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Citation Help for APA, 7th Edition: In-text Citations

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In-text Citation Introduction

What is an in-text citation.

In APA Style, an in-text citation tells the reader where you got any and all information that did not come from inside your own head.  This is more obvious when you are directly quoting from a source, but it is also needed when you have summarized or paraphrased from a source and even if you got an idea from somewhere else.  In order to avoid plagiarism, it is extremely important that you cite all the words and ideas that you got from somewhere else. To learn more about plagiarism and how to avoid it, see Ethically Use Sources   and Plagiarism guidance from APA.

When citing sources in an APA Style paper, APA uses the author-date citation system. In this system, the writer includes the author and date within the body of the paper and includes a corresponding reference in the reference list. This citation system allows the reader to identify sources used in the paper by reviewing the author and date within the text of the paper, and then easily locate the corresponding reference in the alphabetical reference list. 

 There are two types of in-text citations that are used within the body of an APA paper to help the reader locate the corresponding reference in the reference list. T he two types of in-text citations are  parenthetical citations and narrative citations . A narrative citation is a type of citation where the author's name is used within the text of the sentence; whereas, a parenthetical citation is a type of citation where the author and date are in parentheses at the end of the sentence.   

How do I create narrative or parenthetical citations?

In  APA Style, cite your sources by putting the information about the source in parentheses at the end of a sentence or in the text of your paper as opposed to a footnote where the source information is at the bottom of the page or an endnote where it goes at the end of your paper.  There are slight differences depending on which style you are using.

Give the author’s last name and the publication year.

Only use page numbers or paragraph numbers for a direct quote.

Make sure the source information in parentheses matches with your reference in the reference list. 

The punctuation for the sentence goes AFTER the parentheses.

For a quote less than forty words  put quotation marks around the quoted words. For sources with designated page numbers - if the author and date are introduced in the sentence as a narrative citation, then add the page number in parentheses at the end of the quote. If the source does not have designated page numbers, then add the paragraph number, heading, or a combination of both the heading and paragraph number. If the author and date are not introduced as part of the text, then include the author and date with the page or paragraph number. The period should come after the parentheses.

If your quote is more than forty words , set it off in a block text by beginning the block quote on a new line, indent 0.5 inches (one-half), and do not add quotation marks around the block quote.  At the end of the quote put the period after the last word of the sentence followed by the parentheses. For more information, see Block Quote .

Additional Resources

  • Basic Principles of Citation Created by APA. This resource provides fundamental information about the basics of citations.
  • Appropriate Level of Citations Created by APA - learn about how many references should be used in a paper and how many times to cite the same source in a paragraph.
  • Paraphrasing This source provides the basics about paraphrasing, including the use of long paraphrases.
  • Quotations Created by APA - learn about creating quotations for short quotes, block quotes, quotes for sources without page number, and more!

More Information

For more information about parenthetical and narrative citations, see pages 253-278 of the APA Manual 7th edition for further explanation and examples.

Basic In-Text Citation Styles

The basic in-text citation style for adding sources to the body of an APA style paper is to add the author and the date. There are a number of ways that can be done to aid in the readability and flow of the paper. However, the basic style for different authors types are listed in the table below.  

Printable version of the basic in-text citation styles are available here:

  • Basic In-Text Citation Styles - Google Doc version 
  • Basic In-Text Citation Styles - PDF version

 Note.   Adapted from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , by the American Psychological Association, 2020, Table 8.1, p. 266 ( https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000 ). Copyright 2020 by the American Psychological Association.  * Define the abbreviation for a group author only once in the text, choosing either the parenthetical or narrative citation. Once introduced, use only the abbreviation for all mentions of the group author in the text of your paper.

In-text Citation Examples

There are a number of ways that parenthetical and narrative citations can be added to the body of an APA style paper. Using variety helps with the readability and flow of the paper. The following table provides a few examples of common ways parenthetical and narrative citations are used for quotes and paraphrases.

For additional examples, see the following printable handouts:

  • In-text Citation Examples - Google Doc version
  • In-text Citation Examples - PDF version

Variations in APA References

See the following webpages for variations in your APA references:

  • Sources with Multiple Authors
  • Group Author
  • Date Format
  • Periodical Information
  • Multiple Sources with the Same Author & Same Date
  • Secondary Sources
  • Personal Communication
  • Missing Information

Variation - Multiple Sources in Same Citation?

Citing multiple works in the same citation.

Several studies report ... (D'Esposito & Gardner, 1999; Griffiths & Brophy, 2005; Kim & Sin, 2007).  

Explanation

Multiple sources within the same parenthetical citation should be listed alphabetically by author. Separate each citation with a semicolon.  

For more information about citing multiple words in the same citation, see Section 8.12 on pages 263-264 fo the APA Manual, 7th edition.

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APA (7th Edition) Referencing Guide

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Everything must match!

Types of citations, in-text citations, quoting, summarising and paraphrasing, example text with in-text referencing, slightly tricky in-text citations, organisation as an author, secondary citation (works referred to in other works).

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Coins showing Heads and Tails

There are two basic ways to cite someone's work in text.

In narrative citations , the authors are part of the sentence - you are referring to them by name. For example:

Becker (2013) defined gamification as giving the mechanics of principles of a game to other activities.

Cho and Castañeda (2019) noted that game-like activities are frequently used in language classes that adopt mobile and computer technologies.

In parenthetical citations , the authors are not mentioned in the sentence, just the content of their work. Place the citation at the end of the sentence or clause where you have used their information. The author's names are placed in the brackets (parentheses) with the rest of the citation details:

Gamification involves giving the mechanics or principles of a game to another activity (Becker, 2013).

Increasingly, game-like activities are frequently used in language classes that adopt mobile and computer technologies (Cho & Castañeda, 2019).

Using references in text

For APA, you use the authors' surnames only and the year in text. If you are using a direct quote, you will also need to use a page number.

Narrative citations:

If an in-text citation has the authors' names as part of the sentence (that is, outside of brackets) place the year and page numbers in brackets immediately after the name, and use 'and' between the authors' names:  Jones and Smith (2020, p. 29)

Parenthetical citations:

If an in-text citation has the authors' names in brackets use "&" between the authors' names :  (Jones & Smith, 2020, p. 29).

Note: Some lecturers want page numbers for all citations, while some only want page numbers with direct quotes. Check with your lecturer to see what you need to do for your assignment. If the direct quote starts on one page and finishes on another, include the page range (Jones & Smith, 2020, pp. 29-30).

1 author

Smith (2020) found that "the mice disappeared within minutes" (p. 29).

The author stated "the mice disappeared within minutes" (Smith, 2020, p. 29).

Jones and Smith (2020) found that "the mice disappeared within minutes" (p. 29).

The authors stated "the mice disappeared within minutes" (Jones & Smith, 2020, p. 29).

For 3 or more authors , use the first author and "et al." for all in-text citations

Green et al.'s (2019) findings indicated that the intervention was not based on evidence from clinical trials.

It appears the intervention was not based on evidence from clinical trials (Green et al., 2019).

If you cite more than one work in the same set of brackets in text , your citations will go in the same order in which they will appear in your reference list (i.e. alphabetical order, then oldest to newest for works by the same author) and be separated by a semi-colon. E.g.:

  • (Corbin, 2015; James & Waterson, 2017; Smith et al., 2016).
  • (Corbin, 2015; 2018)
  • (Queensland Health, 2017a; 2017b)
  • Use only the   surnames   of your authors   in text   (e.g., Smith & Brown, 2014) - however, if you have two authors with the same surname who have published in the same year, then you will need to use their initials to distinguish between the two of them (e.g., K. Smith, 2014; N. Smith, 2014).   Otherwise, do not use initials in text .

If your author isn't an "author".

Whoever is in the "author" position of the refence in the references list is treated like an author in text. So, for example, if you had an edited book and the editors of the book were in the "author" position at the beginning of the reference, you would treat them exactly the same way as you would an author - do not include any other information. The same applies for works where the "author" is an illustrator, producer, composer, etc.

  • Summarising
  • Paraphrasing

citation in sentence apa

It is always a good idea to keep direct quotes to a minimum. Quoting doesn't showcase your writing ability - all it shows is that you can read (plus, lecturers hate reading assignments with a lot of quotes).

You should only use direct quotes if the exact wording is important , otherwise it is better to paraphrase.

If you feel a direct quote is appropriate, try to keep only the most important part of the quote and avoid letting it take up the entire sentence - always start or end the sentence with your own words to tie the quote back into your assignment. Long quotes (more than 40 words) are called "block quotes" and are rarely used in most subject areas (they mostly belong in Literature, History or similar subjects). Each referencing style has rules for setting out a block quote. Check with your style guide .

It has been observed that "pink fairy armadillos seem to be extremely susceptible to stress" (Superina, 2011, p. 6).

NB! Most referencing styles will require a page number to tell readers where to find the original quote.

citation in sentence apa

It is a type of paraphrasing, and you will be using this frequently in your assignments, but note that summarising another person's work or argument isn't showing how you make connections or understand implications. This is preferred to quoting, but where possible try to go beyond simply summarising another person's information without "adding value".

And, remember, the words must be your own words . If you use the exact wording from the original at any time, those words must be treated as a direct quote.

All information must be cited, even if it is in your own words.

Superina (2011) observed a captive pink fairy armadillo, and noticed any variation in its environment could cause great stress.

NB! Some lecturers and citation styles want page numbers for everything you cite, others only want page numbers for direct quotes. Check with your lecturer.

citation in sentence apa

Paraphrasing often involves commenting about the information at the same time, and this is where you can really show your understanding of the topic. You should try to do this within every paragraph in the body of your assignment.

When paraphrasing, it is important to remember that using a thesaurus to change every other word isn't really paraphrasing. It's patchwriting , and it's a kind of plagiarism (as you are not creating original work).

Use your own voice! You sound like you when you write - you have a distinctive style that is all your own, and when your "tone" suddenly changes for a section of your assignment, it looks highly suspicious. Your lecturer starts to wonder if you really wrote that part yourself. Make sure you have genuinely thought about how *you* would write this information, and that the paraphrasing really is in your own words.

Always cite your sources! Even if you have drawn from three different papers to write this one sentence, which is completely in your own words, you still have to cite your sources for that sentence (oh, and excellent work, by the way).

Captive pink fairy armadillos do not respond well to changes in their environment and can be easily stressed (Superina, 2011).

NB! Some lecturers and citation styles want page numbers for all citations, others only want them for direct quotes. Check with your lecturer.

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When you have multiple authors with the same surname who published in the same year:

If your authors have different initials, then include the initials:

As A. Smith (2016) noted...

...which was confirmed by J.G. Smith's (2016) study.

(A. Smith, 2016; J. G. Smith, 2016).

If your authors have the same initials, then include the name:

As Adam Smith noted...

...which was confirmed by Amy Smith's (2016) study.

(Adam Smith, 2016; Amy Smith, 2016).

Note: In your reference list, you would include the author's first name in [square brackets] after their initials:

Smith, A. [Adam]. (2016)...

Smith, A. [Amy]. (2016)...

When you have multiple works by the same author in the same year:

In your reference list, you will have arranged the works alphabetically by title (see the page on Reference Lists for more information). This decides which reference is "a", "b", "c", and so on. You cite them in text accordingly:

Asthma is the most common disease affecting the Queensland population (Queensland Health, 2017b). However, many people do not know how to manage their asthma symptoms (Queensland Health, 2017a).

When you have multiple works by the same author in different years:

Asthma is the most common disease affecting the Queensland population (Queensland Health, 2017, 2018). 

When you do not have an author, and your reference list entry begins with the title:

Use the title in place of the author's name, and place it in "quotation marks" if it is the title of an article or book chapter, or in italics if the title would go in italics in your reference list:

During the 2017 presidential inauguration, there were some moments of awkwardness ("Mrs. Obama Says ‘Lovely Frame’", 2018).

Note: You do not need to use the entire title, but a reasonable portion so that it does not end too abruptly - "Mrs. Obama Says" would be too abrupt, but the full title "Mrs. Obama Says 'Lovely Frame' in Box During Awkward Handoff" is unecessarily long. You should also use title case for titles when referring to them in the text of your work.

If there are no page numbers, you can include any of the following in the in-text citation:

  • "On Australia Day 1938 William Cooper ... joined forces with Jack Patten and William Ferguson ... to hold a Day of Mourning to draw attention to the losses suffered by Aboriginal people at the hands of the whiteman" (National Museum of Australia, n.d., para. 4).
  • "in 1957 news of a report by the Western Australian government provided the catalyst for a reform movement" (National Museum of Australia, n.d., The catalyst for change section, para. 1)
  • "By the end of this year of intense activity over 100,000 signatures had been collected" (National Museum of Australia, n.d., "petition gathering", para. 1).

When you are citing a classical work, like the Bible or the Quran:

References to works of scripture or other classical works are treated differently to regular citations. See the APA Blog's entry for more details:

Happy Holiday Citing: Citation of Classical Works . (Please note, this document is from the 6th edition of APA).

In text citation:

If the name of the organisation first appears in a narrative citation, include the abbreviation before the year in brackets, separated with a comma. Use the official acronym/abreviation if you can find it. Otherwise check with your lecturer for permission to create your own acronyms.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2013) shows that...

The Queensland Department of Education (DoE, 2020) encourages students to... (please note, Queensland isn't part of the department's name, it is used in the sentence to provide clarity)

If the name of the organisation first appears in a citation in brackets, include the abbreviation in square brackets.

(Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2013)

(Department of Education [DoE], 2020)

In the second and subsequent citations, only include the abbreviation or acronym

ABS  (2013) found that ...

DoE (2020) instructs teachers to...

This is disputed ( ABS , 2013).

Resources are designed to support "emotional learning pedagogy" (DoE, 2020)

In the reference list:

Use the full name of the organisation in the reference list.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2017).  Australia's welfare 2017 . https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/australias-welfare-2017/contents/table-of-contents

Department of Education. (2020, April 22). Respectful relationships education program . Queensland Government. https://education.qld.gov.au/curriculum/stages-of-schooling/respectful-relationships

Academically, it is better to find the original source and reference that.

If you do have to quote a secondary source:

  • In the text you must cite the original author of the quote and the year the original quote was written as well as the source you read it in. If you do not know the year the original citation was written, omit the year.
  • In the reference list you only list the source that you actually read.

Wembley (1997, as cited in Olsen, 1999) argues that impending fuel shortages ...

Wembley claimed that "fuel shortages are likely" (1997, as cited in Olsen, 1999, pp. 10-12).

Some have noted that fuel shortages are probable in the future (Wembley, 1997, as cited in Olsen, 1999).

Olsen, M. (1999).  My career.  Gallimard.

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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / APA Format / APA In-text Citations

APA In-Text Citations

Welcome to our guide on in-text citations! If you’re looking to learn the ins and outs of APA style in-text citations and how to do in-text citations APA, we’ve got you covered in this thorough guide.

The information below follows the 7th edition of the  Publication manual of the American Psychological Association .

Here’s a run through of everything this page includes:

  • APA Style overview
  • In-text citations and why we use them
  • Two types of APA in-text citations
  • Corresponding entry in reference list
  • In-text citations for direct quotes

Paraphrasing in APA

  • In-text citations for sources with one author
  • In-text citations for sources with multiple authors
  • In-text citations for sources with no author or date
  • Additional in-text citation examples

If you’re simply looking for a quick guide, check out our APA parenthetical citation guide, which serves as a lite-version of this page.

Let’s get started!

What is APA?

This is a term that you might hear your teacher, professor, or librarian throw around a lot. This abbreviation stands for

P sychological

A ssociation

This association is kind of a big deal. They do a lot of things related to psychology, but they’re also famous for creating one of the most popular citation styles, APA format . There are other big names on campus, such as MLA format , and Chicago, but this particular style is commonly used by individuals who are writing a science-related paper.

Even if your paper doesn’t necessarily fall into a “science” category, many educators ask their students to cite in this style since it’s so commonly used.

If you’re trying to find information about other commonly used styles, there are more styles on EasyBib.com.

What is an APA In-text Citation?

In plain and simple terms, APA in-text citations are found in the text of a project. Get it? In text. The purpose of an in-text citation in APA is to show the reader, while they’re reading your work, that a piece of information in your project was found elsewhere. They’re placed IN the wording or body of a project, not on the last page; the last page has full references. To learn more about those types of references, check out APA citation .

We’ve all heard about the word plagiarism , and you already know what it means. Simply put, including APA in-text citations are one way to prevent plagiarism.

Here’s what’s included in an APA 7th edition in-text citation:

  • Last name(s) of the author(s) or Group name
  • Year the source was published
  • Page number (if available)

Depending on the number of authors and the source type, some in-text citations look different than others. Read on to learn how to structure an in-text citation for APA. In fact, if you’re looking for an easy route, EasyBib.com has an in-text citation APA generator, which does the work for you. Use our automatic generator to create your full references, and you’ll see an option on the final screen to format your APA in-text citations. An APA in-text citation generator and full reference generator all in one. What could beat that?

