APA citations require an in-text citation and a reference list citation. Here is some general information about APA citations. Consult the APA Quick Guide below for examples.
Purpose of in-text citations:
- Are within the body of the paper. They are placed after information or ideas to give credit to the original source of information.
- Every in-text citation should reference a full citation in the reference list. The in-text citation guides the reader to that longer citation.
- In APA style, in-text citations are parenthetical. In other words, they appear within (parentheses).
Format of in-text citations:
- Within parentheses
- Includes authors' last names if one or two others. If there are more than three authors, it's Last name et. al.
- Includes year of publication
- If it's a direct quote, a page number needs to be included. If the document doesn't have a page number, then refer to the paragraph number.
- There is an alternate in-text option where the author is part of the sentence. In that case, only the year is included after the author's name. If it's a quote, the page number or paragraph number goes at the end of the sentence
Important Points About The Reference List:
- At the end of the paper
- References appear in alphabetical order. The first author in the in-text citation should be the first author in the reference list as well.
- The information in the reference list should include all a reader would need to discover the original item being cited.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by