Select the correct usage of in-text citation in APA style.

Question

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To determine the correct APA in-text citation usage, let's evaluate each option against the standard rules for narrative in-text citations in APA style.

Option 1: 'Leopold calls for Americans to adopt a Land Ethic, a moral responsibility to the natural world.'
- This choice omits the year after the author, which is required in a narrative in-text citation when you refer to a specific source. Without the year, it fails to provide the necessary bibliographic context, making it incorrect in APA style.

Option 2: 'Aldo Leopold in his book "Sand County Almanac" (1949) calls for Americans to adopt a Land Ethic, a moral responsibility to the natural world.'
- This form is awkward for a narrative citation because it places the author’s full name and the work title in the lead, then appends the year in parentheses. In APA, the year belongs immediately after the author’s name (for a narrative citation), not after mentions of the work. While the year position is correct, the conventional narrative format would not present the information this way; it uses the title in the flow, which is unnecessary for the in-text citation and can disrupt readability. This makes it not the preferred APA usage.

Option 3: 'Leopold (1949) calls for Americans to adopt a Land Ethic, a moral responsibility to the natural world.'
- This is the standard narrative in-text citation: the author’s surname followed by the year in parentheses, integrated into the sentence. It provides the necessary attribution and temporal context in a concise, conventional form. This aligns with APA guidelines for a narrative citation when the author’s name is part of the textual flow.

Option 4: 'Aldo Leopold (1949) calls for Americans to adopt a Land Ethic, a moral responsibility to the natural world.'
- This option uses the author’s full name in the narrative citation. APA style typically recommends the surname only in narrative citations after the first mention, unless there is a specific need to use the full name for clarity. While not entirely incorrect, it is less conventional and may be flagged as nonstandard in many academic settings. The more common and accepted form would be 'Leopold (1949) ...' which favors brevity and standard practice.

In summary, Option 3 adheres to the standard APA narrative in-text citation format by placing the year immediately after the author’s surname within the sentence. Options 1 and 2 violate APA conventions in different ways (missing year, awkward/title-based phrasing), and Option 4 is technically understandable but less conventional due to using the full name instead of just the surname.

Select the correct usage of in-text citation in APA style.

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