Why do we use in-text citations?

When you do a research project, you’re probably going to include facts from websites, databases, books, and other sources. When you add those facts into your project, you must show where those facts came from. It’s the responsible thing to do. It prevents plagiarism. You always give credit to the original author. It’s kind of like thanking them for their contribution to your paper.

Here’s the neat thing about in-text citations. Since they’re IN your project, readers get a quick idea as to where the information you included came from. In-text citations APA are not long and lengthy, like the full references on the APA reference page  or APA bibliography . In-text citations are cute, little, and give us the perfect amount of information we need to understand where a fact came from. If you want to get the full information about the source, then you can flip to the back page of the paper, where the full reference is listed. The in-text citation APA style provides us with a tidbit of information. Just enough to glance at it and keep on going with reading the paper.

To recap, in-text citations are great because:

  • They credit the original author of a work or information
  • They let readers quickly see where the information is coming from
  • Including helps make you an ethical writer

If you’re looking to learn more about footnotes in Chicago format , MLA in-text & parenthetical citations , or want to learn how to cite websites in MLA , EasyBib.com has the information you need to be a citing superstar.

Types of APA In-text Citations

Just like there are two days in the weekend, two types of peanut butter (creamy and nutty), and two types of foods we crave (salty and sweet), there are (you guessed it) two types of in-text citations.

The in-text citation APA option you include in your paper depends on how you craft your sentences.

Narrative In-Text APA Citations:

In-text citation APA format, in narrative form, is one that shows the author’s name in the sentence itself.

Narrative In-text APA Citation Example:

Tyson, Strauss, and Gott (2016) encourage the use of simplified terms when it comes to discussing and defining the universe. For example, a small white star is simply called a white dwarf. Keep it short and sweet because the universe is confusing enough (p. 22).

Parenthetical Citations:

This is a type of APA in-text citation where the author’s name(s) are in parentheses, usually at the end of the fact or quote.

Parenthetical Citation Example

Use simplified terms when discussing and defining the universe. For example, a small white star is simply called a white dwarf. Keep it short and sweet because the universe is confusing enough (Tyson, Strauss, & Gott, 2016, p. 22).

As you can see, the type of APA in-text citation you include, whether it’s a narrative one or one in parentheses, depends on how you decide to structure your sentences. It doesn’t matter if you use all narrative, all parentheses, or a mix of both.

What is important is that you’re a responsible researcher and you properly cite your sources!

Remember, most facts, quotes, stats, and copied and pasted information NEED an APA in-text citation next to it.

What’s the only type of information you don’t need to create an in-text citation APA for? Anything that’s common knowledge. For example, paper is made from trees. You and most people already knew that. That’s an example of common knowledge. It’s a piece of information that everyone already knows.

Now, before you simply include the author’s name(s), the date, and the page number in your project and think you’ve covered all your bases, you’re not quite done yet. In-text citations APA are only part of the puzzle.

The other piece of the puzzle is found on the last page of the project: the reference page. That’s where all of the full references are found in their entirety. In-text citations only include the author’s name, year published, and the page number.

The reference page, on the other hand, includes the title of each source, the publishers, the website addresses, and other information. Continue reading to learn why in-text citations and references on the reference page are the perfect match.

Before we continue, MLA works cited pages are very similar to the ones in this style. EasyBib.com has resources for many styles, to help you learn the ins and outs of referencing your work. We even have full pages on grammar topics too, to keep your paper in tip-top shape. Brush up on your noun , conjunction , and interjection skills with our easy-to-follow, comprehensive guides.

Corresponding entry in APA reference list

Would you ever put on one shoe and walk around without the other? Of course not. The same goes with in-text citations and full references. You must include both in your paper. Where there’s one there has to be the other.

Each and every in-text citation APA must have a matching full reference on the reference page (American Psychological Association, p. 262 ).

If you’re wondering why, it’s to allow the reader to get that sneak peek about the source while reading your paper (the APA in-text citation), and then learn all about it on the final page (the reference page). If the reader wants to get their hands on a copy of the sources you used, all of the information they need can be found on the reference page.

Remember those APA style in-text citation examples found above? Let’s take a peek at them again.

Here’s the one with the authors’ names in parentheses: Use simplified terms when discussing and defining the universe. For example, a small white star is simply called a white dwarf. Keep it short and sweet because the universe is confusing enough (deGrasse, Strauss, & Gott, 2016, p. 22).

Here’s the full reference, which would be found on the final page of the project:

Tyson, N. D., Strauss, M. A., and Gott, J. R. (2016). Welcome to the universe: An astrophysical tour. Princeton University Press.

Notice that in the above in-text citation APA example, the full title of the book, the place the book was published, and the publisher are displayed. If the reader wants to locate the book themselves, all of the information they need is found in the full reference.

One other important thing we’d like to point out is that the same information from the in-text citation APA (Tyson, Strauss, & Gott) matches the first part of the full reference. This is done to allow the reader to easily find the full reference on the final page.

Remember, always include both in-text citations AND full references in your projects.

In the body of projects, in-text citations APA serve an important purpose. They give the reader a snippet of understanding as to the origin of  information. It’s just enough information to allow the reader to continue reading the paper in a natural and fluid manner, without having to trip over long, clunky references. If the reader wants to get a detailed understanding of a source, they can flip to the back page, the reference page, to scope out all of the nitty gritty details.

In the next two sections of this page, we’re going to switch gears and share how to properly format direct quotes and paraphrases.

If you’re looking for specific source types, check out APA citation website and APA book citation . These two resources will explain how to format those specific types of references. If you’re stuck and not sure how to start, check out Chapter 10 of the  Publication manual for some sample citations.

Direct Quotes in APA

As Drake states in his lyrics, “We don’t like to do too much explaining,” so we’re going to keep this one short and to the point.

“Direct quotes” are a fancy term used for any text that has been copied and pasted into your paper. That Drake quote above is a direct quote.

Direct quotes are any words or sentences copied and pasted into your project, but they don’t necessarily have to be a person’s quote. Anytime you copy and paste text into your assignment, you must include an APA in-text citation next to it. This shows the reader that:

  • The information came from another source
  • You’re being a responsible researcher and clearly documenting the outside source.

Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when it comes to direct quotes:

  • Direct quotes are a solid way to show evidence and prove your point, but use them sparingly. Your paper shouldn’t be riddled with copied and pasted text.
  • Put quotation marks around the copied and pasted information. (The exception are APA block quotes , which are direct quotes longer than 40 words and are formatted differently.)
  • Always include the page number for direct quotes, if one is available. When formatting APA page numbers for an in-text citation, include p. before the number. Use pp. for a page range.

To create a narrative APA in-text citation, include the author’s last name in the sentence like this:

  • As Drake (2013) once said “We don’t like to do too much explaining.”
  • In the above APA in-text citation example, the Drake quote was taken from the song, “Started From the Bottom,” in 2013. The title of the source would be included in the reference page.

Or, you include the author’s name in parentheses:

  • “We don’t like to do too much explaining” (Drake, 2013).

If you are looking for more examples, go to page 272 of the American Psychological Association’s official Publication manual .

We said above that your entire paper shouldn’t have direct quotes everywhere. So, another way to include information from a source is by adding a paraphrase . Simply put, a paraphrase is restated information, but formed using your own words and writing style

APA paraphrases still need an in-text citation since the information was obtained elsewhere. Check out this quote from the song, “For Time,” by Drake:

“I like it when money makes a difference, but don’t make you different.”

To include it in your paper, without using the exact quote, make a paraphrase. Here’s one that would work:

Money has the ability to benefit things in your life, but it’s truly great when it doesn’t cause the person to act differently or change who they are (Drake, 2013).

The above APA in-text citation example is one with Drake’s name in parentheses. If you’d like to include the author’s name narratively, here’s an option:

In Drake’s (2013) lyrics, he shares that money has the ability to benefit things in your life. It’s truly great when it doesn’t cause the person to act differently or change who they are.

It is recommended to include page numbers for paraphrased material, but isn’t required.

Here’s more on paraphrases and direct quotes.

Organizing APA In-text Citations

Ready to learn how to structure your in-text citations? The next section dives deep into developing them and answers “How to do in-text citations APA.” Keep in mind that how each one is formed depends on the number of authors and other factors. All the examples below follow rules laid out in Chapter 8 of the Publication manual.

Even though the structure varies, most in-text citations APA are placed in this manner for narrative in-text citations:

Author’s Last Name (Year) “Quote or Paraphrase” (p. number).

For ones in parentheses, most are placed in this manner:

“Quote” or Paraphrase (Author’s Last Name, Year, p. number).

Notice that whether you choose to include a narrative in-text citation APA or one in parentheses, the author names and the year published are always together. They’re pretty much holding hands. Cute, huh?

Read on to learn the ins and outs of structuring various in-text citations.

Don’t forget, EasyBib.com has an in-text citation APA generator. Wondering what it’s all about? Here’s a quick explanation: We work for you so citing is easy for you. Yep, you read that correctly.

Our tools structure your in-text citations the way they’re supposed to be structured. Use our automatic generator to create your full references, and on the final screen you’ll see the option to create your in-text citations. An APA in-text citation generator that’s easy as pie!

Something else we do for you? We have a plagiarism checker that scans your paper for any instances of accidental copying. We also have tons of grammar pages to keep your page in check. Check out our adverb , preposition , and verb pages.

APA In-Text Citations for Sources with One Author

If your source has one author.

If your source has one author, lucky you! Your in-text citation is pretty simple to structure.

Narrative In-text APA Citation:

Author’s Last Name (Year published) are found in the sentence with a “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

Parenthetical APA Citation:

“Direct quote” or Paraphrase (Author’s Last Name, Year published, p. number).

Citing multiple sources by the same author in the same year

You may have a bunch of case studies, articles, or books that you’re referencing, all by the same author. Let’s say you’re analyzing two works by Sigmund Freud, Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious and also Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria , both of which were published in 1905. Placing (Freud, 1905) in the text would be confusing for the reader. How would the reader determine which source you’re referencing?

If this is the situation you’re in, there’s a pretty simple fix.

Place a lowercase a next to the year in the first source (Freud, 1905a). Place a lowercase b next to the second source (Freud, 1905b). Include those same lowercase letters in the full references on the reference page, like so:

Freud, S. (1905a). Fragment of an analysis of a case of hysteria . https://staferla.free.fr/Freud/Freud%20complete%20Works.pdf

Freud, S. (1905b). Jokes and their relation to the unconscious . https://staferla.free.fr/Freud/Freud%20complete%20Works.pdf

But there’s a catch. When you do this et al. can’t stand for only one author. After all it literally means “and others.” If you have two sources that are identical except for the last author, then you have to write out all the names every time. For example:

Gunderman, Slack, Rausch, and Smith (2017)

Gunderman, Slack, Rausch, and Johnston (2017)

These references are completely the same except for the very last name so you’d have to write all 4 names every time.

If your source has multiple works by the same author

What if you had 2 sources with the same author(s) and same publication year? Lucky for us the solution here is a lot simpler. Just a letter to the publication year!

Gunderman, Slack, and Rausch (2017)

Gunderman, Slack, and Rausch (2017a)

Gunderman, Slack, and Rausch (2017b)

Just remember to also follow this format in your works cited page even if there is an exact publication date available. See page 267 of your Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020) for a further breakdown.

Need to create an APA in-text citation for a source without an author? How about an APA in-text citation for multiple authors? Continue reading to see the other ways to structure an APA style in-text citation.

APA In-Text Citations for Sources with Multiple Authors

Apa in-text citation for sources with two authors.

If your source has two authors, place them in the order they appear on the source. Do not place them in alphabetical order.

Use the word “and” in between the authors’ names.

1st Author’s Last Name and 2nd Author’s Last Name (Year published) are found somewhere in the sentence with a “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

If you choose to include both authors’ names in parentheses, use an ampersand in between their names.

“Here is the direct quote” or Here is the paraphrase (1st Author’s Last Name & 2nd Author’s Last name, Year, p. number).

APA in-text citation for sources three or more authors

Only include the first author’s last name and then add ‘et al.’ Et al. is a fancy way of saying “and others” in Latin.

1st Author’s Last Name et al. (Year published) are found somewhere in the sentence with a “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

“Here is the direct quote” or Paraphrase (1st Author’s Last Name et al., Year published, p. number).

If you have author of multiple works (with multiple authors)

Now here is where things can get a tad bit tricky. Sometimes authors with multiple works can cause some confusion in your citations. Generally when that happens you can tell the difference by the publication year, but when you can’t, that’s when you have to list as many authors as necessary to clear up the confusion.

Say you had the two sources below:

Gunderman, Slack, Rausch, and Maule (2017)

Gunderman, Byrnes, Oxner, Wigginton, and Draeger (2017)

Normally, they’d be written as:

Gunderman et al. (2017)

If you reduced both sources to Gunderman et al. (2017) you wouldn’t be able to tell which source you’re talking about. Instead cite it this way:

Gunderman, Slack, Rausch et al. (2017)

Gunderman, Byrnes, Oxner et al. (2017)

If you’re looking for more information on structuring journal articles, check out our APA journal page.

If you’re looking for a simple solution to referencing multiple authors, EasyBib.com creates in-text citations APA for you! Whether you need to create a reference for one or two authors, or an APA in-text citation for multiple authors, we’ve got you covered!

APA In-text citation no author or date

It’s common to come across sources without any authors. Movies, brochures, website pages often do not have a visible author’s name.

Citing a source with no author

If you find that the source you’re attempting to reference does not have an author, use the first few words from the reference list entry in the APA in-text citation with no author. Most often, it’s the title of the source.

Place the source name in quotation marks if the source is a:

  • website page

Simply italicize the source name if the source is a:

  • Or the full reference starts with italicized information

Remember, you do not have to use the entire title in your in-text citation APA no author. You can use only the first few words from the reference list.

“First few words of the webpage, article, or chapter Title” (Year) along with the “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number). OR First few words of book, newspaper, report, or brochure (Year) along with the “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

“Here is the direct quote” or paraphrase (“Web page, Article, or Chapter Title,” Year, p. number). OR “Here is the direct quote” or paraphrase ( Book, Newspaper, Report, or Brochure Title , Year, p. number).

Citing source with no date

No date? No problem! An APA in-text citation no date situation is easier to solve than you think. Only include the author’s name and the page number.

APA in-text citation no date example:

(Foster, p. 35).

Additional APA In-Text Citation Examples

Source by a group, organization, company, or government agency.

There are two types of groups: Ones that are abbreviated often and ones that are not abbreviated.

For example, think about these two citation style types: APA and Chicago. One is abbreviated (for the American Psychological Association) and the other is usually written as is (Chicago style).

Abbreviated groups

If the company is often abbreviated, in the first mention in text, display the full name and the abbreviation. In the second and any other subsequent mentions, only use the abbreviation.

1st mention:

Full Company’s Name (Abbreviation, Year) with the “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

2nd mention:

Company Abbrev. (Year) “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

“Direct quote” or paraphrase (Full Company’s Name [Abbreviation], Year, p. number).

“Direct quote” or paraphrase (Abbreviation, Year, p. number).

Non-abbreviated groups

Always include the full group, company, or organization’s name in each and every mention in text.

Full Name of Group (Year) with the “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

“Direct quote” or paraphrase (Full Name of Group, Year, p. number).

Citing sources with different authors with the same last name

We’re not quite sure how the author of The Baby-Sitters Club (Ann M. Martin) could be used in a paper that’s also referencing the author of Game of Thrones (George R. R. Martin), but hey, it could happen! It’s a Martin party! It’s important to show the reader the difference between the two individuals to prevent any confusion. To differentiate between the two authors in the text, include their first initials.

Example of in-text citation APA:

“Here’s a quote” (A. Martin, Year, p. 6). G. Martin (Year) also states “this direct quote” (p. 45).

As always, keep the author names and the dates directly next to each other. They love being together and it’s a best practice.

Citing multiple sources in the same in-text citation

List sources alphabetically and separate with a semicolon.

Be sure to list authors alphabetically.

Johnson (2019), Smith and Adams (2015), and Washington (2017), examined…

“Direct quote” or Paraphrase (Author 1 Last Name, Year published, p. number if needed; Author 2 Last Name, Year published, p. number if needed)

Parenthetical Citation Examples:

(Johnson et al., 2019; Smith & Adams, 2015; Washington, 2017)

(Honda, 2006, p. 107; Sato, 1980)

If you want to emphasize a source because it is particularly important or relevant, add “see also” before the source’s citation. Think of “see also” as synonymous with “for more information see…”

(Johnson et al., 2019; see also Smith & Adams, 2015; Washington, 2017).

