Found in 2-4% of dissertations. Putting the period before the citation instead of after is the most common APA punctuation error — and form-and-style reviewers flag every single one.
Move the period after the closing parenthesis of the citation.
In APA format, the period goes after the closing parenthesis of a parenthetical citation, not before it. Wrong: "Teachers reported burnout. (Smith, 2023)" Right: "Teachers reported burnout (Smith, 2023)." This rule applies to all parenthetical citations at the end of a sentence. The citation is part of the sentence, so the sentence doesn't end until after the citation.
This error is so common because it violates the grammatical instinct most writers have. In standard English, you put a period at the end of a complete thought. "Teachers reported burnout" feels like a complete thought, so your fingers type a period. But in APA, the parenthetical citation is part of the sentence's grammar — it functions as evidence for the claim. The sentence isn't complete until you've identified your source.
The exception is block quotations. For quotes of 40 or more words displayed in a freestanding block, the period goes before the parenthetical citation: ...end of quote. (Smith, 2023, p. 45). This is the only situation where the period comes first. For everything else — paraphrases, short quotes, summaries — the period follows the closing parenthesis.
In APA style, the period goes after the citation, not before it. Placing it before creates a sentence fragment.
The results were significant. (Smith, 2020)
The results were significant (Smith, 2020).
The most common version of this error: period before the citation and sometimes a second period after.
Student engagement is critical for academic achievement. (Fredricks et al., 2004).
Student engagement is critical for academic achievement (Fredricks et al., 2004).
For short inline quotations, the period goes after the closing parenthesis, not after the quotation mark.
Participants reported feeling "overwhelmed by the workload." (Davis, 2021, p. 12).
Participants reported feeling "overwhelmed by the workload" (Davis, 2021, p. 12).
The period before creates an orphaned citation that looks like its own sentence. Remove the first period.
The intervention lasted six weeks. (Chen & Park, 2022). The results were encouraging.
The intervention lasted six weeks (Chen & Park, 2022). The results were encouraging.
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