apa in text parenthetical citation multiple authors

APA 7th Edition Citation Guide

• General APA Style Guidelines
• Book and eBook Examples
• Article Examples
• Multimedia Examples
• Visual Works Examples
• Social Media Examples
• Personal Communication and Interview Examples
• Artificial Intelligence
• In-Text (Parenthetical) Examples
• Annotated Bibliography
• Other Citation Styles

Good to know

The punctuation at the end of the sentence goes after and outside the parenthesis.

I am paraphrasing (Smith, 2019). 

If you are using a direct quote, there is no comma between the end of the quotation and the in-text citation. 

"this is a quote" (Smith, 2019, p. 263). 

• << Previous: Artificial Intelligence
• Next: Annotated Bibliography >>
• Last Updated: Mar 21, 2024 5:09 PM
• URL: https://cccs.libguides.com/accapa

APA 7th Edition Citation Guide

• APA 7th Edition Home
• Formatting the Paper Itself
• When and What to Cite

In-Text: Multiple Authors

• In-Text: First and Subsequent Citations
• In-Text: Authors and Dates Matching
• In-Text: Direct Quotations
• In-Text: Secondary Sources
• Reference Examples: Print
• Reference Examples: Electronic
• Reference Examples: Audiovisual Media
• Step 1: Author (Names)
• Step 2: Date
• Step 3: Titles
• Step 4: Source
• Help and Training
• Related Guides

This citation guide is based on The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association  (7th ed., 2020). The contents are accurate to the best of our knowledge.

Content in this guide was copied with permission from Bethel University (TN) Library .

How to Use This Guide

Citations in APA style include two parts: (1) in-text citations, which are connected to (2) reference list citations.

This guide will help you create in-text citations that correlate with the corresponding reference list citations. Please see Reference Examples  for more details on the reference list.

Note: All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper except for Personal Communications and similar unrecoverable sources.

Multiple Authors

If you are citing a source that has multiple authors, follow these basic steps.

Two Authors

Always cite both authors' names in-text every time you reference them.

Johnson and Smith (2009) found...

Three or More Authors

If a document has three or more authors, simply provide the last name of the first author with "et al." from the first citation to the last.

Thomas et al. (2007) likened abnormal psychology to...

... distractions (Thomas et al., 2007).

• << Previous: In-Text Citations
• Next: In-Text: First and Subsequent Citations >>
• Last Updated: Feb 16, 2024 4:01 PM
• URL: https://utsouthwestern.libguides.com/APA7

APA Style 7th Edition

Citation Basics

Citing Quoted Material

Quoting a source with no page numbers, when to use page numbers in an in-text citation.

• Using "et al." in Parenthetical Citations

Citing One Author Throughout One Paragraph

Using signal phrases, citing multiple sources in the same parentheses.

• Direct Quote From a Slide Presentation

Citing an Item in a Museum

Citing images in a presentation.

• Citing an Article or Website with Unknown Author

Abbreviating Organizational Authors

Multiple sources from the same author with the same publication year.

• Non Recoverable Information (personal communication)

Secondary Citation

• Reference List Citations
• Reference List - Web Resources
• Changes from APA 6th ed.
• Bias-Free Language
• Slide Decks: Citations and References

In-text (also called parenthetical) citations follow the author-date citation system in APA style. The author and date of a reference appear in parentheses when referred to in the text of a paper, like this (Smith, 2016) .

When a work does not have an author, use the first few words of the title of the reference in its place.  

(Do not pull words from the middle of the title; it needs to be the first few because this is how readers will match your in-text citation to the reference list.)

For articles, chapters, and web pages, put the title in quotation marks.  For books, brochures, and reports, put the title in italics. Examples:

(“Article title beginning”, 2016) or ( Book title , 2011) .

You can also work a citation into the flow of the sentence, but the author (or title) and year always stay together. For instance:

As Garcia (2016) states in her groundbreaking work...

If the author of a work is named as "Anonymous," this title takes the place of the author name in the citation. For example:

(Anonymous, 2019)

Read on for more guidelines and tips for citing specific types of sources in-text.

Paraphrasing is preferred to direct quotations, but occasionally using an author’s exact words is desirable.  In that situation, you want to direct the reader to the exact location of the quote by including a page number in the parenthetical notation :

(Garcia, 2016, p. 57)

If you use the author’s name in the text of the paper, wait until the end of the quote to insert the page number:

As Garcia (2016) states in her groundbreaking work, “hallucinations provide windows into the neural underpinnings of visual awareness in these patients” (p. 57).

If the quote spans multiple pages, use "pp." instead, like this

(Wong, 2014, pp. 21-22)

If you need to quote a website or other material that does not have page numbers or chapters, use any of the following location information instead: (p. 273)

• Consistent with data from recent flu seasons, "the overall hospitalization rate for the season increased to 29.7 per 100,000" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020, Severe Disease section).
• In the Federal Drug Administration's (FDA) Technology Modernization Action Plan (2020), "[modernization] of FDA's technology infrastructure will involve dynamic, enterprise-wide collaboration among Agency programs" ("Building the Foundation" section).
• Western countries are experiencing problems on where to send their recyclable waste. Until 2018, "China used to accept 55% of the world's plastic and paper waste" (British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) 2020, para. 2).
• Makena, a drug to prevent premature birth, may be taken off the market because "Makena's manufacturer struggled to compete with the cheaper, compounded 17P" (Huetteman 2020, "How Makena cornered the market" section, para. 26).

Note: Kindle location numbers are no longer required with in-text citations. Instead, provide the page number or any of the information listed above. 

For audiovisual works, cite the time stamp of when the quotation began in place of where you would normally cite a page number. 

• Habits are "mental associations that we form when we repeat an action over and over again in a given context and then get a reward" (Wood, 2020, 15:15).

Page numbers are only required for direct quotations. However, there may be times when you may want to refer to a specific part of a source, in which case you can include page numbers in your parenthetical citation. It is not mandatory, though, to include page numbers for segments that do not have a direct quotation.

... the study dropout rate was a disappointing 50% (Smith & Jones, 2016, p. 3).

For more see page 269 in the APA manual.

Using "et al." in Parenthetical Citations

If you are citing a source with three or more authors, you need to use "et al." in your citations. In APA 6, a work with between three and five authors would be listed the first time, with the use of "et al." each subsequent time the in-text citation was used. In APA 7, any in-text citation with three or more authors will use "et al.".  

In text, a citation with more than three authors can be parenthetical:

Reference list errors are prevalent in scholarly journals (Onwuegbuzie et al., 2011).

Or it can be part of the narrative:

Onwuegbuzie et al. (2011) used content analysis to determine that reference list errors are prevalent in scholarly journals.

Similar to APA 6, for works with a group author with an abbreviation, the first citation will spell out the author, followed by the abbreviation in brackets. For example: 

(American Psychological Association [APA], 2020)  or  American Psychological Association (APA, 2020)

Subsequent citations will use the abbreviation only. For instance,

(APA, 2020)  or  APA (2020) 

If you’re citing the same author/source repeatedly throughout one paragraph, inserting multiple citations is technically correct but lacks flow and readability. For example,

Dogs are man’s best friend (Smith, 2015). In a randomized controlled trial, dogs preferred their owners to all other people (Smith, 2015). The results of this study have implications for dog behavior (Smith, 2015). However, the study also had a small sample size, so more research into this area is necessary (Smith, 2015).

Alternatively, using the author's name in your writing can make the paragraph flow better and prevent you from having to repeat the citation subsequent sentences. (Also see p. 174 in the APA manual.) For example,

Smith (2015) notes that dogs are man’s best friend. In a randomized controlled trial conducted by Smith, dogs preferred their owners to all other people. The results of his study have implications for dog behavior. However, his study also had a small sample size, so more research into this area is necessary.

