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Beginner’s guide to APA in-text citation
In-text citations briefly identify the source of information in the body text. They correspond to a
full reference entry at the end of your paper.
Table of contents
APA in-text citations explained in 4 minutes
Parenthetical vs. narrative citations
APA in-text citations with multiple authors
No author, date or page number
Multiple sources in one parenthesis
Citing indirect sources (“as cited in”)
Example paragraph with in-text citations
APA in-text citations explained in 4 minutes
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Parenthetical vs. narrative citations
The in-text citation can be placed in parentheses or naturally integrated into a sentence.


Parenthetical: There is a correlation between social media usage and anxiety symptoms in
teenagers (Parker, 2019).
Narrative: Parker (2019) found a correlation between social media usage and anxiety symptoms in
teenagers.
The publication year appears directly after the author’s name when using the narrative format. The
parenthetical citation can be placed within or at the end of a sentence, just before the period. Check out a
full example paragraph with in-text citations.
APA in-text citations with multiple authors
If a work has two authors, separate their names with an ampersand (&) in a parenthetical citation or “and” in
a narrative citation. If there are three or more authors, only include the first author’s last name followed by
“et al.”, meaning “and others”.
Group authors known by their abbreviations (e.g., CDC) are written in full the first time and are abbreviated
in subsequent citations.
Multiple authors in APA in-text citations
Author type
Parenthetical
Narrative
One author
(Harris, 2020)
Harris (2020)
Two authors
(Harris & Cook, 2020)
Harris and Cook (2020)
Three or more authors
(Harris et al., 2020)
Harris et al. (2020)
Group authors
(Scribbr, 2020)
Scribbr (2020)
Abbreviated group author
(Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention [CDC], 2020)
(CDC, 2020)
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC, 2020)
CDC (2020)


First citation
Subsequent citations
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No author, date or page number
Missing information in APA in-text citations:
Unknown element
Solution
In-text citation
Author
Use the source title.
(Source Title, 2020)
Date
Write “n.d.” for “no date”.
(Harris, n.d.)
Page number
Use an alternative locator or
omit the page number.
(Harris, 2020, 03:46) or
(Harris, 2020)
No author

If the author of a source is unknown, try to determine if there is an organization
or government responsible for creating the content. If so, include its name in the in-text citation (and
reference entry):
The costs of solar energy have decreased by 34% in the past three years (Tesla, 2020).

Alternatively, use the source title in place of the author. Italicize the title if it’s italicized in the
reference entry. Otherwise, enclose it in double quotation marks:
(“U.S. Flood Risk,” 2015)
(Thinking, Fast and Slow, 2017)
No publication date
If the publication date is unknown, write “n.d.” (no date) in the in-text citation.
(Johnson, n.d.).
No page number (alternative locators)
Page numbers are only required with direct quotes in APA. If you are quoting from a work that does not
have page numbers (e.g., webpages or YouTube videos), you can use an alternative locator, such as:






(Liu, 2020, 03:26)
(Johnson, 2019, Chapter 3)
(McCombes, 2016, para. 4)
(Davis, 2016, Slide 15)
(Flores, 2020, Table 5)
(Streefkerk, 2020, “No page number” section)
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Multiple sources in one parenthesis
If a statement is supported by multiple sources, the in-text citations can be combined in one parenthesis.
Order the sources alphabetically, and separate them with a semicolon.
When citing multiple works from the same author, list the years of publication separated by a comma.
Several studies have replicated these results (Brown, 2009; Porter, 2004; Smith, 2015, 2017).
Citing indirect sources (“as cited in”)
If you want to refer to a source that you have found in another source, you should always try to access the
original or primary source.
However, if you cannot find the original source, you should cite it through the secondary source that led you
to it, using the phrase “as cited in”.
(Parker, 1978, as cited in Bloom et al., 2017)
If the publication date of the primary source is unknown, include only the year of publication of the
secondary source.
Porter (as cited in Johnson, 2017) states that…
Only include a reference entry for the secondary source, not the primary source.
Example paragraph with in-text citations
Adapted example paragraph:
Body image issues have been widely associated with social media usage, particularly in young
women (Perloff, 2014). The relation between media depictions and body image concerns is well-established;
a meta-analysis by Grabe et al. (2008) concluded that exposure to mass media is linked to body image
dissatisfaction among women. Several empirical studies have focused on Facebook usage in adolescent
girls (Tiggermann & Slater, 2013; Meier & Gray, 2014), while a systematic review by Holland and
Timmerman (2016) established a relationship between social networking and body image for both women and
men.
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