can you use citations in a narrative essay

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Citations: Narrative and Parenthetical Citations

Basics of citations.

The information in citations appears either in the sentence (narratively) or parenthetically:

In the sentence (narratively): According to Kokkinos (2007), employers cause burnout when employees are stressed by too much work.

Parenthetically: Employers cause burnout when employees are stressed by too much work (Kokkinos, 2007).

For quotations of a source, the page or paragraph numbers also is included parenthetically:

Quote:  Kokkinos (2007) described burnout as "a negative affective response occurring as result of chronic work stress" (p. 2).

As you can see, the information APA requires for citations helps direct the reader to that particular source in the reference list . Note, then, that is probably a good idea to construct your reference list as you write, allowing you to know what information will appear in all of your citations.

Start with these elements for each citation and you will be headed in the right direction. Check out the other information listed on this site, and if you still have questions, Ask OASIS .

Citations Video Playlist

Related Resources

Knowledge Check: Narrative and Parenthetical Citations

Didn't find what you need? Email us at [email protected] .

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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)

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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• Last Updated: May 10, 2024 3:44 PM
• URL: https://guides.douglascollege.ca/APA-7

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APA 7th Edition Guide

In-text citations.

• APA Paper Basics
• Preventing Plagiarism
• Academic Integrity Video
• Setting Up Your Paper
• eTextbooks and Course Materials
• Images & Audiovisual Media
• Legal Resources
• Personal Communications & Secondary Sources
• Missing Reference Information
• Citing Sources in PowerPoint Presentations
• Annotated Bibliographies
• Finding Help
• Additional Resources from the APA
• 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:

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:

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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• Last Updated: May 7, 2024 10:19 AM
• URL: https://guides.rasmussen.edu/apa

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

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• Ethically Use Sources

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 Citation Guide

• Paper Formatting
• Figures and Images
• Reference Components
• Book Examples
• Article Examples
• Media Examples
• Internet Resources Examples
• Other Examples

In-Text Citation Components

Narrative citations, parenthetical citations, combining citations, secondary sources.

• Page Numbers etc.

When writing a paper, you will need to provide in-text citations (sometimes called parenthetical citations) for quotes, summaries, and to give credit for ideas. Every in-text citation must have a corresponding entry in the reference list, unless you are told otherwise (examples include personal communications and citing an entire website). There are two ways to cite in-text.

For more guidelines, view sections Chapter 8 in the Publication Manual or consult the APA Style page on In-Text Citations .

APA requires that you provide two pieces of information for an in-text citation:

• Author last name(s) (this could also be an organization)
• Publication date

A page number is required for direct quotes , and encouraged for paraphrasing.

You will incorporate this information two ways into your text: parenthetically or narratively.

General Format

Use the last name of the author for your in-text citation.

( Matthews , 2010, p. 14)

Multiple Authors

You will list up to two authors in an in-text citation, separated with an ampersand (&).

( Smith & Miller , 2009)

For references with three or more authors, you will only include the first author and then the words et al.

( Smith et al. , 2009)

Smith et al. (2009) summarized it as...

Organizational Author

If the author of a work is an organization, company, or group, list that group's full name in the in-text citation.

( Santa Fe College , 2019)

If the organization has a common acronym, you may introduce it in your first in-text citation and then use the abbreviation in all subsequent citations.

(American Medical Association [AMA] , 2007)

(AMA, 2007)

You should avoid citing works with no author, because you will be unable to verify authority and credibility. Remember that most resources that do not have an individual author listed will have an organization or group responsible for the content.

If there is truly no author for a reference, you use the title, or first few words of the title. Note that you should capitalize the words in the title for the in-text citation. Place in quotation marks if the title is an article or chapter. Italicize if it is a book, webpage, etc.

( "How To Find," 2009).

( Oxford English Dictionary , 1989).

You will use the year of the resource in the in-text citation. Even if there is a more detailed date provided, only the year is included in the in-text citation.

(Smith, 2010 )

If there is no date for a reference, use the abbreviation n.d. :

(Santa Fe College, n.d. ).

Smith ( n.d. ) states that...

Same Author/Date

If you have two or more distinct works by the same author and published in the same year, differentiate them with letters. Letters will be assigned alphabetically by the order in which they are listed in the references list.

Rowling, J. K. (1999a). Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets . Arthur A. Levine.

(Rowling, 1999a )

Rowling, J. K. (1999b). Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban . Arthur A. Levine.

(Rowling, 1999b )

If both items are using n.d. instead of a year, include a hyphen before the differentiating letter.

(Santa Fe College, n.d.-a )

Recall that page numbers and more specific location information as detailed below are only required for direct quotes , but may be used for paraphrasing if you wish.

Page Numbers

If you are using information from a single page, use the abbreviation p.

(Smith, 2009, p. 12 )

If your quote (or paraphrase) spans multiple pages, use the abbreviation pp. , and separate the two numbers with an en dash (–).

Smith (2009) discusses how the study was received by the media ( pp. 12–13 ).

No Page Numbers

If there are no page numbers on your resource, use section headers, paragraph numbers, or other descriptions to direct your reader to the information you are citing.