Citing a source within a source

Did you stumble upon the perfect quote that’s quoted in another source? It happens all of the time and it can be a little tricky to figure out how to quote a quote.

The American Psychological Association recommends locating the original quote, if possible. Instead of relying on secondary sources, take the time to locate the original source to make sure the quote is accurate. Finding and reading through the original source also provides you with further information on your research topic!

If finding the original source isn’t possible, due to out of print titles, web pages taken down, or other factors, then it’s okay to quote the secondary source. In your writing, use the phrase “as cited in Secondary Author’s Last name, Year.”

On the reference page, include the reference for the secondary source.

As cited in Shapiro’s (2019) article, Carranza stated, “Districts 3 and 15 are showing how we can have the important conversations and take bold action on this issue.”

Carranza stated, “Districts 3 and 15 are showing how we can have the important conversations and take bold action on this issue” (as cited in Shapiro, 2019).

On the reference page, Shapiro’s article would be referenced in its entirety.

Citing audiovisual material

APA in-text citations for YouTube videos , songs, podcasts, television shows, and other audiovisual materials look a bit different than other types of sources. They include an extra piece of information: a time stamp.

Bill Nye (2017) shares that the sun is over four-hundred septillion watts (13:15).

The sun is over four-hundred septillion watts (Bill Nye, 2017, 13:15).

If you’re still scratching your head, and feeling the urge to type “how to do in-text citations APA” into Google, click here for a website that we dig.

If you’re looking for a quick fix to developing your references, EasyBib.com has you covered! Our tools can help you create an APA in-text citation multiple authors, one author, no authors, plus more!

Overview of APA Parenthetical Citations for Websites

Here’s a quick overview of how to create an in-text citation for websites. Notice that since these are for online sources, the in-text citation has no page number.

Once again, if grammar isn’t your thing, and you’re looking for help related to specific parts of speech, check out our adjective , pronoun , and determiner pages, among many, many others!

Follow our EasyBib Twitter feed to find more citing tips, fun grammar facts, and the latest product updates.

citation in sentence apa

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

Published May 21, 2019. Updated October 25, 2020.

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau . Michele Kirschenbaum is a school library media specialist and one of the in-house EasyBib librarians. Elise Barbeau is the Citation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing.

APA Formatting Guide

APA Formatting

  • Annotated Bibliography
  • Block Quotes
  • et al Usage
  • In-text Citations
  • Multiple Authors
  • Paraphrasing
  • Page Numbers
  • Parenthetical Citations
  • Reference Page
  • Sample Paper
  • APA 7 Updates
  • View APA Guide

Citation Examples

  • Book Chapter
  • Journal Article
  • Magazine Article
  • Newspaper Article
  • Website (no author)
  • View all APA Examples

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An in-text citation is a shortened version of the source being referred to in the paper. As the name implies, it appears in the text of the paper. A reference list entry, on the other hand, details the complete information of the source being cited and is listed at the end of the paper after the main text. An example of an in-text citation and the corresponding reference list entry for a journal article with one author is listed below for your understanding:

In-text citation template and example:

Only the author name and the publication year are used in in-text citations to direct the reader to the corresponding reference list entry.

Author Surname (Publication Year)

Elden (2003)

Parenthetical

(Author Surname, Publication Year)

(Elden, 2003)

Reference list entry template and example:

Complete information of the reference is used to guide the reader to locate the source for further reference. In the below template, “F” and “M” are first and middle initials, respectively. #–# denotes the page range.

Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Title of the article: Subtitle. Journal Title, Volume (Issue), #–#. DOI

Elden, S. (2003). Plague, panopticon, police. Surveillance & Society, 1 (3), 240–253. https://doi:10.24908/ss.v1i3.3339

When you use APA style, all sources need to have in-text citations. In-text citations direct a reader to the reference entry to get more information on the source being cited in the text. If an in-text citation is not provided, your reader doesn’t know whether there is a source available in the reference list for the idea or topic being discussed in the text. Even if all the basic elements to cite a source are not available, try to provide an in-text citation with the information you do have. For example, if a source does not have an author, use a shortened version of the title in place of the author in your in-text citation. An example is given below for a parenthetical citation.

Author name available:

(Author Surname, Publication Year, p.# for direct quote)

Author name not available:

(“Title of the Work,” Publication Year, p.# for direct quote)

Therefore, in-text citations are essential to guide a reader to locate the corresponding sources in the reference list for the topics discussed in the text.

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APA 7th Edition Citation Guide

  • APA 7th Edition Home
  • Formatting the Paper Itself
  • When and What to Cite
  • In-Text: Multiple Authors
  • In-Text: First and Subsequent Citations
  • In-Text: Authors and Dates Matching
  • In-Text: Direct Quotations
  • In-Text: Secondary Sources
  • Reference Examples: Print
  • Reference Examples: Electronic
  • Reference Examples: Audiovisual Media
  • Step 1: Author (Names)
  • Step 2: Date
  • Step 3: Titles
  • Step 4: Source
  • Help and Training
  • Related Guides

This citation guide is based on The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association  (7th ed., 2020). The contents are accurate to the best of our knowledge.

Content in this guide was copied with permission from Bethel University (TN) Library .

citation in sentence apa

In-Text Citations

How to Use This Guide

Citations in APA style include two parts: (1) in-text citations, which are connected to (2) reference list citations.

This guide will help you create in-text citations that correlate with the corresponding reference list citations. Please see Reference Examples  for more details on the reference list.

Note: All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper except for Personal Communications and similar unrecoverable sources.

Handling In-Text Citations

When mentioning the author in the text of your sentence, provide the author's last name, immediately followed by the date in parentheses.

When not mentioning the author in the text of your sentence, provide the author and date at the end of the sentence in parentheses.

When quoting or paraphrasing a specific detail, include the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence.

When writing your paper, you have two basic choices to make when presenting a source to the reader:

  • You can choose to refer to a work in general.
  • You can specifically quote or paraphrase the words and content of that source.

You can also choose to mention the author in the text of your sentences or you can choose to omit the author's name.

For additional examples, please visit the In-Text Citations: Author/Authors page on Purdue Online Writing Lab.

From the APA Style Blog

  • << Previous: When and What to Cite
  • Next: In-Text: Multiple Authors >>
  • Last Updated: Feb 16, 2024 4:01 PM
  • URL: https://utsouthwestern.libguides.com/APA7

citation in sentence apa

APA (7th ed.) Citation Style Guide: In-Text Citations

  • Paper Format Guidelines
  • Four Elements of a Reference
  • Missing Reference Information
  • In-Text Citations
  • Secondary Sources
  • Tables and Figures
  • Book Sections (Chapters)
  • Reference Works
  • Business Sources
  • Audiovisual Material
  • Social Media & Software
  • Government Documents
  • Open Textbooks
  • Course Related Material

Personal Communications

  • Further Examples
  • Legal Citation
  • Nursing Resources

Basic In-Text Citation Styles

The following covers the most common in-text citation scenarios. For more specific information about in-text citations, refer to pp. 261-269 of the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th ed.

( Publication manual of the American Psychological  Association ,  7th ed., 2020,  p. 266)

author-date citation

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/basic-principles/author-date

  • Douglas College Learning Centre In-text Citation Using APA Style More information on APA 7th in text citation from the Douglas College Learning Centre
  • In-Text Citation Checklist from APA A helpful checklist provided by the folks at APA Style. Run through this quick list for all your citations.

Author - Date Citation System

  • Each source used in a paper has two parts - the in text citation and a corresponding citation in the reference list . 
  • The in text citation consists of the author and the date of publication .  It appears within the text of the paper.  
  • The in text citation gives the surname(s) of the author(s) or the group author(s).  
  • Use only the year in the in text citation, even if the citation in the reference list contains a more specific date.  
  • For works with no date , use n.d. in the in text citation. 

( Publication manual of the American Psychological  Association ,  7th ed., 2020, pp.261-262)

Parenthetical and Narrative Citations

There are two formats for in-text citations - parenthetical and narrative.  In parenthetical citations, the author's name and the publication date appear in parentheses.  In narrative citations, the author's name and publication date is included in the text as part of the sentence.  

In a parenthetical citation both the author and the date appear in parenthesis and are separated by a comma.  A parenthetical citation can go at the end of the sentence or within it.  When it is at the end of a sentence, the period appears after the closing parenthesis.  

Humanity needs to rethink our agricultural practices to make them sustainable by becoming stewards of the land (Fitzgerald & Gershuny, 2019).

Narrative Citation

Usually the author's name appears in the text and the date appears in parentheses immediately after the author's name. If you include the author's name in the sentence, do not include it in the parentheses. Occasionally the author's name and the date both appear in the text.  When this happens do not use parentheses.  

Fitzgerald and Gershuny (2019) describe how humans have a stewardship obligation to both the land and to future generations. 

In their 2019 essay, Fitzgerald and Gershuny discuss challenges, tools, and opportunities for the future of agriculture. 

For further information, see Publication manual of the American Psychological  Association ,  7th ed., 2020, pp.262-263.

Omitting the Year in Repeated Narrative Citations

In general, provide the author and date in every in-text citation.  The year can be omitted from an in text citation "only when multiple narrative citations to a work appear within a single paragraph.  Once you have provided a narrative citation to a work in a paragraph, do not repeat the year in subsequent narrative citations in that same paragraph . Follow this guideline with each paragraph (i.e., include the year in the first narrative citation in a new paragraph).   Include the year in every parenthetical citation .

However, if you cite multiple works by the same author or authors, regardless of the publication years, include the date in every in-text citation to prevent ambiguity. ( Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed., 2020, pp.265-266) .

Organizations as Author

Works with a group author are usually spelled out each time they appear in a citation.

  • The first time provide the full name of the group followed by the abbreviation.  
  • Do not abbreviate the group author name in the reference list entry.    
  • If the group name first appears in a narrative citation, include the abbreviation before the year in parentheses, separated with a comma, e.g.,  The American Psychological Association [APA], 2017 described....  
  • If the group name first appears in a parenthetical citation, include the abbreviation in square brackets, followed by a comma and the year, e.g., (American Psychological Association [APA], 2017)

(Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed., 2020, p. 268)

Citing Multiple Works

Parenthetical citations of multiple works  are listed alphabetically and separated with semicolons.

(Carson, 2019; Lewis et al., 2020; Sanders & Turner, 2018)

For two or more works by the same author , arrange by the year of publication. Place the citations with no date first. Provide the author's surname once and then just the date for subsequent works.

Konepeleny (n.d., 2015, 2020)

For multiple references that have an identical author (or authors) and publication year , include a lowercase letter after the year. These letters are assigned when the references are placed in order in the reference list (alphabetically by title). The year-letter combination is used in both the in-text and the reference list entry. Use only the year with a letter in the in-text citation, even if the reference list entry contains a more specific date.

(Richards, 2018a, 2018b, 2020)

When multiple citations are cited narratively within a sentence, they can appear in any order.

Rogers (2019), Mason (2020), and Pompeo (2015) studied.....

( Publication manual of the American Psychological  Association ,  7th ed., 2020, pp.263-264)

Unknown or Anonymous Author

"When the author of a work is not named, the author may be unknown (i.e., no author is listed on the work, as with a religious work) or identified specifically as "Anonymous." For works with an unknown author , include the title and year of publication in the in-text citation (note that the title moves to the author position in the reference list entry as well).  If the title of the work is italicized in the reference, also italicize the title in the in-text citation.  If the title of the work is not italicized in the reference, use double quotation marks around the title in the in-text citation.  Capitalize these titles in the text using title case, even though sentence case is used in the reference list entry.  If the title is long, shorten it for the in-text citation."

Book with no author: ( Interpersonal Skills , 2019)

Magazine article with no author: ("Understanding Sensory Memory," 2018)

When the author of a work is overtly designated as "Anonymous,"  "Anonymous" takes the place of the author name in the in-text citation."

(Anonymous, 2017)

( Publication manual of the American Psychological  Association ,  7th ed., 2020, pp.264-265)

Works With the Same Author and Same Date

When more than one reference has the same author and publication year, include a lowercase letter after the year . This year-letter combination is used in both the reference list entry and the in-text citation. Use only the year-letter in the in-text citation even if the reference entry has a more specific date.

(Munroe, 2019a)

(Munroe, 2019b)

(Sawatzky, n.d.-a)

(Satwatzky, n.d.-b)

( Publication manual of the American Psychological  Association ,  7th ed., 2020, p.267)

Authors With the Same Surname

When multiple references have authors with the same surname, include the authors' first initials in all in-text citations . This helps to avoid confusion.

(S. Rogers, 2020)

(K. Rogers & Tonnelo, 2019)

Paraphrasing

When   paraphrasing   or referring to an idea contained in another work, APA encourages but does not require one to "provide an page number in the citation for a paraphrase, you may include one in addition to the author and year when it would help interested readers locate the relevant passage within a long or complex work."   ( Publication manual of the American Psychological  Association ,  7th ed., 2020, p.269)

Direct Quotations

When quoting directly, always provide the author, year and page number of the quotation in either the parenthetical or narrative format.  

When providing a direct quote,  a page number is included. For a single page, use p.; for multiple pages use pp.

Short Quotations  (Fewer than 40 Words)

Incorporate a short quotation (fewer than 40 words) into the text of your essay and enclose the quotation in double quotation marks.

Morey (2019) found that the "placebo effect, which had been verified in previous studies, disappeared when only the first group's behaviours were studied in this manner" (p. 225).

Block Quotations (40 Words or More)

When a quotation has 40 words or more, treat it as a block quotation and omit the quotation marks.  Start a block quotation on a new line and indent the whole quotation .5 inch from the left margin.

Morey (2019) found the following:

The placebo effect, which had been verified in previous studies, disappeared when behaviours were studied in the this manner. Furthermore, the behaviours were never exhibited again, even when real drugs were administered. Earlier studies were clearly premature in attributing the results to a placebo effect. (p. 255)

Citing a source multiple times in one paragraph

According to the APA Style , it is important to avoid both undercitation (plagiarism) and overcitation. The website states that "...it is considered overcitation to repeat the same citation in every sentence when the source and the topic have not changed. Instead, when paraphrasing a key point in more than one sentence within a paragraph, cite the source in the first sentence  in which it is relevant and do not repeat the citation in subsequent sentences as long as the source remains  clear and unchanged ." ( Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed., 2020, p.254) . 

To do this, you can make it clear in subsequent sentences that you are still referring to that initial citation. Some was you could do this include using language like "according to the authors" or "they also found" or "the article states."

Trigg (2022) found that owning a pet "may be leverageable in interventions for mental health an wellbeing improvement during cancer recovery" (p.834). In the study, the author found that cancer survivors who were also pet owners found benefits in the companionship and affection they received from their pets. The article was, however, limited by the COVID-19 pandemic which "reduced the overall sample size" (p.848).

Direct Quotations of Material Without Page Numbers

Textual works  may not provide page numbers. To directly quote a document that does not give page numbers, any of the following approaches are acceptable:

Provide a paragraph number . You can count the paragraphs if they are not numbered.

e.g. (Rogers, para. 4).

If the document includes headings or section names , cite the heading name in the in text citation. If the heading or section name is too long, provide an abbreviated heading or section name in quotation marks to indicate that is is an abbreviation.

e.g.  (Selig, Interaction Analysis section).

If the heading or section name is too long, provide an abbreviated heading or section name in quotation marks to indicate that it is an abbreviation.

e.g. ( Selig , "Nutrition" section). The original  section was titled Nutrition Analysis of Vegan and Vegetarian Diets.

Provide a heading/section name with a paragraph number .

e.g. (Golan, Kuchler, & Krissof, 2017, Body Trust section, para. 3).

Audiovisual Works. Give a time stamp for the beginning of the quotation in place of a page number.

(Gendlin, 2020, 4:42).

( Publication manual of the American Psychological  Association ,  7th ed., 2020, pp.272-278)

Entire Websites

When citing an entire website rather than a specific document on that website, an in-text citation is with the address of the website is all that is required. A reference list entry is not required.  

e.g. The Douglas College library has information on citing your sources (https://library.douglascollege.ca)

( Publication manual of the American Psychological  Association ,  7th ed., 2020, p.268)

"Works that cannot be recovered by readers (i.e., works without a source element) are cited as personal communications. Personal communications include emails, text messages, online chats or direct messages, personal interviews, telephone conversations, live speeches, unrecorded classroom lectures, memos, letters, messages from nonarchived discussion groups or online bulletin boards, and so on.

"Citing Personal Communications in the Text. Because readers cannot retrieve the information in personal communications, personal communications are not included in the reference list; they are cited in the text only.  Give the initial(s) and surname of the communicator, and provide as exact a date as possible."

