APA IN-TEXT CITATIONS 7

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In-text citations provide your reader with information about sources you include within the main text of

your paper. These in-text (or “parenthetical”) citations must correspond to each respective source’s entry in

your References page. (The References page is a separate section of your paper included after the main body

of your text.)

Citations are required any time you directly quote, paraphrase, or summarize an idea you borrow from

someone else. In APA format, paraphrases and summaries are generally preferred over direct quotes.

Beyond this handout, you can find more specific information on formatting your APA in-text citations in

the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition). The Writing Center has copies you

can come look at or you can find copies at Lied Library under the call number BF76.7 .P83 2020.

If using a direct quote, you must include the page number (or other location identifier if there is no page

number) in parentheses at the end of the sentence:

Narrative/Signal phrase: Haggis (2016) argues, “In the past five years especially, there have

been more games that tell personal stories either inspired by life or that are

autobiographical” (p. 21).

Parenthetical citation: It is useful to note that “in the past five years especially, there have

been more games that tell personal stories either inspired by life or that are

autobiographical” (Haggis, 2016, p. 21).

The following sections illustrate the narrative/signal phrase citation, followed by the parenthetical versions

of in-text citations, for various types of sources. Note that we have not included the location identifier for all

List the author’s last name and the publication year, and end the sentence with the page number if using a

direct quote:

Two Authors

List both authors each time you cite the work. Use "and" between the names within the text and use “&”

within parentheses:

information provided in your References entry for the source.

If the title of the work is very long, use an abbreviated or shortened version of the title for your citation.

If a source’s author is a corporation, government agency, or non-profit organization, write its full name

when you reference it. However, if the group’s name can be abbreviated, do so in subsequent citations.

If the source has been accepted for publication, but has not yet been published, use “in press”.

If the source you are using (e.g. a webpage) does not have pages, you can use paragraph numbers, section

headings, or both instead:

APA discourages the use of secondary sources and always prefers the use of primary sources. However, if

you cannot access a primary source yourself (e.g. because it is out of print), you might refer to a secondary

source that discusses it. To write a citation in this case, mention the primary source first, then clarify that

you borrowed information from it “as cited in” the secondary source you used:

Citing Multiple Sources in the Same Sentence

If you have two citations within one parenthesis, order them alphabetically (as they should appear in your

References list) and separate them with semicolons:

If you use a direct quote, keep in mind that some types of punctuation belong inside the quotation marks,

and some belong outside:

Question marks and exclamation points belong outside the quote if you are adding them in but belong