• Conclusions section

One of the author's main points is that "people don't rise from nothing" (Gladwell, 2008, Chapter 1, Section 2, para. 5 ).

If you are citing a direct quotation from a video, you can use the time stamp in place of a page number within the in-text citation.

Pariser (2011) states that "your filter bubble is your own personal, unique universe of information that you live in online. And what's in your filter bubble depends on who you are, and it depends on what you do" (4:12) .

Narrative citations are the preferred method of citing quotes. You may also use them for paraphrasing or summarizing. The strength of narrative citations is that it flows better for a reader. A narrative citations weaves in the author's name(s) into the text, and then adds in the year in parentheses. The page number will bookend the quote at the end.

You will often want to use a signal phrase to introduce a narrative citation. For an overview of signal phrases along with some examples, visit George Mason University's page on Signal Phrases .

Last name (Year) ... "quote" or paraphrase (p. X).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011) , rates for pregnancy, STDs and abortion are much higher in the US than in other industrialized countries (para. 1) .

Pink (2009) explains that "rewards, by their very nature, narrow our focus. That’s helpful when there’s a clear path to a solution" (p. 42) .

Valenas et al. (2017) explored the impact of attentional bias and rumination on test anxiety in first-year university students.

Finocchio et al.'s (2021) study found a connection between GERD and non-allergic rhinitis.

A parenthetical citation encompasses the components of the in-text citation in parentheses at the end of the sentence, prior to the closing period. This should mostly be used for paraphrasing, and typically not for direct quotes alone.

Recall that a page number is not necessary for paraphrasing, but is encouraged.

(Author, Date, p. X)

Most college students are limited in their research experience to using Google and struggle to learn how to effectively navigate and use the wide variety of resources available to them (Head, 2013) .

Researchers have cautioned that flipped instruction needs to be carefully designed, both in overall pedagogical design (Banks & Henderson, 2019) and in the design of instructional videos (Obradovich et al., 2015) .

Moreover, Standard II.5.2 explains that school psychologists "do not promote or condone the use of restricted psychological and educational tests…by individuals who are not qualified to use them" (NASP, 2010, p. 9) .

To include two or more different resources in one citation, use a semicolon to separate them:

Poor empathy development has been associated with negative outcomes including increased aggression, poorer quality relationships, and psychopathology across development (Batanova & Loukas, 2014; Gambin & Sharp, 2016) .

A secondary source is a source that is cited in another source. APA strongly suggests that you always track down the original source to use and cite. However, if that is not possible, use the following guidelines.

In your references list, include the source you have in hand . In your in-text citation, use the name/date of the original source, plus the words as cited in and then the source you used.

For example, you are using an article by Akerstedt et al., and they cite information from a study by Wing et al.

Text found in Akerstedt et al: "This issue has not been addressed before, but weekend compensatory sleep seems to counteract obesity in children who have short sleep duration during weekdays (Wing, Li, Li, Zhang, & Kong, 2009)."

Akerstedt, T., Ghilotti, F., Grotta, A., Zhao, H., Adami, H.-O., Trolle-Lagerros, Y., & Bellocco, R. (2019). Sleep duration and mortality – Does weekend sleep matter? Journal of Sleep Research, 28 (1), e12712. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12712

(Wing et al, 2009, as cited in Akerstedt et al., 2019)

Source: Publication Manual , 8.6; Secondary Sources [APA Style]

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APA 7th Edition

• Sample Papers & How to Videos
• Reference Components
• Evaluating a Website
• Scholarly Articles
• Book with an editor
• Chapter in an edited book
• Anthologies
• Reference book
• Foreign language books
• Illustrated book
• Sacred text
• Parenthetical citations

Narrative citations

• Combining citations
• Films (DVD / Blu-Ray / Streaming)
• Online Videos (e.g. YouTube, TED)
• Films on Demand
• Television Episodes
• Music Recordings
• Additional APA Resources
• Annotated Bibliography

Narrative citations are the preferred method of citing quotes. You may also use them for paraphrasing or summarizing. The strength of narrative citation is that it flows better for a reader. A narrative citation weaves in the author's name(s) into the text and then adds in the year in parentheses. The page number will bookend the quote at the end.

You will often want to use a signal phrase to introduce a narrative citation. For an overview of signal phrases along with some examples, visit George Mason University's page on Signal Phrases.

The quote from one page - Last name (Year) "quote" or paraphrase (p. X). 

The quote is on multiple pages - Last name (Year) "quote" (pp. x-y). 

According to the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011),  rates for pregnancy, STDs and abortion are much higher in the US than in other industrialized countries (para. 1).

Pink (2009)  explains that "rewards, by their very nature, narrow our focus. That’s helpful when there’s a clear path to a solution"  (p. 42).

Valenas et al. (2017)  explored the impact of attentional bias and rumination on test anxiety in first-year university students.

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APA Style 7th Edition

Citation Basics

Citing Quoted Material

Quoting a source with no page numbers, when to use page numbers in an in-text citation.

• Using "et al." in Parenthetical Citations

Citing One Author Throughout One Paragraph

Using signal phrases, citing multiple sources in the same parentheses.

• Direct Quote From a Slide Presentation

Citing an Item in a Museum

Citing images in a presentation.

