APA in-text citation

This page describes the correct format for in-text citations in APA (7th edition):

• Basic format
• Many authors
• Quotations and block quotations
• Quoting audio-visual work
• Quoting research participants
• Page numbers
• Reference within a source (secondary source)
• Citing a source multiple times in one paragraph
• Title in author position
• Entries with the same author(s) and year of publication
• Multiple sources within the same brackets
• Additional information in citations
• Personal communications
• Citing information from traditional knowledge or oral traditions of indigenous peoples
• Punctuation
• APA style guides

New to referencing? See the introduction to referencing.

When you have used a source in an assignment it is necessary to credit the source for the reader. See why reference for the reasons why this is important.

This credit appears in two places: within the body of the assignment (the in-text citation) and at the end of the assignment (in the reference list). For every in-text citation there should be a matching entry in the reference list, and vice versa.

the in-text citation contains basic information about the source:

• The source's author(s)
• The year of publication
• The page number (sometimes)

The reference list contains more detailed information about the source: the title, publishing details, etc.

An in-text citation looks like this:

Note that the full stop only comes after the closing bracket, and that only the surname (family name) of the author is used.

The author's name can also be incorporated into a sentence in the assignment, in which case it is moved outside the brackets:

An in-text citation is needed whenever you have used information, ideas, concepts, or facts from another source. If you have paraphrased, summarised, or quoted another author, you need to provide an in-text citation.

Sometimes a source will have more than one author, no author, or no year of publication. See referencing elements for what to do in these situations.

In some rare cases there will be two different sources with the same author and year of publication. In these cases, a lower-case letter is attached to the year to distinguish them. See same year, same author for details.

In-text citations for works with three or more authors include only the first author’s name and "et al." (which means "and others" in Latin) in all citations, including the first in-text citation:

The earlier (6th) edition of APA formats this differently. See 6th vs. 7th for details.

Direct quotations are usually put inside quotation marks (“ ”), followed by the reference:

If a quotation is longer than 40 words, no quotation marks are used, and the quotation is indented instead:

Note that when you indent a direct quote, the full stop comes before the bracket.

Quotations should be identical to the original source, but some small changes can be made. See quoting for details.

Whenever a source has been quoted word-for-word, a page number must be provided:

The abbreviation “p.” (not “pg.” or “page’) is used here. If you cannot find a page number, see no page numbers.

If you have only paraphrased or summarised a source, a page number is not compulsory under APA style. However, it can help readers to include it, especially for longer texts:

Although it is 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 (e.g., a book). (American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 269)

Many lecturers prefer you to provide a page number in every in-text citation. Some lecturers only want page numbers for direct quotations. If unsure, ask your course coordinator for clarification.

When quoting audio-visual material (e.g., audiobook, YouTube video, TV episode), provide a time stamp for the beginning of the quotation in place of a page number.

Research participants are not included in your reference list as they are not a locatable source, nor should they be treated as personal communication. The same rules for formatting ordinary quotes apply to research participants: quotes fewer than 40 words are in quotation marks within the text, and quotes greater than 40 words are indented, without quotation marks, below the text.

Within the text, it should be made clear you are quoting research participants. For example:

Many academic books and journal articles quote earlier books or articles on the same topic. If you cannot access the original source (it is out of print, or unavailable through the library), you can cite the secondary source instead:

In this example, the quoted source (the original source) is Chi (2020). The quoting source (the secondary source) is Lazar (2022). The original source is mentioned first, followed by “as cited in” and then the secondary source. If the date of the cited source (the original source) is unknown, it should be omitted from the in-text citation:

Because you have not viewed Chi it only appears in the in-text citation, not in the reference list. The secondary source (Lazar, 2022) should be listed in the reference list, according to the normal format for that type of source.

If an entire article or chapter has been reproduced exactly in another source (photocopied, for example), you can cite the original source and disregard the secondary source. See Massey University books of readings for details.