The technique of using authors' names in the text of your paper is also helpful when you want to  compare the work of two or more authors  and make be citing them alternately throughout a paragraph. For example,

Smith (2015) notes that dogs are man’s best friend. In a randomized controlled trial conducted by Smith, dogs preferred their owners to all other people. Lincoln's (2016) work built on this idea even further and provided some evidence of variation in levels of preference based on amount and type of training the dog had received. Her study revealed that dogs who had spent time in formal training programs with their owners showed a higher the preference for those owners than dogs who had participated in more informal training. The results of both studies have implications for dog behavior and the possible causes for variations in that behavior (Lincoln, 2016; Smith, 2015). However, both studies also had small sample sizes, so more research into this area is necessary.

The examples above for  Citing one Author Throughout a Paragraph  use what are called  signal phrases  to alert the reader that the writer is about to use information from an outside source. For example:

According to Smith (2017)... As noted by Watson and Holmes (1884)... Roberts (2000) discovered...

Signal phrases are a handy tool to help you indicate what content of your paper is coming from an outside source and which parts are your own original analysis. 

For more on using signal phrases, read  this short guide  from the GMU Writing Center.

And  see suggested words  to use in your signal phrases.

Sometimes you will want to make a general statement about two or more of the studies you read, especially if they had similar conclusions. To do that, just include each set of authors and dates in your parentheses, in the same order they appear in your reference list (i.e. alphabetically), and separated by semicolons.

The research shows an increase in birth rates for this particular population (Farhad & Engel, 2015; Pak, 2013; Sanchez, Chopra, & Martin, 2016).

Direct Quote from a Slide Presentation

If you are directly quoting text from a slide presentation, include a slide number and a paragraph number (if necessary), so that anyone reading your paper will be able to quickly and easily find your source.

(Smith, 2015, slide 12, para. 2)

If the item in a work of art or other piece with a known creator, use the same structure as you would for a written work with an author:

(Van Gogh,1889)

If the item's creator is unknown, use the same structure as you would for a written work with an unknown author, and use the title/description in its place:

(Gastroscope, ca. 1940)

("ca" stands for circa, for dates that have been approximated)

Citing A Museum Wall Sign

(Museum of Fine Arts, 2015)

All images in a presentation must be treated the same as figures would be in a written paper. You can think of each presentation slide as a page in an APA style paper. An image should have a caption. A caption contains :

• The title of the image, i.e. Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.
• A brief description of the image, followed by (optional) any additional information necessary to explain the figure.
• Adapted from Original Work, by Creator, Year, URL
• A copyright statement.

Here is an example of a figure with a caption that you might put in a presentation:

That is the information that goes on the slide where the image appears. You must also cite the image in your reference list. Please see  Citing Digital Images .

These are the basics of using and citing images. For complete rules and details, see section 7.26 in the official APA manual. 

Citing an Article or Website with an Unknown Author

When an article or webpage doesn’t have an author listed, use the title of the article in place of the author, both in-text and in your reference list. See above for more info on citing websites without an author.

(“Ativan (Lorazepam),” 2012)

When citing an organization as author, such as the CDC or WHO, you may use the organization’s acronym throughout the paper after you’ve spelled it out completely at least once. For example,

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2016), asthma is…

One in 13 people has asthma (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016).

Whether you spell it out in text or in a parenthetical citation, it only needs to be done once, with the acronym immediately following in parentheses or brackets.

Occasionally, you may have multiple sources with the same author and the same publication year. To distinguish these sources from each other, you add a lowercase letter after the year, in alphabetical order of where the references appear in the reference list. For example,

(CDC, 2017a)

According to the CDC (2017b)

Non Recoverable Information (Personal Communication)

When citing a source that cannot be recovered, such as your personal notes or a conversation, cite the source in a parenthetical citation with the author, followed by a personal communication designation and the date:

(J. Smith, personal communication, August 8, 2016)

Do not cite personal communication in the reference list.

Quoting something that is quoted in a paper you’ve read is called a secondary citation .  They are not recommended in APA; so it would be better if you could find the original source and quote directly from it.  However, if you have to because the original document is out of print, no longer exists as it did at the time of citing, not in English, or is otherwise unattainable, put the article you actually read in the reference list.  

Then in the text of the paper, the primary citation would appear in the reference list, but the secondary citation would not. Cite the secondary citation as you normally would in author-date format.

Alternatively your text could mention the original source, and it would look something like this:

The Transcultural Nursing Society’s mission statement (Ray, 2013, p. 143) states “to enhance the quality of culturally congruent, competent, and equitable care that results in improved health and well-being for people worldwide”…

Note: APA 6 used the term "as cited in" to cite secondary sources. APA 7 no longer uses this term.

• << Previous: Home
• Next: Reference List Citations >>
• Last Updated: Mar 18, 2024 1:56 PM
• URL: https://libguides.massgeneral.org/APA7

• Books & Media
• Reference & Course Reserves
• Where You Are
• Books to You Classroom Delivery
• Books From LCU
• Books From I-Share
• Books from Other Libraries
• Book a Group Study Room
• Other Libraries
• Community Patrons
• Find Books & Media
• Media & Streaming Video
• Chapel Messages
• Dissertations & Theses
• Find Articles & Databases
• Articles & More (Central Index)
• All EBSCO Article Databases
• Databases by Subject
• A-Z Journal Databases
• Journal Table of Contents
• Journal Title Search
• Find Other Resources
• LCU Theses & DMin Projects
• Faculty Publications
• Stone-Campbell Hymnal Collection
• Rare Books & Collections
• Biblical Manuscripts
• Research Guides
• All Subjects
• Course Specific
• Bible & Theology
• Counseling & Leadership
• How-To Find/Tutorials
• How to Find Books & Ebooks
• How to Find Articles
• How to Find Media & Streaming Videos
• How to Find Chapel Messages
• How to Find Dissertations & Theses
• How to Use Google Scholar
• Citation & Writing Helps
• Citation Guides
• Finding & Using Images
• Research Process & Tips
• Writing Helps
• Book a Research Appointment
• What's New?
• Upcoming Events
• Ask-a-Librarian (Contact Us)

Service Alert

APA Style, 7th Edition

• Introduction
• Chapters & Other Parts of a Book
• Theses, Dissertations, & DMin Projects
• Citation Generators
• Paper Formatting
• Reference List Formatting
• Parenthetical or In-text Citations

Parenthetical and Narrative Citations in APA

8.12 multiple works in one citation, 8.14 unknown or anonymous author, 8.17 number of authors in in-text citations, 8.19 works with the same author and date, 8.20 authors with the same name, 8.21 group authors.

• Quoting and Paraphrasing
• Additional Resources

It is very important to insure that any item listed in a parenthetical or in-text citation corresponds to an item in your reference list.  Make certain that author, title, and publication information are listed exactly the same in both citation types.

APA uses parenthetical or in text citations where the last name of the author, date of publication, and specific page or chapter are placed in parentheses within the text. Examples may be found in  APA section 8. 

Most parenthetical citations, placed immediately after a quotation or paraphrase, must include the following elements as shown in section 8.10-11.

• Include only the author's last name without any initials or suffixes followed by a comma.
• Include only the year of publication.
• When citing a specific quotation, idea, or figure from a specific page of the source, indicate the page number, chapter, or figure or table number after the publication year with a comma in between.  The word page may be abbreviated but not chapter or figure. See 8.13 for additional examples.
• Place all elements in parentheses with the period after the closing parentheses.

Narrative citations incorporate the author and publication date within the sentence. In most instances, the author's name will be given and the publication date placed in parentheses immediately after. In some instances, the date may be included in the sentence without parentheses. 

When utilizing multiple sources in a single instance, group all of the sources together in a single note. Sources should be listed alphabetically in the order found in the reference list and separated by semicolons. 

List two or more works by the same author in chronological order

To highlight specific works that are particularly relevant to your point, place those works first in alphabetical order. Then use a semi-colon and the phrase see also before listing additional citations also in alphabetical order.

If citing multiple sources in a sentence as a narrative citation, no specific order is required.

If no author is listed, refer to the work by title within the text and parenthetical citation.

If the author is officially listed as "anonymous," APA indicates that word should be treated as the author's real name in both the parenthetical citation and reference list.

