In-text citations are one of two ways a writer gives credit to a source for their information in an APA formatted paper. In-text citations are the parenthetical citations within the body paragraphs of your paper intended to point your reader to one of the citations in your References Page. Reference Citations are the citations included at the end of your paper in your References Page.
For APA Style, you will generally follow the author-date method for in-text citations:
(Author’s Last Name, Year of publication)
Power Tip: Be sure that your In-Text Citations are consistent with your Reference Citations. Learn more about Reference Citations here.
ONE AUTHOR
Tyner, B. (2019). Research-based components, strategies, and activities. In Climbing the literacy ladder: Small-group
instruction to support all readers and writers, preK-5 (pp. 18-43). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
The in-text citation for this source would be (Tyner, 2019)
TWO AUTHORS
Stewart, G. L., & Brown, K. G. (2014). Human resource management (3rd ed.).
Wiley. https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/human-resource-management/9781118582800/
The in-text citation for this source would be (Stewart & Brown, 2014)
THREE OR MORE AUTHORS
For three or more authors, the format of the in-text citation is a bit different: (First Author’s Last Name et al., Year of publication)
Allen, J., Stevenson, R., & Wang, T. (2021). Creative and resourceful: How human, social, and psychological resources affect
creative workers' ability to rebound after failure. Small Business Economics, 57(2), 705-719. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-020-00422-z
The in-text citation for this source would be (Allen et al., 2021)
Below you will find three different ways you can include in-text citations in your paper.
1. AT THE END OF A SENTENCE
When you are paraphrasing (writing something in your own words) based on information from your source, you can include your in-text citation at the end of the sentence. The format would be: (Last Name, Year of publication).
Example: The basis for fluency is being able to understand the meaning of the text by identifying words and placing them in the correct context (Tyner, 2019).
2. USING THE AUTHOR'S NAME IN THE SENTENCE
Another way to include your in-text citation is to use the author's name in the sentence when you are paraphrasing. The format would be: Author's Last name (Year of publication)...
Example: Tyner (2019) asserts the basis for fluency is being able to understand the meaning of the text by identifying words and placing them in the correct context.
3. AFTER A DIRECT QUOTE
When you include a direct quote from one of your sources, the in-text citation must include a page number. The format would be: “Direct quote” (Last Name, Year of publication, p. page number).
Examples:
Read more about the process of in-text citations from the APA in the following links.
