Use a signal phrase to introduce the work. For example: In a landmark study, Jones and McAfee (2008) found a correlation between the two factors (Jones & McAfee, 2008). By containing the information between the signal phrase, such as "Jones and McAfee found," and citation, you are letting your readers know the content is from the same source.
Include the parenthetical citation at the end of the last sentence of your passage. APA formatting guidelines stipulate the period comes after the citation, not before. The only exception to this rule applies to citations following long direct quotes.
Give last names of author(s), comma and year for most citations. For multiple authors, give last names separated by commas, the last two joined by an ampersand (&). For example: (Knox, Douglas, Mann, & Lawrence, 2011). For six or more authors, list the first author, a comma and the phrase "et al." For example: (Martin, et al., 2010). In this case, be sure to mention all authors within the signal phrase the first time you cite the source. After that, you can use "et al." in your paper. For example: Martin, et al.
Provide page or paragraph numbers for citations following a short direct quote. When you include a direct quote in your paper, help interested readers locate your source by giving the page number. For example: Solomon found the data to be "in support of the theory" (Solomon, 2010, p. 21).
Include the paragraph number instead for sources lacking page numbers. In some cases, especially online sources, you may not be able to find page numbers. For these citations, you should include the paragraph number. For example: Freeman found the theory to be "suspect" (Freeman, 2011, para. 3). By providing the paragraph number, you allow readers to verify your information or investigate the topic.
Place longer direct quotations in block quote format. For quotes forty words or longer, indent the first line a half-inch and subsequent lines a half-inch more. For block quotes, do not use quotation marks and place the in-text citation after the last period. Include the same information you would for other direct quotes.
Substitute a shortened version of the title if there is no author indicated. Choose the first two or three words of the article's title and enclose them with quotation marks. For example: ("Building Codes," 2009).