• For one or two authors, include both author names in every citation. 
• For three or more authors, include the name of the first author followed by et al.
• The exception is when using et al would create confusion because more than one reference begins with the same authors.
• In those cases, write out all of the names until there is a difference. 
• If there are multiple authors remaining, use et al.
• If there is only one additional author, write out that name as well.
• Use an ampersand (&) between names for two authors and before the last author's name when multiple authors are listed.
• In a narrative citation, write out the word and .

References by the same author with the same publication date should be listed in chronological order by the specific date and then place a lower case letter immediately after the year in the in-text citation. 

When citing more than one work by authors with the same last name, include the author's initials in all text and parenthetical citations in order to differentiate between works.

If a group name has a familiar abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets after the full name for the first usage and then utilize the abbreviation for the following citations. 

If two groups share the same abbreviation and both groups are cited in a paper, spell out both group names every time. 

• << Previous: Reference List Formatting
• Next: Quoting and Paraphrasing >>
• Last Updated: Sep 15, 2022 10:29 AM
• URL: https://libguides.lincolnchristian.edu/APA

• Introduction
• Formatting Your Paper
• In-Text Citations
• Books and eBooks
• Business Reports
• Conference Presentations and Publications
• Dissertations and Theses
• Government Documents, Statutes, and Court Cases
• Images and Advertisements
• Missing Information
• Multiple Authors
• Personal Communications (E-mails, Interviews, etc.)
• Previous Coursework
• Religious Works
• Secondary Source/Indirect Citation (as cited in)
• Social Media
• Video and Audio
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Annotated Bibliographies
• Get Help Now

APA 7th Edition Citation Guide Multiple Authors

Source with two authors.

Rules for citing more than one author apply to all sources, regardless of format. Below is an example of a book with two authors.

Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use an ampersand (&) for parenthetical citations.

Reference Page Format:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of Publication). Format the remainder according to resource type.

Reference Page Example:

Loveless, D., & Griffith, B. (2014).  Critical pedagogy for a polymodal world . Birkhäuser.

In-text Citation Examples:

According to Loveless and Griffith (2014) ... ...(Loveless & Griffith, 2014). ...(Loveless & Griffith, 2014, p. 121).

Source with Three to Twenty Authors

For all sources with three to twenty authors, include all of the authors on your References page. 

For in-text citations, sources with three or more authors can be abbreviated to only the first author's last name followed by "et al." For example, (Author et al., Year).

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C. (Year of Publication).  Format the remainder according to resource type .

Somerville, I., Purcell, A., & Morrison, F. (2011). Public relations education in a divided society: PR, terrorism and critical pedagogy in post-conflict Northern Ireland.  Public Relations Review, 37 (5), 548-555. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.09.008

According to Somerville et al. (2011) ... ... (Somerville et al., 2011). ... (Somerville et al., 2011, p. 549).

Source with Twenty-One or More Authors

For sources with twenty-one or more authors, write out the first twenty authors on the References page, add an ellipsis (...), and end with the last author. 

For in-text citations, sources with more than twenty authors can be abbreviated to only the first author's last name followed by "et al." For example, (Author et al., Year).

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C., Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F., Author, G. G., Author, H. H., Author, I. I., Author, J. J., Author, K. K., Author, L. L., Author, M. M., Author, N. N., Author, O. O., Author, P. P., Author, Q. Q., Author, R. R., Author, S. S., Author, T. T., . . . Author, Z. Z. (Year of Publication).  Format the remainder according to resource type .

Aad, G., Abbott, B., Abdallah, J., Abdinov, O., Aben, R., Abolins, M., AbouZeid, O. S., Abramowicz, H., Abreu, H., Abreu, R., Abulaiti, Y., Acharya, B. S., Adamczyk, L., Adams, D. L., Adelman, J., Adomeit, S., Adye, T., Affolder, A. A., Agatonovic-Jovin, T., Aguilar-Saavedra, J. A., Alen, S. P., . . . Woods, N. (2015). Combined measurement of the Higgs boson mass in pp collisions at √s=7 and 8 TeV with the ATLAS and CMS experiments.  Physical Review Letters, 114 (19), 1-33. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.191803

According to Aad et al. (2015) ... ... (Aad et al., 2015). ... (Aad et al., 2015, p. 20).

• << Previous: Missing Information
• Next: Personal Communications (E-mails, Interviews, etc.) >>
• Last Updated: Jan 23, 2024 8:28 AM
• URL: https://library.csp.edu/apa

• Find Resources

Library and Academic Support Services Concordia University, St. Paul 1282 Concordia Aveneu Saint Paul, MN 55104

• 651-641-823
• [email protected]
• Report a problem

Connect with us

© Concordia University, St. Paul

APA 7th Referencing

• APA 7th referencing
• Author information

In-text citations

• Reference lists
• Journal & newspaper articles
• Books & book chapters
• Websites & social media
• Course materials
• Dictionaries & encyclopedias
• Audio-visual media
• Secondary sources
• Other reference examples
• Education sources
• Health sources
• Indigenous Knowledges
• Legal sources
• Academic Writer & APA style guide
• Referencing tools & training
• More referencing styles This link opens in a new window

Acknowledgement

This guide is based on the University of Queensland's  APA7th Referencing style guide  and is used under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

• Date of publication
• Page numbers
• Can't find it here?
• Parenthetical in-text citations include the author's family name and year of publication within parenthesis (Thompson, 2018).
• Narrative in-text citations include the author's family name in the sentence and the year of publication follows in parenthesis "Thompson (2018) has argued that ......."
• The in-text citation appears within the body of the paper where the information has been referred to – whether that is within the main body of the text or a table, figure, footnote or appendix. This allows readers to find the corresponding entry in the alphabetical reference list at the end of the paper that will contain the full details of the source.
• Each source cited in-text must appear in the reference list, and each source in the reference list must appear in-text (or in a table, figure, footnote, or appendix).

Please refer to  Author information  for detailed advice.

If you have two or more works by different authors

• List works alphabetically (as they appear in the reference list)
• Separate references with a semicolon ;   e.g.  (Noble et al., 2015; Walker, 2011)  OR   Noble et al. (2015) and Walker (2011) stated that ...

If you have two or more works by same author(s)

• Order references by year of publication
• Put n.d. (no date) references first
• Put "in press" references last
• Only use the author family name or groups name once then list the years
• e.g.  (Lewis, n.d., 2012, 2015, 2016, in press) OR  (Education Queensland, 2011, 2013) OR  (Education Queensland, 2011; Lewis, 2012, 2015, 2016, in press)
• E.g. (Cleary, 2019) or "Thompson (2018) argues that ..."
• If the month is provided in the publication details do not include it. 
• E.g. (Harris, n.d.)
• E.g. (Taylor, in press).
• It is sometimes helpful to your reader to be specific about what part of the work contains the relevant information,  e.g. page numbers (Cleary, 2019, p.16) or (Cleary, 2019, pp.16-18).
• When including quotes in-text you should include the specific part of the source that the quote comes from.
• Tables, chapters, paragraphs or figures can also be helpful,  e.g. (Cleary, 2019, Table 3).

For works without a page number , you can add:

• paragraph number (manually count if not listed),  e.g. (Kennedy, 2019, para.8)
• heading or section name,  e.g. (Harris, 2018, Behaviour Therapy section)
• act, scene and line(s) for plays,  e.g. (Wilde, 1895/1997, 1.1.6-8) (means Act 1.Scene 1.Line(s) 6-8)
• canonically numbered sections for religious or classical works,  e.g. (Genesis 15:6) (include book, chapter, verse, line or canto in place of page number)

For a fuller list of examples see  APA Style Citing Specific Parts of a Source

• Academic writer: APA's tool for teaching and learning effective writing This link opens in a new window Academic Writer is produced by APA to help with academic referencing and writing. It provides quick guides, tutorials, self-quizzes, sample papers, sample references, sample tables, and sample figures to help you master the APA style.
• APA Style Blog The APA Style Blog is written by APA Style experts and provides advice on all aspects of the style, including the trickier nuances. Use the search tool for specific queries or browse the Style and Grammar Guidelines from the drop down menu at the top of the page.
• Direct quotes
• Block quotes
• Quoting audiovisual works
• A direct quotation reproduces word-for-word material taken directly from another author’s work, or from your own previously published work.
• If the quotation is fewer than 40 words, incorporate it into your sentences and paragraphs, and enclose it in double quotation marks ( "..." ).
• Include the author, year, and specific page number for that quotation.  Place a comma after the year and use  p.  for single page,  pp.  for multiple pages
• Place the citation directly after the quotation.
• For material without page numbers, give the paragraph number or a time stamp.
• Include a complete reference in the reference list.

