APA STYLE
In-Text Citations Tutorial
Presentation Overview
• Crediting Sources: What and Why
• Formatting In-Text Citations
What does it mean to credit sources?
• Crediting sources gives an author or resource credit for
original information. Crediting sources in your paper
includes two parts:
• In-Text Citations: When you present information in the body of
your paper, you briefly identify its source.
• Reference Page: On a separate page at the end of your paper,
you write a detailed list of the sources cited in your paper.
• The in-text citations and reference list should credit the
exact same sources.
Why credit sources?
• Acknowledge authors for their ideas
• Avoid plagiarism
• Increase your credibility by showing
your high-quality research sources
What is Plagiarism? From the APA Basics LibGuide
What should you credit?
● Any information that you learned from another source
including facts, statistics, opinions, theories, and charts.
● Credit these sources when you mention their information
in any way (quotations, summaries, paraphrases)
● EXCEPTION: Information that is common knowledge
e.g.: Barack Obama was the president of the United States from 2008
through 2016.
In-Text Citation vs. Full Citation
An in-text citation usually includes
the following information:
The rest of the information about the
source appears in the full citation on
the References page.
References
• Author’s last name (no first name or
initial)
• Publication date (year only—even for
electronic sources)
• Page number (required for quotations;
optional for paraphrases)
(American Psychological Association, n.d.) Corporate Author
(Apolson, 2011)
(Famine Relief, 2002)
No named author (use first two or
three words of article title)
(Calfee & Valencia, 1991)
(Zeleke, et al., 2020)
2 authors (use ampersand)
3 or more authors (name only first
author followed by et al.)
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Internet addiction.
APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved April 24, 2020,
from https://dictionary.apa.org/internet-addiction
Apsolon, M. (2011, September 9). Real ghost girl caught on video
tape [Video]. YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nyGCbxD848
Famine relief: Just a simple matter of supplying food? (2002).
Nutrition Noteworthy, 5(1). Retrieved from
http://escholarship.org/uc/uclabiolchem_nutritionnoteworth
y
Calfee, R. C. & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing
manuscripts for journal publication. American
Psychological Association.
Zeleke, W. A., Hughes, T. L., & Drozda, N. (2020). Home–school
collaboration to promote mind–bodyhealth. In C. Maykel &
M. A. Bray (Eds.), Applying psychology in the schools.
Promoting mind–bodyhealth in schools: Interventions for
mental health professionals (pp. 11–26). American
PsychologicalAssociation.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0000157-00
Using In-Text Citations
When citing sources in the text of your paper, list the author or authors’ last name
only (no initials) and the year the information was published. If you use a direct
quote, add the page number to your citation, like this (Gustafson, 2013, p. 721).
(Author, Date) page number for direct quote only
Full citation
(for References page)
Three types of
In-Text Citations:
Summary with
Narrative Citation
Gustafson, J. (2013). Diversity in municipal police agencies: A national examination of minority
hiring and promotion. Policing, 36(4), 719-736.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-01-2013-0005
Gustafson notes that most research on minority hiring in policing has focused on either external or
internal organizational factors, with the effect of city size or geographic location considered only as
covariates (2013).
Research on minority hiring practices in policing has tended to focus on internal or external factors
particular to the profession; other significant factors such as city size or geographic location of the
police department have been used primarily as covariate control factors (Gustafson, 2013).
Paraphrase with
Parenthetical Citation
Direct Quote - “ ”
Narrative Citation
According to Gustafson (2013), “Research to date on minority hiring/representation in policing has
divided explanatory factors into two categories: those factors having an external influence on the
organization and those factors operating from within the organization (p.721).”
In-Text Citation with Short Paraphrase
Why Paraphrase? A paraphrase restates
another's idea (or your own previously published idea)
in your own words. Paraphrasing allows you to
summarize and synthesize information from one or
more sources, focus on significant information, and
compare and contrast relevant details.
Source: APA Style Blog
Source Information:
• Document type: Journal article
(Section 10.1)
• Authors: Kenneth Nowack and Paul
Zak
• Publication year: 2020
• Article title: Empathy enhancing
antidotes for interpersonally toxic
leaders
• Journal information: Consulting
Psychology Journal: Practice and
Research, Volume 72, Issue 2, pages
119–133
• DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000164
Published Sentence: Leaders who
lack emotional and social competence
undoubtedly can become a liability to
organizations, directly leading to
employee disengagement,
absenteeism, stress-disability claims,
hostile-workplace lawsuits, and
increased health care expenses.
Paraphrased sentence and
parenthetical in-text citation:
Employees experience negative
outcomes such as stress and
disengagement when their
organizational leaders lack
emotional and social skills (Nowack
& Zak, 2020).
