APA citation style
General rules
APA Style uses brief citations within the text of a paper when referring to a source. The brief citation gives the author(s) last name and year of the source in parentheses, allowing readers to locate the full citation in your reference list at the end of your paper.
Sample in-text citations:
Early onset results in a more persistent and severe course (Kessler, 2003).
Kessler (2003) found that early onset results in a more persistent and severe course.
APA Style states that it is best to paraphrase sources rather than using direct quotations. If you must reproduce a direct quotation, include the specific page number, or if the source does not have page numbers, the section name, paragraph number (for example: para. 4) or another way of locating the quotation.
Sample in-text citation:
Magical thinking is defined as “the illusion that thought or rituals can influence events, fulfill wishes, or ward off evil” (Corsini, 2016, p. 562).
Works with no author
Use the title instead. If the title is italicized in the reference list, italicize it. If the title is not italicized in the reference list, use quotation marks around it. If the title is long, shorten it by using the first 2-3 words of the title. Capitalize the first letter of major words, regardless of how its capitalized in the reference list.
Sample in-text citations:
("Study Finds", 2007)
(College Bound Seniors, 2008)
Works with no date
If the date cannot be determined, use the abbreviation "n.d." for "no date".
Sample in-text citation:
(Strickland, n.d.)
Works with multiple authors
Works with 2 authors
Cite both last names every time you reference it in your text.
Sample in-text citations:
Kozma and Stones (1983) demonstrated...
...as has been shown (Kozma & Stones, 1983)
Works with 3 or more authors
Include the last name of the first author followed by the abbreviation “et al.” which is Latin for “and others”.
Sample in-text citations:
According to Maqsood et al. (2013)...
(Maqsood et al., 2013)
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