Yes, you absolutely must use in-text citations when paraphrasing in APA style to avoid plagiarism and give credit to the original author, including the author's last name and year of publication, and page numbers are recommended for clarity in longer works. Even though you're using your own words, the idea still belongs to the original source, requiring acknowledgment.
When paraphrasing, you must still acknowledge where you got the idea from by including a parenthetical citation. When citing paraphrased information, APA requires you to include the author and date. It is also recommended (but not required) that you include the page number.
Paraphrasing ALWAYS requires a citation. Even if you are using your own words, the idea still belongs to someone else. Sometimes there is a fine line between paraphrasing and plagiarizing someone's writing.
Include an in-text citation when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list. APA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the year of publication, for example: (Field, 2005).
Remember that you can use direct quotations of phrases from the original within your paraphrase, and that you don't need to change or put quotation marks around shared language.
Improper paraphrasing is a very common form of plagiarism. This occurs when one lifts a direct phrase from another work and changes just a few words - and then claims the work as wholly their own. Learning how to properly paraphrase is a very important component of good writing.
We now detect likely AI -generated text even if it may have been paraphrased using an AI word spinner. Our AI paraphrasing detection is incorporated into our AI writing detection capability and does not require any change to your settings.
When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, like, for example, (Jones, 1998). One complete reference for each source should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.
When you use ideas or quotes from any sources of information, you need to provide an "in-text" citation using parenthesis within your paper. APA Style uses the "author-date" format for in-text citations (section 8.10). Your in-text citation should include the following information: Author(s)*
In APA, you are required to include an in-text citation when you quote or paraphrase in order to document the source of your information. These in-text citation point your readers to more complete citation information in the reference list section of your paper.
Even though you use your own words, you must still cite the original source from which you obtained the content or idea (both in-text and in your references list). If you paraphrase a source but fail to cite the original source, you are committing plagiarism.
Even if you do not directly quote a sentence and instead choose to paraphrase it, this still requires a citation. Paraphrased sentences are generally the same length as the original text (1). Summarizing (1). Summaries also require a citation, as you are still borrowing original ideas from the author.
Instead, when paraphrasing a key point in more than one sentence within a paragraph, cite the source in the first sentence in which it is relevant and do not repeat the citation in subsequent sentences as long as the source remains clear and unchanged.
Common Mistakes in Paraphrasing
Long Paraphrases & Paragraphs
When paraphrasing or summarising using one source over several sentences or even a whole paragraph, cite the source in the first sentence. There is no need to cite the work again in this paragraph provided it is clear that this is the only source being paraphrased.
Techniques to try
You need to include a brief citation in the text at the place where you refer to the source, and a full reference in your bibliography or reference list.
You Do Not Need to Cite When
You use your own artwork, digital photographs, video, audio, etc. You are using "common knowledge," things like folklore, common sense observations, myths, urban legends, and historical events (but not historical documents)
Your APA paper should include five major sections: the Title Page, Abstract, Main Paper, Paper Format and References And Citations. See the timeline handout for important due dates.
Even if you put information in your own words by summarizing or paraphrasing, however, you must cite the original author and the date of publication. You may also include a page or paragraph number, but it is not required by APA. Please check with your instructor to see if they have a preference.
APA 7th edition requires double line spacing throughout the document.
Both APA and MLA cite sources within a paper by using parenthetical, in-text references. MLA uses the author's last name and the page number as reference. APA uses the author's last name and the year of publication.
Yes, 25% on Turnitin is generally considered high and warrants a close review because it falls into the yellow/amber range (25-49%), potentially signaling significant overlap, though it's crucial to check what is highlighted—it could be properly cited quotes or common phrases, or it could indicate poor paraphrasing or copying. While some sources suggest scores above 25% often need revision, a high score doesn't automatically mean plagiarism; you must examine the flagged sections for correct citation and original thought.
Ways to avoid plagiarizing include:
Paraphrasing ChatGPT can make the wording look different, but AI detectors can still recognize the writing because the deeper patterns stay the same. Even if a sentence changes, the overall structure, pacing, and style often reveal that the text originally came from an AI model.