) and “Yates” (a presentor) lead the reader to the first item in each citation’s respective entry on the Works Cited page:

Herzog, Werner, dir. Fitzcarraldo . Perf. Klaus Kinski. Filmverlag der Autoren, 1982.

Yates, Jane. "Invention in Rhetoric and Composition." Gaps Addressed: Future Work in Rhetoric and Composition, CCCC, Palmer House Hilton, 2002. Address.

Electronic sources

Electronic sources may include web pages and online news or magazine articles:

In the first example (an online magazine article), the writer has chosen not to include the author name in-text; however, two entries from the same author appear in the Works Cited. Thus, the writer includes both the author’s last name and the article title in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader to the appropriate entry on the Works Cited page (see below).

In the second example (a web page), a parenthetical citation is not necessary because the page does not list an author, and the title of the article, “MLA Formatting and Style Guide,” is used as a signal phrase within the sentence. If the title of the article was not named in the sentence, an abbreviated version would appear in a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. Both corresponding Works Cited entries are as follows:

Taylor, Rumsey. "Fitzcarraldo." Slant , 13 Jun. 2003, www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/fitzcarraldo/. Accessed 29 Sep. 2009. 

"MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL , 2 Aug. 2016, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/. Accessed 2 April 2018.

Multiple citations

To cite multiple sources in the same parenthetical reference, separate the citations by a semi-colon:

Time-based media sources

When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference. For example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).

When a citation is not needed

Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting sources. You do not need to give sources for familiar proverbs, well-known quotations, or common knowledge (For example, it is expected that U.S. citizens know that George Washington was the first President.). Remember that citing sources is a rhetorical task, and, as such, can vary based on your audience. If you’re writing for an expert audience of a scholarly journal, for example, you may need to deal with expectations of what constitutes “common knowledge” that differ from common norms.

Other Sources

The MLA Handbook describes how to cite many different kinds of authors and content creators. However, you may occasionally encounter a source or author category that the handbook does not describe, making the best way to proceed can be unclear.

In these cases, it's typically acceptable to apply the general principles of MLA citation to the new kind of source in a way that's consistent and sensible. A good way to do this is to simply use the standard MLA directions for a type of source that resembles the source you want to cite.

You may also want to investigate whether a third-party organization has provided directions for how to cite this kind of source. For example, Norquest College provides guidelines for citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers⁠ —an author category that does not appear in the MLA Handbook . In cases like this, however, it's a good idea to ask your instructor or supervisor whether using third-party citation guidelines might present problems.

A direct quotation reproduces words verbatim from another work or from your own previously published work. It is best to paraphrase sources rather than directly quoting them because paraphrasing allows you to fit material to the context of your paper and writing style.

Use direct quotations rather than paraphrasing:

• when reproducing an exact definition (see Section 6.22 of the Publication Manual ),
• when an author has said something memorably or succinctly, or
• when you want to respond to exact wording (e.g., something someone said).

Instructors, programs, editors, and publishers may establish limits on the use of direct quotations. Consult your instructor or editor if you are concerned that you may have too much quoted material in your paper.

This page addresses how to format short quotations and block quotations. Additional information is available about how to:

• include page numbers for quotations
• cite quotations from material without page numbers
• cite quotations that include errors
• indicate changes to quotations
• present quotations from research participants

Quotations are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Sections 8.25 to 8.35 and the Concise Guide Sections 8.25 to 8.34

Related handout

• In-Text Citation Checklist (PDF, 227KB)

Short quotations (fewer than 40 words)

For quotations of fewer than 40 words, add quotation marks around the words and incorporate the quote into your own text—there is no additional formatting needed. Do not insert an ellipsis at the beginning and/or end of a quotation unless the original source includes an ellipsis.

Effective teams can be difficult to describe because “high performance along one domain does not translate to high performance along another” (Ervin et al., 2018, p. 470).

For a direct quotation, always include a full citation ( parenthetical or narrative ) in the same sentence as the quotation, including the page number (or other location information, e.g., paragraph number).