• Citing an Article or Website with Unknown Author

Abbreviating Organizational Authors

Multiple sources from the same author with the same publication year.

• Non Recoverable Information (personal communication)

Secondary Citation

• Reference List Citations
• Reference List - Web Resources
• Changes from APA 6th ed.
• Bias-Free Language
• Slide Decks: Citations and References

In-text (also called parenthetical) citations follow the author-date citation system in APA style. The author and date of a reference appear in parentheses when referred to in the text of a paper, like this (Smith, 2016) .

When a work does not have an author, use the first few words of the title of the reference in its place.  

(Do not pull words from the middle of the title; it needs to be the first few because this is how readers will match your in-text citation to the reference list.)

For articles, chapters, and web pages, put the title in quotation marks.  For books, brochures, and reports, put the title in italics. Examples:

(“Article title beginning”, 2016) or ( Book title , 2011) .

You can also work a citation into the flow of the sentence, but the author (or title) and year always stay together. For instance:

As Garcia (2016) states in her groundbreaking work...

If the author of a work is named as "Anonymous," this title takes the place of the author name in the citation. For example:

(Anonymous, 2019)

Read on for more guidelines and tips for citing specific types of sources in-text.

Paraphrasing is preferred to direct quotations, but occasionally using an author’s exact words is desirable.  In that situation, you want to direct the reader to the exact location of the quote by including a page number in the parenthetical notation :

(Garcia, 2016, p. 57)

If you use the author’s name in the text of the paper, wait until the end of the quote to insert the page number:

As Garcia (2016) states in her groundbreaking work, “hallucinations provide windows into the neural underpinnings of visual awareness in these patients” (p. 57).

If the quote spans multiple pages, use "pp." instead, like this

(Wong, 2014, pp. 21-22)

If you need to quote a website or other material that does not have page numbers or chapters, use any of the following location information instead: (p. 273)

• Consistent with data from recent flu seasons, "the overall hospitalization rate for the season increased to 29.7 per 100,000" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020, Severe Disease section).
• In the Federal Drug Administration's (FDA) Technology Modernization Action Plan (2020), "[modernization] of FDA's technology infrastructure will involve dynamic, enterprise-wide collaboration among Agency programs" ("Building the Foundation" section).
• Western countries are experiencing problems on where to send their recyclable waste. Until 2018, "China used to accept 55% of the world's plastic and paper waste" (British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) 2020, para. 2).
• Makena, a drug to prevent premature birth, may be taken off the market because "Makena's manufacturer struggled to compete with the cheaper, compounded 17P" (Huetteman 2020, "How Makena cornered the market" section, para. 26).

Note: Kindle location numbers are no longer required with in-text citations. Instead, provide the page number or any of the information listed above. 

For audiovisual works, cite the time stamp of when the quotation began in place of where you would normally cite a page number. 

• Habits are "mental associations that we form when we repeat an action over and over again in a given context and then get a reward" (Wood, 2020, 15:15).

Page numbers are only required for direct quotations. However, there may be times when you may want to refer to a specific part of a source, in which case you can include page numbers in your parenthetical citation. It is not mandatory, though, to include page numbers for segments that do not have a direct quotation.

... the study dropout rate was a disappointing 50% (Smith & Jones, 2016, p. 3).

For more see page 269 in the APA manual.

Using "et al." in Parenthetical Citations

If you are citing a source with three or more authors, you need to use "et al." in your citations. In APA 6, a work with between three and five authors would be listed the first time, with the use of "et al." each subsequent time the in-text citation was used. In APA 7, any in-text citation with three or more authors will use "et al.".  

In text, a citation with more than three authors can be parenthetical:

Reference list errors are prevalent in scholarly journals (Onwuegbuzie et al., 2011).

Or it can be part of the narrative:

Onwuegbuzie et al. (2011) used content analysis to determine that reference list errors are prevalent in scholarly journals.

Similar to APA 6, for works with a group author with an abbreviation, the first citation will spell out the author, followed by the abbreviation in brackets. For example: 

(American Psychological Association [APA], 2020)  or  American Psychological Association (APA, 2020)

Subsequent citations will use the abbreviation only. For instance,

(APA, 2020)  or  APA (2020) 

If you’re citing the same author/source repeatedly throughout one paragraph, inserting multiple citations is technically correct but lacks flow and readability. For example,

Dogs are man’s best friend (Smith, 2015). In a randomized controlled trial, dogs preferred their owners to all other people (Smith, 2015). The results of this study have implications for dog behavior (Smith, 2015). However, the study also had a small sample size, so more research into this area is necessary (Smith, 2015).

Alternatively, using the author's name in your writing can make the paragraph flow better and prevent you from having to repeat the citation subsequent sentences. (Also see p. 174 in the APA manual.) For example,

Smith (2015) notes that dogs are man’s best friend. In a randomized controlled trial conducted by Smith, dogs preferred their owners to all other people. The results of his study have implications for dog behavior. However, his study also had a small sample size, so more research into this area is necessary.

