Direct Quotation refers to copying word for word from another source and incorporating the passage, unaltered, into your own work. Show the reader that these are not your own words by putting the copied text within quotation marks " " and adding a citation. Direct Quotes should be used sparingly in your paper and should be saved for especially impactful statements or when you will be responding to someone's exact words.
Direct quotes do not have to be an entire sentence; they can be a partial sentence or just a few words unique to your author or field of research.
For APA 7th ed format, add the in-text citation either after the direct quote, wherever it appears in the sentence, or at the end of the sentence (APA 7th ed Handbook 8.26):
“Even smart, educated, emotionally stable adults believe superstitions that they recognize are not rational,” (Risen, 2016, p. 202) as exemplified by the existence of people who knock on wood for good luck.
“Even smart, educated, emotionally stable adults believe superstitions that they recognize are not rational,” as exemplified by the existence of people who knock on wood for good luck (Risen, 2016, p. 202).
To improve the readability of your paper, minor changes to Direct Quotations are permitted. See Changes to Quotations (APA Style) about allowable changes to Direct Quotes https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/quotations/changes
Basic Format: (Author Last Name, Year, p. page#) Example: (Bradshaw, 2013, p. 8) * use pp. for a page range: e.g. pp. 8-9.
Parenthetical Citation
When studying feline behavior, it is more beneficial to study the animal's wild ancestors than to observe the cat in its present day domestic environment because their "species-specific behavior patterns" (Bradshaw, 2013, p. 8) are largely inherited from wild cats.
Narrative Citation
Bradshaw (2013) suggests that when studying feline behavior, it is more beneficial to study the animal's wild ancestors than to observe the cat in its present day domestic environment because their "species-specific behavior patterns" (p. 8) are largely inherited from wild cats.
Basic Format: (Author Last Name, Year, para. paragraph#) Example: (Chamberlin, 2014, para. 1)
*see also Direct Quotes with No Page Numbers (APA Style): https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/quotations/no-page-numbers
When incorporating quotations from sources with no page numbers (e.g. a web source), provide the paragraph number the quote appears in. Use para. (e.g. para. 1) for a single paragraph or paras. (paras. 2-3) for a paragraph range.
Parenthetical Citation:
People planning for retirement need more than just money—they also “need to stockpile their emotional reserves” to ensure adequate support from family and friends (Chamberlin, 2014, para. 1).
Narrative Citation:
Chamberlin (2014) notes that people planning for retirement need more than just money—they also “need to stockpile their emotional reserves” to ensure adequate support from family and friends (para. 1).
If the work is divided into sections with headers, include the section name (abbreviate long section names) and use the paragraph number from the beginning of that section:
Music and language are intertwined in the brain such that “people who are better at rhythmic memory skills tend to excel at language skills as well” (DeAngelis, 2018, Musical Forays section, para. 4).
Use a timestamp when quoting from audio and video sources:
People make "sweeping inferences and judgements from body language" (Cuddy, 2021, 2:12).
The APA notes that pages, paragraphs, time stamps, slide numbers, tables, parts, chapters, figures, lines etc. are all acceptable parts of works to cite for direct quotes (8.13). E.g. Slide 34; Table 1; Chapter 4.
