In-Text Citations
APA Style uses parenthetical, author-date citations. After a quote, add parentheses containing the author's name, the year of publication, and the page number of the work.
Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007, pp. 7-8).
If you use more than one work by the same author, use the letters a, b, etc., after the year.
Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007a, pp. 7-8).
If more than one author has the same last name, add their first initial.
Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (D. Seuss, 2007, pp. 7-8).
If two or more authors wrote the work, see the chart below.
If using the author's name in your text, do not include it in the parentheses.
Example: In his scholarly study, Dr. Seuss observed that "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (2007, pp. 7-8).
Example: In 2007, Dr. Seuss suggested that "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (pp. 7-8).
If no author name is available, use the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title). Use quotation marks around titles of articles or web pages and italicize titles of books, periodicals, etc.
Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Fox in Socks, 2007).
If no pagination information is available, use paragraph numbers instead.
Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007, para. 5).
Note: When paraphrasing or mentioning another work, it is helpful to still provide pagination information if the source text is long or difficult, or if it would help the reader find the text being paraphrased.
| Author Type | Parenthetical Citation | Narrative Citation |
|---|---|---|
| One author | (Luna, 2020) | Luna (2020) |
| Two authors | (Salad & D'Agostino, 2020) | Salas and D'Agostino (2020) |
| Three or more authors | (Martin et al., 2020) | Martin et al. (2020) |
|
Groups as 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) |
| Groups as authors without abbreviation | (Stanford University, 2020) | Stanford University (2020) |
Table 8.1 American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association.
For more information on Parenthetical and Narrative Citations, see section 8.11 in Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition).
478-471-2709 for the Macon campus library | 478-934-3179 for the Roberts Memorial Library at the Cochran campus | 478-275-6772 for the Dublin campus library
478-374-6833 for the Eastman campus library | 478-929-6804 for the Warner Robins campus library | On the Go? Text-A-Librarian: 478-285-4898
