You will use an in-text citation in the body of your paper whenever you summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source.
Place in-text citations in the APA style at the end of the sentence, in parentheses, before the period. Include the name of the author(s) and the year the work was published.
Example:
Despite having effective tools to pursue legal action against the affiliate networks that support dishonest social media influencers, the Federal Trade Commission has yet to take action against a $4.5 billion industry (Bladlow, 2017).
Your in-text citations will look different depending on the number of authors attached to each source, and whether you use a parenthetical citation or a narrative citation.
A parenthetical citation is the most common form of citation. Parenthetical citations occur at the end of your sentences.
A narrative citation can occur at the beginning or in the middle of your sentences. Use a narrative citation if it is important for you to mention the author of a work. You might do this if the author is well known in their field, or if you're comparing opposing viewpoints of different authors.
Use the following table as a guide.
Number of Authors | Parenthetical Citation | Narrative Citation |
---|---|---|
One Author | (Berger, 2016). | Berger (2016) argues that... |
Two Authors | (Moore & Lloyd, 2008). | In Moore and Lloyd's (2008) work... |
Three or More Authors | (Troyan et al., 2017). | Troyan et al. (2017) provide evidence that... |
Note the abbreviation "et al." when there are three or more authors, and the different uses of "&" versus "and."
The bibliography is called the "References" page in the APA style. Each source you use in your writing must have a full bibliographic citation on your reference page.
The reference page is formatted as follows:
Example:
References
Bladow, L. E. (2018). Worth the click: Why greater FTC enforcement is needed to curtail deceptive
practices in influencer marketing. William & Mary Law Review, 59(3), 1123-1164.
Goodrich, M., & Howell, J. (2019). Influencers: What every brand and legal counsel should know.
GPSolo, 36(5), 60–61.
Sliwinski, H. (2016). Understanding brands and influencer relations. Public Relations Tactics, 23(9), 8.
Format:
Last name, A. A. (year). Title of work: Subtitle follows same capitalization rules. Publisher.
Example:
Moore, A. & Lloyd, D. (2008). V for vendetta. Vertigo.
Notes:
Format:
Last name, A. A. (year). Title of work: Subtitle follows same capitalization rules. Publisher. DOI.
Example:
Morin, C. (2018). The gothic novel in Ireland: C. 1760-1829. Manchester University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv3zp024.
Format:
Last name, A. A. (year). Title of work: Subtitle follows same capitalization rules (edition). Publisher.
Example:
Francis, P., & Oppenheimer, C. (2004). Volcanoes (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Format:
Editor's last name, A. A. (Eds.). (year). Title of work: Subtitle follows same capitalization rules. Publisher. DOI (if it exists).
Example:
Gonzalez, M., & Barekat, H. (Eds.). (2013). Arms and the people: Popular movements and military from the Paris Commune to the Arab Spring. Pluto Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt183gzws.
Format:
Last name, A. A. (year). Title of chapter: Subtitle follows same capitalization rules. In Editor(s) name (Eds.), Title of book italicized with capitilization rules (page numbers). Publisher.
Example:
Gallagher, M. (2009). Aimé Césaire and francophone postcolonial thought. In C. Forsdick & D. Murphy (Eds.), Postcolonial thought in the French speaking world (pp. 31-41). Liverpool University Press.
Notes:
Format:
Author, A. A. (year). Title of article. Title of Journal or Magazine, volume #(issue #), page numbers. DOI.
Example:
Fleck, L. M., & Murphy, T. F. (2018). First come first serve in the intensive care unit: Always? Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 27(1), 52-61. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963180117000391.
Format:
Last name, A. A. (year, month day). Title of article: Subtitle follows same capitalization rules. Title of Newspaper or Magazine. Retrieved date, from URL
Example:
Pollock, N. (2018, March 16). Virginia’s juvenile justice reform. The Atlantic. Retrieved October 1, 2021, from https://www.theatlantic.com/projects/juvenile-justice
Format:
Last name, A. A. (year). Title of entry. In Editor's name (Eds.), Title Encyclopedia (edition). Publisher.
Example:
Partanen, E., & Virtala, P. (2017). Prenatal sensory development. In B. Hopkins & R. G. Barr (Eds.), The Cambridge encyclopedia of child development (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Format:
Title of entry. (year). In Editor's name (Eds.), Title Encyclopedia (edition). Publisher.
Example:
Federal Reserve System. (2015). In T. Riggs (Ed.), The Gale encyclopedia of U.S. economic history (2nd ed.). Gale.
Format:
Name of Organization. (year). Title of work: Subtitle follows same capitalization rules. URL.
Example:
Stanford History Education Group. (2016). Evaluating information: The cornerstone of civic online learning. https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/SHEG-Evaluating-Information-Online.
Note: Create a separate reference for each webpage you use from a website.
Format:
Website Name. (year). Name of specific webpage. URL
Example:
Office of the Governor. (n.d.). Meet the governor. http://gov.louisiana.gov/page/meet-the-governor
Notes:
Format:
Last name, A. A. (year, month day). Social media post [Link attached] [Status update]. Social media platform. URL.
Example:
Wheaton, W. (2019, October 23). I don't know how long this will last, but right now, you can hear whales singing to each other on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's hydrophone [Link attached] [Status update]! Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/itswilwheaton/posts/2330655153727680.
Notes:
Format:
Last name, A. A. (year, month day). Title of presentation [PowerPoint slides]. Publisher. URL.
Example:
El-Bathy, N. K. (2019, September 13). Information literacy& student success [PowerPoint slides].
The rules are different for listing authors on the references page compared to your in-text citations. All author names are listed in citations on the reference page unless there are more than 20 authors.
One Author:
Last name, A.A. (year).
Two Authors:
Last name, A. A., & Last name, B. B. (year).
Three to Twenty Authors:
Last name, A. A., Last name, B. B., & Last name, C. C. (year).
More than Twenty Authors:
List the first 19 author names then add an ellipsis (...) followed by the name of the very last author.
Last name, A. A., Last name, B. B., Last name, C. C., Last name, D. D., Last name, E. E., Last name, F. F., Last name, G. G., Last name, H. H., Last name, I. I., Last name, J. J., Last name, K. K., Last name, L. L., Last name, M. M., Last name, N. N., Last name, O. O., Last name, P. P., Last name, Q. Q., Last name, R. R., Last name, S. S. ...& Last name, Z. Z. (year).