The APA Style uses in-text citations. An in-text citation is a reference made within the body of text of an academic paper. It alerts the reader to a source that has informed your own writing. Include an in-text citation when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. This will help you avoid plagiarism. For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list.
In-Text Citations
To ensure the originality of your own work, it is important to cite the work of those individuals whose ideas, theories, or research have directly influenced your work.
Important Reminders:
Parenthetical Citation
A parenthetical citation is both the author and the date, separated by a comma. It can appear within or at the end of a sentence. When a parenthetical citation is at the end of a sentence, put the period after the closing parenthesis.
Example: Falsely balanced news coverage can distort the public's perception of expert consensus on an issue (Koehler, 2016).
Narrative Citation
A narrative citation is when the author appears in running text and the date appears in parentheses immediately after the author name for a narrative citation.
Example: Koehler (2016) noted the dangers of falsely balanced news coverage.
In rare cases, the author and date might both appear in the narrative - in this case, do not use parentheses.
Example: In 2016, Koehler noted the dangers of falsely balanced news coverage.
Example of a Reference List Entry & an In-Text Citation
Reference list entry:
Alexander, P.A. (2018). Past as prologue: Educational psychology's legacy and progeny. Journal of Educational Psychology, 110(2),
147-162. https://doi.org/10/1037/edu0000200
Parenthetical citation: (Alexander, 2018)
Narrative citation: Alexander (2018)
Citing Multiple Works
When citing multiple works, place the citations in alphabetical order, separating them with semicolons.
Example: (Adams et al., 2019; Shumway & Shulman, 2015; Westinghouse, 2017)
Citing Specific Parts of a Source
Provide an author-date citation for the work plus information about the specific part. Specific parts of a source that can be cited include pages, paragraphs, sections, tables, figures, chapters, and slide numbers in PowerPoint.
Example: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019, p.10)