The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association provides detailed guidelines for using APA style.
One copy of the handbook is available for 24-hour use at the Checkout Desk, and another is in the main collection.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition) by 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 under Basic Citation Styles.
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.
| Type of Citation | First Citation in Text | Subsequent Citations in Text | Parenthetical Format, First Citation in Text | Parenthetical Format, Subsequent Citations in Text |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One work by one author | Walker (2007) | Walker (2007) | (Walker, 2007) | (Walker, 2007) |
| One work by two authors | Walker and Allen (2004) | Walker and Allen (2004) | (Walker & Allen, 2004) | (Walker & Allen, 2004) |
| One work by three to five authors | Bradley, Ramirez, and Soo (1999) | Bradley et al. (1999) | (Bradley, Ramirez, & Soo, 1999) | (Bradley et al., 1999) |
| One work by six or more authors | Wasserstein et al. (2005) | Wasserstein et al. (2005) | (Wasserstein et al., 2005) | (Wasserstein et al., 2005) |
| Groups as authors (readily identified through abbreviation) | National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2003) | NIMH (2003) | (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2003) | (NIMH, 2003) |
| Groups as authors (no abbreviation) | University of Pittsburgh (2005) | University of Pittsburgh (2005) | (University of Pittsburgh, 2005) | (University of Pittsburgh, 2005) |
Source: American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Washington, D.C.: Author.