(APA Publication Manual, 7th ed., p. 260)

Parenthetical citation:

(N. Smith, personal communication, April 8, 2020)

Narrative citation:

N. Smith said in her email ....(personal communication, April 8, 2020)

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APA 7th Edition Guide

In-text citations.

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  • Creating In-Text Citations

Formatting In-Text Citations

  • Placing In-Text Citations in a Paper
  • Quotations & Block Quotations
  • Paraphrases & Summaries

Why Cite Resources?

Citing sources in the body of a research paper tells the reader that outside source material was used in the sentence where the in-text citation appears.  This lets the reader know it is not their original work or thought. Citing sources:

  • Lets the reader know whose research or ideas or theories influenced the paper's author
  • Provides authority and support for the positions taken in the paper
  • Acknowledges others in the field by giving credit for their original work

In-text citations also serve as finding tools. Because in-text citations are composed of the first two elements of the reference for the resource (author's last name and publication date), it provides the reader with enough information to find the resource in the paper’s References list. In other words, in-text citations and references match!

             

What Needs to be Cited?

According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.),

" Plagiarism is the act of presenting the words, ideas, or images of another as one's own; it denies authors credit where credit is due" (American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 21).

In other words, using information from source material must be cited in the text and in the Reference list of APA-style papers.  This includes using others:

  • Words  - Quotations
  • Ideas  - Summaries, Paraphrases
  • Data  - Numbers, Data
  • Images   - Pictures, Charts, Graphs

View examples of references and companion in-text citations in the References page s in the APA Guide.

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

Creating In-Text Citations: Paraphrases and Summaries

(Author, Date)       

APA style uses the Author-Date citation system. In-text citations appear in the text of the paper to let readers know that information in the sentence where the in-text citation appears was taken from source material. They are composed of the first two elements of the corresponding reference (Author, Date)  for the resource and are designed to be short to avoid disrupting the flow of the paper.

There are two types of in-text citation:

  • Parenthetical

Parenthetical In-Text Citation

This is the most common form of in-text citation.  It is composed of the author(s) last name and the year of publication. It is called a parenthetical citation because this information is enclosed in parentheses. The parenthetical citation appears at the end of the sentence where information from the source was used and, because it is a part of the sentence, appears before the period. See the example of a parenthetical citation below:

Students reported they prefer writing on a computer rather than with paper and pen  (Cheung, 2016) .

Narrative In-Text Citation

The narrative citation is used when the author's name is used in a sentence. In this case, the year of publication enclosed in parentheses follows the author's name in the sentence. See the example of a narrative citation below:

In his survey, Cheung  (2016)  found that undergraduate writers produced higher quality writing when composing on a computer rather than with paper and pen.

In-Text Citations and References are Connected and Match!

In-text citations have two functions. First, they alert the reader that information from source material was used in a sentence where the in-text citation appears. It lets the reader know who's work influenced the writer's position or conclusions on the topic. Second, it serves as a finding tool so that the reader can quickly find the full reference in the reference list. The reference and in-text citation need to match. The example below illustrates how these match:

undefined

In-text citations follow the Author-Date pattern. In-text citations can appear at the end of a sentence (parenthetical in-text citation) or in the text of the sentence if the author's name is incorporated (narrative in-text citation). If a work is by three or more authors, list the first author's last name followed by the phrase "et al." and the year of publication.

Examples of in-text citations for works by one author, two authors, three or more authors, and group authors appear below:

Work by One Author

    Parenthetical in-text citation              (Davis, 2019).

    Narrative in-text citation                     According to Davis (2019),...

Work by Two Authors

    Parenthetical in-text citation              (Ryan & Cooper, 2020).

    Narrative in-text citation                     In the study conducted by Ryan and Cooper (2020),...

Work by Three or More Authors

   Parenthetical in-text citation              (Morrison et al., 2018).

    Narrative in-text citation                     In the Morrison et al. (2018) study,...

Work by Group Author

    Parenthetical in-text citation

  • First citation                                 (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2019).
  • Subsequent citation                     (ANA, 2019).

   Narrative in-text citation

  • First citation                                  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2020) report...
  • Subsequent citation                     According to the CDC (2020), recommendations include...                      

       

Placing In-Text Citations

In-text citations follow the Author-Date pattern and appear in the sentence where information from source material is used.  Placement of in-text citations vary depending on whether the author(s) name is incorporated into the sentence (narrative citation) or if the author(s) is not named directly in the sentence (parenthetical citation). In-text citations are a part of the sentence and appear before the ending period.

Parenthetical Citations

A parenthetical citation appears when information from source material is used, but the author(s) name is not included in the sentence text. This type of in-text citation is composed of the author(s) last name comma year of publication enclosed in parentheses. It is placed at the end of the sentence before the ending period.  

Narrative Citations

A narrative citation is used when the author(s) name is included in the sentence text. In this case, the year of publication is enclosed in parentheses and appears after the author(s) name.

In his survey,  Cheung  (2016)   found that undergraduate writers produced higher quality writing when composing on a computer rather than with paper and pen.

Creating In-Text Citations: Quotations

Author-Date-#   pattern:

When you copy a portion of the text directly from a source, it is called a  direct quotation . You will enclose the quote in quotation marks, and your citation will contain the last name of the author(s), the year of publication, and page number of where the quote can be found in the source:

If you are using a source that has  pages , then you will use an abbreviated p.:

(Smith, 2018, p. 4).

If you are using a source that does not have pages (a website), then you will use a  paragraph number . You will count down to the paragraph where your quote is located. You will use an abbreviated para.: 

(Wilson & Miller, 2019, para. 2).

Parenthetical In-Text Citation:

If the author’s name is not incorporated in your sentence include the author’s last name, year of publication, and page or paragraph number separated with commas and enclosed in parentheses at the end of the quotation: 

Many writers appreciate the “ability to edit instantaneously”  (Smith, 2008, p. 72)  when writing in pencil or on a computer.

If you incorporate the author’s name into your sentence follow the author's name with the year of publication in parentheses and include the location in parentheses directly following the quote:

In his survey,  Miller (2006)  found that some writers like the sound “of graphite turning ideas into reality”  (p. 72)  when writing in pencil. 

Quotations of 40 or More Words Require Block Format

Quotations of 40 or more words included in a paper are presented in block format. The quotation begins on a new line and the whole quotation is indented 1/2 inch from the left margin. No quotation marks are used and the citation appears at the end of the quotation after the final punctuation mark. In fact, this is the only situation where a parenthetical reference appears outside of a period!

Writing Tip:    Block quotations should be used sparingly.   Remember that your voice is important -- after all it is your paper! Instead of using a block quotation, consider taking pieces of the larger quote and either paraphrase them (put their ideas into your own words and provide an in-text citation) or include precise, shorter quotations from the larger quote, integrated into your own sentences. Either approach will help to ensure that you (the writer) have engaged with information in the quote and directly applied it to the topic of the paper.

Here is an example of a block quotation. Note: Normally the passage would be double spaced but, due to space restrictions, this example is single spaced.

Place direct quotations longer than 40 words in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks.  Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph.  Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin.  Maintain double-spacing throughout.  The parenthetical reference should come after the closing punctuation mark. (Angeli, et al., 2018, para. 27)

To create a block quotation, use the block indent button:

citation in sentence apa

Although paraphrasing information is preferable, there are specific situations when a quotation can be an effective choice.  For example:

  • Including a famous or familiar quotation can be effective when introducing a topic or in setting the tone of a paper.
  • Providing the words of an expert can bolster your position or argument.
  • In rare instances, it may be difficult to paraphrase a short passage without changing the meaning; including a precise quotation may be preferable.
  • Sources of facts and statistics--including those presented in tables or charts -- must be documented in your paper using in-text citations and references.
  • Including a quotation that opposes your position can be an effective method to prove why your position on the issue is preferable.

Paraphrases and Summaries

Author-Date  pattern:

When you  summarize ,  paraphrase , or otherwise refer to an idea, concept, or fact gained through your research, your citation will contain the last name of the author(s) and the year of publication:

(Smith, 2018)

(Wilson & Miller, 2019)

Qualities of a "Good" Paraphrase

Academic writing often requires students to integrate information found in source material.  There are various ways to do this; quotations, summaries, or paraphrases.  A  paraphrase  is a detailed restatement in your own words of main ideas from the portion of the source that is paraphrased.

Creating a well-written paraphrase can be a challenging skill to learn.  Understanding the qualities of a "good" paraphrase can help. A well-written paraphrase includes the following qualities:

  • All of the main details in the original appear in the paraphrase
  • The paraphrase does not change the original author's meaning.
  • ​The paraphrase is roughly the same length or shorter than the original. 
  • ​ The paraphrase is written using language, tone, and style that is your own.
  • ​ Paraphrased material must include both an in-text citation and a reference in the References list.

Example of a well-written paraphrase:

Original Passage:

University of Tulsa psychologist Judy Berry studied seventy-three Oklahoma eighth graders who had taken a parenting course.  For ten days, each student had to care for a ten-pound sack of flour as if it were a baby.  Berry's research on her young subjects suggests the course worked.  The teenagers in the study had a sounder sense of parental responsibility than they did before they took the course.

Harper, K. S. (1996). 'Flour babies' surrogacy teaches eight-graders parenting skills.  Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25 (4), 25-28.

Example of a Good Paraphrase:

Extended parental role-playing can actually increase an adolescent's awareness of parental responsibilities as shown by psychologist Judy Berry's study involving eighth grade students (Harper, 1996).

Avoid Patch Writing!

Students learning how to paraphrase may inadvertently "patch write."  Patch writing occurs when a writer uses a passage from source material and changes a few words and phrases before including the passage in a paper or assignment.  Not only is this  "bad" paraphrasing but it is also a form of plagiarism.  View the example below to gain a better understanding of patch writing:

University of Tulsa psychologist Judy Berry studied seventy-three Oklahoma eighth graders who had taken a parenting course.  For ten days, each student had to care for a ten-pound sack of flour as if it were a baby.  Berry's research on her young subjects suggests the course worked.  The teenagers in the study had a sounder sense of parental responsibility than they did before they took the course.

Patchwriting Example:

University of Tulsa psychologist Judy Berry  studied  eighth graders who had taken a parenting course.  Students had to treat  a ten-pound sack of flour as if it were a baby.   The results of Berry's study suggested  that teenagers in the study had a  better understanding  of parental responsibility than they did before they took the course  (Harper, 1996).

TIP:   Notice how the bolded phrases are identical to the original.  Even though there is an in-text citation, patchwriting is still a form of plagiarism.

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APA Citation Guide (7th Edition): In-Text Citation

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What Is In-Text Citation?

In APA, in-text citations are inserted in the text of your research paper to briefly document the source of your information. Brief in-text citations point the reader to more complete information in the Reference list.

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. In the author-date method, the writer includes the author and date within the body of the paper and includes a corresponding reference in the Reference list. This method allows the reader to identify sources used in the paper by reviewing the author and date within the text of the paper, and then easily locate the corresponding reference in the alphabetical Reference list.

Create an in-text citation whenever you quote another work, or whenever you paraphrase another work in your own words.

In-text Citations Have Two Formats

  • Parenthetical - the author name and publication date (or equivalent information) appear in parentheses. For example: Falsely balanced news coverage can distort the public's perception of expert consensus on an issue (Burnside, 2016).
  • Narrative - the author name appears in running text and the date appears in parentheses immediately after the author name. For example: Burnside (2016) noted the dangers of falsely balanced news coverage.

If you are referring to an idea from another work (paraphrasing or summarizing) but NOT directly quoting the material, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference.

If you are directly quoting or borrowing from another work, you should include the page number at the end of the parenthetical citation. For example, (Burnside, 2016, p. 199).

In-Text Citation Styles

The table below shows several examples of parenthetical and narrative citations.

Paraphrasing and Quoting: What Is the Difference?

There are two ways to integrate sources into your assignment:

  • Paraphrasing  is used to show that you understand what the author wrote. You must reword the passage, expressing the ideas in your own words, and not just change a few words here and there. Make sure to also include an in-text citation.
  • Quoting is copying a selection from someone else's work, phrasing it exactly as it was originally written. When quoting, place quotation marks (" ") around the selected passage to show where the quote begins and where it ends. Make sure to include an in-text citation.

Signal Phrases

If you refer to the author's name in a sentence, you do not have to include the name again as part of your in-text citation; instead, include the date after the name and the page number (if there is one) at the end of the quotation or the paraphrased section. For example:

Hunt (2011) explains that mother-infant attachment has been a leading topic of developmental research since John Bowlby found that "children raised in institutions were deficient in emotional and personality development" (p. 358).

Short Quotations

If a quotation consists of fewer than 40 words , treat it as a short quotation:

  • Incorporate the quote into the text and enclose it within double quotation marks.
  • Include the author, year of publication, and page number for the reference.
  • For example, Smith (2019) demonstrated how to "..." (p. 112).
  • For example, "..." (Smith, 2019, p. 112).

Long (Block) Quotations

If a quotation contains 40 words or more , treat it as a long (block) quotation:

  • Do not use quotation marks to enclose a block quotation.
  • Start a block quotation on a new line and indent the whole block 0.5 inches from the left margin.
  • If there are additional paragraphs within the quotation, indent the first line of each subsequent paragraph an additional 0.5 inches.
  • Double-space the entire block quotation; do not add extra space before or after it.
  • Either (1) cite the source in parentheses after the quotation's final punctuation, or (2) cite the author and year in the narrative before the quotation and place only the page number in parentheses after the quotation's final punctuation. Do NOT add a period after the closing parenthesis in either case.
  • See section 8.27 in the Publication Manual for examples of the block quotation.

Direct Quotation Without Page Numbers

When you quote from electronic sources that do not provide page numbers (e.g., webpages, websites, some e-books), provide readers with another way of locating the quoted passage. Use any of the following approaches that will best help readers find the quotation:

  • Provide a heading or a section name.
  • Provide a paragraph number (count the paragraphs manually if they are not numbered).
  • Provide a heading or section name in combination with a paragraph number.

In-Text Citation for More than One Source

If you would like to cite more than one source within the same in-text citation, simply record the in-text citations as normal and separate them with a semi-colon. List the sources alphabetically by author's last name or first word used from the title if no author is given, in the same order they would appear in the Reference list. For example:

(Jones, 2015; Smith, 2014). 

( Beckworth, 2016;  "Nursing,"  2015).

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Using In-text Citation

Include an in-text citation when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list.

APA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the year of publication, for example: (Field, 2005). For direct quotations, include the page number as well, for example: (Field, 2005, p. 14). For sources such as websites and e-books that have no page numbers , use a paragraph number, for example: (Field, 2005, para. 1). More information on direct quotation of sources without pagination is given on the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines web page.

Example paragraph with in-text citation

A few researchers in the linguistics field have developed training programs designed to improve native speakers' ability to understand accented speech (Derwing et al., 2002; Thomas, 2004). Their training techniques are based on the research described above indicating that comprehension improves with exposure to non-native speech.   Derwing et al. (2002) conducted their training with students preparing to be social workers, but note that other professionals who work with non-native speakers could benefit from a similar program.

Derwing, T. M., Rossiter, M. J., & Munro, M. J. (2002). Teaching native speakers to listen to foreign-accented speech.  Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development , 23 (4), 245-259.

Thomas, H. K. (2004).  Training strategies for improving listeners' comprehension of foreign-accented speech  (Doctoral dissertation). University of Colorado, Boulder.

Citing Web Pages In Text

Cite web pages in text as you would any other source, using the author and date if known. Keep in mind that the author may be an organization rather than a person. For sources with no author, use the title in place of an author.

For sources with no date use n.d. (for no date) in place of the year: (Smith, n.d.). For more information on citations for sources with no date or other missing information see the page on missing reference information on the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines web page. 

Below are examples of using in-text citation with web pages.

Web page with author:

In-text citation

Heavy social media use can be linked to depression and other mental disorders in teens (Asmelash, 2019).

Reference entry

Asmelash, L. (2019, August 14). Social media use may harm teens' mental health by disrupting positive activities, study says . CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/13/health/social-media-mental-health-trnd/index.html

Web page with organizational author:

More than 300 million people worldwide are affected by depression (World Health Organization, 2018).

World Health Organization. (2018, March 22).  Depression . https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression

Web page with no date:

Establishing regular routines, such as exercise, can help survivors of disasters recover from trauma (American Psychological Association [APA], n.d.).

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Recovering emotionally from disaste r. http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/recovering-disasters.aspx

General Guidelines

In-text references should immediately follow the title, word, or phrase to which they are directly relevant, rather than appearing at the end of long clauses or sentences. In-text references should always precede punctuation marks. Below are examples of using in-text citation.

Author's name in parentheses:

One study found that the most important element in comprehending non-native speech is familiarity with the topic (Gass & Varonis, 1984).

Author's name part of narrative:

Gass and Varonis (1984) found that the most important element in comprehending non-native speech is familiarity with the topic.