The technique of using authors' names in the text of your paper is also helpful when you want to  compare the work of two or more authors  and make be citing them alternately throughout a paragraph. For example,

Smith (2015) notes that dogs are man’s best friend. In a randomized controlled trial conducted by Smith, dogs preferred their owners to all other people. Lincoln's (2016) work built on this idea even further and provided some evidence of variation in levels of preference based on amount and type of training the dog had received. Her study revealed that dogs who had spent time in formal training programs with their owners showed a higher the preference for those owners than dogs who had participated in more informal training. The results of both studies have implications for dog behavior and the possible causes for variations in that behavior (Lincoln, 2016; Smith, 2015). However, both studies also had small sample sizes, so more research into this area is necessary.

The examples above for  Citing one Author Throughout a Paragraph  use what are called  signal phrases  to alert the reader that the writer is about to use information from an outside source. For example:

According to Smith (2017)... As noted by Watson and Holmes (1884)... Roberts (2000) discovered...

Signal phrases are a handy tool to help you indicate what content of your paper is coming from an outside source and which parts are your own original analysis. 

For more on using signal phrases, read  this short guide  from the GMU Writing Center.

And  see suggested words  to use in your signal phrases.

Sometimes you will want to make a general statement about two or more of the studies you read, especially if they had similar conclusions. To do that, just include each set of authors and dates in your parentheses, in the same order they appear in your reference list (i.e. alphabetically), and separated by semicolons.

The research shows an increase in birth rates for this particular population (Farhad & Engel, 2015; Pak, 2013; Sanchez, Chopra, & Martin, 2016).

Direct Quote from a Slide Presentation

If you are directly quoting text from a slide presentation, include a slide number and a paragraph number (if necessary), so that anyone reading your paper will be able to quickly and easily find your source.

(Smith, 2015, slide 12, para. 2)

If the item in a work of art or other piece with a known creator, use the same structure as you would for a written work with an author:

(Van Gogh,1889)

If the item's creator is unknown, use the same structure as you would for a written work with an unknown author, and use the title/description in its place:

(Gastroscope, ca. 1940)

("ca" stands for circa, for dates that have been approximated)

Citing A Museum Wall Sign

(Museum of Fine Arts, 2015)

All images in a presentation must be treated the same as figures would be in a written paper. You can think of each presentation slide as a page in an APA style paper. An image should have a caption. A caption contains :

• The title of the image, i.e. Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.
• A brief description of the image, followed by (optional) any additional information necessary to explain the figure.
• Adapted from Original Work, by Creator, Year, URL
• A copyright statement.

Here is an example of a figure with a caption that you might put in a presentation:

That is the information that goes on the slide where the image appears. You must also cite the image in your reference list. Please see  Citing Digital Images .

These are the basics of using and citing images. For complete rules and details, see section 7.26 in the official APA manual. 

Citing an Article or Website with an Unknown Author

When an article or webpage doesn’t have an author listed, use the title of the article in place of the author, both in-text and in your reference list. See above for more info on citing websites without an author.

(“Ativan (Lorazepam),” 2012)

When citing an organization as author, such as the CDC or WHO, you may use the organization’s acronym throughout the paper after you’ve spelled it out completely at least once. For example,

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2016), asthma is…

One in 13 people has asthma (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016).

Whether you spell it out in text or in a parenthetical citation, it only needs to be done once, with the acronym immediately following in parentheses or brackets.

Occasionally, you may have multiple sources with the same author and the same publication year. To distinguish these sources from each other, you add a lowercase letter after the year, in alphabetical order of where the references appear in the reference list. For example,

(CDC, 2017a)

According to the CDC (2017b)

Non Recoverable Information (Personal Communication)

When citing a source that cannot be recovered, such as your personal notes or a conversation, cite the source in a parenthetical citation with the author, followed by a personal communication designation and the date:

(J. Smith, personal communication, August 8, 2016)

Do not cite personal communication in the reference list.

Quoting something that is quoted in a paper you’ve read is called a secondary citation .  They are not recommended in APA; so it would be better if you could find the original source and quote directly from it.  However, if you have to because the original document is out of print, no longer exists as it did at the time of citing, not in English, or is otherwise unattainable, put the article you actually read in the reference list.  

Then in the text of the paper, the primary citation would appear in the reference list, but the secondary citation would not. Cite the secondary citation as you normally would in author-date format.

Alternatively your text could mention the original source, and it would look something like this:

The Transcultural Nursing Society’s mission statement (Ray, 2013, p. 143) states “to enhance the quality of culturally congruent, competent, and equitable care that results in improved health and well-being for people worldwide”…

Note: APA 6 used the term "as cited in" to cite secondary sources. APA 7 no longer uses this term.

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APA Style 7th Edition: Citing Your Sources

• Basics of APA Formatting

Purpose and Overview of In-text Citations

Citations for direct quotes, one work, one author, two or more authors, group authors, etcetera, multiple works by the same author(s) in the same year, citing indirect sources.

• In Text Quick View
• Block Quotes
• Books & eBooks
• Thesis/Dissertation
• Audiovisual
• Conference Presentations
• Social Media
• Legal References
• Reports and Gray Literature
• Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Additional Resources

• Reference Page
• Annotated Sample Student Paper Here's a sample paper provided by APA. For every style rule, there is a comment highlighted in the paper that tells you where to find the discussion of the rule in the APA Style Manual.

