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APA Citation Style Guide

In-Text Citations

In-text citations (also called Parenthetical citations) are a way to give credit to the ideas used within the paper itself.  This is commonly followed by quoting exact words of another writer (placed in quotation marks) but is also needed even if you paraphrase or summarized another author’s words.  

In-text citations are easy to do, basically you want to let the reader know the name of the person you are citing and where you are citing it from.  This can typically be done by including the author’s last name and the sources publication date after the information you are citing.

If you are doing a direct quote, include the page number the quote can be found on as well.

An in-text citation for a single work

                  Advertising campaigns frequently use sexuality to sell products (Berger, 2009).

Author’s name in a citation following a direct quote:

“Branding and privatization turn out to work in tandem” (Barber, 2008, p. 200).

Author’s name in the text:

Campbell (1991) suggests the shaman’s role in tribes have been as the keeper of the people’s traditions.

A work by two authors (cite both names every time the reference appears)

                  Walter & Stinson (1990) argue..... or These students often have difficulties graduating in a timely fashion (Walter & Stinson, 1990).           

A work by three to five authors (cite all author's the first time the reference appears)....

                  There are several alternatives to this method (Jackson, Howard, Shituzu, & Stephenson, 2005)

                  .... then for each subsequent reference list the first author's name followed by et al.

                  This idea has not gone without its detractors (Jackson, et al, 2005).

A Work by six or more authors (cite the first author's name followed by et al each time the reference is used)

                  This result was increased siginficantly at temperatures over 100 degrees celsius (Mayhew, et al, 2010).

A corporate author

                  Enrollment has increased for three consecutive years (Lamar University, 2011).

No author’s name use the work’s title or a shortened version of the title (surounded by quotation marks) when citing it.  

                  This is a result of new ways of thinking about time ("The first revolution," 1843).

More than one work referenced in an in-text citation (list in alphabetical order by last name)

                  Others argue the issue can be resolved in months, not years (Davidson, 2011; Howard 2012).

Tips

If you want to cite a source that is cited in a resource you are using, try to find the original source.  If you can not find it put the phrase as cited in before the author's name in your in-text citation.

Example: He called it, “A fool’s paradise” (as cited in Campbell, 245).

If you have more than one resource by the same author, include the publication year within your in-text citation to indicate which source you are citing.
Example: (Sedaris 2010).

If multiple works by the same author have the same publication year, add an identifying letter after each date to help researchers find the entries in your references list.

Example: (Smith 1987a; Smith 1987b).