Group as author: First citation: (American Psychological Association [APA], 2015) Subsequent citation: (APA, 2015)

Multiple works: (separate each work with semi-colons)

Research shows that listening to a particular accent improves comprehension of accented speech in general (Gass & Varonis, 1984; Krech Thomas, 2004).

Direct quote: (include page number and place quotation marks around the direct quote)

One study found that “the listener's familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (Gass & Varonis, 1984, p. 85).

Gass and Varonis (1984) found that “the listener’s familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (p. 85).

Note:  For direct quotations of more than 40 words , display the quote as an indented block of text without quotation marks and include the authors’ names, year, and page number in parentheses at the end of the quote. For example:

This suggests that familiarity with nonnative speech in general, although it is clearly not as important a variable as topic familiarity, may indeed have some effect. That is, prior experience with nonnative speech, such as that gained by listening to the reading, facilitates comprehension. (Gass & Varonis, 1984, p. 77)

Works by Multiple Authors

APA style has specific rules for citing works by multiple authors. Use the following guidelines to determine how to correctly cite works by multiple authors in text. For more information on citing works by multiple authors see the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines page on in-text citation .

Note: When using multiple authors' names as part of your narrative, rather than in parentheses, always spell out the word and. For multiple authors' names within a parenthetic citation, use &.

One author: (Field, 2005)

Two authors: (Gass & Varonis, 1984)

Three or more authors:   (Tremblay et al., 2010)

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In-text citation

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  • Other styles AGLC4 APA 7th Chicago 17th (A) Notes Chicago 17th (B) Author-Date Harvard MLA 9th Vancouver
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The APA 7th style uses in-text citations when referring to or quoting people’s work. The essential elements of an in-text citation are the author surname/s and year.

Two types of in-text citations

1. author prominent format.

Use this format if you want to emphasise the author. Their name becomes part of your sentence.

Jones (2018) concluded that the treatment was effective in 74% of cases.

Author prominent citations are also referred to as parenthetical citations.

2. Information prominent format

Use this format if you want to emphasise the information. It cites the author’s name, typically at the end of a sentence.

...as evidenced by a recent Australian study of the treatment's effectiveness (Jones, 2018).

Information prominent citations are also referred to as narrative citations.

The following examples show how to form in-text citations according to number of authors and other considerations.

Surname, Year

Hawkins (2020) reported that the results of the study were inconclusive.

. . . the results of the study were inconclusive (Hawkins, 2020).

Two authors

Both surnames in the order listed on the publication and the year.

For author prominent citations, use “and” between the author names.

For information prominent citations, & between the author names.

Bovey and Hede (2013) argue that . . .

. . . is a significant factor (Bovey & Hede, 2013).

Three or more authors

Cite the first author followed by et al. and year

Robbins et al. (2017) note that leadership empathy and good communication are key to negotiating successful organisational change.

They may be required to work harder now there are … perform the same tasks (Robbins et al., 2017).

Different authors, same surname

When two or more authors have the same surname, add their initials to distinguish between them

P. R. Smith (1945) adopted a unique approach . . . . . . later in the text . . . This idea was first advanced by S. Smith (1935).

Research conducted by W.O. Brown and Jones (1985) was influenced by the work of S.A. Brown and Smith (1961).

The corresponding information prominent citations would be:

(P.R. Smith, 1945)

(S. Smith, 1935)

(W.O. Brown & Jones, 1985)

(S.A. Brown & Smith, 1961)

Multiple authors, ambiguous citations

Distinguish identical multiple-author citations with the same year by adding an additional surname, followed by a comma and et al.

Instead of just Brown et al. (1998), add additional author surnames to distinguish between separate works that Brown co-authored that year:

Brown, Shimamura, et al. (1998)

Brown, Taylor, et al. (1998).

The corresponding information prominent citations would be (Brown, Shimamura, et al., 1998), and (Brown, Taylor, et al., 1998).

  • For further guidance see the APA Style website - Citing multiple works…

Same author, two or more works

Author surname, then years separated by a commas, in chronological order.

Reimer (2017, 2018, 2019) considered this phenomenon across various studies . . .

. . . this phenomenon was considered across various studies (Reimer, 2017, 2018, 2019).

Same author, multiple works and same year

Assign a suffix of a, b, c, d, etc. after the year, according to alphabetical listing by title in the reference list.

Stairs (1992b) examined . . . . . . later in the text . . . According to Stairs (1992a) . . .

. . . was recently considered (Stairs, 1992b) . . . . . . later in the text . . . . . . the results were inconclusive (Stairs, 1992a).

  • For multiple references by the same author with no date, after n.d. add a hyphen and then the suffix e.g. (Dreshcke n.d.-b)

Multiple works from various authors

You may want to cite works from various authors to more strongly support a particular point you are making.

List each work alphabetically by surname in alphabetical order, separated by semicolons.

. . . as proposed by various researchers (Adams et al., 2020; Green, 2019; Hall & Clark, 2021).

Green (2019), Adams et al. (2020), and Hall and Clark (2021) analysed . . .

  • In the author prominent citation there is no requirement to order the citations alphabetically

If the author is identified as 'Anonymous'

Use 'Anonymous' as the surname.

Anonymous (2019)

(Anonymous, 2019)

Unknown author

Give the first few words of the title. If the title is from an article or a chapter, use double quotation marks. If the title is from a periodical, book brochure, or report, then use italics.

. . . the worst election loss in the party's history ("This is the end," 1968).

Corporate or group author

If the organisation has a recognisable abbreviation

First listing: Organisation name [Abbreviation], Year Subsequent: Abbreviation, Year

Where the organisation abbreviation is not widely known

Use the name in full every time

Census data gives valuable insights into... (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2021).

Australia's next census will be held on 10th August 2021 (ABS, 2021).

Author quoted directly

Occasionally it may be necessary to include in your work a quotation from an author.

Always include a page number when you have to cite directly from a source.

If no page numbers are available (e.g. in a website), include a paragraph number.

Use accepted abbreviations like p. for page and para. for paragraph

Gittins (2006) suggests that "the key to understanding microeconomics is to realise that its overwhelming focus is on the role of price" (p. 18).

Weston (1988) stated "the darkest days were still ahead" (p. 45).

A patient is in pain when they tell you and "it is important to believe the patient so as to build a trusting relationship" (Phipps et al., 1983, p.45).

Personal communications

Private letters, e-mail and conversations require only an in-text citation, which includes the date of the communication (Month DD, YYYY).

Personal communications are not included in reference lists, as they are not accessible to others.

R. Smith (personal communication, January 28, 2020) . . .

. . . (R. Smith, personal communication, January 28, 2020)

Author referred to in a secondary source

The original author is cited together with the secondary author.

Only do this when the original is unavailable and only include what you have actually read.

Farrow (1968, as cited in Ward & Decan, 1988) . . .

Ward and Decan (1988) cited Farrow (1968) as finding . . .

. . . (Farrow, 1968, as cited in Ward & Decan, 1988).

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APA Citation Style, 7th Edition: In-Text Citations & Paraphrasing

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When do I use in-text citations?

When should you add in-text citations in your paper .

There are several rules of thumb you can follow to make sure that you are citing your paper correctly in APA 7 format. 

  • Think of your paper broken up into paragraphs. When you start a paragraph, the first time you add a sentence that has been paraphrased from a reference -> that's when you need to add an in-text citation. 
  • Continue writing your paragraph, you do NOT need to add another in-text citation until: 1) You are paraphrasing from a NEW source, which means you need to cite NEW information OR 2) You need to cite a DIRECT quote, which includes a page number, paragraph number or Section title. 
  • Important to remember : You DO NOT need to add an in-text citation after EVERY sentence of your paragraph. 

Paragraph Rules of Thumb: Cite after 1st paraphrase, continue writing, add a new cite for a new source or a direct quote.

What do in-text citations look like?

In-text citation styles: , let's look at these examples if they were written in text: .

An example with 1 author:

Parenthetical citation:  Following American Psychological Association (APA) style guidelines will help you to cultivate your own unique academic voice as an expert in your field (Forbes, 2020). 

Narrative citation : Forbes (2020) shared that by following American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines, students would learn to find their own voice as experts in the field of nursing. 

An example with 2 authors: 

Parenthetical citation: Research on the use of progressive muscle relaxation for stress reduction has demonstrated the efficacy of the method (Bennett & Miller, 2019). 

Narrative citation: As shared by Bennett and Miller (2019), research on the use of progressive muscle relaxation for stress reduction has demonstrated the efficacy of the method. 

An example with 3 authors: 

Parenthetical citation: Guided imagery has also been shown to reduce stress, length of hospital stay, and symptoms related to medical and psychological conditions (Jones et al., 2020).

Narrative citation: Jones et al. (2020) shared that guided imagery has also been shown to reduce stress, length of hospital stay, and symptoms related to medical and psychological conditions. 

An example with a group/corporate author: 

Parenthetical citation: Dr. Philip G. Rogers, senior vice president at the American Council on Education, was recently elected as the newest chancellor of the university (East Carolina University, 2020). 

Narrative citation: Recently shared on the East Carolina University (2020) website, Dr. Philip G. Rogers, senior vice president at the American Council on Education, was elected as the newest chancellor. 

Tips on Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is recreating someone else's ideas into your own words & thoughts, without changing the original meaning (gahan, 2020).  .

Here are some best practices when you are paraphrasing: 

  • How do I learn to paraphrase? IF you are thoroughly reading and researching articles or book chapters for a paper, you will start to take notes in your own words . Those notes are the beginning of paraphrased information.
  • Read the original information, PUT IT AWAY, then rewrite the ideas in your own words . This is hard to do at first, it takes practice, but this is how you start to paraphrase. 
  • It's usually better to paraphrase, than to use too many direct quotes. 
  • When you start to paraphrase, cite your source. 
  • Make sure not to use language that is TOO close to the original, so that you are not committing plagiarism. 
  • Use theasaurus.com to help you come up with like/similar phrases if you are struggling. 
  • Paraphrasing (vs. using direct quotes) is important because it shows that YOU ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND the information you are reading. 
  • Paraphrasing ALLOWS YOUR VOICE to be prevalent in your writing. 
  • The best time to use direct quotes is when you need to give an exact definition, provide specific evidence, or if you need to use the original writer's terminology. 
  • BEST PRACTICE PER PARAGRAPH: On your 1st paraphrase of a source, CITE IT. There is no need to add another in-text citation until you use a different source, OR, until you use a direct quote. 

References : 

Gahan, C. (2020, October 15). How to paraphrase sources . Scribbr.com .   https://tinyurl.com/y7ssxc6g  

Citing Direct Quotes

When should i use a direct quote in my paper .

Direct quotes should only be used occasionally: 

  • When you need to share an exact definition 
  • When you want to provide specific evidence or information that cannot be paraphrased
  • When you want to use the original writer's terminology

From:  https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/whaddyamean/ 

Definitions of direct quotes: 

  • Western Oregon University's APA Guidelines on Direct Quotes This is an excellent quick tutorial on how to format direct quotes in APA 7th edition. Bookmark this page for future reference!

Carrie Forbes, MLS

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In-text citations

In-text citation examples, personal communications.

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A parenthetical citation includes the last name(s) of the author(s) followed by a comma and the page number(s). The parenthetical citation can be at the end of a sentence or may be in the middle of a sentence if needed to be clear on what is being cited.

A company should always do what is right regardless of the consequences, but doing the right thing tends to result in the best outcomes (Dunn, 2016).

Because doing the right thing is always the best choice (Dunn, 2016), corporate leaders must carefully develop a strong ethical compass.

A narrative citation is used when the author’s name is part of the text. In these cases, the author’s name does not need to be repeated in the parenthetical reference.

Dunn (2016) asserts the view that though a company should do what is right regardless of the potential consequences, ethical actions often produce the best possible outcomes for all (p. 22).

For more on in-text citations of a paraphrase, see opens new window https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/paraphrasing

When quoting a source directly, page numbers are used to indicate the location of the quoted text. Though page numbers are not required for a paraphrase, it may be helpful to include page numbers to indicate the location of the paraphrased text. If the source has no page numbers, other location indicators, such as paragraph or section numbers may be used.

“Fundraising is an art and a science” (Garry, 2017, p. 99).

It is hard to predict how donors will respond to an appeal, but in time fundraisers learn to trust their intuition regarding the best approach (Garry, 2017, p. 99).

For more on citing quotations, See opens new window https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/quotations

Personal communications are sources that can not be recovered or accessed by the reader because they are not published. This includes emails, texts, conversations (in person, by phone or video conference, etc.), online chats, interviews, classroom lectures, memos, letters, etc. If the information is not available from any recoverable (published) source, it can be cited as a personal communication. Because the reader can not access the information in personal communications, they will not be included in the reference list, but cited in the text only.

In an interview, Benjamin Colby (personal communication, July 25, 2015) mentioned . . . .

A. J. Montoya (personal communication, February 4, 2020) emailed detailed financials to the research team . . . .

In a lecture on November 1, 2021, to a BUS 326 class, Dr. Dash said . . . .

More information is available on the APA Style website .

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How to cite when a person is named as an author

In APA, the general rule is to use the last name of the author, the year of publication and the page numbers to give credit to the source. APA is called an author-date documentation system because of the use of author and date. Here’s a sample quotation:

“While tattoos may be popular today, few realize that tattooing was also popular in some ancient societies” (Anderson, 2002, p. 112).

Anderson is the name of the author of the source. The source was published in 2002. The information is on page 112.

Here’s the information from the source paraphrased instead of quoted. Note there is no page number when paraphrasing.

Tattoos are popular today and were common even in old civilizations (Anderson, 2002).

Here’s a combination of a quote and a paraphrase. See how the parentheses goes at the end of the sentence, not the end of the quote. Note that the page number goes only after the quoted information

“While tattoos may be popular today (p. 342),” they were common in some old civilizations (Anderson, 2002).

Note also that it is only the last name of the author, not the first name or any title. The end quotation mark goes after the words quoted, not the parentheses. The documentation is part of the sentence, but it is not part of the quote. There is no punctuation before the parentheses except for the end quotation mark: no comma or period goes before the parentheses.

You can tell the reader the name of the author in the sentence. If you do, you should not put the name in the parentheses.

Signal tags with quotes

According to Anderson (2002), “While tattoos may be popular today, few realize that tattooing was also popular in some ancient societies” (p. 344). 

Use of the word  that  before a quote

The addition of the word  that  changes a signal phrase to just the beginning of a sentence so that what is in the quotation marks is a continuation of the sentence and is not considered a separate sentence.

Anderson’s (2002) research that “[w]hile tattoos may be popular today, few realize that tattooing was also popular in some ancient societies” (p.344).

Now the quoted words are part of a sentence which begins outside the quote. I put the letter  w  in brackets since I changed something in a quote. Changing a quote is allowed as long as you show the reader by putting brackets around the change and the change does not alter the meaning of the quote.

If there is more than one study by the author on that point, list the year of the other studies.

Anderson (2002, 2000) shows that …. (p. 32).

To cite more than one study that shows the point, list the other authors and years of study.

The incidence of spontaneous combustion in the external layers is insignificant (Anderson, 2002, p. 33; Xiu, 1998, p. 56). Note: this list should be alphabetical.

More than one author

If there are two authors, use both last names.  The authors should be listed in the same order as they are listed in the source.

“There is increasing evidence that birds descended from dinosaurs” (Simpson & Bernini, 2002, p. 43).

According to Simpson and Bernini (2002), “There is increasing evidence that birds descended from dinosaurs” (p. 43).

If there are three authors, use all three last names as follows:

According to Simpson, Bernini, and O’Reilly (2002), “There is increasing evidence that birds descended from dinosaurs” (p. 43).

“There is increasing evidence that chickens did not come from chicken eggs (Simpson, Bernini, & O’Reilly, 2002, p. 67).

See how the word  and  is used when the source is reffered to in a sentence and an  &  is used when parenthetical documentation is used.

After the first time mentioned for references with three or four authors, use the first name with et al.

Simpson et al (2002) also found that some chickens did not have feathers (p. 43).

If there are more than four authors named, use the first name with et al consistently except for the Referencess page which should list all authors.

How to cite sources in the paper when there is no person named as an author

Sometimes, a source has no named author. This is common when a document or study is produced by a governmental agency or corporation.

“The most accepted theory of dinosaur extinction is that a comet or asteroid hit the earth causing megatons of debris to be hurled in to the air blocking the sunlight” (US Department of Dinosaur Studies, 2004, p. 15).

The reference to the source could be in the sentence.

“Dinosaur Extinction” explains that “[t]he most accepted theory of dinosaur extinction is that a comet or asteroid hit the earth causing megatons of debris into the air blocking the sunlight” (p. 587).