David Copperfield starts with "Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show" (Dickens, 1869, p. 1/1998, p. 1).

(Smith, 2003, p. 105)   OR   Smith (2003) has argued that "......" (p. 105)

(Brown, 1999, pp. 49-50) OR   As Brown (1999) found "......" (pp. 49-50) 

If the quotation comprises 40 or more words, include it in an indented, freestanding block of text, without quotation marks. Make it double spaced. For example:

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously. (Dickens, 1896, p. 1/1998, p. 1)

Note that a page number is required. Place a comma after the year and use p. for single page, pp. for multiple pages.

Add a  time stamp  in place of a page number when quoting from audiovisual works such as videos, songs, TV shows.

(Yates, 2019, 1:14)

(Henderson, 2017, 2:30:14)

(Anderson, 2019, 2:17) OR   Anderson (2019) noted that "...." (2:17)

• << Previous: Author information
• Next: Reference lists >>
• Last Updated: Mar 28, 2024 8:12 AM
• URL: https://libguides.mq.edu.au/APA7_referencing

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

In-Text Citations

The first step is to correctly cite each source you will use in your paper in your list of sources. Then, when you include a quote or a reference from a source, be sure to correctly cite the source in an in-text citation.

• Introduce your quote with a signal phrase (don’t just copy and paste something from your source!).
• Make sure the quote is in quotation marks.
• Properly cite the quote with an in-text citation. Before the end mark, in parenthesis, type the first word/words of the source listing (this will match your Reference list).
• Wrap up your quote by reiterating for readers what point the quote makes (analysis/evaluation).

The in-text citation must match the first word in the list of sources. So, if your source has an author, you would put the author’s name in the in-text citation and also at the end in the Works Cited. See the following example from a paper formatted using APA documentation style:

Signal Phrases (also known as transitions )

When you use others’ ideas, you have a variety of options for integrating these sources into your text. The main requirement is that you make it clear within your in-text reference that the information is not yours and that you clearly indicate where you got the idea. The following box shows some alternate phrases for signaling that the ideas you are using belong to another writer. Using a variety of wording makes writing more interesting.

Note: APA uses past tense for the signal phrase (“wrote” “argued” etc.), or past perfect tense (“has written”).

Phrases That Signal an Idea Belongs to Another Writer ( APA style includes the date of publication in parenthesis ):

• According to Starr (2010)…
• Acknowledging that…
• Starr (2010) stated…
• As Starr (2010) noted…
• In 2010, Starr reported…
• In the words of Starr (2010)…
• It is obvious, according to Starr (2010), that…
• Starr (2010) argued that…
• Starr (2010) disagreed when she said…
• Starr (2010) emphasized the importance of…
• Starr (2010) suggested…
• Starr observed in 2010 that…
• Technology specialist, Linda Starr, claimed that…(2010).
• …indicated Starr (2010).
• …wrote Starr (2010)

Integrating Sources (Using Direct Quotations):

The tables below shows some actual examples of integrating sources within the guidelines of APA. Note how the cited details are woven in with the author’s ideas.

Long quotations

In APA, a quotation longer than 40 words should be in block form, like this:

Examples 1:

Author’s Name Not in the Sentence:

If you don’t say the author’s name in the sentence, then the author’s name needs to go in the in-text citation. Remember that direct quotes require page numbers (except websites).

The author writes, “Not mine, not mine, not mine, but Mrs. Price is already turning to page thirty-two, and math problem number four” (Cisneros, 1991, p. 1).

Author’s Name in the Sentence:

If you do say the author’s name in the sentence (usually in the transition or signal phrase), then the author’s name doesn’t need to go in the in-text citation.

Cisneros (1991) writes, “Not mine, not mine, not mine, but Mrs. Price is already turning to page thirty-two, and math problem number four” (p. 1).

Since websites don’t have page numbers, you may manually count the paragraph numbers.

The author writes, “Not mine, not mine, not mine, but Mrs. Price is already turning to page thirty-two, and math problem number four” (Cisneros, 1991, para. 4).

There are other options for websites in the APA Manual. For example, you can provide a heading or section name, or abbreviate headings.

The author says that “masks provide protection from Covid-19” (Smith, 2020, “What You Can Do” section).

The author says that “masks provide protection from Covid-19” (Smith, 2020,  Further Information section).

 Integrating Sources (Summarized or Paraphrased Ideas):

Two authors:,  multiple authors:, personal communication:.

Examples with No Authors:

It is recommended that you always choose sources that have an author so that you can determine the author’s credibility; however, if your instructor allows you to use sources (usually websites) with no authors, then follow the formatting rules below.

If a source doesn’t have an author, use the title of the source (such as the title of the web page), or the name of the organization.

APA Summary or Paraphrase:

A dry desert is different from a coastal desert in several ways (Deserts, 2018).

According to Center for Disease Control (2020), wearing a mask helps to prevent one from getting Covid-19.

APA Direct Quote (use paragraph numbers (para.) for websites):

A dry desert “has specific characteristics that differentiate” it from a coastal desert (Deserts, 2018, para. 5).

According to Center for Disease Control (2020), the best way to “prevent transmission of Covid-19 is to wear a mask” (para. 4).

According to one organization, the best way to “prevent transmission of Covid-19 is to wear a mask” (Center for Disease Control, 2020, para. 4).

Video Overview

Apa citation.

1. Go through your essay rough draft and make sure that each in-text citation directly matches the Works Cited or Reference page. For example, if my in-text citation says this–

(Smith, 2019, p. 54)

–then “Smith” must be the first word in my Works Cited:

Smith, J. (2019). Staying safe during Covid-19….

Especially watch that your websites match as well. For example, in my in-text citation says this–

(Center for Disease Control, 2020).

–then “Center for Disease Control” must be the first word in my Works Cited:

Center for Disease Control. (2020). Staying safe during Covid-19….

The same goes for websites without authors. My in-text citation:

(Owl and Mouse Education Software, 2020, “Castles” heading).

My corresponding Reference page:

Owl and Mouse Educational Software. (2000). Castles in medieval times ….

1. Go through your essay and check all of your in-text citations that they are in the correct format.

Additional Resource:

The OWL at Purdue is one of the best websites you can use for how to do proper in-text citations. There are several rules about sources such as quoting a source within a source, citing multiple authors, and more. Because of this, it’s important you use this website to determine how to probably use the in-text citations. Also, check the appendix of this textbook for the MLA/APA guides.

APA: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html

Attribution

• Content created by Dr. Sandi Van Lieu and Dr. Karen Palmer and licensed CC BY NC SA .

The RoughWriter's Guide Copyright © 2020 by Dr. Karen Palmer and Dr. Sandi Van Lieu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

APA Citation Guide: In-Text/Parenthetical Citations (6E)

• APA 7th Edition
• References, Templates, and Examples for APA 7E
• In-Text/Parenthetical Citations (7E)
• Paper Formatting 7E: Student Paper
• Paper Formatting 7E: Professional Paper
• Annotated Bibliography 7E
• Difference Between 6th & 7th
• Introduction
• Collecting Citations
• Backing-Up/Syncing
• Placing Citations in a Document

Printable PDF Guide to In-Text Citations

• APA 6E In-Text Citations PDF Two-page, printable PDF of this tab.
• APA 6E In-Text Citations Powerpoint Used the the 25-minute workshop.

