Writing In-Text Citations in APA Style

by Chelsea Lee
When you use others' ideas in your paper, you should credit them with an in-text citation.
Several different systems of citation are in use in various academic communities (such as
footnotes and endnotes), but APA Style uses a kind of parenthetical referencing called
the authordate system.
Basic In-Text Citation Style
As the name authordate system implies, APA Style in-text citations include the author and
date, either both inside parentheses or with the author names in running text and the date in
parentheses. Here are two examples:

After the intervention, children increased in the number of books read per week
(Smith & Wexwood, 2010).

Smith and Wexwood (2010) reported that after the intervention, children
increased in the number of books read per week.

The "and" in Smith and Wexwood is written as an ampersand (&) inside parentheses and as
the word and outside of parentheses, as shown in the examples above.
Multiple In-Text Citations
When multiple studies support what you have to say, you can include multiple citations inside
the same set of parentheses. Within parentheses, alphabetize the studies as they
would appear in the reference list and separate them by semicolons. In running text, you can
address studies in whatever order you wish. Here are two examples:

Studies of reading in childhood have produced mixed results (Albright, Wayne,

& Fortinbras, 2004; Gibson, 2011; Smith & Wexwood, 2010).

Smith and Wexwood (2010) reported an increase in the number of books read,
whereas Gibson (2011) reported a decrease. Albright, Wayne, and Fortinbras
(2004) found no significant results.

Dealing With Missing Information

Sometimes the author and/or date are not immediately obvious, but a bit of citation
sleuthing will bring them to light. Here are some tips on determining authorship and
on figuring out dates.
However, sometimes one or both of these elements are truly missing. The table below shows
what substitutions to make for in-text citations if that happens.

What information do you

have?

Solution

Position A

Position B

I have both author and date

n/a

Author
surname(s)

year

Author is missing

Title of Book or
Substitute the title for
"Title of
year
the author name
Article"

Date is missing

Use "n.d." for "no

date"

Author
surname(s)

Author and date are both

Combine solutions

Title of Book or n.d.

n.d.

missing

for author and date

being missing

"Title of
Article"

Note. Titles of books and reports are italicized in in-text citations, and titles of articles and
other documents are put in quotation marks. Capitalize the important words (see section
4.15 in the 6th ed. Publication Manual, pp. 101102) in titles in the text.

Important Tips and Further Reading

Dont forget that when you cite a direct quotation you should include a page number (here is
what to do if there are no page numbers). You may include page numbers for paraphrases if
you think it would aid the reader (such as when you use only a portion of a large book), but
this is not required.
Note that the only types of citations that do not follow the authordate system arelegal
references, references to classical works like the Bible and the Qur'an, andpersonal
communications.
For further reading on this topic, see the sixth edition Publication Manual section Citing
References in Text (pp. 174179). The table Basic Citation Styles (Table 6.1 on p. 177)
offers many examples of how to cite various numbers and types of authors.

APA Journal Article Citation

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How to Reference a Journal Article in APA

BibMe can create Journal Citations in APA
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Use the following template to cite a journal article using the APA citation
format. We also provide style guides for the MLA,Chicago,
and Turabian styles. To have your bibliography or works cited list
automatically made for you, check out our free APA citation maker.
Once youre finished with your citations, we can also help you with
creating an APA title page.

Citing a journal article in print

APA format structure:
Author, A.A.. (Publication Year). Article title. Periodical Title, Volume(Issue),
pp.-pp.

APA format example:

Nevin, A. (1990). The changing of teacher education special education. Teacher
Education and Special Education: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of
the Council for Exceptional Children, 13(3-4), 147-148.

Citing a journal article found online

APA format structure:
Author, A.A.. (Publication Year). Article title. Periodical Title, Volume(Issue),
pp.-pp. doi:XX.XXXXX or Retrieved from journal URL

APA format example:

Jameson, J. (2013). E-Leadership in higher education: The fifth age of
educational technology research. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(6),
889-915. doi: 10.1111/bjet.12103

Notes: When creating your online journal article citation, keep in mind:

 APA does NOT require you to include the date of access/retrieval

date or database information for electronic sources.
You can use the URL of the journal homepage if there is no DOI
assigned and the reference was retrieved online.
Example: Retrieved from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)14678535;jsessionid=956132F3DE76EEB120577E99EE74CE9C.f04t01
A DOI (digital object identifier) is an assigned number that helps
link content to its location on the Internet. It is therefore important, if
one is provided, to use it when creating a citation. All DOI numbers
begin with a 10 and are separated by a slash.

APA Interview Citation

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How to Reference an Interview in APA

Use the following template to cite an interview using the APA citation
format. We also provide style guides for the MLA,Chicago,
and Turabian styles. To have your bibliography or works cited list
automatically made for you, check out our free APA citation maker.
Once youre finished with your citations, we can also help you with
creating an APA title page.
Important Note on Personal Interviews:
A personal interview should NOT be included in a reference list in
APA. They are not considered recoverable data (they cannot be
found by a researcher). You should reference personal interviews
as in-text citations instead.
Example: (J. Doe, personal communication, December 12, 2004)
That being said, there is a general structure if you want to cite a personal
interview as part of your APA works cited list:

Author, A.A.. (Year, Month Date). Interview type.

APA format example:

Marino, B. (2014, October 18). Personal Interview.

For more information on how to cite in APA, check out Purdue OWL and
the APA Style Guide.
Back to APA Citation Guide