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APA Style

In-text citations

In-text citations include the author and the publication date of the source and may appear in two formats.

  • Narrative citations, which introduce the author in the flow of the sentence and the year of publication in parentheses right after the author.
  • Parenthetical citations, which introduce the author and the year in parentheses and separated by a comma, in the middle or at the end of the sentence.

Click on a collapsible panel to see examples of in-text citations.

One author

When you cite a work by one author, provide the last name of the author and the publication year of the source.
Narrative citation

Bowlby (1991) formulated the basic principles of the attachment theory.

Parenthetical citation

The infant should experience a warm, intimate, and continuous relationship with his mother (Bowlby, 1991).

Two authors

When you cite a work by two authors, provide both last names and the year of publication every time the citation occurs in the paper. In narrative citations, connect the two names with the word “and”. In parenthetical citations, connect the two names with an ampersand (&).
Narrative citation

Vincent and Neis (2011) explored the relationship between parental work schedules and child academic achievement.

Parenthetical citation

Parental work schedules might exert an impact on child academic achievement (Vincent & Neis, 2011).

Three or more authors

When you cite a work by three or more authors, give only the first author's last name followed by "et al." and the year of publication. Do this for the first and all subsequent citations.
Narrative citation

Jensen et al. (2012) examined the CBSM intervention on indicators of positive psychological well-being of HIV-positive racial minority women.

Parenthetical citation

Research suggests that CBSM affects the psychological well-being of HIV-positive racial minority women (Jensen et al., 2012).

Group author

When you cite a work by a group author, provide the group author’s full name, followed by its abbreviation—if the abbreviation is well-known—and the year of publication. Do this for the first citation. For all subsequent citations, use only the abbreviation and the year of publication. However, when the name is short or not obvious to understand, write it out every time it occurs. If the group author first appears in a narrative citation present the abbreviation in parentheses and separate it with a comma from the year of publication. If it first appears in a parenthetical citation, place the abbreviation in brackets. Groups that serve as authors can be corporations, government agencies, associations, and study groups.
Narrative citation

First citation

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2003) estimates that around 30,000 people die by suicide each year in the United States.

Subsequent citations

According to the NIMH (2003), American Indians and Alaska Natives tend to have the highest rate of suicides.

Parenthetical citation

First citation

The report estimates that around 30,000 people die by suicide each year in the United States (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2003).

Subsequent citations

American Indians and Alaska Natives tend to have the highest rate of suicides (NIMH, 2003).

No author

When you cite a work with no identified author, provide the title and the year of publication of the work. If the title is too long, provide only the first few words. In the text, titles should be capitalized using title case. Titles of stand-alone works should be italicized, while titles of works that are part of a greater whole should be placed in quotation marks.

Stand-alone source

Narrative citation

As stated in the report Oxford Languages (2020), in a short period of time specialist epidemiological and medical vocabulary entered everyday written or spoken communication.

Parenthetical citation

In a short period of time specialist epidemiological and medical vocabulary entered everyday written or spoken communication (Oxford Languages, 2020).

Source that is part of a greater whole

Narrative citation

As stated in article "September 11 Attack" (2012), a large number of firefighters rushed to the World Trade Center minutes after the first plane struck the north tower.

Parenthetical citation

A large number of firefighters rushed to the World Trade Center minutes after the first plane struck the north tower ("September 11 Attack," 2012).

Anonymous author

When the work's author is designated as anonymous, use the word Anonymous instead of a name, followed by a comma and the year of publication. The example that follows is based on the book: Primary colors: A novel of politics.
Narrative citation

Anonymous (1996) stated that "He took a seat away from the table deftly respecting the integrity of the class" (Chapter 1).

Parenthetical citation

"He took a seat away from the table deftly respecting the integrity of the class" (Anonymous, 1996, Chapter 1).

Direct quotation

When you cite a direct quotation, apart from the author and year of publication, indicate the page number of the source, where the quotation appears.
Narrative citation

Breivik and Senn (1998) state that "teacher resistance to change is not unusual" (p. 107).

