To do APA in-text citations, follow these key guidelines based on the author- date method:
- Include the author's last name and the year of publication in parentheses right after the information you are citing. For example: (Smith, 2020)
- If you are directly quoting, also include the page number: (Smith, 2020, p. 15)
- When the author’s name is part of the sentence, just put the year in parentheses immediately after the name, and the page number at the end if quoting. For example: Smith (2020) argues that "..." (p. 15)
- For one author: (Author, Year) or Author (Year)
- For two authors: use both last names joined by "and" in the sentence, or "&" in parentheses. Example: (Smith & Jones, 2020) or Smith and Jones (2020)
- For three or more authors: use the first author’s last name followed by "et al." Example: (Smith et al., 2020)
- If citing multiple works in one parenthetical citation, separate them with semicolons and list alphabetically: (Jones, 2015; Smith, 2014)
- For direct quotes from sources without page numbers (like websites), use paragraph numbers or section headings if available
- For multiple works by the same author in the same year, add lowercase letters after the year: (Smith, 2020a), (Smith, 2020b)
This method allows readers to locate the full reference in your reference list easily
. In summary, APA in-text citations briefly identify the source by author and year, with page numbers for quotes, using parentheses or narrative style depending on sentence structure