In-Text/Parenthetical Citations

In-text citations, or parenthetical citations, are those that are inside the running text, or narrative of your text, and act as pointers to the more complete reference list at the end of the paper. In-text citations can follow very different rules than citations found in the reference list, so it’s important to place them in separate mental compartments.

(Author, year, p. x)

(Author, year, pp. xx-xx)

Research by Garcia (2017) found blah (p. 25).

Research found blah (Garcia, 2017, p. 25).

Notice that the year always follows the author, and the page number(s) is always at the end.

Number of authors and number of times cited is key to understanding APA in-text citations.

Two Authors 

Garcia and Bartle (2017) found blah (p. 25).

Research found blah (Garcia & Bartle, 2017, p. 25).

Three, Four, and Five Authors—First Time 

Garcia, Bartle, Sorrell , and Singleton (2017) found blah (p. 25) .

Garcia, Bartle, Sorrell , and Singleton (2017) found “blah” (p. 25) .

Research found blah (Garcia, Bartle, Sorrell , & Singleton, 2017, p. 25) .

Three, Four, and Five Authors—Second+ Time 

Garcia et al. (2017) found blah (p. 25).

Research found blah (Garcia et al., 2017, p. 25).

Six or More Authors

Research found “blah” (Garcia et al., 2017, p. 25).

Research found blah ( “ Title of Article in Quotation Marks and Title Case ,” 2017)

Research found blah ( Title of Book in Italics and Title Case , 2017)

In “Title of Article in Quotation Marks and Title Case” (2017)

In Title of Book in Italics and Title Case (2017)

Multiple Sources

Several studies (Lowe, 2015 ; Mancha, 2007 ; Smith & Jones ; 1993) have found blah.

In a multiple sources, in-text citation, order the different citations alphabetically as they appear in the reference list, so the reader can find them easily. Each is separated by a semi-colon.

Same Author/Same Year/Different Works

Research found (Garcia, 1981a)

Garcia (1981b) found

In your reference list, these would look like:

Garcia, C. (1981a). Article title.   [other article citation information].

Garcia, C. (1981b). Book title .   [other book citation information].

Citing Someone Who is Being Cited by Someone

Petry (as cited in Quarton, 2017) found that

Citing from an Abstract

This is significant for the reference list but not for in-text citations.

Big Quotations/Small Quotations

If you have a direct quotation that is less than 40 words, blend the quotation smoothly into your writing and use quotation marks.  If the quotation is 40 words or more, place it in a free-standing, indented text block, do not use quotation marks, and do maintain double spacing. End with a period, then place the in-text citation.

Garcia’s (2017) work found that

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Duis dolor nunc, eleifend nec placerat vel, rhoncus et sem. Fusce ullamcorper scelerisque libero, nec eleifend felis tristique vitae. Fusce varius luctus nisi, ut mattis ligula. Nam a tincidunt magna, vitae volutpat mauris. elit . (p. 215)

Direct Quotation or Paraphrase?

Any text that you are quoting exactly from the original should be enclosed in quotation marks, and the in-text citation should include a page number.

If you are not quoting exactly, but are still closely paraphrasing, you do not need to use quotation marks, but you do still need to include a page number. 

If you are making a very general reference to the overall subject of an article/chapter, then you do not need quotation marks and you also do not need a page number. Examples of this are common in the introduction to research articles:

There have been several areas of investigation, including measures of disposition (Zhang, 2000; Garcia & Smith, 2009), measures of decision-making (Lejuez, Simmons, Aklin, Daughters, & Dvir, 2004; Macapagal & Janssen, 2011), and measures of impulsivity (Lee, 2014). 

• Last Updated: Apr 2, 2024 12:42 PM
• URL: https://libguides.csusb.edu/apa

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / APA Format / EasyBib APA Parenthetical and Narrative Citations Guide

EasyBib APA Parenthetical and Narrative Citations Guide

If you’re writing a research paper , thesis, or dissertation, you’ll need to properly credit any ideas or information you’ve included from other sources. The best way to do this is by including in-text citations and full references.

This guide is designed to help you create APA style parenthetical citations and narrative citations. You’ll learn the difference between APA parenthetical citations and narrative citations, as well as the correct way to make them within the text. The information from this guide comes from the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , Chapter 8 (there is no connection between the association and this guide).

We will cover:

Why We Include In-text Citations

Parenthetical vs narrative in-text citations, what about reference list entries.

• When to Include Page Numbers

Basic APA Citations

Narrative and parenthetical citations apa with two authors.

• Citing Works with Three or More Authors

Citing Works Without an Author

Citing a specific part of a work.

• Citing Works With Group Authors or Corporate Authors

Citing Classical, Religious, or Translated Works

Citing and formatting block quotes.

Are you working in another citation format? MLA in-text & parenthetical citations are very different, so don’t assume all styles are the same! Other resources you might like to read up on are MLA works cited pages and how to cite websites in MLA .

Video Overview

An in-text citation is used to indicate what information comes from another source . It usually includes the source author and publication year. These citations are important because they:

• Allow readers to easily locate the full reference on the final page. This means they can easily look up the source for further research.
• Give proper credit to sources and other authors.
• Demonstrate that you are a responsible and ethical researcher.

Both parenthetical and narrative citations are a type of in-text citation. They have these things in common:

• They are used in the text of a paper.
•  A full reference to the source mentioned in the in-text citation is included in the reference list at the end of a paper.
• Usually, both include the author’s last name and the year the source was published.

Here is a brief overview of the differences:

Now that we have an idea of how each is unique, let’s examine each a little more closely.

• Parenthetical Citations

The most common form of in-text citation is known as a parenthetical. This means that the reference information is provided within parentheses at the end of the sentence.

Parenthetical citation structure:

(Author Last Name, Year Published)

Parenthetical citation APA example:

(Crystal, 2011)

Example in use:

“Undeaf” is a word coined by Shakespeare in Richard II (Crystal, 2011).

Narrative Citations

If the sentence itself includes the author’s last name and/or the publication date, this information does not need to appear within the parenthetical citation. If all of the required citation elements are provided within the sentence, then no parenthetical citation is required.

Narrative citation example:

According to Crystal (2011), “undeaf” is a word that was invented by Shakespeare.

If you’re looking for another parenthetical citation APA website to learn about the origins, here’s an informative site . If you want a deeper dive into this topic, we have a full APA parenthetical citation website page, called APA in-text citation . If you’d like an overview on how to go about starting a research paper from scratch, our research page is a great place to start.

These brief narrative and APA parenthetical citations are only half of what’s needed. A full reference to the source mentioned in the in-text citation is required. These references are placed on the final page of a paper or project.

Only a snippet is included in the body of the paper (via the in-text citation) to provide the reader with a quick reference, easy enough to read and breeze over, without having to stop the flow of reading through the paper. Readers use the information in the narrative or APA format parenthetical citation to then flip to the reference page to find the rest of the information about the source.

Full references include not only the author, date, and page numbers, but also the title of the source, the publisher, and other key pieces of information. Here is a reference entry example for the source that we used above:

Reference entry example:

Crystal, K. (2011). The story of English in 100 words. St. Martin’s Press.

To allow readers to easily locate the full reference on the final page, make sure the information in the narrative and APA format parenthetical citation matches the beginning of the information in the full reference.

When to Include Page Numbers 

For most in-text citations, an author name and a publication year are the only elements required. Adding page numbers is only necessary when you are citing a direct quotation from the work.

For works without pages, the Publication manual states to use other indicators (Section 8.28):

• Heading or section
• Specific paragraphs (para. 1)
• A timestamp (10:11)
• Chapter, canto, verse or line

If you’re searching for a narrative or APA parenthetical citation generator, look no further! Head to EasyBib.com to use an automatic citation generator which can help make your full references for the APA reference page or APA bibliography . There’s also an option to create your narrative or parenthetical citation. If you want to go the old-fashioned route, and learn how to create narrative references and how to use parenthetical citations APA, continue reading. If you’d like to learn how to style your final paper, read our APA format page.