How to List a Title

When referred to in the paper, titles of short published works such as articles should be in quotation marks and titles of long, published works should be in italics or underlined. All words of more than four letters and all proper nouns should have the first letter capitalized.

(Note: In the References page, quotation marks should not be used for short published works, and only the first letter of the first word and proper nouns should be capitalized.)

Quoting a Quote from a source – indirect quotes

Sometimes, an author quotes another author in his or her paper. Just the standard way to refer to those sources.

Here’s a couple of ways to cite that information:

According to Smith (2005) the results of the Maloney (2004) study showed a “significant difference in traveling time for the Norwegian geese” (p. 23).

Length of Quotations

Quotes longer than 40 words should be indented 1/2″ from the left and should not have quotation marks.

The theory that dinosaurs became extinct as a result of climate changes from a huge meteor impact has far reaching implications. There is always the possibility such an impact will happen again. There are many meteors that come close to earth’s gravitational pull. Scientists closely watch to identify potential problems. There is some discussion about an organized effort to launch a missile to either explode such meteors or defect them away from our orbit. (Jones, 1997, p. 277)

Paraphrasing and Summarizing also Requires Citation

Quoting is only one way of bringing information into a paper from a source. You can also paraphrase or summarize which is to put the source’s ideas into your own words. Quotation marks are not used, but you still have to give credit to the source the same way as with quotes. It is still plagiarism if you don’t use APA or other documentation for paraphrased information.

Use of Ellipsis to Show Omitted Words or Sentences from a Quote

You may remember seeing a series of three periods … in a quote. This is called an ellipsis and is used to represent an omission. Even though you may omit something from the beginning of a sentence you quote from, the general rule is not to use an ellipsis at the beginning of a quote. They are generally used in the middle of a quote to take out unnecessary words in a sentence or between sentences which are being quoted. You may use an ellipsis at the end of a quote if you don’t complete the sentence.

You may also use an ellipsis between quoted sentences to indicate that a sentence or sentences were omitted.

Identifying Internet Sources

Increasingly, the Internet is being used for research. Because everything looks the same on the screen, it is important to figure out what exactly you are looking at. Sometimes, a website is limited to a group of pages that are written for the site. There is no named author, and you are using the whole site even though there may be separately named pages. In that case, you are using the entire site, and if there is no person named as author of the site, then we refer to the source by the name of the website.

Sometimes, websites have many pages and you are using just one page or article, also called a document in a website. In that case, the source is the page (article) in the website, just like an article in a newspaper.  If there is a separate author, refer to the source by the author’s last name and year or publication. If there is no person named as an author, refer to the source by the title of the page in quotation marks.

There are situations where articles from various authors are posted in a specific website. If you are using one of those articles, the source is that article.

When you don’t know the actual page number

The last important point about APA citations in the paper is that sometimes we don’t know the page number the information was originally printed on. This commonly happens when we access a source through the Internet which was originally published in hard copy. There are also no page numbers for sources published only on the Internet. If you do not know a page number, APA says not to use one.

If an Internet source has paragraph numbers, you can use the paragraph number: (Jones, 2002, par. 35). However, you should not start counting paragraphs to use a paragraph number. The custom is that if you know a page number, you should not repeat the author’s name if you are using information from the same source in the same paragraph unless you use information from another source in between. However, if you don’t have a page number to use, you’ll have to repeat the author’s last name or title for all references to that particular source. Since sometimes there is no page number or paragraph number to reference, you might not have a parenthesis at all if the source is referred to as part of the sentence. The Internet has created situations where we don’t use parenthesis for citing sources.

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A comprehensive guide to apa citations and format, overview of this guide:.

This page provides you with an overview of APA format, 7th edition. Included is information about referencing, various citation formats with examples for each source type, and other helpful information.

If you’re looking for MLA format , check out the Citation Machine MLA Guide. Also, visit the Citation Machine homepage to use the APA formatter, which is an APA citation generator, and to see more styles .

Being responsible while researching

When you’re writing a research paper or creating a research project, you will probably use another individual’s work to help develop your own assignment. A good researcher or scholar uses another individual’s work in a responsible way. This involves indicating that the work of other individuals is included in your project (i.e., citing), which is one way to prevent plagiarism.

Plagiarism? What is it?

The word plagiarism is derived from the Latin word, plagiare , which means “to kidnap.” The term has evolved over the years to now mean the act of taking another individual’s work and using it as your own, without acknowledging the original author (American Psychological Association, 2020 p. 21). Plagiarism can be illegal and there can be serious ramifications for plagiarizing someone else’s work. Thankfully, plagiarism can be prevented. One way it can be prevented is by including citations and references in your research project. Want to make them quickly and easily? Try the Citation Machine citation generator, which is found on our homepage.

All about citations & references

Citations and references should be included anytime you use another individual’s work in your own assignment. When including a quote, paraphrased information, images, or any other piece of information from another’s work, you need to show where you found it by including a citation and a reference. This guide explains how to make them.

APA style citations are added in the body of a research paper or project and references are added to the last page.

Citations , which are called in-text citations, are included when you’re adding information from another individual’s work into your own project. When you add text word-for-word from another source into your project, or take information from another source and place it in your own words and writing style (known as paraphrasing), you create an in-text citation. These citations are short in length and are placed in the main part of your project, directly after the borrowed information.

References are found at the end of your research project, usually on the last page. Included on this reference list page is the full information for any in-text citations found in the body of the project. These references are listed in alphabetical order by the author's last name.

An APA in-text citation includes only three items: the last name(s) of the author(s), the year the source was published, and sometimes the page or location of the information. References include more information such as the name of the author(s), the year the source was published, the full title of the source, and the URL or page range.

Two example in-text citations.

Why is it important to include citations & references

Including APA citations and references in your research projects is a very important component of the research process. When you include citations, you’re being a responsible researcher. You’re showing readers that you were able to find valuable, high-quality information from other sources, place them into your project where appropriate, all while acknowledging the original authors and their work.

Common ways students and scholars accidentally plagiarize

Believe it or not, there are instances when you could attempt to include in-text and full references in the appropriate places, but still accidentally plagiarize. Here are some common mistakes to be aware of:

Mistake #1 - Misquoting sources: If you plan to use a direct quote, make sure you copy it exactly as is. Sure, you can use part of the full quote or sentence, but if you decide to put quotation marks around any words, those words should match exactly what was found in the original source. Here’s a line from The Little Prince , by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:

“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.”

Here’s an acceptable option:

“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves,” stated de Saint-Exupéry (1943, p. 3).

Here’s a misquote:

“Grown-ups barely ever understand anything by themselves,” stated de Saint-Exupéry (1943, p. 3).

Notice the slight change in the words. The incorrect phrasing is an instance of accidental plagiarism.

Mistake #2 - Problems with paraphrasing: When we paraphrase, we restate information using our own words and writing style. It’s not acceptable to substitute words from the original source with synonyms.

Let’s use the same sentence from The Little Prince .

A correct paraphrase could be:

de Saint-Exupéry (1943) shares various ways adults frustrate children. One of the biggest being that kids have to explain everything. It’s too bad adults are unable to comprehend anything on their own (p. 3).

An incorrect paraphrase would be:

de Saint-Exupéry (1943) shares that adults never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for kids to be always and forever clarifying things to them (p.3).

Notice how close the incorrect paraphrase is from the original. This is an instance of accidental plagiarism.

Make sure you quote and paraphrase properly in order to prevent accidental plagiarism.

If you’re having a difficult time paraphrasing properly, it is acceptable to paraphrase part of the text AND use a direct quote. Here’s an example:

de Saint-Exupery (1943) shares various ways adults frustrate children. One of the biggest being that kids have to explain everything, and “it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them” (p. 3).

Information About APA

Who created it.

The American Psychological Association is an organization created for individuals in the psychology field. With close to 121,000 members, they provide educational opportunities, funding, guidance, and research information for everything psychology-related. They also have numerous high-quality databases, peer-reviewed journals, and books that revolve around mental health.

The American Psychological Association is also credited with creating their own specific citation and reference style. Today, this format is used by individuals not only in the psychology field, but many other subject areas as well. Education, economics, business, and social sciences also use APA style quite frequently. Click here for more information . This guide covers general information about the style, but is not affiliated with the American Psychological Association.

Why was this style created?

This format was first developed in 1929 to form a standardized way for researchers in science fields to document their sources. Prior to the inception of these standards and guidelines, individuals were recognizing the work of other authors by including bits and pieces of information in random order. There wasn’t a set way to format citations and references. You can probably imagine how difficult it was to understand the sources that were used for research projects!

Having a standard format for citing sources allows readers to glance at a citation or APA reference and easily locate the title, author, year published, and other critical pieces of information needed to understand a source.

The evolution of this style

The guide below is based on APA style 7th edition, which was released in 2020. In previous versions of APA format, researchers and scholars were required to include the publisher location for books and the date that an electronic resource was accessed. Both are no longer required to be included.

Details on the differences between the 6th and 7th editions is addressed later in this guide.

Citations & References

The appearance of citations & references.

The format for references varies, but most use this general format:

%%Author’s Last name, First initial. (Date published). Title . URL

Researchers and scholars must look up the proper format for the source that they’re attempting to cite. Books have a certain format, websites have a different format, periodicals have a different format, and so on. Scroll down to find the proper format for the source you’re citing or referencing.

If you would like help citing your sources, CitationMachine.com has a citation generator that will help make the APA citation process much easier for you. To start, simply click on the source type you're citing:

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In-text citations

An APA in-text citation is included in research projects in three instances: When using a direct quote, paraphrasing information, or simply referring to a piece of information from another source.

Quite often, researchers and scholars use a small amount of text, word for word, from another source and include it in their own research projects. This is done for many reasons. Sometimes, another author’s words are so eloquently written that there isn’t a better way to rephrase it yourself. Other times, the author’s words can help prove a point or establish an understanding for something in your research project. When using another author’s exact words in your research project, include an APA in-text citation directly following it.

In addition to using the exact words from another source and placing them into your project, these citations are also added anytime you paraphrase information. Paraphrasing is when you take information from another source and rephrase it, in your own words.

When simply referring to another piece of information from another source, also include a citation directly following it.

Citations in the text are found near a direct quote, paraphrased information, or next to a mention of another source. To see examples of some narrative/ parenthetical citations in action, look at the image above, under “All About Citations & References.”

Note: *Only include the page or paragraph number when using a direct quote or paraphrase. Page numbers have a p. before the number, pp. before the page range, and para. before the paragraph number. This information is included to help the reader locate the exact portion of text themselves. It is unnecessary to include this information when you’re simply referring to another source.

Examples of APA in-text citations:

“Well, you’re about to enter the land of the free and the brave. And I don’t know how you got that stamp on your passport. The priest must know someone” (Tóibín, 2009, p. 52).
Student teachers who use technology in their lessons tend to continue using technology tools throughout their teaching careers (Kent & Giles, 2017, p. 12).

If including the author’s name in the sentence, place the year in the parentheses directly next to his or her name. Add the page number at the end, unless it’s a source without any pages or paragraph numbers (See Section 8.10 of the Publication manual for more details).

In-text citation APA example:

According to a study done by Kent and Giles (2017), student teachers who use technology in their lessons tend to continue using technology tools throughout their teaching careers.

The full references, or citations, for these sources can be found on the last part of a research project, titled the “References.”

Here’s how to create in-text citations for specific amounts of authors:

APA citation with no author

When the source lacks an author’s name, place the title, year, and page number (if available) in the text. The title should be in italics if it sits alone (such as a movie, brochure, or report). If the source is part of a whole (as many web pages and articles are), place the title in quotation marks without italics (See Section 8.14 of the Publication manual ).

Structure of an APA format citation in the text narratively, with the author's name missing:

Title of Source (Year) or “Title of Source” (Year)

Structure of an APA style format citation, in parentheses at the end of the sentence, with the author’s name missing: (Title of Source, Year) or (“Title of Source,” Year)

Structure for one author

In the text, narratively: Last name of Author (Year)...(page number).

In parentheses, at the end of the sentence: (Last name of Author, Year, page number).

Structure for two authors

Place the authors in the order they appear on the source. Only use the ampersand in the parenthetical citations (see Section 8.17 of the Publication manual ). Use ‘and’ to separate the author names if they’re in the text of the sentence.

In the text, narratively: Last name of Author 1 and Last name of Author 2 (Year)....(page number).

In parentheses, at the end of the sentence: (Last name of Author 1 & Last name of Author 2, Year, page number).

Structure for three or more authors

Only include the first listed author’s name in the first and any subsequent citations. Follow it with et al.

(Last name Author 1 et al., Year, page number)

(Agbayani et al., 2020, p. 99)

Last name of Author 1 et al. (Year)...(page).

Agbayani et al. (2020)...(p. 99)

One author, multiple works, same year

What do you do when you want to cite multiple works by an author, and the sources all written in the same year?

Include the letters ‘a’ ‘b’ ‘c’ and so on after the year in the citation.

(Jackson, 2013a)

Jackson (2013a)

Writers can even lump dates together.

Example: Jackson often studied mammals while in Africa (2013a, 2013b).

On the APA reference page, include the same letters in the full references.

Groups and organizations

Write out the full name of the group or organization in the first citation and place the abbreviation next to it in brackets. If the group or organization is cited again, only include the abbreviation. If it doesn’t have an abbreviation associated with it, write out the entire organization’s name each and every time (see Section 8.21 of the Publication manual ).

First APA citation for an organization with an abbreviation: (World Health Organization [WHO], Year)

World Health Organization (WHO, Year)

Notice in the example directly above, the name of the organization is written out in full in the text of the sentence, and the abbreviation is placed in parentheses next to it.

Subsequent APA citations in the text for an organization with an abbreviation: (WHO, Year) OR WHO (Year)

All citations in the text for an organization without an abbreviation: (Citation Machine, Year) or Citation Machine (Year)

One in-text citation, multiple works

Sometimes you’ll need to cite more than one work within an in-text citation. Follow the same format (author, year) format but place semicolons between works (p. 263).

(Obama, 2016; Monroe et al., 1820; Hoover & Coolidge, 1928)

Reminder: There are many citation tools available on CitationMachine.com. Head to our homepage to learn more, check out our APA citation website, and cite your sources easily! The most useful resource on our website? Our APA citation generator, which doesn’t just create full references, it’s also an APA in-text citation website! It’ll do both for you!

Click here to learn more about crediting work .

Reference list citation components

References display the full information for all the citations found in the body of a research project.

Some things to keep in mind when it comes to the references:

  • All references sit together on their own page, which is usually the last page(s) of a paper.
  • Title the page ‘References’
  • Place ‘References’ in the center of the page and bold it. Keep the title in the same font and size as the references. Do not italicize, underline, place the title in quotation marks, or increase the font size.
  • The entire page is double spaced.
  • All references are listed in alphabetical order by the first word in the reference, which is usually the author’s last name. If the source lacks an author, alphabetize the source by the title (ignore A, An, or The)
  • All references have a hanging indent, meaning that the second line of text is indented in half an inch. See examples throughout this guide.
  • Remember, each and every citation in the text of the paper MUST have a full reference displayed in the reference list. The citations in the text provide the reader with a quick glimpse about the sources used, but the references in the reference list provide the reader with all the information needed to seek out the source themselves.

Learn more about each component of the reference citation and how to format it in the sections that follow. See an APA sample paper reference list at the end of this entire section.

Author’s names

The names of authors are written in reverse order. Include the initials for the first and middle names. End this information with a period (see Section 9.8 of the Publication manual ).

Format: Last name, F. M.

  • Angelou, M.
  • Doyle, A. C.

Two or more authors

When two or more authors work together on a source, write them in the order in which they appear on the source. You can name up to 20 authors in the reference. For sources with 2 to 20 authors, place an ampersand (&) before the final author. Use this format:

Last name, F. M., & Last name, F. M.

Last name, F. M., Last name, F. M., Last name, F. M., Last name, F. M., & Last name, F. M.

Kent, A. G., Giles, R. M., Thorpe, A., Lukes, R., Bever, D. J., & He, Y.

If there are 21 or more authors listed on a source, only include the first 19 authors, add three ellipses, and then add the last author’s name.

Roberts, A., Johnson, M. C., Klein, J., Cheng, E. V., Sherman, A., Levin, K. K. , ...Lopez, G. S.

If you plan on using a free APA citation tool, like the one at CitationMachine.com, the names of the authors will format properly for you.

###No authors

If the source lacks an author, place the title in the first position in the reference (Section 9.12 of the Publication manual ). When the source’s title begins with a number (Such as 101 Dalmatians ), place the reference alphabetically as if the number was spelled out. 101 Dalmatians would be placed in the spot where ‘One hundred’ would go, but keep the numbers in their place.

Additionally, if the title begins with the words ‘A’, ‘An,’ or ‘The,’ ignore these words and place the title alphabetically according to the next word.

