Place quotation marks around the passage that you are citing. For example, "APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners" is the correct way to place quotations around the quote you are referencing. A period should not be included in the quote.
Locate the page number, author and publication year of the piece you are citing. The information about the author and publication year will likely be in the front of the book or on the top of a website.
Insert a set of parentheses directly after the quotation in your essay. For example, "APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners" ( ).
Input the author, publication year and page number into the parentheses. Your citation should appear as follows:
"APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners" (Jones, 1998, p. 199)
End your in-text citation with a period after the parentheses. It should look like this when complete:
"APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners" (Jones, 1998, p. 199).