How do I make an in-text citation in APA for a quote which I need to syntactically fit it in a sentence. If, for instance, the original words are "explains how it works", what change(s) do I need make, if I want to remove the 3rd person -s in "explains"?
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Not really an academia question. More a language question.– puppetsockCommented Jul 21, 2021 at 22:56
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I believe you'd use brackets. For example, this resource can "[explain] how it works (LastName, Year, p. ##).
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1Thanks for replying. In the source you mentioned, it specifies that we "enclose material such as an addition or explanation" in square brackets but here we I am just removing part of a word. I am not sure if that rule can be applied in this case too. Commented Jul 21, 2021 at 18:24
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For my field in Sociology using ASA, the brackets can indicate any type of change you've made to the original quote. I'd like to think it also applies for APA as well. I see your point as to what is outlined in the APA resource there. I think seeing how you're planning to use the quote in your writing could be helpful to see how exactly this rule should be applied. You mentioned removing the 3rd person -s, but are you talking about the work or the author in your manuscript? Commented Jul 21, 2021 at 18:37
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Well, in fact, I am quoting part of a writer's argument. I could use another verb, of course, to avoid the complication altogether, but I just needed to know if APA has a solution for such a situation if a writer wills to kind of change a word's part of speech in a quote. Commented Jul 21, 2021 at 18:55
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I found another source from a university site specifically addressing a change like this. It appears for MLA style you'd use brackets [] where you are removing the -s. Based on APA's site, they do not seem to address this case specifically. I'm not sure if that means it is discouraged or overlooked as a case by APA, as this case is outlined for other citation styles. Commented Jul 21, 2021 at 20:00