Source: APA Paraphrase & Citation Activities
In-Text Citations with Direct Quotes
If you take the quote directly from the source you must place
the words in quotes.
Author’s name, year, and page number appear immediately
following quotation:
• “Genres are abstract, socially recognized ways of using
language” (Hyland, 2003, p. 21).
Author’s name in the sentence immediately followed by year
Page number immediately following quotation
• According to Hyland (2003), “genres are abstract, socially
recognized ways of using language” (p. 21).
In-Text Citation with Summary
Summarize a quote when you need to
highlight only the most important ideas or
facts stated in your source, without
inserting your own opinions.
Source Information
• Document type: Journal article (Section
10.1)
• Authors: Katharina Bernecker and Jule
Kramer
• Publication year: 2020
• Article title: Implicit theories about willpower
are associated with exercise levels during the
academic examination period
• Journal information: Sport, Exercise, and
Performance Psychology, Volume 9, Issue 2,
pages 216–231
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000182
Published Sentences:
Research suggests that people exercise less when
demands in their job or studies increase (Englert &
Rummel, 2016; Oaten & Cheng, 2005; Sonnentag &
Jelden, 2009). Building upon these findings, the
present study investigated the relationship between
university students’ implicit theories about willpower
and the amount they exercise during their final
examination period. We hypothesized and found
that students with a limited theory about willpower—
those who believed that their self-control resembles
a limited resource—exercised significantly less than
students with a nonlimited theory during this
stressful period (about 220 min less over the course
of 2 weeks)
Paraphrased sentence and narrative in-text
citation: Bernecker and Kramer (2020) found that
when students believed they had a limited amount
of willpower, they were less likely to exercise during
the stressful time of final exams than students who
believed they had a nonlimited amount of willpower.
Source: APA Paraphrase & Citation Activities
Parenthetical vs. Narrative Citation
Parenthetical Citation:
Author’s name and publication year at end of sentence
• People with bipolar disorder often have lower wages, higher
unemployment, work absenteeism, reliance on workmen’s
compensation, higher rates of divorce, lower levels of
educational attainment, and hospitalization (Smith, 2007).
Narrative Citation:
Author’s name in the sentence immediately followed by year
• According to Smith (2007), people with bipolar disorder often
have lower wages, higher unemployment, work absenteeism,
reliance on workmen’s compensation, higher rates of divorce,
lower levels of educational attainment, higher arrest rates, and
hospitalization.
Basic In-Text Citations
Parenthetical
Narrative
(Author Name in Sentence)
When you
summarize or
paraphrase a
source
(Smith, 2007)
Smith (2007) notes that ...
When you use a
direct quote,
word-for-word.
(Hyland, 2003, p. 21)
Hyland (2003) “…” (p. 21)
Include page or
paragraph number.
In-Text Citations: Multiple Authors
Basic
Author Names in Sentence
2 Authors
(Verhaak & de Haan, 2007)
Verhaak and de Haan (2007)
noted...
3 or more
Authors
(Kernis et al., 1993)
Kernis et al. (1993) suggest ...
List only the first author’s
name followed by “et al.” in
every citation, even the first,
unless doing so would create
ambiguity between different
sources.
Put a period after the word al.
(Latin for “and others”)
In-Text Citations: Other Variations
Basic
Author Name(s) in Sentence
Group as
Author
(University of Pittsburgh, 2007)
University of Pittsburgh (2007)
No Author
(“Study Finds,” 2007)
(College Bound Seniors, 2008)
“Study Finds” (2007)
College Bound Seniors (2008)
No
Publication
Date
(Basham, n.d.)
Basham (n.d.)
Multiple
Pages
(Gee, 2005, pp. 8-9)
Gee (2007)…(pp. 8-9)
No Page
Numbers
(Brown, 2007, para. 6)
Brown (2007)…(para. 6)
Let’s Practice!
Author’s last name: Gee
Year of publication: 2005
Page number: 8
Direct Quote:
• Another viewpoint is that “language has meaning only in and through social
practices” (Gee, 2005, p. 8).
Paraphrase:
• Another viewpoint is that the meaning of language is inherently social (Gee,
2005).
Paraphrase:
• Gee (2005) believes that the meaning of language is inherently social.
Direct Quote with Summary:
• Gee’s theory that “language has meaning only in and through social
practices” lends support for social learning theories (2005, p. 8).
• Direct Quote with Summary:
• The recent theory that “language has meaning only in and through social
practices” (Gee, 2005, p. 8) lends support for social learning theories.
Watch a Video/Take a Quiz
Video
Quiz
For More Information:
Visit the Monroe College In-Text CItations LibGuide