Sometimes you need to go into more detail about one particular source. Putting an in-text citation after every sentence that comes from that source would look awful and break the flow of your writing… but leaving the in-text citations out risks plagiarism.

Introduce the source early in the paragraph, with the author as part of the sentence rather than in brackets:

For the rest of the paragraph, you can refer back to the author by name or pronoun when elaborating on their ideas:

If it is clear to the reader that all the ideas come from that same source, there is no risk of plagiarism and the paragraph flows well.

Note that if you put the author's name in brackets later in the paragraph (for example, if you include a quotation from that source) you should always include the year of publication in the brackets.

In some sources no individual or group author is listed. This is often true for magazine / newspaper articles and encyclopædia entries. In these situations, a shortened version of the source's title (usually the first two or three words) is used instead of the author in the in-text citation:

See referencing elements for details.

In some rare cases, you may need to reference two different sources that have the same author and the same year of publication.

See same author, same year for details.

If you want to include several different citations in one set of brackets, they should be in alphabetical order, separated by semi-colons:

If there are several citations from one set of authors, the author(s) is listed, then each different year of publication, separated by commas:

These two styles can be combined:

If additional text (other than the author and date) is with the citation, then use commas about the year. For example:

Use a semi-colon to separate text from a citation in parenthesis. For example:

Personal communications describe any kind of source that is not ‘archived.’ This includes e-mails, conversations, interviews, face-to-face lectures, and so forth (see online lectures for online lectures). Readers cannot access these sources, so they should not be included in the reference list. Instead, they are listed as a special type of in-text citation only:

The first initial(s) and surname of the source are given, followed by the words “personal communication” and the date of contact.

As with any other in-text citation, the name can be moved out of the brackets and into a sentence:

Remember that printed and verified sources are usually more reliable than personal communications; see evaluating source quality for details.

How you cite information from Traditional Knowledge depends on how the information is sourced.

If the information is locatable by the reader (e.g., a publicly available recording or publication, then cite as you would an ordinary audio-visual recording or publication).

If you cite information that is not locatable by the reader, and the person is not a research participant, then provide as much detail in-text including their specific Indigenous group (e.g., iwi or hapu, nation) followed by the words “personal communication” and the date of communication. For example:

Note: In APA style, most terms related to Indigenous Peoples are capitalised as a sign of respect, including proper nouns such as specific iwi and hapu, and concepts and terms such as Traditional Knowledge, Oral Tradition, Kaumātua, or Kuia.

It is also important to ensure that the person agrees to have their name and information included in your assignment and confirms the accuracy and appropriateness of your information. See Section 8.9 of the Publication Manual (7th ed.) for more information on citing information from Indigenous Peoples.

APA uses serial commas, sometimes called an Oxford comma. This means there is a comma between the penultimate and last item in a list. This applies to authors in a reference list and text in your document:

Semi-colons can be used to separate list items when the items contain a comma or if lists are lettered:

Semi-colons are also used to separate citations within brackets. For example:

Spacing after a full stop

For APA Style, put one space after a full stop (or after other punctuation marks used to end a sentence).

Italics are used in-text when introducing key terms or phrases for the first time, particularly when the term or phrase is accompanied by a definition. Do not use italics in subsequent uses of the word:

The APA Style Guide website also has a number of pages and downloadable guides related to what is discussed on this page:

• In-text citations
• Basic principles of citations
• Author-date citation system
• Citing multiple works
• Citing works with the same author and date
• Citing works that shorten to the same et al. form
• Citing specific parts of a source
• Secondary sources
• Personal communications
• Paraphrases
• Quotations
• APA tutorials and webinars

References and further reading

Disclaimer

These pages are provided as a guide to proper referencing. Your course, department, school, or institute may prescribe specific conventions, and their recommendations supersede these instructions. If you have questions not covered here, check in the style guide listed above, ask your course coordinator, or ask at Academic Q+A.

Page authorised by Director - Centre for Learner Success
Last updated on 22 August, 2024