• Place a parenthetical citation either immediately after the quotation or at the end of the sentence.
• For a narrative citation, include the author and year in the sentence and then place the page number or other location information in parentheses after the quotation.
• If the quotation precedes the narrative citation, put the page number or location information after the year and a comma.
• If the citation appears at the end of a sentence, put the end punctuation after the closing parenthesis for the citation.
• If the quotation includes citations, see Section 8.32 of the Publication Manual .
• If the quotation includes material already in quotation marks, see Section 8.33 of the Publication Manual .
• Place periods and commas within closing single or double quotation marks. Place other punctuation marks inside quotation marks only when they are part of the quoted material.

Block quotations (40 words or more)

Format quotations of 40 words or more as block quotations:

• Do not use quotation marks to enclose a block quotation.
• Start a block quotation on a new line and indent the whole block 0.5 in. from the left margin.
• Double-space the entire block quotation.
• Do not add extra space before or after it.
• If there are additional paragraphs within the quotation, indent the first line of each subsequent paragraph an additional 0.5 in. See an example in Section 8.27 of the Publication Manual .
• Either (a) cite the source in parentheses after the quotation’s final punctuation or (b) cite the author and year in the narrative before the quotation and place only the page number in parentheses after the quotation’s final punctuation.
• Do not add a period after the closing parenthesis in either case.

Block quotation with parenthetical citation:

Researchers have studied how people talk to themselves:

Inner speech is a paradoxical phenomenon. It is an experience that is central to many people’s everyday lives, and yet it presents considerable challenges to any effort to study it scientifically. Nevertheless, a wide range of methodologies and approaches have combined to shed light on the subjective experience of inner speech and its cognitive and neural underpinnings. (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015, p. 957)

Block quotation with narrative citation:

Flores et al. (2018) described how they addressed potential researcher bias when working with an intersectional community of transgender people of color:

Everyone on the research team belonged to a stigmatized group but also held privileged identities. Throughout the research process, we attended to the ways in which our privileged and oppressed identities may have influenced the research process, findings, and presentation of results. (p. 311)

Generate accurate APA citations for free

• Knowledge Base
• APA Style 7th edition

Direct quotes in APA Style

Published on November 12, 2020 by Shona McCombes . Revised on June 16, 2022.

A direct quote is a piece of text copied word-for-word from a source. You may quote a word, phrase, sentence, or entire passage.

There are three main rules for quoting in APA Style:

• If the quote is under 40 words, place it in double quotation marks .
• If the quote is 40 words or more, format it as a block quote .
• Cite the author, year, and page number with an APA in-text citation .

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

Table of contents

Citing a direct quote, quoting a source with no page numbers, quoting 40 words or more (apa block quotes), making changes to direct quotes in apa, frequently asked questions about apa style.

To cite a quote in APA, you always include the the author’s last name, the year the source was published, and the page on which the quote can be found. The page number is preceded by “p.” (for a single page) or “pp.” (for a page range).

There are two types of APA in-text citation : parenthetical and narrative.

In a parenthetical citation, you place the entire citation in parentheses directly after the quote and before the period (or other punctuation mark).

In a narrative citation, the author(s) appear as part of your sentence. Place the year in parentheses directly after the author’s name, and place the page number in parentheses directly after the quote.

Remember that every in-text citation must correspond to a full APA reference at the end of the text. You can easily create your reference list with our free APA Citation Generator.

Generate APA references

Scribbr Citation Checker New

The AI-powered Citation Checker helps you avoid common mistakes such as:

• Missing commas and periods
• Incorrect usage of “et al.”
• Ampersands (&) in narrative citations
• Missing reference entries

Some source types, such as web pages , do not have page numbers. In this case, to cite a direct quote, you should generally include an alternative locator, unless the source is very short.

The locator may be a chapter or section heading (abbreviated if necessary), a paragraph number, or a combination of the two. Use whichever locator will help your reader find the quote most easily.

For sources such as movies , YouTube videos , or audiobooks, use a timestamp to locate the beginning of the quote.

• Section heading
• Paragraph number
• Section and paragraph

If the quote contains 40 words or more, it must be formatted as a block quote. To format a block quote in APA Style:

• Do not use quotation marks.
• Start the quote on a new line.
• Indent the entire quote 0.5 inches.
• Double-space the entire quote.

Like regular quotes, block quotes can be cited with a parenthetical or narrative citation. However, if the block quote ends with a period, place the citation after the period.