Need resources related to MLA format ? Check out the other tools and citation guides on EasyBib.com. As always, EasyBib.com has even more styles available.

Parenthetical example – Authored book

It can be said that all postmodern art is a reaction to fake sincerity, or faked patriotism (Baxter, 2007).

Narrative example – Authored book

According to Baxter (2007), all forms of postmodern art can be seen as reactions to faked sincerity or faked patriotism.

Reference entry example – Authored book

Baxter, C. (2007). The art of subtext. Graywolf Press.

If you are citing a reference entry that has two authors, include both names, separated by an ampersand.

APA style parenthetical citation structure:

(1st Author’s Last Name & 2nd Author’s Last Name, Year)

APA parenthetical citation example – Two authors:

Rallying to restore sanity was a revolutionary undertaking (Stewart & Colbert, 2010).

Narrative example – Two authors:

Stewart and Colbert (2010) stated that rallying to restore sanity was a revolutionary undertaking.

Reference entry example – Two authors:

Citing Works With Three or More Authors

Include only the last name of the first author, followed by “et al.” and the year published in all narrative and parenthetical citations APA.

Note: The reference entry should list the names of up to 20 authors.

Parenthetical example – Three or more authors:

Rallying to restore sanity was a revolutionary undertaking (Stewart et al., 2010).

Narrative example – Three or more authors:

Stewart, Colbert, and Oliver (2010) stated that rallying to restore sanity was a revolutionary undertaking.

Looking for an APA parenthetical citation website or tool to help you create a citation? Check out the resources at EasyBib.com.

In cases where no author is provided and no author can be reasonably determined, the title of the work takes the place of the author name in the in-text citation.

There are a couple of things to consider if you are going to use the title of your work for the in-text citation:

• If the title is italicized within your reference entry (as it would be for most periodicals and journal articles) then it also needs to be italicized inside the in-text citation.
• If the title is not italicized in the reference entry, then it needs to be placed within quotation marks (“Title”) in the in-text citation. This is the case with individual book chapters, TV episodes, and other works that are entries within a larger body of work.
• Work titles that appear inside an in-text citation should be in title case (all words capitalized) while the same title in the reference entry should be in sentence case (only the first word, proper nouns, and words appearing after a colon or semicolon are capitalized).

Parenthetical example – Source without an author:

Statistics confirm that the trend is rising (“New Data”, 2013).

Narrative Example – Source Without an Author:

In the chapter entitled “New Data” (2013), statistics confirm the trend is rising.

Even though it may seem like you don’t need to create a narrative or parenthetical citation APA format reference for works without an author, it’s still necessary! You may want to run your paper through our plagiarism checker , which scans for any instances of accidental plagiarism and also does a check for grammar. If you have an adjective , preposition , or noun that needs to be touched up, we’ve got you covered!

When citing a specific part of a work, provide the relevant page number or section identifier, such as chapters, tables or equations. The idea here is to give as much information as is necessary for your reader to easily locate the part of the work that is being referenced.

Parenthetical example – Direct quotation:

One of the most memorable quotes is when he says, “You are going to live a good and long life filled with great and terrible moments that you cannot even imagine yet!” to Augustus (Green, 2012, p. 272).

If the source does not include page numbers (such as online sources), you can reference any of the following elements based on which one you believe will be most helpful to your reader.

• Section title or heading name
• Paragraph number
• Time stamp (for audiovisual works)
• Verse, line, or canto (for religious and canonically numbered works)

Parenthetical example – Paraphrasing, no page number available

He quickly learned that pandas were not considered good pets (Chan, 2011, para. 3).

If page numbers are not available, it might be necessary to include the section title or heading name, especially with works that have been published online. If these section titles are overly lengthy, they can be abbreviated for clarity and tidiness.

Parenthetical citation – Abbreviated section title with paragraph

The sample population included both red and giant pandas (Chan, 2011, Methodology section, para. 1).

 In need of a narrative or APA parenthetical citation website? Check out the tools and resources on EasyBib.com! We make the narrative and parenthetical APA citation process easy for you!

Citing Group Authors or Corporate Authors

Groups, corporations, government agencies, associations, and other organizations can be considered the author of a source in a narrative or a parenthetical citation APA. This is commonplace with reports, scientific studies, and other works (like the Publication manual ) that have been commissioned by larger entities.

If you are trying to cite a work that has no listed author, but the work appears in a corporate or agency-related periodical or website, then the corporation or agency can safely be listed as the author.

Parenthetical example – Group author:

The 2019 survey of students found that the cost of education and student loans deterred many students from pursuing another college degree (Chegg, 2019).

A Note on Abbreviations

It’s not required to abbreviate the name of a group author. However, if a well-known abbreviation exists, you may use it. Provide the abbreviation within brackets in the first in-text citation. Then, you can use that abbreviation for all subsequent entries.

Abbreviated group example – First parenthetical citation APA

The May 2011 study focused on percentages of tax money that goes to imprisonment over education funding (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP], 2011).

Abbreviated group example – Subsequent citations

The report found that over one half billion taxpayer dollars went to imprison residents “from 24 of New York City’s approximately 200 neighborhoods” (NAACP, 2011, p. 2).

Quick reminder: If you’re looking for a parenthetical citation APA website, check out the homepage of EasyBib.com. Our automatic generator makes full references and narrative /APA parenthetical citations for you!

For classical sources, such as ancient Greek works, it is necessary to provide not only the original publication date, but also the copyright date of the version or translation that you used for your research.

For the purpose of in-text citations, these two dates would be separated by a slash with no extra spaces:

Parenthetical citation in APA example – Classical work with translation

(Homer, ca. 800 B.C./1998).

Narrative example – Translated work

In Homer’s The Iliad (800 B.C./1998) …

With most Greek and Roman literature, the precise date of publication cannot be determined. In cases such as these, the approximate date is offered with the abbreviation “ca.”, which is short for “circa”.

Reference entry example  – Translated work

Homer. (1998). The Iliad (R. Fagles, Trans.). Penguin Classics. (Original work published ca. 800 B.C.E.)

When citing specific content from these sources, include the paragraph/line numbers that are used in classical works in the narrative or APA parenthetical citation. This information is consistent across versions/editions, and is the easiest way to locate direct quotes from classical works.

APA parenthetical example – Direct bible quotation

The Bible extols the virtues of love; “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud” ( New International Version, 1973/2018, 1 Cor. 13:4).

Narrative example – Direct bible quotation

In 1 Cor. 13:4 ( New International Version, 1978/2018), the Bible extols the virtues of love: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

As you can see, it doesn’t matter if you’re creating a reference in the text for a book, website, journal article, or another source type in this format. All of your references in the text of your paper are formatted the same. If you’d like to learn how to create full APA citations for an APA book citation , APA journal , or APA citation website , we have the resources you need!

When directly quoting information from sources in your writing, you may need to format it differently depending on how many words are used.

If a quote runs on for more than 40 words:

• Start the direct quotation on a new line
• Indent the text roughly half an inch from the left margin
• If there are multiple paragraphs in the quotation, indent them an extra half inch
• Do not use quotation marks
• Double-space the text
• Add the in-text parenthetical citation APA after the final sentence

Use our grammar pages to ensure your words are organized and styled appropriately. Check out interjection , conjunction , and adverb , along with many others!

Parenthetical example – Block quotations

Here is some text from the book that clearly defines early on in the novel:

He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced–or seemed to face–the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor (Fitzgerald, 2019, pp. 12-13).

Notice in the above APA parenthetical citation, a page range is included, marked by ‘pp.’ prior to the page numbers. If your quote is found on a single page, use ‘p.’ before the page number in the parenthetical citation APA reference.

Narrative example – Block quotations

Fitzgerald (2019) clearly defines early on in the novel:

He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced–or seemed to face–the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor (pp. 12-13).

Reference entry example

Fitzgerald, F. S. (2019). The great Gatsby. Cambridge University Press.

