In APA style, you will use in-text citations to refer readers to a reference list. Create an in-text citation whenever you quote another work, or whenever you paraphrase another work in your own words. Make sure to include citation information either in the narrative of your paper, or as a parenthetical citation. See the examples below.
All APA style in-text citations should include the surname(s) of the author(s) and the year of publication. When quoting a specific part of the source, you must also provide information about the specific part of the source you are quoting (e.g. page numbers).
APA in-text citations can be in one of two formats:
(1) Parenthetical citations include the required information in parentheses, for example:
(2) Narrative citations incorporate citation information into the text as part of the sentence. For example:
Place long direct quotations (40 words or more) in a left-indented block. Quotation marks are no longer needed for longer quotations. For example:
The researchers came to the following conclusions:
We conclude that we should not assume that our students come into our classrooms prepared to write an APA style paper and providing them with adequate instructions is simple and critical. Additionally, it is also important to provide students with a clear detailed rubric that can help guide them as they are preparing their papers, a rubric that will also make the instructor's grading not only faster, but more objective. (Obeid & Hill, 2018 p. 313).
It is optional to include the page number for paraphrasing (however you may want to do so to help your reader find the original text themselves). For example:
Use (Author’s last name(s) or Organization and the year the document was written or created. The APA Style website provides more details.
The Latin phrase "et al." ("and others") is used to avoid lengthy in-text citations.
Below are the rules for using "et al." in APA citations:
| Number of authors | Parenthetical citation | Narrative citation |
|---|---|---|
| One | (Chan, 2018) | Chan (2018) |
| Two | (Yeung & Wong, 2019) | Yeung and Wong (2019) |
| Three or more | (Mendelsohn et al., 2010) | Mendelsohn et al. (2010) |
Note that you should never use "et al." in your list of references.
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