Brackets allow you to insert your own words into quoted material. You can insert words in brackets to explain a confusing reference or to keep a sentence grammatical in your context.
The cost of treating obesity currently totals $117 billion per year—a price, according to the surgeon general, “second only to the cost of [treating] tobacco use” (Carmona, 2004).
To indicate an error in a quotation, insert [sic] right after the error. Notice that the term sic is italicized and appears in brackets.
If you use [sic] to indicate an error in your quoted source, be very certain that it truly is an error and that you know the correct form.
Exercise: Integrating sources in APA papers 1
Exercise: Integrating sources in APA papers 2
Exercise: Integrating sources in APA papers 3
Exercise: Integrating sources in APA papers 4