See the “Titles” section below for more information on formatting the title of sources.

###Corporate/Organization authors

On an APA reference page, corporate authors are always written out in full. In the text of your paper, you may have some abbreviations (such as UN for United Nations), but in the full references, always include the full names of the corporation or organization (following Section 9.11 of the official Publication manual ).

%%United Nations. (2019). Libya: $202 million needed to bring life-saving aid to half a million people hit by humanitarian crisis. https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/02/1031981

Publication date & retrieval date

Directly after the author’s name is the date the source was published. Include the full date for newspapers and magazine articles, and only the year for journals and all other sources. If no date is found on the source, include the initials, n.d. for “no date.”

%% Narducci, M. (2017, May 19). City renames part of 11th Street Ed Snider Way to honor Flyers founder. The Philadelphia Inquirer . http://www.philly.com/

If using our APA Citation Machine, our citation generator will add the correct format for you automatically.

Giving a retrieval date is not needed unless the online content is likely to be frequently updated and changed (e.g., encyclopedia article, dictionary entry, Twitter profile, etc.).

%%Citation Machine [@CiteMachine]. (n.d.). Tweets [Twitter profile]. Twitter. Retrieved October 10, 2019, from https://twitter.com/CiteMachine

When writing out titles for books, articles, chapters, or other non-periodical sources, only capitalize the first word of the title and the first word of the subtitle. Names of people, places, organizations, and other proper nouns also have the first letter capitalized. For books and reports, italicize the title in the APA citation.

Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Roots: The saga of an American family.

For articles and chapters in APA referencing, do not italicize the title.

Wake up the nation: Public libraries, policy making, and political discourse.

For newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters, and other periodicals, capitalize the first letter in each word and italicize the title.

The Seattle Times.

A common question is whether to underline your title or place it in italics or quotation marks in the reference list. Here’s a good general rule: When a source sits alone and is not part of a larger whole, place the title in italics. If the source does not sit alone and is part of a larger whole, do not place it in italics.

Books, movies, journals, and television shows are placed in italics since they stand alone. Songs on an album, episodes of television shows, chapters in books, and articles in journals are not placed in italics since they are smaller pieces of larger wholes.

The Citation Machine citation generator will format the title in your citations automatically.

Additional information about the title

If you feel it would be helpful to include additional information about the source type, include a descriptive noun or two in brackets immediately following the title. Capitalize the first letter.

%%Kennedy, K., & Molen, G. R. (Producers), & Spielberg, S. (Director). (1993). Jurassic Park [Film]. USA: Universal.

Besides [Film], other common notations include:

  • [Audio podcast]
  • [Letter to the editor]
  • [Television series episode]
  • [Facebook page]
  • [Blog post]
  • [Lecture notes]
  • [PowerPoint presentation]
  • [Video file]

If you are using Citation Machine citing tools, additional information about the title is automatically added for you.

Publisher information

For books and reports, include the publisher name but not the location (see Section 9.29 of the Publication manual ). Older editions of the style required the city, state and/or country, but this hasn't been the case since the 7th edition was released.

It is not necessary to include the entire name of the publisher. It is acceptable to use a brief, intelligible form. However, if Books or Press are part of the publisher’s names, keep these words in the reference. Other common terms, such as Inc., Co., Publishers, and others can be omitted.

For newspapers, journals, magazines, and other periodicals, include the volume and issue number after the title. The volume number is listed first, by itself, in italics. The issue number is in parentheses immediately after it, not italicized. There is no space after the closing parenthesis and before the volume number.

%%Giannoukos, G., Besas, G., Hictour, V., & Georgas, T. (2016). A study on the role of computers in adult education. Educational Research and Reviews , 11 (9), 907-923. https://doi.org/10.5897/ERR2016.2688

After including the publisher information, end this section with a period.

Perseus Books.

Electronic source information:

For online sources, the URL or DOI (Direct Object Identifier) are included at the end of an APA citation.

DOI numbers are often created by publishers for journal articles and other periodical sources. They were created in response to the problem of broken or outdated links and URLs. When a journal article is assigned a DOI number, it is static and will never change. Because of its permanent characteristic, DOIs are the preferred type of electronic information to include in APA citations. When a DOI number is not available, include the source’s URL (see Section 9.34 in the Publication manual ).

For DOIs, include the number in this format:

http://doi.org/xxxx

For URLs, type them in this format:

http:// or https://

Other information about electronic sources:

  • If the URL is longer than a line, break it up before a punctuation mark.
  • Do not place a period at the end of the citation/URL.
  • It is unnecessary to include retrieval dates, unless the source changes often over time (like in a Wikipedia article).
  • It is not necessary to include the names of databases

If using the Citation Machine APA citation website autocite features, the online publication information will be automatically replaced by the DOI. The Citation Machine APA template will properly cite your online sources for you.

The image shows an example APA student page that is formatted using the guidelines described under the heading Paper Formatting.

Make sure you run your completed paper through the Citation Machine Plus smart proofreader, which scans for grammar, spelling, and plagiarism. Whether it’s an adjective , verb , or pronoun out-of-place, our technology helps edits your paper for you!

Annotated bibliographies:

An APA annotated bibliography is a full bibliography that includes a small note for each reference citation. Each note should be short (1-2 paragraphs) and contain a summary or your evaluation about each source. When creating your citations on CitationMachine.net, there is a field at the bottom of each form to add your own annotations.

Follow the publication manual guidelines on paper format and writing style. Let your instructor guide other details about your annotations. Still confused? Read our guide on annotated bibliographies .

These types of projects look different depending on the style you’re using. Use the link at the top of the page to access resources related to the Modern Language Association’s style. Here’s information related to Chicago citation style .

Page formatting

Need help with the design and formatting of your paper? Look no further! This section provides the ins and outs of properly displaying the information in your APA essay.

  • Times New Roman, 12-point size.
  • Calibri, Arial, or Georgia, 11-point size
  • Lucida, Sans Unicode, or Computer Modern, 10-point size
  • Indents = Every paragraph should start with an indent.
  • Margins = 1 inch around the entire document
  • Spacing = Double space everything!

Arrange your pages in this order:

  • Page 1 - APA Title Page (see below for information on the title page)
  • Page 2 - Abstract (If your professor requests one)
  • Page 3 - First page of text
  • References begin on their own page. Include the list of references on the page after the text.
  • Tables and figures

Keep in mind that the order above is the recommendation for papers being submitted for peer review. If you’re writing an APA style paper for a class, your professor may be more lenient about the requirements. Also, if you’re submitting your paper for a specific journal, check the requirements on the journal’s website. Each journal has different rules and procedures.

Just a little nudge to remind you about the Citation Machine Plus smart proofreader. Whether it’s a conjunction or interjection out of place, a misspelled word, or an out of place citation, we’ll offer suggestions for improvement! Don’t forget to check out our APA citation maker while you’re at it!

Running heads

In older editions of APA, running heads were required for all papers. Since the 7th edition, that’s changed.

  • Student paper: No running head
  • Professional paper: Include a running head

The running head displays the title of the paper and the page number on all pages of the paper. This header is found on every page of a professional paper (not a student paper), even on the title page (sometimes called an APA cover page) and reference list (taken from Section 2.8 of the Publication manual ).

It's displayed all in capital letters at the top of the page. Across from the running head, along the right margin, is the page number.

  • Use the header feature in your word processor. Both Google Docs and Word have these features available.
  • Use one for the recommended fonts mentioned under "Page formatting."

Title pages

A title page, sometimes called an APA cover page, graces the cover of an essay or paper. An APA title page should follow rules from Section 2.3 of the official Publication manual and include:

  • Page number, which is page 1
  • Use title case and bold font
  • The title should be under 12 words in length
  • The title should be a direct explanation of the focus of the paper. Do not include any unnecessary descriptors such as “An Analysis of…” or “A Study of…”
  • Exclude any labels such as Mr., Ms., Dr, PhD...
  • Name of the school or institution
  • Course number and/or class name
  • Name of your instructor, including their preferred honorifics (e.g., PhD, Dr., etc.)
  • Paper’s due date
  • If this is a professional paper, also include a running head. If this is a student paper, do not include one.

Follow the directions for the running head and page number in the section above. Below the running head, a few lines beneath, and centered in the middle of the page, should be the title. The next line below is the author’s name(s), followed by the name of the school or institution, the class or course name, your instructor’s name, and the paper’s due date.

All components on this page should be written in the same font and size as the rest of your paper. Double space the title, names, name of school or institution, and all other information on the page (except for the running head and page number).

Example - Student Title Page APA:

The image shows an example APA student title page that is formatted using the guidelines described above under the heading Title Pages.

Example - Professional Title Page APA:

The image shows an example APA professional title page that is formatted using the guidelines described above under the heading Title Pages.

If you’re submitting your paper to a journal for publication, check the journal’s website for exact requirements. Each journal is different and some may request a different type of APA format cover page.

Looking to create an APA format title page? Head to CitationMachine.com’s homepage and choose “Title Page” at the top of the screen.

An abstract briefly but thoroughly summarizes dissertation contents. It’s found in the beginning of a professional paper, right after the title page. Abstracts are meant to help readers determine whether to continue reading the entire document. With that in mind, try to craft the lead sentence to entice the reader to continue reading.

Here are a few tips:

  • Be factual and keep your opinions out. An abstract should accurately reflect the paper or dissertation and should not involve information or commentary not in the thesis.
  • Communicate your main thesis. What was the examined problem or hypothesis? A reader should know this from reading your abstract.
  • Keep it brief. Stick to the main points and don’t add unnecessary words or facts. It should not exceed 250 words.
  • Consider your paper’s purpose. It’s important to cater your abstract to your paper type and think about what information the target audience for that paper type would want. For example, an empirical article may mention methodology or participant description. A quantitative or qualitative meta-analysis would mention the different variables considered and how information was synthesized.
  • Use verbs over noun equivalents, and active voice. Example: “There was research into…” becomes “We researched…”

Formatting guidelines:

  • The abstract goes after the title page.
  • It should have the same font (size and type) as the rest of the paper.
  • It should stick to one page.
  • Double-space all page text.
  • Center and bold the word “Abstract” at the top of the paper.
  • Don’t indent the first line of the abstract body. The body should also be in plain text.
  • For the keywords, place it on the line after the abstract and indent the first line (but not subsequent lines). The word “Keywords:” is capitalized, italicized, and followed by a colon. The actual keywords are sentence case and in plan font.
  • List each keyword one after the other, and separate them by a comma.
  • After the last keyword, no ending punctuation is needed.

The image shows an example APA abstract page that is formatted using the guidelines described above under the heading Abstracts.

Tables & Figures

If your paper includes a lot of numerical information or data, you may want to consider placing it into a table or a figure, rather than typing it all out. A visual figure or simple, organized table filled with numerical data is often easier for readers to digest and comprehend than tons of paragraphs filled with numbers. Chapter 7 of the Publication manual outlines formatting for tables and figures. Let's cover the basics below.

If you’d like to include a table or figure in your paper, here are a few key pieces of information to keep in mind:

  • At the end of the paper after the APA reference page
  • In the text after it is first mentioned
  • The table first mentioned in the text should be titled ‘Table 1.’ The next table mentioned in the text is ‘Table 2,’ and so on. For figures, it would be 'Figure 1,' 'Figure 2,' and so forth.

The image shows that an APA paper with tables can be organized as follows – 1. Title page, 2. Text of paper, 3. References, 4. Table 1, 5. Table 2.

  • Even though every table and figure is numbered, also create a title for each that describes the information it contains. Capitalize all important words in the title.
  • For tables, do not use any vertical lines, only use horizontal to break up information and headings.
  • Single spacing is acceptable to use in tables and figures. If you prefer double spacing your information, that is okay too.
  • Do not include extra information or “fluff.” Keep it simple!
  • Do not include the same exact information in the paper. Only include the complete information in one area—the table or the text.
  • All tables and figures must be referenced in the text. It is unacceptable to throw a table or figure into the back of the paper without first providing a brief summary or explanation of its relevance.

Example of formatting a table in APA style.

Publication Manual 6th Edition vs 7th Edition

The 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association was released in 2009. The current 7th edition came out in the fall of 2019 and was designed to be more student focused, provide more guidance on accessibility, and address changes that have developed over the last 10 years.

Below, we’ve listed what we feel are the most relevant changes related to APA format.

Journals and DOIs

DOI stands for “digital object identifier.” Many journal articles use and have a unique DOI that should be included in a full citation.

When including a DOI in a citation, format it as a URL. Do not label it “DOI.” Articles without DOIs from databases are treated as print works. For example:

6th edition:

%%Gänsicke, B. T., Schreiber, M. R., Toloza, O., Fusillo, N. P. G., Koester, D., & Manser, C. J. (2019). Accretion of a giant planet onto a white dwarf star. Nature, 576 (7785), 61–64. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1789-8

7th edition:

%%Gänsicke, B. T., Schreiber, M. R., Toloza, O., Fusillo, N. P. G., Koester, D., & Manser, C. J. (2019). Accretion of a giant planet onto a white dwarf star. Nature, 576 (7785), 61–64. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1789-8

Citing Books

There are few new guidelines when you are citing a book. First, the publisher location no longer needs to be indicated.

%%Zack, P. O. (2001). The shoals of time. Bloomington, IN: First Books Library.

%%Zack, P. O. (2001). The shoals of time. First Books Library.

Second, the format of an ebook (e.g., Kindle, etc.) no longer needs to be indicated.

%%Niven, J. (2012). Ada Blackjack: A true story of survival in the Arctic [Kindle].

%%Niven, J. (2012). Ada Blackjack: A true story of survival in the Arctic .

Lastly, books from research databases without DOIs are treated the same as print works.

When using a URL in a citation, you no longer need to include the term “Retrieved from” before URLs (except with retrieval dates). The font should be blue and underlined, or black and not underlined.

6th Edition:

%%Flood, A. (2019, December 6). Britain has closed almost 800 libraries since 2010, figures show. The Guardian . Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/06/britain-has-closed-almost-800-libraries-since-2010-figures-show

7th Edition:

%%Flood, A. (2019, December 6). Britain has closed almost 800 libraries since 2010, figures show. The Guardian . https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/06/britain-has-closed-almost-800-libraries-since-2010-figures-show

Within a full APA citation, you may spell out up to 20 author names. For two to 20 authors, include an ampersand (&) before the name of the last author. For sources with 21 or more authors, structure it as follows:

Structure: First 19 authors’ names, . . . Last author’s name.

7th edition example: Washington, G., Adams, J., Jefferson, T., Madison, J., Monroe, J., Adams, J. Q., Jackson, A., Van Buren, M., Harrison, W. H., Tyler, J., Polk, J. K., Taylor, Z., Filmore, M., Pierce, F., Buchanan, J., Lincoln, A., Johnson, A., Grant, U. S., Hayes, R. B., Garfield, . . . Trump, D.

When creating an in-text citation for a source with 3 or more authors, use “et al.” after the first author’s name. This helps abbreviate the mention.

6th Edition: (Honda, Johnson, Prosser, Rossi, 2019)

7th Edition: (Honda et al., 2019)

Tables and Figures

Instead of having different formats for tables and figures, both use one standardized format. Now both tables and figures have a number, a title, name of the table/figure, and a note at the bottom.

If you’re still typing into Google “how to cite a website APA” among other related questions and keywords, click here for further reading on the style .

When you’re through with your writing, toss your entire paper into the Citation Machine Plus plagiarism checker , which will scan your paper for grammar edits and give you up to 5 suggestions cards for free! Worry less about a determiner , preposition , or adverb out of place and focus on your research!

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

Updated March 3, 2020

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Wendy Ikemoto. Michele Kirschenbaum has been an awesome school librarian since 2006 and is an expert in citing sources. Wendy Ikemoto has a master’s degree in library and information science and has been working for Citation Machine since 2012.

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APA Style (7th ed.): Citation Guide

  • Getting Started with APA

Formatting a Paper in APA

Apa paper visual guide.

  • Citing Sources in APA
  • APA Citation Examples
  • Other APA Resources
  • Citation Guides Homepage

Sample Student Paper

  • Sample APA Paper

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  • Paper Formatting
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APA Basic Formatting Rules for Student Papers

The following guidelines are the basic formatting rules outlined in the  APA Publication Manual  7th edition. If your instructor sets different requirements, always use your instructor's guidelines first.

  • clearly legible, regular-sized font
  • recommendations: 12pt Times New Roman, 11pt Arial, 11pt Calibri, 10pt Lucida Sans Unicode, 11pt Georgia
  • double spaced throughout all parts of the paper including title, headings, and footnotes
  • 1-inch margins on all sides
  • Indent the first line of each paragraph by 1/2-inch (tab)
  • left-justified for the body of the paper

Running Head & Page Numbers:

  • not required to include shortened version of the title for student papers- unless requested by your instructor
  • include the page number in the top right corner of all pages

APA Title Page for Student Papers

Page number:.