APA follows an author and date of publication model for citing sources in your research paper and are presented as either narrative or parenthetical citations.  The formatting does not vary due to format type, however it may deviate from the norm due to factors such as: number of authors, organization instead of individual author, lack of author, or lack of date.  By providing the standard author and date within your paper, the reader will be able to link the information presented easily to the full citation provided in the reference list.

View examples and explanations on this page or visit the In Text Quick View for more examples.

APA encourages paraphrasing over using direct quotes.  Use direct quotes when:

• Reproducing an exact definition
• Author has said something memorably or succinctly
• When you want to respond to exact wording

When creating a citation for a direct quote, provide author, year and page number for both narrative and parenthetical citations.

Ex.  University of Southern California (2020) "direct quote from author" (p. 4)  OR  "direct quote from author" (University of Southern California, 2020, p. 4).

How to cite specific parts of a source:

Author named in text:

Social historian Richard Sennett (1980) names the tendency to come to terms with difficult experiences a "purification process" whereby "threatening or painful dissonances are warded off to preserve intact a clear and articulated image of oneself and one's place in the world" (p. 11).

Author named in parentheses:

The tendency to come to terms with difficult experiences is referred to as a "purification process" whereby "threatening or painful dissonances are warded off to preserve intact a clear and articulated image of oneself and one's place in the world" (Sennett, 1980, p. 11).

These examples © Duke University Libraries http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/within/apa.html

More than one way to cite:

Flynn (1999) stated in her treatise In a recent treatise on services (Flynn, 1999) In a 1999 treatise, Flynn stated

Subsequent references to same study in same paragraph:

In her treatise on services, Flynn (1999) stated her evaluative methods…Flynn also described

One work, multiple authors

When a work has two authors, always cite both authors' names in your text:

        Significant findings in a study of Los Angeles (McCroskey & O'Keefe, 2000)

When a citation has 3 or more authors, include the last name of the first author, followed by et al. (not italicized), and the year.

        (Nishimoto et al., 1998)

For narrative citations, use the word "and" to separate authors, for parenthetical citations, use an ampersand:

         McCroskey and O'Keefe (2000) studied Los Angeles...          (McCroskey & O'Keefe, 2000)

Groups as authors

First narrative citation: National Association of Social Workers (NASW, 1987)

Subsequent narrative citation: NASW (1987)

First text citation: (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 1987)

Subsequent text citation: (NASW, 1987)

Works with no authors

Cite the work in your text using the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title). Put double quotation marks around the title of an article or chapter, and italicize the title of a periodical, book, brochure or report:

The policy stated in the article (“Services for Disabled Children,” 1992)

The policy stated in the book Access to Services for Children (1995)

Specific parts of a source

Indicate the page, chapter, figure, table, or equation at the appropriate point in your text. Give page numbers for quotations, and use the abbreviations for the words page and chapter:

(Aranda & Knight, 1997, p. 344)

(Ell & Castaneda, 1998, chap. 5)

Personal communications

This format applies to emails, messages from nonarchived discussion groups, electronic bulletin boards, personal interviews, telephone conversations, etc. Do not list personal communications in your reference list as they are not recoverable by your reader. In your text, provide initials and surname of communicator and as exact a date as possible.

(M. Flynn, personal communication, September 20, 1999)

Sometimes you'll have multiple works by the same author in the same year. For instance, you may reference a number of tax documents from the same year, which would all be cited with (Internal Revenue Service, 2012).  So how do you differentiate?

In those instances, differentiate sources with a letter after the year. From the example above, the 990 form might be (Internal Revenue Service, 2012a) and the 1040 form would be (Internal Revenue Service, 2012b).  Just make sure the letters stay consistent in your reference list!

Sometimes, you will use a source that you didn't yourself read.  In those cases, the original source came from a secondary source you did read.  APA states that you should use secondary sources sparingly and may occur when "the original work is out of print, unavailable, or available only in a language that you do not understand."

When using secondary sources, indicate it by included "as cited in" as part of your in-text citation

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APA Style & Citation 7th edition

• What's new with the 7th edition
• Annotated Bibliography
• PowerPoint and APA
• Citations: References
• Citations: In-Text
• Library Databases
• Books and Ebooks
• Media (includes videos)
• Other types of sources
• Numbers, Capitalization, Italics
• Additional Resources

Citation Rules: In-Text

Watch the short video above to see how to create a proper in-text citation using signal phrases and parenthetical citations. Below, you will find additional information about how to cite your sources within your text.

General rules (all source types):

• Include the author's last name, year of publication, and specific part (usually page number) for a quote. "Although not required to provide a page or paragraph 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" (American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 269).
• Quotes: use quotation marks around the quoted material
• Paraphrases and summaries: do not include quotation marks
• Citations at the end of a sentence are before the period

Pages and Specific Parts

When citing a book, journal article, or other paged source, use the page number of the borrowed material.

• For one page, use p. 
• For more than one page, use pp. 

When citing a source without page numbers (such as websites), find a way for the reader to locate the information you are using. This could be a section or heading name on a website, a paragraph number (manually count the paragraphs and use the abbreviation 'para.'), a slide number on a PowerPoint, a timestamp for a video, etc.

