 This video will show you the basics on how to create an in-text citation in APA format so that it will look something like this, or this. Any time that you paraphrase or quote someone else's words or ideas within the body of your paper, you must give credit to the original author with an in-text citation. An in-text citation is a short citation that refers the reader to the full reference at the end of a paper. A basic in-text citation will commonly include the author's last name, year of publication, and the page number where the information was found. When quoting an author's exact words, place quotation marks around the text, then include your in-text citation. Begin with the author's last name, comma, the year of publication, comma, and the page that the text was found on, preceded by the letter P and a period. Surround in parentheses, and always place your period after your in-text citation. If you summarize an author's ideas using your own words, this is a paraphrase. A paraphrase still requires an in-text citation. When paraphrasing, you do not include quotation marks. Using a paraphrase, begin your in-text citation with the author's last name, comma, the year of publication, then surround in parentheses. Always place your period after your in-text citation. It's important to note that page numbers are not necessary when paraphrasing. So far, our examples of a paraphrase and a direct quote have had the author's name and date in parentheses at the end of the sentence. This is what APA refers to as a parenthetical in-text citation. Alternatively, you can use a narrative citation. As this example shows, when you mention the author's name in a sentence, always include the date of publication after the name. Place the page number in parentheses at the end of your sentence, followed by a period to complete the in-text citation. You do not need to repeat the author's name or date. For two authors, use an ampersand after the first author's name if it appears in parentheses. When you are using the two author's names in a sentence, you should use the full word and. For three or more authors, follow the first author's name with the words et al followed by a period, meaning and others. If there's no known author, include a shortened title in place of the author's name. If your source does not include page numbers, indicate the paragraph where you found the information by using the abbreviation para followed by a period. Your reference list will be on its own page at the end of your paper and will contain the full citation information. Make sure to put your citations in alphabetical order. Don't forget to double space and indent after the first line.