Basic principles of citation are covered in Sections 8.10–8.36 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition. This guidance is the same as in the 6th edition.
APA Style uses the author–date citation system, in which a brief in-text citation directs readers to a full reference list entry. The in-text citation appears within the body of the paper (or in a table, figure, footnote, or appendix) and briefly identifies the cited work by its author and date of publication. This enables readers to locate the corresponding entry in the alphabetical reference list at the end of the paper.
Each work cited must appear in the reference list, and each work in the reference list must be cited in the text (or in a table, figure, footnote, or appendix).
Both paraphrases and quotations require citations.
The following are guidelines to follow when writing in-text citations:
The author–date citation system is covered in Sections 8.10–8.36 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition. This guidance has been revised from the 6th edition.
APA Style uses the author–date citation system, in which a brief in-text citation directs readers to a full reference list entry. The in-text citation appears within the body of the paper and briefly identifies the cited work by its author and date of publication. This enables readers to locate the corresponding entry in the alphabetical reference list at the end of the paper. Each work cited must appear in the reference list, and each work in the reference list must be cited in the text.
Both the author and the date, separated by a comma, appear in parentheses for a parenthetical citation. A parenthetical citation can appear within or at the end of a sentence.
Falsely balanced news coverage can distort the public’s perception of expert consensus on an issue (Koehler, 2016).
The author’s last name appears in your sentence, and the date appears in parentheses immediately after the author’s name for a narrative citation. The author’s name can be included in the sentence in any place it makes sense.
Koehler (2016) noted the dangers of falsely balanced news coverage.
In rare cases, the author and date might both appear in the narrative. In this case, do not use parentheses.
In 2016, Koehler noted the dangers of falsely balanced news coverage.
When repeating a citation, show the entire citation; do not, for example, include only a page number (the abbreviation “ibid.” is not used in APA Style). Instead, use the following guidelines:
If you want to repeat a citation that is... | What you do |
Parenthetical format, i.e. (Author, Year) | Include the author(s) and year for every parenthetical in-text citation. |
Narrative format, i.e. Author (Year) | Exclude the year for narrative in-text citations the second and subsequent times they appear in a single paragraph. |
Multiple works by the same author/s |
Include the year in every in-text citation to prevent ambiguity, regardless of the publication years of the multiple works. For example, if you cite Mohammed and Mahfouz (2017) and Mohammed and Mahfouz (2019), include the year with every citation, even when one of the references is cited multiple times in a single paragraph. |
Used multiple times in a long paraphrase |
If you write a long paraphrase over several sentences, you only need to cite author/s once at the first mention, provided that the rest of your writing makes it clear that you are paraphrasing the same work. Repeat the citation if the paraphrase continues into a new paragraph. See the Long Paraphrase guidelines in the Paraphrasing section below for more info. |
Paraphrasing is covered in Sections 8.23 and 8.24 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition. This guidance has been expanded from the 6th edition.
Restates another’s idea in your own words. You should try to paraphrase more than using direct quotations where possible because it allows you to summarize and synthesize information from one or more sources, focus on significant information, and compare and contrast relevant details.
When you paraphrase, cite the original work using either the narrative or parenthetical citation format:
Parenthetical:
The conclusion reached in a recent study (Cochrane, 2019) was that . . .
Narrative:
Cochrane (2019) concluded that . . .
If a paraphrase continues for several sentences, cite the work being paraphrased on the first mention. Once you have cited the work, you do not need to repeat the citation as long as your writing makes it clear that you are paraphrasing the same work. However, if you incorporate multiple sources or switch among sources, repeat the citation so the source is clear.
Reintroduce the citation if the paraphrase continues into a new paragraph.
Example from APA Style website:
Velez et al. (2018) found that for women of color, sexism and racism in the workplace were associated with poor work and mental health outcomes, including job-related burnout, turnover intentions, and psychological distress. However, self-esteem, person–organization fit, and perceived organizational support mediated these effects. Additionally, stronger womanist attitudes—which acknowledge the unique challenges faced by women of color in a sexist and racist society—weakened the association of workplace discrimination with psychological distress. These findings underscore the importance of considering multiple forms of workplace discrimination in clinical practice and research with women of color, along with efforts to challenge and reduce such discrimination.