Immunotherapy "treatment involves a series of injections of purified allergen extracts" (Mayo Clinic, n.d., "Treatment" section, para.3).

To cite a quote from a film or other audiovisual media, use a time stamp in place of the a page number.

(Whedon, 2015, 16:30)

Quotations or Paraphrases

A 'narrative' in-text citation incorporates the citation information within the text you are writing.

Spencer (2006) notes that it is acceptable "to state the author's name at the beginning of the sentence, rather than always putting it in the parenthetical citation" (pp. 5-6) . 

A 'parenthetical' citation has all of the citation information within parentheses.

Many students still refuse to "separate the author from the citation at the end of the quoted material" (Spencer, 2006, pp. 5-6) .

Organization as the Author

If you want to abbreviate the name of the organization. Introduce the abbreviation by first including the whole name, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.

• Example: According to the  World Health Organization (WHO, 2016) , 5-10% of all cancer-related deaths in Bangladesh stem from arsenic poisoning that pollutes the region (para. 9-10) .
• Example: "In Bangladesh, 5–10% of all cancer deaths in an arsenic-contaminated region were attributable to arsenic exposure" ( World Health Organization [WHO] , 2016, para. 9-10) .

Unknown Author

• Mention the work's title in the text or give the first word or two of the title in the in-text citation
• Titles of articles are put in "quotation marks"
• Titles of books are italicized
• If Anonymous is ever used, treat it as a real name

Example: Acquiring effective study habits is the most important indicator of first-year college student success ("Students," 2002, para. 3) .

Personal Communication

This can include private letters, some email, interviews you conduct, etc. They are not recoverable (no one else will be able to find this information) so do not need to be listed on the Reference page but will need to be cited in your text. Follow the same order for other in-text citations - immediately following the quote or paraphrase . 

First initials and last name of the communicator (personal communication, date of communication).

Example: "The quality of work has increased year to year" (D. Porterfield, personal communication, June 10, 2019).

Secondary Source

If a source you are using refers to another source, try to obtain that other source for a citation. If you can't get to that source use "as cited in" to acknowledge both sources. Include the date of the original source (should be on the source you are using's Reference page); if the date is not listed then omit that part of the citation.

(Greave, 2015, as cited in Schein, 2017) - where the source you have is by Schein from 2017, but you are citing an article by Greave published in 2015. Greave's speech (as cited in Schein, 2017) - when you do not know the date of the original source.

*Group authors with abbreviations are NOT abbreviated on the Reference page, spell out the entire name.

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APA Citation Guide

• Get Started
• Create a Citation
• Browse Examples

Signal Phrases

How to style it.

• Format Your Paper
• Get More Help

An in-text citation is a brief reference in your essay that leads your reader to a corresponding entry on your references page. Think of an in-text citation like a flag you plant for your reader. The flag sends the reader to your references page to find full details about the source you are referencing.

In-text citations are how we give credit to the original ideas that influenced, inspired, or guided our own work. 

Include an in-text citation (or flag for your reader) when you:

• directly quote a source
• paraphrase, or put a source into your own words
• include dates, statistics, or other factual information found in a source.  

Remember, you cannot borrow anyone's words, phrases, ideas, arguments, images, or other knowledge product without giving them credit for their work.

Need some help with phrasing your narrative citations? Try these signal phrase explainers and word banks!

Basic Formatting

APA uses the author-date system for in-text citations. Parenthetical references briefly document sources of information. Page numbers are only required for a direct quotation; paraphrasing is preferred. Each item cited in text must have a corresponding entry on the reference page, which includes the full publication information for the sources. 

Parenthetical citation means planting the flag for the reader at the end of the sentence by placing the relevant information inside parenthesis. In APA style in-text citations must include the author's last name and year. If no author or date is given, use the title in your signal phrase or the first word or two of the title in the parentheses and use the abbreviation "n.d." (for "no date").  The sentence's period comes after it. It looks like this:

A narrative citation means the flag is contained within the body of the sentence. It is usually accomplished by using a signal phrase or lead-in phrase, to alert the reader. The signal phrase might come at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence.

Examples of signal phrases include the verbs: 

• according to

It looks like this. 

What to Include in All In-Text Citations

• Author's name*
• Page number, if a direct quote

*If the work does not have an author listed use the title in place of the Author's name.

List the author's last name.

Two Authors

List the last name of both authors. Separate them with "&".

Three or More Authors

• List only the first author's last name. This is the lead author.
• Insert a space followed by the phrase et al.  Notice that al. is an abbreviation so it needs a period after it.

Note: The abbreviation et al. is short for the Latin phrase et alia , which means and others . When we use it, we are telling our reader this source was written by the lead author and others , or by the lead author et al.

No Listed Author

• Replace the author's last name with the title of the work.

Page Numbers

If using a direct quote, include the specific page number. Paraphrasing is preferred when citing in APA style. 

• Include the page number following the year, separated with a comma
• Include p. before a single page number or pp. before a page range
• If 2 pages or more need to be cited in the essay, place a hyphen between them. There is no space on either side of the hyphen.
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APA (7th Edition) Referencing Guide

• Information for EndNote Users
• Authors - Numbers, Rules and Formatting

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), what do i do if there are no page numbers.

