Regardless if you paraphrase, summarize, or directly quote ideas from an outside source, in-text citations are necessary in order to give proper credit to the original authors of those ideas.

• When you present ideas in a sentence that are un-cited, it is assumed those are your own original ideas.
• Including just one citation at the end of a paragraph is not sufficient unless the last sentence is the only information in the paragraph that came from the cited source.
• Cite sources often and correctly throughout a paragraph in order to avoid unintentional plagiarism.

Citing multiple sentences from the same source can feel repetitive and awkward. To avoid repetition and improve readability of a summarized or paraphrased paragraph, follow these suggestions.

• Open with a signal phrase or narrative citation.
  • According to recent study by Smith (2017)…
• Follow with clues that make it clear you are still referring to ideas by Smith.
  • The study found…
• Follow with a parenthetical citation.
  • [Written text]… (Smith, 2017).
• Continue mixing these citation approaches throughout the paragraph.

For More

• Visit the Writing Center for more on Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing.
• See Chapter 6 of the APA Manual for more on appropriate citation levels.
• Review this APA Blog post for more on citing paraphrased work.