Q. Where should an in-text citation be placed (APA Style)?

APA Style (7th ed.)

Citations can appear "within or at the end of a sentence", depending on the placement of a quotation or an author's name (American Psychological Association [APA], 2020, p. 263). Citations for paraphrases typically include both an author name and year in parentheses at the end of the sentence, also known as a parenthetical citation, or the year in parentheses immediately after the author's name within the sentence when the author's name is part of the sentence text, also known as a narrative citation (APA, 2020, p. 263). See below for examples of the two types of citations. Finally, citations for quotations are included either after the quotation or at the end of the sentence, depending on where the quotation appears in the sentence. When the author's name is part of the sentence text (narrative citation), the year will follow the author's name in round brackets even though the page number or location information for the quotation is placed after the quotation or at the end of the sentence (APA, 2020, p. 271).

For example:

1. Smith (2009) noted that this was correct in his study. (Correct format for paraphrasing Smith's results and using a narrative citation)
2. Smith (2009) noted that this was correct in his study (p. 23). (Correct format for paraphrasing Smith's results and including the page number)
3. Smith noted that this was correct in his study (2009, p. 23). (Incorrect formatting for both narrative or parenthetical citations)
4. The study we have referred to found that "all was correct" (Smith, 2009, p. 23). (Correct format for quoting Smith's words and using a parenthetical citation)
5. Smith (2009) found that "all was correct" (p. 23).  (Correct format for quoting Smith's words when the author's name ("Smith") is included in the narrative citation)

The order in which you provide the information is up to you, but usually the author's name is provided in the sentence text when it's important to emphasize the author (see examples one and two above), whereas placing the author's name in the citation places the emphasis on the quoted or paraphrased information (see example four above).

Reference

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000