Parenthetical citation

"Teacher resistance to change is not unusual" (Breivik & Senn, 1998, p. 107).

Specific part of a source

In general, you have to provide specific parts of sources (e.g., page numbers), only when you provide direct quotations. In such a case, provide the last name of the author(s) and the publication date of the source adding information about the specific part. Parts to cite may include:
  • pages, paragraphs, sections, tables, figures, supplemental material, or footnotes from articles, books, reports, webpages, or other works;
  • chapters, forewords, or other sections of authored books;
  • time stamps of videos or audiobooks; and
  • slide numbers in PowerPoint presentations.

The word "page" is always abbreviated (i.e., p.), but the word "Chapter" is not.

Narrative citation

Hilyer (2008) suggested that there are four steps to be followed in the preparation of an effective learner-centered presentation (Chapter 5).

Parenthetical citation

There are four steps to be followed in the preparation of an effective learner-centered presentation (Hilyer, 2008, Chapter 5).

Multiple works in a single citation

Different authors

When you cite two or more works by different authors in a single citation, present each work as you would normally do. In a narrative citation, present the sources in any order and separate them with commas—if more than three (3). In a parenthetical citation, arrange the works alphabetically by author and separate them with semicolons.
Narrative citation
Slote (1997) as well as Hoffman and Wood (2005) recorded the difficulties in the weeding process.
Parenthetical citation

One of the difficulties librarians encountered during the weeding process is the development of a weeding policy (Hoffman & Wood, 2005; Slote, 1997).

Same authors

When you cite two or more works by the same author in a single citation, give the author's last name followed by the years of publication of the different sources. Place citations with no dates first, followed by works with dates, from the oldest to the most recent. In-press citations appear last.
Narrative citation

Cole (n.d., 2011, 2012, in press) suggested that the U.S. needs complete withdrawal from Iraq to fix its Arab relations.

Parenthetical citation

The U.S. needs complete withdrawal from Iraq to fix its Arab relations (Cole, n.d., 2011, 2012, in press).

Same authors, same publication date

When you cite two or more works by the same author and with the same year of publication in a single citation, identify each work by adding a lower case letter next to the date (e.g., a, b, c, and so forth). The letters should be assigned first in the list of references after placing the sources in alphabetical order by title.
Narrative citation

Robbins (2010a, 2010b) argues that social activity and emotional control helped predict academic performance and retention.

Parenthetical citation

Social activity and emotional control helped predict academic performance and retention (Robbins, 2010a, 2010b).

Indirect source

When you want to cite a primary source that is a source referring to original content reported in another source (secondary source), name the primary source and provide a parenthetical citation for the secondary source. Begin the description of the secondary source with the phrase "as cited in" followed by the secondary source’s author, a comma, and the year of publication. In the reference list, provide the bibliographic information of the secondary source.
Narrative citation

Lund (2004, as cited in Chen and Van Ullen, 2011) suggests that “ESL students, particularly those from Asian countries, have little background in the concepts of intellectual property and critical thinking” (p. 210).

Parenthetical citation

“ESL students, particularly those from Asian countries, have little background in the concepts of intellectual property and critical thinking” (Lund 2004, as cited in Chen and Van Ullen, 2011, p. 210).

Interview (personal)

A personal interview is one that you conduct in order to obtain information to support a point in your paper. Because readers cannot retrieve this type of interview, you should cite it as personal communication.

Personal communications include emails, text messages, online chats or direct messages, personal interviews, telephone conversations, live speeches, unrecorded classroom lectures, messages from nonarchived discussion groups or online bulletin boards, and so on. Cite personal communications only in the body of the paper. Do not include any information in the reference list.

Narrative citation

M. Phelps (personal communication, April 25, 2020) supported that the race from 2012 in which he was second, behind Chad le Clos, motivated him to get back and try to finish his career on his terms.

Parenthetical citation

The race from 2012 in which Phelps was second, behind Chad le Clos, motivated him to get back and try to finish his career on his terms (M. Phelps, personal communication, April 25, 2020).

Website

If you need to cite an entire website, you just need to provide the address of the site in your text. You do not need to cite the source in the Reference list.

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