• Parenthetical

Block quoting is particularly useful when you want to comment on an author’s language or present an argument that you will then critique. By setting the quote on a new line and indenting it, the passage is clearly marked apart from your own words. Therefore, no quotation marks are necessary. (O’Connor, 2019, p. 38)

Block quoting is particularly useful when you want to comment on an author’s language or present an argument that you will then critique. By setting the quote on a new line and indenting it, the passage is clearly marked apart from your own words. Therefore, no quotation marks are necessary. (p. 38)

Block quotes with multiple paragraphs

If the block quote contains multiple paragraphs, indent the first line of each paragraph after the first.

Block quoting is particularly useful when you want to comment on an author’s language or present an argument that you will then critique. By setting the quote on a new line and indenting it, the passage is clearly marked apart from your own words. Therefore, no quotation marks are necessary.

However, it is important not to rely on long quotes to make your point for you. Each quote must be introduced and explained or discussed in your own words. (O’Connor, 2019, p. 38)

In general, a direct quote should be an exact reproduction of the original. However, there are some situations where you may need to make small changes.

You may change the capitalization of the first word or the final punctuation mark in order to integrate the quote grammatically into your sentence, as long as the meaning is not altered.

Any other changes must be marked following these APA guidelines.

Shortening a quote

If you want to omit some words, phrases, or sentences from the quote to save space, use an ellipsis (. . .) with a space before and after it to indicate that some material has been left out.

If the part you removed includes a sentence break, add a period before the ellipsis to indicate this.

• No sentence break
• Sentence break

Clarifying a quote

Sometimes you might want to add a word or phrase for context. For example, if a pronoun is used in the quote, you may add a name to clarify who or what is being referred to.

Any added text should be enclosed in square brackets to show that it is not part of the original.

Adding emphasis to quotes

If you want to emphasize a word or phrase in a quote, italicize it and include the words “emphasis added” in square brackets.

Errors in quotes

If the quote contains a spelling or grammatical error, indicate it with the Latin word “sic”, italicized and in square brackets, directly after the error.

To include a direct quote in APA , follow these rules:

• Quotes under 40 words are placed in double quotation marks .
• Quotes of 40 words or more are formatted as block quote .
• The author, year, and page number are included in an APA in-text citation .

You need an APA in-text citation and reference entry . Each source type has its own format; for example, a webpage citation is different from a book citation .

Use Scribbr’s free APA Citation Generator to generate flawless citations in seconds or take a look at our APA citation examples .

When you quote or paraphrase a specific passage from a source, you need to indicate the location of the passage in your APA in-text citation . If there are no page numbers (e.g. when citing a website ) but the text is long, you can instead use section headings, paragraph numbers, or a combination of the two:

(Caulfield, 2019, Linking section, para. 1).

Section headings can be shortened if necessary. Kindle location numbers should not be used in ebook citations , as they are unreliable.

If you are referring to the source as a whole, it’s not necessary to include a page number or other marker.

The abbreviation “ et al. ” (meaning “and others”) is used to shorten APA in-text citations with three or more authors . Here’s how it works:

Only include the first author’s last name, followed by “et al.”, a comma and the year of publication, for example (Taylor et al., 2018).

In an APA in-text citation , you use the phrase “ as cited in ” if you want to cite a source indirectly (i.e., if you cannot find the original source).

Parenthetical citation: (Brown, 1829, as cited in Mahone, 2018) Narrative citation: Brown (1829, as cited in Mahone, 2018) states that…

On the reference page , you only include the secondary source (Mahone, 2018).

In academic writing , there are three main situations where quoting is the best choice:

• To analyze the author’s language (e.g., in a literary analysis essay )
• To give evidence from primary sources
• To accurately present a precise definition or argument

Don’t overuse quotes; your own voice should be dominant. If you just want to provide information from a source, it’s usually better to paraphrase or summarize .

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.

McCombes, S. (2022, June 16). Direct quotes in APA Style. Scribbr. Retrieved September 13, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/direct-quotes/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, beginner's guide to apa in-text citation, creating apa reference entries, apa format for academic papers and essays, get unlimited documents corrected.

✔ Free APA citation check included ✔ Unlimited document corrections ✔ Specialized in correcting academic texts