APA Referencing Basics: In-Text Citation

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2. APA Referencing Basics: In-Text Citation

In-text references must be included following the use of a quote or paraphrase taken from another piece of work.

In-text citations are citations within the main body of the text and refer to a direct quote or paraphrase. They correspond to a reference in the main reference list. These citations include the surname of the author and date of publication only. Using an example author James Mitchell, this takes the form:

Mitchell (2017) states… Or …(Mitchell, 2017).

The structure of this changes depending on whether a direct quote or parenthetical used:

  • Direct Quote: The citation must follow the quote directly and contain a page number after the date, for example (Mitchell, 2017, p.104). This rule holds for all of the variations listed.
  • Parenthetical: The page number is not needed.

Two Authors:

The surname of both authors is stated with either ‘and’ or an ampersand between. For example:

Mitchell and Smith (2017) state… Or …(Mitchell & Smith, 2017).

Three, Four or Five Authors:

For the first cite, all names should be listed:

Mitchell, Smith, and Thomson (2017) state… Or …(Mitchell, Smith, & Thomson, 2017).

Further cites can be shorted to the first author’s name followed by et al:

Mitchell et al (2017) state… Or …(Mitchell et al, 2017).

Six or More Authors:

Only the first author’s surname should be stated followed by et al, see the above example.

No Authors:

If the author is unknown, the first few words of the reference should be used. This is usually the title of the source.

If this is the title of a book, periodical, brochure or report, is should be italicised. For example:

(A guide to citation, 2017).

If this is the title of an article, chapter or web page, it should be in quotation marks. For example:

(“APA Citation”, 2017).

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