Guides: APA Style Guide: In-Text Citations

APA In-Text Citations - The Basics

Citing References in the Text

The purpose of in-text, or parenthetical, citations (information within parentheses) is to show which information came from which source.

Start with the author's last name, or, if there isn't one, with the title. The in-text citation should lead directly to the citation in the Reference list.
The in-text citation immediately follows the idea (Abel, 2015) without waiting for the end of the sentence.
You might also use the author in your narrative, in which case you need not repeat it in the parentheses. You will still have the date if you are paraphrasing or summarizing (2005) or date and page number for a direct quote (2005, p. 12).
- The American Psychological Association examined anxiety and danger mitigation (2016).
You could have several citations within the same sentence.
- Zika virus prevention may include vaccination (Lowy, 2015), pesticide use (Pepin & Penn, 2017), or elimination of standing water (Likas, et al., 2016).
Or you might have several references within the same parentheses. They should be in alphabetical order as they appear on the Reference list.
- Scientists agree that prevention is the key to eliminating the Zika virus (Likas et al., 2016; Lowy, 2015; Pepin & Penn, 2017).
No author, use the first word or words in the citation (Bipolar, 2015, p. 17). If the title was in italics, use italics here as well (Merck, 2016, p. 342)
Personal communication such as an interview, email, or telephone conversation will have an in-text citation but will not appear in the References list (J. Bond, personal communication, April 1, 2010). Only items that can be retrieved appear in the list.

Other examples appear with the Reference Citations. For more information, see the Publication Manual, pp. 261.

Format: (Last Name, Year of Publication)

Parenthetical citation: (Luna, 2020): Example sentence: Climate change has many causes (Luna,2020).

Narrative citation: Luna (2020): Example sentence: Luna (2020) states that climate change has many causes.

For more information, see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, pp. 262,263 and 266.

Format: (Last Name & Last Name, Year of Publication)

Parenthetical citation: Example sentence: Plastic pollution has several causes (Sales & D'Agostino, 2020).

Narrative citation: Example sentence: Sales and D'Agostino (2020) argue that plastic pollution has several causes.

For more information, see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, p. 266

Format: (Last Name et al., Year of Publication)

Parenthetical citation: Example Sentence: Plastic pollution has several causes (Martin et al., 2020).

Narrative citation: Example Sentence: Martin et al. (2020) argue that plastic pollution has several causes.

For more information, see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, p. 266

Format:

First in-text citation: (Full Organization Name [Abbreviation], Year of Publication).

Following in-text citation: (Abbreviation, Year of Publication).

Parenthetical:

First in-text citation: Example sentence: Mental health is an important issue (National Institute of Mental Health [ NIMH], 2020).

Following in-text citation: Example sentence: Many examples of mental health issues are reported (NIMH,2020).

Narrative:

First in-text citation: Example sentence: The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2020) argues that mental health is a major problem.

Following in-text citation: Example sentence: NIMH (2020) reports there are many examples of mental health issues.

For more information, see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, p. 266

Group author without abbreviation

Parenthetical (Stanford University, 2020)

Narrative Stanford University (2020)

Anonymous Author: Use when states author is specified as "anonymous." Anonymous take the place of the author's name.

Format: Anonymous, (Year of Publication)

Parenthetical: Example sentence: Climate change has many causes (Anonymous, 2020).

Narrative: Example sentence: Anonymous 2020 argues that climate change has many causes.

Unknown Author: Use when author of work is "unnamed."

Format:

Book with no author: (Shortened Title, Year of Publication)

Magazine or journal article with no author: ("Shortened Title," Year of Publication)

Parenthetical:

Book: Example Sentence: The moon is made of green cheese (Lunar Composition, 2001).

Magazine or journal article: Example sentence: The moon is made of green cheese ("Lunar Composition," 2001).

Narrative:

Book: Example sentence: In "Lunar Composition of Earth's Moon" (2001), experts argue the moon is made of green cheese.

Magazine or journal article: Example sentence: In "Lunar Composition of Earth's Moon" (2001), experts argue the moon is made of green cheese.