  • include the page number in the top right margin. (It will be 1 for the Title Page. Continue numbering throughout the paper and References page.)

Heading about a 1/3 of the way down the page:

  • Paper Title : bold, centered
  • Author : your name
  • Institutional Affiliation : Lone Star College- Online
  • Course : your course number and the name of the course (ex. PSYC 2301: General Psychology)
  • Instructor : your instructor's name (ex- Prof. Jane Smith)
  • Due Date:  Month day, year format (ex- January 1, 2024)

APA Headings within the Body of the Paper

Paper title:.

  • include on the first line of the first page of the body of your paper
  • bold and centered

Headings and Sub-headings (use when needed)

  • APA uses a hierarchy of five levels for headings within the paper
  • short paper may not need headings at all

References Page Formatting

The following guidelines are the basic formatting rules outlined in the APA Publication Manual  7th edition. If your instructor sets different requirements, always use your instructor's guidelines first.

  • needs to start on a new page following the end of your paper
  • include the title References centered on the first line of the page
  • everything after the title is left-justified
  • listed in alphabetical order by the first part of the citation (usually the author)
  • double spaced throughout all parts
  • Each citation should have a hanging indent- or it should start at the left margin and then have all lines after it indented by 1/2-inch

Click on the information circles for tips on how to use Microsoft Word to format your paper in APA Style.

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APA Formatting and Citation (7th Ed.) | Generator, Template, Examples

Published on November 6, 2020 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on January 17, 2024.

The 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual provides guidelines for clear communication , citing sources , and formatting documents. This article focuses on paper formatting.

Generate accurate APA citations with Scribbr

Throughout your paper, you need to apply the following APA format guidelines:

  • Set page margins to 1 inch on all sides.
  • Double-space all text, including headings.
  • Indent the first line of every paragraph 0.5 inches.
  • Use an accessible font (e.g., Times New Roman 12pt., Arial 11pt., or Georgia 11pt.).
  • Include a page number on every page.

APA format (7th edition)

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Our APA formatting experts can help you to format your paper according to APA guidelines. They can help you with:

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citation in sentence apa

Table of contents

How to set up apa format (with template), apa alphabetization guidelines, apa format template [free download], page header, headings and subheadings, reference page, tables and figures, frequently asked questions about apa format.

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citation in sentence apa

References are ordered alphabetically by the first author’s last name. If the author is unknown, order the reference entry by the first meaningful word of the title (ignoring articles: “the”, “a”, or “an”).

Why set up APA format from scratch if you can download Scribbr’s template for free?

Student papers and professional papers have slightly different guidelines regarding the title page, abstract, and running head. Our template is available in Word and Google Docs format for both versions.

  • Student paper: Word | Google Docs
  • Professional paper: Word | Google Docs

In an APA Style paper, every page has a page header. For student papers, the page header usually consists of just a page number in the page’s top-right corner. For professional papers intended for publication, it also includes a running head .

A running head is simply the paper’s title in all capital letters. It is left-aligned and can be up to 50 characters in length. Longer titles are abbreviated .

APA running head (7th edition)

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The AI-powered Citation Checker helps you avoid common mistakes such as:

  • Missing commas and periods
  • Incorrect usage of “et al.”
  • Ampersands (&) in narrative citations
  • Missing reference entries

APA headings have five possible levels. Heading level 1 is used for main sections such as “ Methods ” or “ Results ”. Heading levels 2 to 5 are used for subheadings. Each heading level is formatted differently.

Want to know how many heading levels you should use, when to use which heading level, and how to set up heading styles in Word or Google Docs? Then check out our in-depth article on APA headings .

APA headings (7th edition)

The title page is the first page of an APA Style paper. There are different guidelines for student and professional papers.

Both versions include the paper title and author’s name and affiliation. The student version includes the course number and name, instructor name, and due date of the assignment. The professional version includes an author note and running head .

For more information on writing a striking title, crediting multiple authors (with different affiliations), and writing the author note, check out our in-depth article on the APA title page .

APA title page - student version (7th edition)

The abstract is a 150–250 word summary of your paper. An abstract is usually required in professional papers, but it’s rare to include one in student papers (except for longer texts like theses and dissertations).

The abstract is placed on a separate page after the title page . At the top of the page, write the section label “Abstract” (bold and centered). The contents of the abstract appear directly under the label. Unlike regular paragraphs, the first line is not indented. Abstracts are usually written as a single paragraph without headings or blank lines.

Directly below the abstract, you may list three to five relevant keywords . On a new line, write the label “Keywords:” (italicized and indented), followed by the keywords in lowercase letters, separated by commas.

APA abstract (7th edition)

APA Style does not provide guidelines for formatting the table of contents . It’s also not a required paper element in either professional or student papers. If your instructor wants you to include a table of contents, it’s best to follow the general guidelines.

Place the table of contents on a separate page between the abstract and introduction. Write the section label “Contents” at the top (bold and centered), press “Enter” once, and list the important headings with corresponding page numbers.

The APA reference page is placed after the main body of your paper but before any appendices . Here you list all sources that you’ve cited in your paper (through APA in-text citations ). APA provides guidelines for formatting the references as well as the page itself.

Creating APA Style references

Play around with the Scribbr Citation Example Generator below to learn about the APA reference format of the most common source types or generate APA citations for free with Scribbr’s APA Citation Generator .

Formatting the reference page

Write the section label “References” at the top of a new page (bold and centered). Place the reference entries directly under the label in alphabetical order.

Finally, apply a hanging indent , meaning the first line of each reference is left-aligned, and all subsequent lines are indented 0.5 inches.

APA reference page (7th edition)

Tables and figures are presented in a similar format. They’re preceded by a number and title and followed by explanatory notes (if necessary).

Use bold styling for the word “Table” or “Figure” and the number, and place the title on a separate line directly below it (in italics and title case). Try to keep tables clean; don’t use any vertical lines, use as few horizontal lines as possible, and keep row and column labels concise.

Keep the design of figures as simple as possible. Include labels and a legend if needed, and only use color when necessary (not to make it look more appealing).

Check out our in-depth article about table and figure notes to learn when to use notes and how to format them.

APA table (7th edition)

The easiest way to set up APA format in Word is to download Scribbr’s free APA format template for student papers or professional papers.

Alternatively, you can watch Scribbr’s 5-minute step-by-step tutorial or check out our APA format guide with examples.

APA Style papers should be written in a font that is legible and widely accessible. For example:

  • Times New Roman (12pt.)
  • Arial (11pt.)
  • Calibri (11pt.)
  • Georgia (11pt.)

The same font and font size is used throughout the document, including the running head , page numbers, headings , and the reference page . Text in footnotes and figure images may be smaller and use single line spacing.

You need an APA in-text citation and reference entry . Each source type has its own format; for example, a webpage citation is different from a book citation .

Use Scribbr’s free APA Citation Generator to generate flawless citations in seconds or take a look at our APA citation examples .

Yes, page numbers are included on all pages, including the title page , table of contents , and reference page . Page numbers should be right-aligned in the page header.

To insert page numbers in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, click ‘Insert’ and then ‘Page number’.

APA format is widely used by professionals, researchers, and students in the social and behavioral sciences, including fields like education, psychology, and business.

Be sure to check the guidelines of your university or the journal you want to be published in to double-check which style you should be using.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Streefkerk, R. (2024, January 17). APA Formatting and Citation (7th Ed.) | Generator, Template, Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved February 20, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/format/

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In-Text Citations: The Basics

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APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6 th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , (6 th ed., 2 nd printing).

Note:  This page reflects APA 6, which is now out of date. It will remain online until 2021, but will not be updated. The equivalent APA 7 page can be found here .

Reference citations in text are covered on pages 169-179 of the Publication Manual. What follows are some general guidelines for referring to the works of others in your essay.

Note:  On pages 65-66, the Publication Manual suggests that authors of research papers should use the past tense or present perfect tense for signal phrases that occur in the literature review and procedure descriptions (for example, Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998) has found ...). Contexts other than traditionally-structured research writing may permit the simple present tense (for example, Jones (1998)  finds ).

APA citation basics

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference. All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

In-text citation capitalization, quotes, and italics/underlining

  • Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones.

( Note: in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized: Writing new media .)

  • When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word: Natural-Born Cyborgs .
  • Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: "Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of Hitchcock's Vertigo ."
  • Italicize the titles of longer works such as books, edited collections, movies, television series, documentaries, or albums: The Closing of the American Mind ; The Wizard of Oz ; Friends .
  • Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles, articles from edited collections, television series episodes, and song titles: "Multimedia Narration: Constructing Possible Worlds;" "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry."

Short quotations

If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and page number for the reference (preceded by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.

According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).

Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what implications does this have for teachers?

If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation.

She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an explanation as to why.

Long quotations

Place direct quotations that are 40 words or longer in a free-standing block of typewritten lines and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.

Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199)

Summary or paraphrase

If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number (although it is not required).

According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners.
APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199).

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citation in sentence apa

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COMMENTS

  1. In-Text Citations: The Basics

    Purdue OWL Research and Citation APA Style (7th Edition) APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition) In-Text Citations: The Basics In-Text Citations: The Basics Note: This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019.

  2. APA In-Text Citations (7th Ed.)

    Published on November 4, 2020 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on September 30, 2022. This article reflects the APA 7th edition guidelines. Click here for APA 6th edition guidelines. In-text citations briefly identify the source of information in the body text. They correspond to a full reference entry at the end of your paper.

  3. In-text citations

    APA Style provides guidelines to help writers determine the appropriate level of citation and how to avoid plagiarism and self-plagiarism. We also provide specific guidance for in-text citation, including formats for interviews, classroom and intranet sources, and personal communications; in-text citations in general; and paraphrases and direct quotations.

  4. Citation Help for APA, 7th Edition: In-text Citations

    In APA Style, cite your sources by putting the information about the source in parentheses at the end of a sentence or in the text of your paper as opposed to a footnote where the source information is at the bottom of the page or an endnote where it goes at the end of your paper. There are slight differences depending on which style you are using.

  5. In-Text Citations

    Place the citation at the end of the sentence or clause where you have used their information. The author's names are placed in the brackets (parentheses) with the rest of the citation details: Gamification involves giving the mechanics or principles of a game to another activity (Becker, 2013).

  6. APA In-Text Citations

    Narrative In-Text APA Citations: In-text citation APA format, in narrative form, is one that shows the author's name in the sentence itself. Narrative In-text APA Citation Example: Tyson, Strauss, and Gott (2016) encourage the use of simplified terms when it comes to discussing and defining the universe.

  7. LibGuides: APA 7th Edition Citation Guide: In-Text Citations

    Citations in APA style include two parts: (1) in-text citations, which are connected to (2) reference list citations. ... You can also choose to mention the author in the text of your sentences or you can choose to omit the author's name. For additional examples, please visit the In-Text Citations: Author/Authors page on Purdue Online Writing ...

  8. APA (7th ed.) Citation Style Guide: In-Text Citations

    Instead, when paraphrasing a key point in more than one sentence within a paragraph, cite the source in the first sentence in which it is relevant and do not repeat the citation in subsequent sentences as long as the source remains clear and unchanged." (Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed., 2020, p.254).

  9. RasGuides: APA 7th Edition Guide: In-Text Citations

    Creating In-Text Citations: Paraphrases and Summaries (Author, Date) APA style uses the Author-Date citation system. In-text citations appear in the text of the paper to let readers know that information in the sentence where the in-text citation appears was taken from source material.

  10. Library Guides: APA Citation Guide (7th Edition): In-Text Citation

    In APA, in-text citations are inserted in the text of your research paper to briefly document the source of your information. Brief in-text citations point the reader to more complete information in the Reference list. ... If the author and date are introduced in the sentence as a narrative citation, then add the page number in parentheses at ...

  11. Library Guides: APA Quick Citation Guide: In-text Citation

    Using In-text Citation. Include an in-text citation when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list. APA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the year of publication, for example: (Field, 2005).

  12. In-text citation

    In-text citation. The APA 7th style uses in-text citations when referring to or quoting people's work. The essential elements of an in-text citation are the author surname/s and year. Two types of in-text citations 1. Author prominent format. Use this format if you want to emphasise the author. Their name becomes part of your sentence.

  13. APA Citation Style, 7th Edition: In-Text Citations & Paraphrasing

    Continue writing your paragraph, you do NOT need to add another in-text citation until: 1) You are paraphrasing from a NEW source, which means you need to cite NEW information OR 2) You need to cite a DIRECT quote, which includes a page number, paragraph number or Section title.

  14. How to Cite in APA Format (7th edition)

    An APA in-text citation consists of the author's last name and the year of publication (also known as the author-date system). If you're citing a specific part of a source, you should also include a locator such as a page number or timestamp. For example: (Smith, 2020, p. 170). Parenthetical vs. narrative citation

  15. In-text citations

    Guide to citations according to APA 7th edition with examples of business source citations. ... The parenthetical citation can be at the end of a sentence or may be in the middle of a sentence if needed to be clear on what is being cited. A company should always do what is right regardless of the consequences, but doing the right thing tends to ...

  16. The Basics of In-Text Citation

    Citing sources The Basics of In-Text Citation | APA & MLA Examples The Basics of In-Text Citation | APA & MLA Examples Published on March 14, 2022 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on August 23, 2022. An in-text citation is a short acknowledgement you include whenever you quote or take information from a source in academic writing.

  17. APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition)

    Basic Rules Basic guidelines for formatting the reference list at the end of a standard APA research paper Author/Authors Rules for handling works by a single author or multiple authors that apply to all APA-style references in your reference list, regardless of the type of work (book, article, electronic resource, etc.) Articles in Periodicals

  18. APA In-Text Citations

    APA In-Text Citations How to cite when a person is named as an author In APA, the general rule is to use the last name of the author, the year of publication and the page numbers to give credit to the source. APA is called an author-date documentation system because of the use of author and date. Here's a sample quotation:

  19. Appropriate level of citation

    refer to data or data sets reprint or adapt a table or figure, even images from the internet that are free or licensed in the Creative Commons reprint a long text passage or commercially copyrighted test item Avoid both undercitation and overcitation. Undercitation can lead to plagiarism and/or self-plagiarism.

  20. A complete guide to APA in-text citation (6th edition)

    Here's what an in-text citation looks like in a sentence: The author claims that "plagiarism is becoming a bigger problem" (Smith, 2014, p. 170). As Smith (2014) has shown, plagiarism is a serious issue for universities. In 2014, Smith found that plagiarism is becoming increasingly widespread.

  21. Citing multiple works

    To highlight the work (s) most directly relevant to your point in a given sentence, place those citations first within parentheses in alphabetical order and then insert a semicolon and a phrase, such as "see also," before the first of the remaining citations, which should also be in alphabetical order.

  22. Citation Machine®: APA Format & APA Citation Generator

    A Comprehensive Guide to APA Citations and Format Overview of this guide: This page provides you with an overview of APA format, 7th edition. Included is information about referencing, various citation formats with examples for each source type, and other helpful information.

  23. Formatting a Paper in APA

    The following guidelines are the basic formatting rules outlined in the APA Publication Manual 7th edition. If your instructor sets different requirements, always use your instructor's guidelines first. Page Number: include the page number in the top right margin. (It will be 1 for the Title Page.

  24. APA Formatting and Citation (7th Ed.)

    Throughout your paper, you need to apply the following APA format guidelines: Set page margins to 1 inch on all sides. Double-space all text, including headings. Indent the first line of every paragraph 0.5 inches. Use an accessible font (e.g., Times New Roman 12pt., Arial 11pt., or Georgia 11pt.).

  25. Quotations

    For a direct quotation, always include a full citation ( parenthetical or narrative) in the same sentence as the quotation, including the page number (or other location information, e.g., paragraph number). Place a parenthetical citation either immediately after the quotation or at the end of the sentence.

  26. In-Text Citations: The Basics

    Summary: APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6 th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual ...

  27. Toddlers default to canonical surface‐to‐meaning ...

    Previous work has shown that toddlers readily encode each noun in the sentence as a distinct argument of the verb. However, languages allow multiple mappings between form and meaning that do not fit this canonical format. Two experiments examined French 28-month-olds' interpretation of right-dislocated sentences (nouni-verb, nouni) where the presence of clear, language-specific cues should ...

  28. CWE Spring 2024 Workshops

    The End of Sentence Fragments: February 28 APA Style-7th Edition Overview: March 6 MLA Style-9th Edition Overview: March 20 Introduction to the Bluebook Style Guide for Legal Citations: March 27 Splice Up Your Life-Understanding Comma Splices: April 3 Polishing and Proofreading Strategies for Final Drafts: April 10.