• Reference List
• Books & eBooks
• Book chapters
• Journal Articles
• Conference Papers
• Newspaper Articles
• Web Pages & Documents
• Specialised Health Databases
• Using Visual Works in Assignments & Class Presentations
• Using Visual Works in Theses and Publications
• Using Tables in Assignments & Class Presentations
• Custom Textbooks & Books of Readings
• ABS AND AIHW
• Videos (YouTube), Podcasts & Webinars
• Blog Posts and Social Media
• First Nations Works
• Dictionary and Encyclopedia Entries
• Personal Communication
• Theses and Dissertations
• Film / TV / DVD
• Miscellaneous (Generic Reference)
• AI software
• APA Format for Assignments
• What If...?
• Other Guides

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

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.

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.

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.

This example paragraph contains mouse-over text. Run your mouse over the paragraph to see notes on formatting.

Excerpt from "The Big Fake Essay"

You can read the entire Big Fake Essay on the Writing Guide. It includes more details about academic writing and the formatting of essays.

• The Big Fake Essay
• Academic Writing Workshop

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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Writing and Citing: APA 7th Edition: In-Text Citations

• Sample Paper & References Page
• In-Text Citations
• Audiovisual Materials
• Tables and Figures
• Social Media
• Other Sources
• APA 6th ed This link opens in a new window
• **NEW** Generative A.I.

What's in-text citing?

"In-text" means citing the source of information in the body of text , for example:

• In the text of an essay.
• In the outline of a speech.
• In a slide of a powerpoint.

Every time you cite a source in your text, there has to be a corresponding citation in the References page at the end of your essay or assignment.

General Information

Guidelines:.

• Both direct quotations and paraphrases from other sources need a citation.    ​
• All  source s that are cited in text must also appear on the  references page.  
• Only cite the sources whose information you included within your paper.  
• Use in-text citations sparingly; APA7 does not recommend  over - citation .  
• Cite all sources that are not common knowledge.  

Parenthetical vs Narrative citation:  

The parenthetical citation requires the  author's last name and the date/year  the work was published   in parentheses   (Author's last name, Year).  Make sure to add the page number (if you have one) in parentheses if you are using a direct quote (Author last name, Year, p. #)

Narrative citation incorporates the author name and/or year in the narrative (as part of your sentence). Make sure to include the page number at the end in parentheses if you use a direct quote (p. #). 

Narrative: Huskin (2016) suggests that  classroom  activities that include writing help students stay engaged.  

Narrative: In 2016, Huskin suggests that  classroom  activities that  include writing  help students stay engaged.  

Parenthetical (paraphrase):  Classroom activities that include writing help students stay engaged (Huskin, 2016).

Parenthetical (direct quote) : “Writing activities increase students’ learning and engagement” (Huskin, 2016).  

References Page:

Huskin, P.  R.  (2016). Engagement strategies for increasing student writing success. Education, 136(3),  283–290.  

Quoting, Summarizing, and Paraphrasing

Citing Images in-Text

When citing images under the image in-text (including Powepoint slides):

Basic Format:

Figure X . An explanation or description of figure. Reprinted [or adapted] from  Book Title  (page number), by Author First Initial. Second Initial. Last Name, Year, Publisher. 

Figure From a Website:

Figure X . Descriptive phrase that serves as title and description. Reprinted [or adapted] from  Title of Website , by Author First Initial. Second Initial. Last Name, Year, URL.

Format Variations

Single author: .

(Author Last Name, Year)

“Wr i t i n g act i v i t i es  i n crease students’ learn i n g and engagement” ( Husk i n , 2016).  

Two Authors:

(Author Last Name & Author Last Name, Year)

(D'Amico & Barbarito, 2016) -parenthetical

D'Amico and Barbarito (2016) state... -narrative

*note: use the "&" in parenthetical citation, use "and" in narrative

Three and More Authors:

(Author Last Name et al., Year)

(Landon et al., 2017). -parenthetical

Landon et al. (2017) write... -narrative

*specifically for no author, for organization/owner as author, see next section below.

(Title, date) -parenthetical

Title (date) -narrative

Edited Book, No Author:

*For in-text citations, use editor names in place of author names.

(Editor Last Name & Editor Last Name, Year).

(Catapano & Critchley, 2016).

Chapter From Anthology :

*When citing chapter from anthology, use the chapter author as the author, not the editors. 

(Chapter Author Last Name, Year).

(Glaspell, 2016). 

Other Formats

Website: Websites are cited the same as other sources in-text, in the (Author, Date format).

If no author, follow the below guidelines: 

Many reliable resources published by the government, educational institutions or organizations do not have a specific author. In this case, the organization that published the resource becomes the author. 

(Organization, date). -parenthetical 

Organization (date) -narrative 

(Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020).  *note: following citations of the same source can be shortened to (CDC, 2020).  

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2020) ...

Lecture/Presentation: (Presenter Last Name, Date)

Personal Communication 

No personal communication is included in the Reference list

Example: 

Dr. Phyllis Jackson (personal communication, October 1, 2016) felt the salt content in many canned soups was misleading to consumers. -narrative 

Dr. Jackson felt the salt content in many canned soups was misleading to consumers (P. Jackson, personal communication, October 1, 2017).  -parenthetical 

NOTE: Personal Communications do not appear in the References page. 