Quotations are covered in Sections 8.25 and 8.34 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition. This guidance has been expanded from the 6th edition.
A direct quote reproduces words verbatim from another work. When quoting directly, always provide the author, year, and page number or the page range of the quotation (in both parenthetical and narrative in-text citations). Use direct quotations:
For quotations of fewer than 40 words, add quotation marks around the words and incorporate the quote into your own text—no additional formatting is needed.
One page number
Effective teams can be difficult to describe because “high performance along one domain does not translate to high performance along another” (Ervin et al., 2018, p. 470).
Page-range
"Classroom management strategies should aim to enhance student social and moral growth" (Wubbels, 2011, as cited in Woodcock & Ruepert, pp. 655-656).
Ervin at al. (2018) assert that effective teams can be difficult to describe because “high performance along one domain does not translate to high performance along another” (p. 470).
Format quotations of 40 words or more as block quotations:
Start a block quotation on a new line and indent the whole block 0.5 in. from the left margin.
Double-space the entire block quotation.
Do not add extra space before or after it.
If there are additional paragraphs within the quotation, indent the first line of each subsequent paragraph an additional 0.5 in. See an example in Section 8.27 of the Publication Manual.
Either (a) cite the source in parentheses after the quotation’s final punctuation or (b) cite the author and year in the narrative before the quotation and place only the page number in parentheses after the quotation’s final punctuation.
Do not add a period after the closing parenthesis in either case.
Block Quotation with parenthetical citation:
Researchers have studied how people talk to themselves:
Block Quotation with narrative citation:
Flores et al. (2018) described how they addressed potential researcher bias when working with an intersectional community of transgender people of color:
Learn more:
If you want to directly quote from written material that does not contain page numbers (e.g., webpages and websites, some ebooks), or eJournals that do not have continuous page numbers, then provide readers with another way of finding the quoted passage. APA Style lists many approaches on their website linked under "Learn More." Use the approach that will help readers find the quotation the easiest.
The author–date citation system is covered in Sections 8.10–8.36 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition. This guidance has been revised from the 6th edition.
The format of the author element of the in-text citation changes depending on the number of authors and is abbreviated in some cases.
The following table shows the basic in-text citation styles:
Author type | Parenthetical citation | Narrative citation |
---|---|---|
One author | (Luna, 2020) | Luna (2020) |
Two authors | (Salas & D'Agostino, 2020) | Salas and D'Agostino (2020) |
Three or more authors | (Martin et al., 2020) | Martin et al. (2020) |
Group author with abbreviation First citation * Subsequent citations |
(National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2020) (NIMH, 2020) |
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2020) NIMH (2020) |
Group author without abbreviation | (Stanford University, 2020) |
Stanford University (2020) |
* Define the abbreviation for a group author only once in the text, choosing either the parenthetical or the narrative format. Thereafter, use the abbreviation for all mentions of the group in the text.
Citing multiple works is covered in Sections 8.12 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition. This guidance has been revised from the 6th edition.
Order the citations within the parenthesis in alphabetical order as they would appear in the reference list, separated by a semicolon.
(Adams et al., 2019; Shumway & Shulman, 2015; Westinghouse, 2017)
Order the citations by year of publication. Citations with no date go first, then works with dates in chronological order, and have in-press citations last.
(Zhou, n.d., 2000, 2016, in-press)
or Zhou (n.d., 2000, 2016, in-press)
To emphasize works which relate to your point the most in a given sentence, place those citations first within parentheses in alphabetical order, followed by a semicolon and a phrase, like "see also", before the first of the remaining citations, keeping these also in alphabetical order.
(Sampson & Hughes, 2020; see also Augustine, 2017; Melara et al., 2018; Perez, 2014)
Place the citations in chronological order (despite the order that they appear in the reference list)
(Carraway et al., 2013, 2014, 2019)
Secondary sources are covered in Section 8.6 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition. This guidance has been expanded from the 6th edition.