If you’re still confused on how to do parenthetical citations APA, learn more here . If you’re looking for a parenthetical citation APA website, check out the resources and tools on EasyBib.com!

Need another set of eyes to edit your paper? Run your paper through the EasyBib Plus proofreader, which checks each and every determiner , verb , pronoun , to make sure they’re where they’re supposed to be.

Visit our EasyBib Twitter feed to discover more citing tips, fun grammar facts, and the latest product updates.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau. Michele Kirschenbaum is a dedicated school library media specialist and the in-house librarian at EasyBib.com. Elise Barbeau is the Citation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing.

APA Formatting Guide

APA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Multiple Authors
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Reference Page
• Sample Paper
• APA 7 Updates
• View APA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all APA Examples

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

A parenthetical citation is a piece of information given within the text to refer to a source listed in the reference list. It is the most commonly used in-text citation system. The information for the reference is provided within parentheses, usually at the end of the sentence. Here are templates and examples for sources with different numbers of authors.

One author:

(Duflo, 2011)

Two authors:

(Author 1 Last Name & Author 2 Last Name, Year Published)

(Rex & Ronald, 2017)

Three or more authors:

(Author 1 Last Name et al., Year Published)

(Chips et al., 2016)

Example in the text:

The literature has found evidence that teacher behavior responds to the skill composition of the class (Duflo, 2011).

A DOI (digital object identifier), in general, is not included in parenthetical citations or narrative citations. It appears only in the reference list entries.

APA Citation Examples

Writing Tools

Citation Generators

Other Citation Styles

Plagiarism Checker

Upload a paper to check for plagiarism against billions of sources and get advanced writing suggestions for clarity and style.

Get Started

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Citing sources
• Parenthetical Citation | APA, MLA & Chicago Examples

Parenthetical Citation | APA, MLA & Chicago Examples

Published on May 9, 2022 by Eoghan Ryan . Revised on August 23, 2022.

A parenthetical citation gives credit in parentheses to a source that you’re quoting or paraphrasing . It contains information such as the author’s name, the publication date, and the page number(s) if relevant.

Parenthetical citations are used in many citation styles, including MLA , APA , and Chicago .

Parenthetical citations should be placed at the end of the sentence or clause that contains the cited material, and they must always correspond to a full entry in your reference list.

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

Table of contents

Parenthetical citations in mla, parenthetical citations in apa, parenthetical citations in chicago, frequently asked questions about parenthetical citations.

MLA in-text citations are described as author-page citations. This means that the parentheses contain the author’s last name and a page number or page range.

When a source has two authors , include both names and put “and” between them. For sources with more than two authors , include only the first author’s name, followed by “ et al. ”

Cite page numbers using a page range if you are citing multiple consecutive pages. If the pages are not consecutive, include all relevant page numbers, separated by commas.

The only proofreading tool specialized in correcting academic writing - try for free!

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts and by native English editors. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students.

Try for free

APA in-text citations   are described as author-date citations. This means that parenthetical citations should contain the author’s last name , the publication date , and, if applicable, a page number or page range. These elements should be separated by commas.

When a source has two authors , include both names and separate them using an ampersand (&). When a source has more than two authors , include only the first author’s name, followed by “et al.”

When citing specific pages, write “p.” before a single page number and “pp.” before a page range or series of nonconsecutive pages.

Narrative vs. parenthetical

APA also makes a distinction between parenthetical and narrative citations . You can use a mixture of the two in your text.

In a narrative citation, the author’s name appears as part of your sentence, introducing the cited information with a signal phrase. Only the publication date (and page numbers if included) appears in parentheses.

Both parenthetical and narrative citations are automatically generated when you cite a source using Scribbr’s Citation Generator .

Chicago author-date style (not to be confused with Chicago notes and bibliography ) uses author-date citations.

These are parenthetical citations containing the author’s last name , the publication date , and, if applicable, a page number or page range. Include a comma after the year, but not after the author’s name.

When a source has two or three authors , include each of their names in your in-text citation. For more than four authors , include the name of the first author only, followed by “et al.”

A parenthetical citation gives credit in parentheses to a source that you’re quoting or paraphrasing . It provides relevant information such as the author’s name, the publication date, and the page number(s) cited.

How you use parenthetical citations will depend on your chosen citation style . It will also depend on the type of source you are citing and the number of authors.

In a parenthetical citation in MLA style , include the author’s last name and the relevant page number or range in parentheses .

For example: (Eliot 21)

APA Style distinguishes between parenthetical and narrative citations.

In parenthetical citations , you include all relevant source information in parentheses at the end of the sentence or clause: “Parts of the human body reflect the principles of tensegrity (Levin, 2002).”

In narrative citations , you include the author’s name in the text itself, followed by the publication date in parentheses: “Levin (2002) argues that parts of the human body reflect the principles of tensegrity.”

A parenthetical citation in Chicago author-date style includes the author’s last name, the publication date, and, if applicable, the relevant page number or page range in parentheses . Include a comma after the year, but not after the author’s name.

For example: (Swan 2003, 6)

To automatically generate accurate Chicago references, you can use Scribbr’s free Chicago reference generator .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Ryan, E. (2022, August 23). Parenthetical Citation | APA, MLA & Chicago Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved April 2, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/parenthetical-citation/

Is this article helpful?

Eoghan Ryan

Other students also liked, the basics of in-text citation | apa & mla examples, chicago author-date style | a complete guide to citing sources, beginner's guide to apa in-text citation, what is your plagiarism score.

Citations and Bibliographies

• APA Reference Lists
• APA In-text/Parenthetical Citations

General Notes about APA In-Text Citations

Examples: different numbers of authors, examples: missing or conflicting information, indirect sources and multiple sources.

• Chicago Notes-Bibliography Style
• Chicago Author-Date Style
• MLA Works-Cited Lists
• Other Styles
• Zotero This link opens in a new window
• While page numbers are not required for paraphrases, the APA manual recommends the use of page numbers for summaries or when the page number is needed to locate the information in a longer work. Check with your instructor about their expectations for the use of page numbers for paraphrases.
• When including an in‐text citation, always place the period after the parentheses, i.e. The cat jumped over the mouse (O’Hara, 2020, p. 1).
• In each citation list the authors’ names in the order they appear, not in alphabetical order.

Single author

• (Echterling, 2017, p. 5)

Two authors

• (Wood & Palmer, 2018, p. 2)

Three or more authors:

List only the first author’s name followed by et al., which is Latin for ‘and others’

• (Richardson et al., 2019, p. 3)

Nearly identical authors

If you cite multiple sources with nearly identical author names, you will need to add additional author names to avoid confusion:

• (O’Hara, Zacarola, Hanlon, et al., 2020, p. 3)
• (O’Hara, Zacarola, West, et al., 2020, p. 1)

Source with no author

If there is no author provided, list the first two words in the source’s title in quotation marks:

• (“Brain development,” 2017, para. 2)

Source with no author and no date

If there is no date provided in the source, use the abbreviation n.d. (short for ‘no date’)

• (“Tummy time,” n.d., para. 3).

Two or more sources with the same author and year

Add lower-case letters (a, b, c) next to the years in your reference list entries and use the same letters in your corresponding in-text citations.

Research by McCoy (2020a) demonstrated a correlation between social support and wellness. Additional research showed education was also a significant protective factor (McCoy, 2020b).

Organization/Agency/Corporate author with a recognizable name abbreviation

First time you cite the source, provide the organization’s name followed by brackets containing the organization’s abbreviation:

• (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020, para. 3)

Subsequent times you cite the source, use the abbreviation you listed in your first in‐text citation

• (CDC, 2020, para. 3)

Corporate/organization author without a recognizable abbreviation

Provide the full name of the organization in all in‐text citations:

• (Clinton County Department of Social Services, 2019, para. 2)

Indirect sources

If you want to cite a source mentioned in another source, this is called citing an indirect source. The APA manual suggests using indirect sources only when you cannot locate the original source. However, if you cite an indirect source, you must provide both the original source (the source that first contained the idea) and the secondary source (the source in which you actually read the information). To do this, start your sentence with a signal phrase that notes the original source’s author & year and then end your sentence with an in‐text citation for the secondary source.

