What Would You Do?
Kayla writes:
According to Rivera (2024), students who participate in extracurricular activities develop stronger communication skills.
Her teacher says, “You need an in-text citation.”
What should Kayla tell her teacher?
A. Add (Rivera, 2024) to the end because narrative citations are not real citations.
B. The citation is already present and correctly formatted.
C. Add the page number because every paraphrase requires one.
D. Replace Rivera (2024) with (Rivera, 2024).
B — The citation is already present and correctly formatted.
Students who get adequate sleep tend to perform better academically (Thomas 2025).
What is wrong?
(Thomas, 2025) — Missing comma between author and year.
Original source:
“Students who read for pleasure often develop stronger vocabulary skills.”
Student version:
Students who regularly read for enjoyment may improve their vocabulary (Brown, 2024).
What is the student doing?
A. Direct quoting
B. Paraphrasing
C. Plagiarizing
D. Creating a reference entry
Answer: C — Summarizing
Why?
The student is condensing the main ideas of a larger source into a much shorter statement rather than restating one specific passage.
Source:
Author: Morgan
Year: 2025
The author is NOT mentioned in the sentence.
Write the citation:
(Morgan, 2025)
Which is correct?
A. (Smith 2024)
B. (Smith; 2024)
C. (Smith, 2024)
D. Smith, 2024
C — (Smith, 2024)
Jordan reads a journal article and completely rewrites the author's idea in his own words.
He writes:
Teenagers who regularly interact with supportive teachers are more likely to feel connected to school.
He does not include a citation because “I wrote it in my own words.”
What is the problem?
A. There is no problem.
B. He needs quotation marks.
C. He still needs an in-text citation because the idea came from another source.
D. He needs to copy the original author's wording.
C — He still needs an in-text citation because the idea came from another source.
According to Williams, students benefit from collaborative learning (2024).
What is the problem?
Williams (2024) — The year needs to be placed immediately after the author's name.
Original source:
“Students who read for pleasure often develop stronger vocabulary skills.”
Student version:
Brown (2024) explains that reading for enjoyment can contribute to stronger vocabulary development.
What is the student doing?
A. Direct quoting
B. Copying
C. Paraphrasing
D. Creating a reference entry
C — Paraphrasing
Source:
Author: Ashley
Year: 2025
The author IS mentioned in the sentence.
(2025) → Ashley(2025) explains…
Which is correct for two authors?
A. (Smith and Jones, 2024)
B. (Smith & Jones, 2024)
C. (Smith, Jones, 2024)
D. (Smith et al., 2024)
B — (Smith & Jones, 2024)
A student wants to emphasize the researcher's credibility in a sentence.
Which sentence BEST accomplishes this?
A. Student engagement increases when teachers provide meaningful feedback (Davis, 2025).
B. Research shows that student engagement increases with meaningful feedback.
C. Davis (2025), an educational researcher, found that meaningful feedback can increase student engagement.
D. Meaningful feedback increases student engagement, according to research.
C — Davis (2025), an educational researcher, found…
Research suggests that students perform better when they receive immediate feedback (Garcia, 2024, p. 15).
The writer paraphrased the source.
Is the citation incorrect?
A. Yes, because page numbers are never allowed in paraphrases.
B. Yes, because paraphrases require quotation marks.
C. No. A page number may be included in a paraphrase, even though it is not generally required.
D. Yes, because the citation should only contain the author's last name.
C — A page number can be included with a paraphrase, but it is not generally required.
Original source:
“Students who read for pleasure often develop stronger vocabulary skills.”
Student version:
“Students who read for pleasure often develop stronger vocabulary skills” (Brown, 2024, p. 9).
What is the student doing?
A. Paraphrasing
B. Summarizing
C. Directly quoting
D. Using a narrative citation
C — Directly quoting
Source:
Authors: Carter, Brown, Wilson, and Davis
Year: 2024
Write the APA in-text citation for a paraphrase.
(Carter et al., 2024)
Which is correct for three or more authors?
A. (Smith, Jones, Brown, & Lee, 2024)
B. (Smith et. al., 2024)
C. (Smith et al., 2024)
D. (Smith and others, 2024)
C — (Smith et al., 2024)
A student wants to emphasize the idea, not the researcher.
Which option is the BEST choice?
A. Smith (2024) found that sleep affects academic performance.
B. Sleep can significantly affect academic performance (Smith, 2024).
C. According to Smith, sleep affects academic performance.
D. Smith's research from 2024 explains sleep and academic performance.
B — Sleep can significantly affect academic performance (Smith, 2024).
“Students are more likely to participate when they feel that their opinions are valued” (Miller, 2025).
The student copied the exact sentence from the source but did not provide a page number.
What is missing?
Page number/location information — e.g., (Miller, 2025, p. 18)
A student changes only a few words from the original source:
Original:
Social media has dramatically changed how teenagers communicate with their peers.
Student:
Social media has greatly changed how teenagers communicate with their friends.
The student cites the source.
Is this an acceptable paraphrase?
A. Yes, because the student changed some words.
B. Yes, because the citation automatically makes it a paraphrase.
C. No, because paraphrases cannot use citations.
D. No, because the wording and structure remain too close to the original.
D — The wording/structure is too close to the original.
Source:
Authors: Johnson & Smith
Year: 2023
The authors are NOT mentioned in the sentence.
Write the citation:
(Johnson & Smith, 2023)
Which citation correctly introduces a direct quote?
A. “Education changes lives” (Davis, 2024).
B. “Education changes lives” (Davis, p. 18).
C. “Education changes lives” (Davis, 2024, p. 18).
D. “Education changes lives” Davis (2024).
C — “Education changes lives” (Davis, 2024, p. 18).
A student writes:
According to Johnson (2023), social media can influence teenagers' perceptions of relationships (Johnson, 2023).
What is the BEST evaluation?
A. It is completely correct and required by APA.
B. The second citation is generally unnecessary because the author and year are already identified in the narrative citation.
C. The first citation should be removed because APA only allows parenthetical citations.
D. Both citations should include a page number.
B — The second citation is generally unnecessary because the author/year are already identified in the narrative citation.
Which sentence contains the best APA citation?
A. According to Parker (2024), students learn better through discussion.
B. According to Parker, 2024 students learn better through discussion.
C. According to Parker (2024), students learn better through discussion (Parker, 2024).
D. According to Parker, students learn better through discussion (2024).
A — According to Parker (2024), students learn better through discussion.
Original Source:
“Social media platforms can significantly influence the way teenagers communicate with friends and develop relationships.”
Student's version:
Social media platforms can greatly influence the way teenagers communicate with friends and form relationships (Johnson, 2025).
What is the student doing?
A. Directly quoting
B. Paraphrasing
C. Summarizing
D. Plagiarizing
Answer: D. Plagiarizing
Why? The student changed only a few words while keeping the same wording, sentence structure, and overall phrasing as the original. Simply adding a citation does not make copied or minimally changed wording an acceptable paraphrase.
You are given this source:
Author: Taylor
Year: 2025
Page: 47
You want to introduce the author and a direct quote using a narrative citation.
Taylor (2025) argues, “___________” (p. 47).
Which sentence is MOST APA-correct?
A. Davis (2024) states that “students need meaningful feedback” (p. 18).
B. Davis states that “students need meaningful feedback” (2024, p. 18).
C. Davis (2024) states that “students need meaningful feedback” page 18.
D. According to Davis, 2024, “students need meaningful feedback” (p. 18).
A — Davis (2024) states that “students need meaningful feedback” (p. 18).