APA In-Text Citations
APA Style uses the (Author, Date, Page) format where “Author” is the last name of the author and “Date” is the year the reference was published. Page, paragraph, stanza, or line numbers, when specified in the text, are required in the citation. If none of these options are provided, then the information is left out of the citation.
When there is page information, use (Author, Date, p. #), or if there is a page range you are citing use (Author, Date, pp. ##-##). If you are quoting material, page numbers are required unless they are not provided, then used a paragraph number or section heading to direct readers to the information: (Author, Date, para. #) or (Author, Date, “Section Name” section).
Citations can be formatted in many different ways. You can have the author’s name specified in the sentence and then have the date and page number in parenthesis. As long as available elements of Author, Date, and Page appear around the material, then the citation is complete.
Parenthetical Citations
The author later goes on to speak about her depression, saying “it was so dark and lonely. I felt like I was letting everyone down” (Furchester, 1990, p. 12).
Note: For parenthetical citations, it is important that the citation information all appears in parenthesis: author, date, and page information when necessary/applicable.
Narrative Citations
In this example, the author’s name appears in the sentence. In APA Style, after the author’s name is stated the date of publication is inserted in parentheses. The page number comes after the quotation, also in parentheses. All three elements are here, so the citation is complete.
Dr. Rose Furchester (1990) stated: “To give up was not an option for either myself or the patient,” (p.10) at her lowest point when treating her patient, Lucy L., for cancer.
Note: In the above example, the author of the work is Dr. Rose Furchester. Since her name is used in the sentence it does not need to be in a parenthetical format.
Note: In APA Style, stating the date of publication for a reference after the author’s name in the sentence is appropriate citation format, but is not the only way to cite. Notice the placement of the page information after the quotation.
If the source being used has two authors, both author must appear in the in-text citation. Two authors are listed with the the symbol ‘&’ between their last names in the parenthetical citation method. In the narrative form, the use of the work ‘and’ is appropriate.
Parenthetical Citation:
The authors later go on to speak about how excessive sleep deprivation can cause symptoms like “visual and auditory hallucinations, a general feeling of unwellness, and, in extreme cases, psychosis” (Furchester & Weston, 2018, p. 42).
Narrative Citation:
Dr. Rose Furchester and her colleague, Dr. Jim Weston (2018), discuss further the effects of poor sleep when they discuss Patient D of their research study specifically. Patient D recorded multiple occurrences of sleep paralysis, a symptom other patients did not experience during the study’s time frame (pp. 45-6).
Parenthetical In-Text Citation:
In a research study that focused on sleep apnea and insomnia it was found that significant sleep apnea symptomology increased the likelihood of the patient developing severe insomnia in the patients who had the placebo medication (Fulton et al., 2007, p. 237).
Note: Having three or more authors to cite will mean using the latin abbreviation ‘et al.’ inside the citation. When using ‘et al.’, make sure that the phrase ends in a period.
Narrative In-Text Citation:
In a research study conducted by Fulton et al. (2007), the focus was on sleep apnea and insomnia. Fulton et al. found that significant sleep apnea symptomology increased the likelihood of the patient developing severe insomnia in the patients who had the placebo medication (p. 237).
Note: The first time an author named in the body of your paper, you need to give their full name as presented on the source. After that, you should only refer to the author by their last name.
When using a reference that does not have an author, the in-text citation changes to accommodate in the same way the reference entry does. Instead of using the author name, use the title of the reference in the author’s place
(Title of article, Date, Page ) or (Journal Title, Date, Page)
Another situation where there will be ‘no author’ is the case of an organization or corporation acting as author. The corporation/organization will be listed as an author if that entity is not also the publisher. This can happen when there are sub-departments or aspects within an organization that put together the information and then the information is hosted by the larger corporate group.
Think how a State’s department can write policies for their state however those policies are published on the federal department’s website. The author is the State’s department, the publisher is the Federal department.
Parenthetical In-Text Citation:
Corporation or Organization as Author:
To become a certified family counselor, one has to complete their masters degree in a related field and complete the appropriate testing (American Psychological Association, 2019, p. 2).
Article Title in Place of Author:
To become a certified family counselor, one has to complete their masters degree in a related field and complete the appropriate testing (How to Become a Family Counselor, 2019, p. 2).
Narrative In-Text Citation Method:
Corporation or Organization as Author:
According to the American Psychological Association (APA) (2019), to become a certified family counselor, one has to complete their masters degree in a related field and complete the appropriate testing (p. 2).
Article Title in Place of Author:
In the article “How to Become a Family Counselor” (2019), it says that one must complete a masters degree in a related field then complete the certification test before they can become a family counselor (p. 2).
If page numbers are not provided, you can use the chapter name, section title, or existing paragraph numbering in place of the page number. It is especially important to utilize an alternative to a page number when you are quoting a source.
Parenthetical In-Text Citation:
The author of “The Unmasked Poet” gave the readers only a singular line dedicated to the emotional state of the secondary character, Monique, which says “the rain fell from the yellow wheat of her hair” (Morgan, 2017, The Lady section).
Narrative In-Text Citation:
Jay Ellis (2024), the author of A Book of Genius, described the hollow feelings of his characters in a singular 30 page, non-paginated paragraph (Chapter 3). Ellis’s choice is reminiscent of the writing technique known as ‘stream of consciousness’ and blurs the separation between characters and narrator.
There will be times that an article that has been published does not have a publication date (this can happen with online sources often). In these circumstances use ‘n.d.’ in place of the date.
Parenthetical Citations:
On their website, the state forest conservationist discuss their main goals, on of which is to protect the natural flora and fauna of the various state parks (About Us, n.d., Our Mission section).
Narrative Citations:
Protecting the state’s forests and natural formations is one of the conservationists top priorities in on their About (n.d.) page (Mission section).
- Block quotes are 40 words or longer.
- Block quotes are introduced within a paragraph, but the quote itself is started on a new line.
- The entirety of the quote is indented 1/2 inch from the margin.
Citation for the block quote goes at the end of the quote after any punctuation.