Rutter, Kim‐Cohen, and Maughan (2006) reported that untreated adolescent mental health problems tend to persist into adulthood (as cited in Hunt & Eisenberg, 2010, p. 5).

Citing multiple sources in the same parentheses

Separate the works with a semi-colon within the parentheses.

• (Lang, n.d., para. 3; O’Hara, 2020, p. 1).
• << Previous: APA Reference Lists
• Next: Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition / Turabian Handbook, 9th edition >>
• Last Updated: Aug 4, 2023 7:05 AM
• URL: https://library.plattsburgh.edu/citations

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

In-Text Citations: Author/Authors

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6 th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , (6 th ed., 2 nd printing).

Note:  This page reflects APA 6, which is now out of date. It will remain online until 2021, but will not be updated. The equivalent APA 7 page can be found here .

APA style has a series of important rules on using author names as part of the author-date system. There are additional rules for citing indirect sources, electronic sources, and sources without page numbers.

Citing an Author or Authors

A Work by Two Authors: Name both authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses each time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in parentheses.

A Work by Three to Five Authors: List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the first time you cite the source. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in parentheses.

In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or in parentheses.

Six or More Authors: Use the first author's name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in parentheses.

Unknown Author: If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks. APA style calls for capitalizing important words in titles when they are written in the text (but not when they are written in reference lists).

Note : In the rare case the "Anonymous" is used for the author, treat it as the author's name (Anonymous, 2001). In the reference list, use the name Anonymous as the author.

Organization as an Author: If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source.

If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets the first time the source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations.

Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses: When your parenthetical citation includes two or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list (viz., alphabetically), separated by a semi-colon.

Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Parentheses: When your parenthetical citation includes two or more works from the same author, list the years of publication in sequence, with the earliest first. Provide in-press citations last. Only list authors' surnames once for each list of dates. 

Following this pattern, multiple works from multiple authors can be contained within a single parenthetical. Separate authors' sources with a semicolon. Note, however, that the authors' names should be provided in the order they appear in the reference list regardless of when their sources were published.

Authors With the Same Last Name: To prevent confusion, use first initials with the last names.

Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year: If you have two sources by the same author in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in the reference list. Use the lower-case letters with the year in the in-text citation.

Introductions, Prefaces, Forewords, and Afterwords: When citing an Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterword in-text, cite the appropriate author and year as usual.

(Funk & Kolln, 1992)

Personal Communication: For interviews, letters, e-mails, and other person-to-person communication, cite the communicator's name, the fact that it was personal communication, and the date of the communication. Do not include personal communication in the reference list.

Citing Indirect Sources

If you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source in your signal phrase. List the secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the parentheses.

Note: When citing material in parentheses, set off the citation with a comma, as above. Also, try to locate the original material and cite the original source.

Electronic Sources

If possible, cite an electronic document the same as any other document by using the author-date style.

Unknown Author and Unknown Date: If no author or date is given, use the title in your signal phrase or the first word or two of the title in the parentheses and use the abbreviation "n.d." (for "no date").

Sources Without Page Numbers

When an electronic source lacks page numbers, you should try to include information that will help readers find the passage being cited. When an electronic document has numbered paragraphs, use the abbreviation "para." followed by the paragraph number (Hall, 2001, para. 5). If the paragraphs are not numbered and the document includes headings, provide the appropriate heading and specify the paragraph under that heading. Note that in some electronic sources, like webpages, people can use the "find" function in their browser to locate any passages you cite.

Note: Never use the page numbers of webpages you print out; different computers print webpages with different pagination.

Other Sources

The APA Publication Manual describes how to cite many different kinds of authors and content creators. However, you may occasionally encounter a source or author category that the manual does not describe, making the best way to proceed can be unclear.

In these cases, it's typically acceptable to apply the general principles of APA citation to the new kind of source in a way that's consistent and sensible. A good way to do this is to simply use the standard APA directions for a type of source that resembles the source you want to cite. For example, a sensible way to cite a virtual reality program would be to mimic the APA's guidelines for ordinary computer software .

You may also want to investigate whether a third-party organization has provided directions for how to cite this kind of source. For example, Norquest College provides guidelines for citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers⁠ —an author category that does not appear in the APA Manual . In cases like this, it's a good idea to ask your instructor or supervisor whether using third-party citation guidelines might present problems.

The Tech Edvocate

• Advertisement
• Home Page Five (No Sidebar)
• Home Page Four
• Home Page Three
• Home Page Two
• Icons [No Sidebar]
• Left Sidbear Page
• Lynch Educational Consulting
• My Speaking Page
• Newsletter Sign Up Confirmation
• Newsletter Unsubscription
• Page Example
• Privacy Policy
• Protected Content
• Request a Product Review
• Shortcodes Examples
• Terms and Conditions
• The Edvocate
• The Tech Edvocate Product Guide
• Write For Us
• Dr. Lynch’s Personal Website
• The Edvocate Podcast
• Assistive Technology
• Child Development Tech
• Early Childhood & K-12 EdTech
• EdTech Futures
• EdTech News
• EdTech Policy & Reform
• EdTech Startups & Businesses
• Higher Education EdTech
• Online Learning & eLearning
• Parent & Family Tech
• Personalized Learning
• Product Reviews
• Tech Edvocate Awards
• School Ratings

How to Get an IUD Taken Out: 9 Steps

10 simple ways to make a boring relationship fun, 3 ways to calculate future value, how to play doctors (kids): 13 steps, how to make a dog’s coat shine: 9 steps, how to resole your footwear: 11 steps, 4 ways to speak samoan, 4 easy ways to drive an atv, how to stay present: 14 steps, how to make electronic music: 15 steps, 4 ways to cite page numbers in apa.

Introduction:

Citing your sources accurately is an important part of academic writing, particularly when using the American Psychological Association (APA) format. In this article, we will discuss four ways to cite page numbers in APA style to ensure that your work adheres to the required standards.

1. Parenthetical Citation in Text:

The most common method of citing page numbers in APA format is by including the author’s last name and the publication year within parentheses, followed by the page number(s). This is known as the author-date citation system. For example:

(Smith, 2019, p.42)

If you are quoting directly from the source, use a set of quotation marks around the material and then include the citation right after the quote.

2. Narrative Citation in Text:

In this method, you are incorporating the author’s name within your sentence and only putting the publication year and page number(s) inside parentheses. For example:

Smith (2019) claimed that “the increased usage of renewable energy sources could significantly reduce carbon emissions” (p.42).

In this case, you can mention the author’s name naturally within your sentence and still provide appropriate attribution.

3. Citing Multiple Pages or Non-Sequential Pages:

If you want to refer to several pages from a single source, it is necessary to list all relevant page numbers in your citation. Use a hyphen for sequential pages and commas for non-sequential pages. For example:

(Johnson & Adams, 2016, pp.15-17)

(Miller et al., 2020, pp.24, 32-34)

4. Paraphrasing with Page Numbers:

When paraphrasing or summarizing information from a source without direct quotations, it is still advised to include page numbers if possible, especially when dealing with details from specific sections of a longer work. While not always required, providing page numbers can help readers easily locate the original source material. For example:

The idea of merging computer networks to exchange data fast was first discussed in the early 1960s (Davis, 2016, pp.216-217).

Conclusion:

Understanding how to cite page numbers in APA style is crucial for maintaining academic integrity and giving proper credit to original sources. By using parenthetical or narrative citations, citing multiple or non-sequential pages, and including page numbers while paraphrasing, you can ensure your work is accurately and comprehensively cited.

How to Make a Water Heater: 10 ...

11 easy ways to be more accountable ....

Matthew Lynch

Related articles more from author.

How to Win at Stratego: 13 Steps

How to Calculate a Light Year: 10 Steps

How to Cope With a Bad Day

Simple Ways to Hang a Ladder on the Wall

4 Ways to Get Wavy Hair Overnight

4 Ways to Make Earrings