In APA style, any sourced information in a paper needs to have two citations: a short in-text citation and a full reference list entry.
The reference list entry gives full information about a cited source; it is enough information so that the reader can locate the source if further research is needed. An in-text citation is a short citation that is added next to the text that mentions information from the source. The in-text citation lets the reader know that the information came from the cited source.
To appropriately cite a source in APA style, you need to have both citation types in your paper. Every in-text citation has a reference list entry. Similarly, every reference list entry has at least one (maybe more) corresponding in-text citation(s).
The fundamental elements needed for an in-text citation are the author’s surname and the publication year. Sometimes, page numbers are also included when quotes are mentioned in the text. In-text citations are added in the text in two ways: as a narrative citation or a parenthetical citation.
Narrative citations are incorporated into the text and act as a part of the sentence. Usually, narrative citations use the author’s name in the text and the publication year is enclosed in parenthesis after the name. An example of a narrative citation for one author is given below:
Wilson (2002) identifies the behavior of an adolescent in such situations.
Parenthetical citations add the author’s name and the publication year at the end of the sentence in parenthesis. An example of a parenthetical citation is given below:
Working women are good at time management (Sen, 2020).
Page numbers are referred to within in-text citations when quotes are used. Examples of both narrative citations and parenthetical citations are given below.
Narrative:
Socrates (2097, p. 17)
Socrates (2097, pp. 17–18)
Parenthetical:
(Socrates, 2007, p. 17)
(Socrates, 2007, pp. 17–18)
Here are a few examples of in-text citations for different numbers of authors:
One author
Use the surname of the author for in-text citations. Use a comma before the publication year in parenthetical citations.
Narrative:
Flitcher (2006)
Parenthetical:
(Flitcher, 2006)
Two authors
Separate the author surnames with an “and” in narrative citations. Use an ampersand symbol (&) in parenthetical citations.
Narrative:
Lange and Meaney (2011)
Parenthetical:
(Lange & Meaney, 2011)
Three or more authors
Use the first author surname followed by et al.
Narrative:
Middleton et al. (2017)
Parenthetical:
(Middleton et al., 2017)
Group author
Treat the group author similar to how you would treat author names.
Narrative:
CONSORT Group (2003)
Parenthetical:
(CONSORT Group, 2003)
No author
If there is no author for the source, use the source title in place of the author’s name. In general, sources with no author appear as parenthetical citations.
When you add such in-text citations, you will either italicize the text or place it in quotations. If the source title is italicized in the reference list entry, italicize the title for the in-text citation. If the title is not italicized, place it in quotation marks.
Parenthetical: (“Rising from the West,” 2014)
Parenthetical, book:
(Patterns of attachment, 1978)
Parenthetical, journal article:
(“Power plays on social media,” 2015)
Reference list entries are also called refrerences or full citations. Most references include the following basic information:
Depending on the source type, you will also need additional details like volume number, publication title, contributors, medium, etc.
Below are a few examples of different types of reference entries along with their templates. The examples given are for one author. Note that “F” and “M” in the templates denote the first and the middle initials of an author’s name.
Book
The title of the book is set in italics and sentence case.
Template:
Author Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Title of the book. Publisher.
Example:
Knox, I. S. (2002). Older people and the church. T. & T Clark.
Journal article
The title of the article is in sentence case. The first word of a subtitle is capitalized. The journal title and the volume number are set in italics. If an article has a DOI, it should always be included. Use “https://doi.org/” before the DOI. If there is no DOI for an online journal, include the URL instead. Do not use a period after the DOI or URL.
Template:
Author Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Article title: Subtitle. Journal Title, Volume(issue), page range. URL or DOI
Example:
McGowan, A. (2020). Communion and pandemic. Journal of Anglican Studies, 18, 2–8.
Webpage of a website
After the date published, list the webpage title in plain text. It is followed by the name of the website in italics. The URL is given at the end; a period does NOT come after the URL.
Template:
Author or Organization Name. (Year, Month Day of Publication). Webpage title. Title of the Website. URL
Example:
Zilio, M. (2017). Canada will not move embassy to Jerusalem, federal government says. The Globe and Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-will-not-move-embassy-to-jerusalem-federal-government-says/article37219576/
YouTube video
The video title is set in sentence case and italicized. The first word after a colon is capitalized. The word “Video” is enclosed in brackets after the video title followed by the word “YouTube.” Finally, the link is given. Note that the end period is not given after the URL.
Template:
Uploader’s name. (Year, Month Day Published). Video title. [Video]. YouTube. URL
Example:
Gubbi, S. (2019, April 25). Understanding wildlife corridors. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9u6uxdcx8Y
The number of authors in the source decides how the author name(s) will be set in the references list. Here, you will see many journal references with different numbers of authors.
One author
List the author name followed by the publication year.
Template:
Author Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Article title: Subtitle. Journal Title, Volume(issue), page range.
Example:
Spitka, T. (2018). Children on the front lines: Responsibility to protect in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Global Responsibility to Protect, 11(1), 1–12.
Two authors
Separate the author names by an ampersand. Use a comma between the first author’s initial and the ampersand symbol.
Template:
Author Surname, F. M., & Author Surname, F. (Publication Year). Article title: Subtitle. Journal Title, Volume(issue), page range. DOI or URL
Example:
Panke, D., & Petersohn, U. (2017). President Donald J. Trump: An agent of norm death? International Journal: Canada’s Journal of Global Policy Analysis, 72(4), 572–579. https://doi:10.1177/0020702017740159
When you add two organizations in the author field, do not use a comma before the ampersand.
Template:
Organization 1 & Organization 2. (Publication Year). Article title: Subtitle. Journal Title, Volume(issue), page range. DOI or URL
Example:
United Nations Human Rights & United Nations Organization. (2002). Spreading peace and developing relationships. World Peace, 12(1), 1–12.
3–20 authors
List all author names. Do not forget to insert an “ampersand” before the last author. The example given below is for four authors.
Template:
Author Surname, F. M., Author Surname, F. M., & Author Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Article title: Subtitle. Journal Title, Volume(issue), page range.
Example:
Quinnell, R., Thompson, R., & LeBard, R. J. (2013). It’s not maths; it’s science: Exploring thinking dispositions, learning thresholds and mindfulness in science learning. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 44(6), 808–816.
More than 20 authors
List the names of the first 19 authors followed by an ellipsis. Add the final author name after the ellipsis but without the ampersand symbol before the last author name.
Template:
Author Surname1, F. M., Author Surname2, F. M., Author Surname3, F. M., Author Surname4, F. M., Author Surname5, F. M., Author Surname6, F. M., Author Surname7, F. M., Author Surname8, F. M., Author Surname9, F. M., Author Surname10, F. M., Author Surname11, F. M., Author Surname12, F. M., Author Surname13, F. M., Author Surname14, F. M., Author Surname15, F. M., Author Surname16, F. M., Author Surname17, F. M., Author Surname18, F. M., Author Surname19, F. M,¼ Last Author name, F. M. (Publication Year). Article title: Subtitle. Journal Title, Volume(issue), page range. DOI or URL
Example:
Gin, L., Irene, F., Cooper, B., Lim, G. B., Gang, L.-J., Ting, B. N., Tarup, L., Judy, L., O’Neil, C., Unni, K., Farooq, K. P., Thorp, C., Doug, T., Kite, X., Robson, J., Ramachandran, A. L., Jabson, E., Felix, N., Rebecca, B. M., ¼ Tang, H. (2002). The ASA’s statement on p-values: Context, process, and purpose. The American Statistician, 70(2), 129–133.