In scholarly work, a primary source reports original content; a secondary source refers to content first reported in another source.
Follow these directions when citing a secondary source:
If you read a work by Lyon et al. (2014) in which Rabbitt (1982) was cited, and you were unable to read Rabbitt’s work yourself, cite Rabbitt’s work as the original source, followed by Lyon et al.’s work as the secondary source. Only Lyon et al.’s work appears in the reference list.
(Rabbitt, 1982, as cited in Lyon et al., 2014)
Rabbitt (1982; as cited in Lyon et al., 2014)
If the year of the primary source is unknown, omit it from the in-text citation.
Allport’s diary (as cited in Nicholson, 2003)
Missing reference information is covered in Section 9.4 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition. This guidance is the same as in the 6th edition.
Sometimes the information needed to create a reference list entry is missing or unknown. When this is the case, there are various strategies to adapt the reference.
The following table shows the basic structure of an APA Style reference to a published work, adapted for missing information, along with the corresponding in-text citations. Refer to the reference examples and Chapters 9 and 10 of the Publication Manual for specific details for the type of work being cited.
Missing element | Solution | Template | ||
Reference list entry | In-text citation | |||
Nothing—all elements are present | Provide the author, date, title, and source of the work. | Author. (Date). Title. Source. |
(Author, year) Author (year) |
|
Author | Provide the title, date, and source. | Title. (Date). Source. |
(Title, year) Title (year) |
|
Date | Provide the author, write “n.d.” for “no date,” and then provide the title and source. | Author. (n.d.). Title. Source. |
(Author, n.d.) Author (n.d.) |
|
Title | Provide the author and date, describe the work in square brackets, and then provide the source. | Author. (Date). [Description of work]. Source. |
(Author, year) Author (year) |
|
Author and date | Provide the title, write “n.d.” for “no date,” and then provide the source. | Title. (n.d.). Source. |
(Title, n.d.) Title (n.d.) |
|
Author and title | Describe the work in square brackets, and then provide the date and source. | [Description of work]. (Date). Source. |
([Description of work], year) [Description of work] (year) |
|
Date and title | Provide the author, write “n.d.” for “no date,” describe the work in square brackets, and then provide the source. | Author. (n.d.). [Description of work]. Source. |
(Author, n.d.) Author (n.d.) |
|
Author, date, and title | Describe the work in square brackets, write “n.d.” for “no date,” and then provide the source. | [Description of work]. (n.d.). Source. |
([Description of work], n.d.) Description of work] (n.d.) |
|
Source | Cite as a personal communication or find another work to cite (see the Publication Manual for more information). | No reference list entry |
(C. C. Communicator, personal communication, month day, year) C. C. Communicator (personal communication, month day, year) |
For a missing author, do not use “Anonymous” as the author unless the work is actually signed “Anonymous.” If the work is signed “Anonymous,” use “Anonymous” in the reference and in-text citation.
Anonymous. (2017). Stories from my time as a spy. Bond Publishers.
Parenthetical citation: (Anonymous, 2017)
Narrative citation: Anonymous (2017)
If the work is not actually signed “Anonymous,” the title moves to the beginning of the reference and is used in place of the author name, as shown in the table.
The date in the reference list entry for a work with a publication date may be a year only, and month and year, or a specific date (e.g., a month, day, and year); however, in the in-text citation, provide the year only.
For an in-press work, use “in press” for the date in both the reference list entry and in-text citation.
For a work with no date, use “n.d.” in both the reference list entry and the in-text citation.
Italic formatting within the title or source varies by reference and is not shown in the table. In general, the title is italicized for a work that stands alone (e.g., book, report, webpage on a website), and some part of the source is italicized for a work that is part of a greater whole (e.g., journal article, newspaper article).
See the reference examples and Chapters 9 and 10 of the Publication Manual for information on what to italicize within a reference.
Personal communications are covered in Section 8.9 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition. This guidance is the same as in the 6th edition.
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, using the following formats:
Narrative:
E.-M. Paradis (personal communication, August 8, 2019)
Parenthetical:
(T. Nguyen, personal communication, February 24, 2020)