The APA Blog Style explanation in full is here. 

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Essay Writing: In-Text Citations

• Essay Writing Basics
• Purdue OWL Page on Writing Your Thesis This link opens in a new window
• Paragraphs and Transitions
• How to Tell if a Website is Legitimate This link opens in a new window
• Formatting Your References Page
• Cite a Website
• Common Grammatical and Mechanical Errors
• Additional Resources
• Proofread Before You Submit Your Paper
• Structuring the 5-Paragraph Essay

In-text Citations

What are In-Text Citations?

You must cite (give credit) all information sources used in your essay or research paper whenever and wherever you use them.

When citing sources in the text of your paper, you must list:

● The author’s last name

● The year  the information was published.

Types of In-Text Citations: Narrative vs Parenthetical

A  narrative citation gives the author's name as part of the sentence .

• Example of a Narrative Citation: According to Edwards (2017) , a lthough Smith and Carlos's protest at the 1968 Olympics initially drew widespread criticism, it also led to fundamental reforms in the organizational structure of American amateur athletics.

A  parenthetical citation puts the source information in parentheses—first or last—but does not include it in  the narrative  flow.

• Example of a Parenthetical Citation:  Although Tommie Smith and John Carlos paid a heavy price in the immediate aftermath of the protests, they were later vindicated by society at large (Edwards, 2017) .

Full citation for this source (this belongs on the Reference Page of your research paper or essay):

Edwards, H. (2017).  The Revolt of the Black Athlete: 50th Anniversary Edition.  University of Illinois Press.

Sample In-text Citations

Note: This example is a  direct quote. It is an exact quotation directly from the text of the article. All direct quotes should appear in quotation marks: "...."

Try keeping direct quotes to a minimum in your writing. You need to show your understanding of the source material by being able to paraphrase or summarize it. 

List the author’s last name only (no initials) and the year the information was published, like this:

(Dodge, 2008 ). ( Author , Date).

IF you use a direct quote, add the page number to your citation, like this: 

( Dodge , 2008 , p. 125 ).

( Author , Date , page number )

What information should I cite in my paper/essay?

Credit these sources when you mention their information in any way: direct quotation, paraphrase, or summarize.

What should you credit?

Any information that you learned from another source, including:

● statistics

EXCEPTION: Information that is common knowledge: e.g., The Bronx is a borough of New York City.

Quick Sheet: APA 7 Citations

Quick help with apa 7 citations.

• Quick Sheet - Citing Journal Articles, Websites & Videos, and Creating In-Text Citations A quick guide to the most frequently-used types of APA 7 citations.

In-text Citation Tutorial

• Formatting In-text Citations, Full Citations, and Block Quotes In APA 7 Style This presentation will help you understand when, why, and how to use in-text citations in your APA style paper.

Download the In-text Citations presentation  (above)  for an in-depth look at how to correctly cite your sources in the text of your paper.

SIgnal Phrase Activity

Paraphrasing activity from the excelsior owl, in-text citation quiz.

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In-Text Citations: The Basics

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Note:  This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style  can be found here .

Reference citations in text are covered on pages 261-268 of the Publication Manual. What follows are some general guidelines for referring to the works of others in your essay.

Note:  On pages 117-118, 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, like, for example, (Jones, 1998). One complete reference for each source 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.

On the other hand, if you are directly quoting or borrowing from another work, you should include the page number at the end of the parenthetical citation. Use the abbreviation “p.” (for one page) or “pp.” (for multiple pages) before listing the page number(s). Use an en dash for page ranges. For example, you might write (Jones, 1998, p. 199) or (Jones, 1998, pp. 199–201). This information is reiterated below.

Regardless of how they are referenced, 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.
• If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters long or greater within the title of a source:  Permanence and Change . Exceptions apply to short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs:  Writing New Media ,  There Is Nothing Left to Lose .

( 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 ."
• If the title of the work is italicized in your reference list, italicize it and use title case capitalization in the text:  The Closing of the American Mind ;  The Wizard of Oz ;  Friends .
• If the title of the work is not italicized in your reference list, use double quotation marks and title case capitalization (even though the reference list uses sentence case): "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." for a single page and “pp.” for a span of multiple pages, with the page numbers separated by an en dash).

You can introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.

If you do not include the author’s name in the text of the sentence, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation.

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, but do not add an extra blank line before or after it. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.

Because block quotation formatting is difficult for us to replicate in the OWL's content management system, we have simply provided a screenshot of a generic example below.

Formatting example for block quotations in APA 7 style.

Quotations from sources without pages

Direct quotations from sources that do not contain pages should not reference a page number. Instead, you may reference another logical identifying element: a paragraph, a chapter number, a section number, a table number, or something else. Older works (like religious texts) can also incorporate special location identifiers like verse numbers. In short: pick a substitute for page numbers that makes sense for your source.

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 and may omit the page numbers. APA guidelines, however, do encourage including a page range for a summary or paraphrase when it will help the reader find the information in a longer work.