Format Citations for Quotes

This post is for specifics on formatting a citation when there is a quote. If you need basics for formatting a citation click this link.

Citing a quote follows the same format as a regular citation plus a comma and the page or paragraph number if it is a webpage.  If you need to review citations, click on where it says "this link" above or on "Format for Citation" under the archives listed on the right.

Author Says 
if a book or journal article use page number abbreviated as p. or pp. for pages.
Goose (2012) said "Mary had a little lamb" (p. 12).

if a webpage use paragraph number abbreviated as para.
According to Goose (2012) "Mary had a little lamb" (para. 12).

Author's name not in sentence

Another format is to include the author information in the citation if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence like this:

“Mary had a little lamb” (Goose, 2012, para. 1).

remember to use p. or para. based on where the content came from.

More than 40 words

If the quote is more than 40 words indent the paragraph quote and use the format explained above with the exception of punctuation at the end of the citation.  In this case, the punctuation goes at the end of the sentence not the citation.  Here are two examples of the citation format for a quote more than 40 words:

According to Goose (2012):
            Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb,
            Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow.
            Everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went,
            Everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go.
            She followed her to school one day, school one day, school one day,
            She followed her to school one day and that was against the rules. (p. 4)


            Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb,
            Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow.
            Everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went,
            Everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go.
            She followed her to school one day, school one day, school one day,
            She followed her to school one day and that was against the rules. (Goose, 2012, p. 4)

Tips

If you want to skip words in a quote you can use three dots or you can insert words in a quote for clarification by using square parenthesis.  Here is an example:

Goose (2012) said " Mary had a little lamb ... and that was against the [school's] rules" (p.4).

Though this post has some basic formats you should be familiar with and may refer to, I strongly advise you to read the APA manual and get familiar with all that is necessary to have a properly APA formatted paper.

Reference

American Psychological Association. (2010).  Publication manual of the American Psychological

         Association (6th ed.).