How to do apa format in text citations

Parenthetical Citations

APA 7 Style uses the author-date citation method with parentheses. After a quote, add parentheses containing the author's name, the year of publication, and the page number(s) the quote appears.

For quotations that are on one page, type "p." before the page number. For quotations that start on one page and end on another page, use "pp." instead.

Quote, one page: "Sometimes I feel quite CERTAIN there's a JERTAIN in the CURTAIN" (Seuss, 1974, p. 4).

Quote, two pages:  "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.

"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.

"The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (D. Seuss, 2007, pp. 7-8).

For works with two or more authors see the chart below under Authors: In-Text Citations.

Narrative Citations

When you use the author's last name in the narrative of your paper, leave their name out of the parentheses.

In his scholarly study, Dr. Seuss observed that "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (2007, pp. 7-8).

In 2007, Dr. Seuss suggested that "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (pp. 7-8).

Citations with Missing Elements

When 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, journals, etc.

"The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Fox in Socks, 2007).

When no page numbers are available, use paragraph numbers or other subsection identifiers instead.

One paragraph: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007, para. 5).

More than one paragraph: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007, paras. 5-6).

Presentation slide: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007, Slide 7).

Paraphrased Citations

Paraphrasing restates one or more person's ideas in your own words, allowing you to summarize and synthesize information effectively (p. 269). You can use both narrative or parenthetical citations when paraphrasing ideas.

Stories can be used to teach social skills through already existing classroom literature instruction, emphasizing lessons that help students interpret events and empathize with characters (Wolf & Baker, 2012).

Wolf and Baker (2012) offer a case study example from one classroom teacher who used Dr. Seuss' books teach social skills to their students (p. 174).

Note: When paraphrasing or mentioning a source, still provide page numbers if the source text is long or difficult, or if it would help the reader find the text being paraphrased.

What is an in-text citation?

In APA Style, an in-text citation tells the reader where you got any and all information that did not come from inside your own head.  This is more obvious when you are directly quoting from a source, but it is also needed when you have summarized or paraphrased from a source and even if you got an idea from somewhere else. In order to avoid plagiarism, it is extremely important that you cite all the words and ideas that you got from somewhere else. To learn more about plagiarism and how to avoid it, see Ethically Use Sources and Plagiarism guidance from APA.

When citing sources in an APA Style paper, APA uses the author-date citation system. In this system, the writer includes the author and date within the body of the paper and includes a corresponding reference in the reference list. This citation system allows the reader to identify sources used in the paper by reviewing the author and date within the text of the paper, and then easily locate the corresponding reference in the alphabetical reference list. 

 There are two types of in-text citations that are used within the body of an APA paper to help the reader locate the corresponding reference in the reference list. The two types of in-text citations are parenthetical citations and narrative citations. A narrative citation is a type of citation where the author's name is used within the text of the sentence; whereas, a parenthetical citation is a type of citation where the author and date are in parentheses at the end of the sentence.  

How do I create narrative or parenthetical citations?

In APA Style, cite your sources by putting the information about the source in parentheses at the end of a sentence or in the text of your paper as opposed to a footnote where the source information is at the bottom of the page or an endnote where it goes at the end of your paper.  There are slight differences depending on which style you are using.

• Give the author’s last name and the publication year.

• Only use page numbers or paragraph numbers for a direct quote.

• Make sure the source information in parentheses matches with your reference in the reference list. 

• The punctuation for the sentence goes AFTER the parentheses.

• For a quote less than forty words put quotation marks around the quoted words. For sources with designated page numbers - if the author and date are introduced in the sentence as a narrative citation, then add the page number in parentheses at the end of the quote. If the source does not have designated page numbers, then add the paragraph number, heading, or a combination of both the heading and paragraph number. If the author and date are not introduced as part of the text, then include the author and date with the page or paragraph number. The period should come after the parentheses.

• If your quote is more than forty words, set it off in a block text by beginning the block quote on a new line, indent 0.5 inches (one-half), and do not add quotation marks around the block quote.  At the end of the quote put the period after the last word of the sentence followed by the parentheses. For more information, see Block Quote.

Additional Resources

More Information

For more information about parenthetical and narrative citations, see pages 253-278 of the APA Manual 7th edition for further explanation and examples.

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