An in-text citation is a short entry within your text to point the reader towards the full entry in your reference list.
When inserting a citation for APA in-text, include the author's surname and year of publication, enclosed in brackets ( ).
For example: (Smith, 2019)
Example text is shown below with in-text citations:
Climate change is currently a heated debate, so it is important to understand what constitutes ‘climate change’. Attributed to “burning fossil fuels, agriculture, and land clearing” (Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, n.d., para. 2), the effects of climate change are often measured in different ways. Lewandowsky and Whitmarsh (2018) suggest that rising sea levels are one of the most reliable measures for recording changes to the climate on a global scale – with weather patterns often incorrectly used to endorse or refute climate change. The focus of measurement should be of distinct climates, such as glaciers, rather than seasonal changes as is often the case (Lewandowsky & Whitmarsh, 2018). So, to understand climate change it is important to separate what is actual climate change from the results of changing weather patterns.
If you include a direct quote, that is word-for-word, from another source the in-text citation must include the author, year and page number where the quotation appeared.
When paraphrasing a source (putting it into your own words), it is not required to include page numbers in the in-text citation, however it may still be useful to do so to help the reader locate the paraphrased information in a large source such as a textbook.
Include the In-text citations and direct quotes in the word count of your paper unless otherwise required by your lecturer or publisher. See page 46 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition for more information.
If the source has no author, include the Title and year as your in-text citation. Where the title is long you are able to shorten it for use with in-text citations.
Note that full capitalisation should be used when using a Title in your in-text citations.
There are two ways to do this:
1) Where the reference list entry has the title in italics (e.g. for books), you should also italicise the title in the in-text citation: (Title of Resource, Year)
For example: A book with no author
... as suggested by theory-guided evidence-based practice (Source Book of Human Anatomy, 2010).
2) Where the reference list entry title is not in italics (e.g. for a dictionary entry), you should enclose the title in double quotation marks: ("Title of Resource," Year)
For example: Magazine article with no author
... reports that the first stage of labour is significantly shorter ("Giving Birth," 2009).
Note that the comma is enclosed by the double-quote marks, not after them.
Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.
The general format for a source that has 1 author is: (Author surname, Year)
For example:
Australian education providers will need to address a number of challenges to ensure standards of special education are fully supporting students with special needs and their families (Dempsey, 2019).
OR
Dempsey (2019) concluded that Australian education providers will need to address a number of challenges to ensure standards of special education are fully supporting students with special needs and their families.
Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.
If the source has 2 authors the general format for each in-text citation to that source is: (1st Author surname & 2nd Author surname, Year)
For example:
New technologies need to be evaluated before large scale investment is made by organisations (Marra & Edmond, 2014).
OR
Marra and Edmond (2014) suggest that new technologies need to be evaluated before large scale investment is made by organisations.
Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.
If a source has 3 or more authors, cite only the first author's surname followed by 'et al.': (1st Author surname et al., Year)
For example:
Comparison and sampling based on the grounded theory model formed the basis for data analysis (Endacott et al., 2019).
OR
Comparison and sampling based on the grounded theory model formed the basis for data analysis undertaken by Endacott et al. (2019).
If the source has a corporate author (eg. a university, association, or government department) include the corporate author's name within the in-text citation, plus the year of publication, in the format: (Corporate Author, Year)
Example:
Thousands of teachers, principals, early childhood workers and academics have graduated and gone on to make their mark in and out of the classroom in communities (University of Newcastle, 2009).
OR
Research conducted by the University of Newcastle (2009) suggested that thousands of teachers, principals, early childhood workers and academics have graduated and gone on to make their mark in and out of the classroom in communities.
If an author's name is known by a common acronym (eg. ABS for Australian Bureau of Statistics, AIHW for Australian Institute for Health and Welfare), include the full name, plus the acronym in the first in-text citation, in the format: (Corporate Author [CA], Year)
Example:
"Over half of people aged 15 years and older (56%) considered their overall health to be very good or excellent, and 29% stated that their health was good" (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2009, p. 3).
In subsequent references, include just the acronym: (CA, Year)
Example:
... 19% of people aged 18 years and over were current daily smokers (ABS, 2009).
Whenever you reference more than one work by EXACTLY the SAME author (or exactly the SAME group of authors whose names are listed in exactly the same order) and published in the SAME year.
[Note with groups of authors that if the lead author is the same but the order (or authors included) changes, the pattern below cannot be used. See more on the next tab on this page.]
Where the authors/s and year are the same:
Examples are shown below for:
It is common to find articles published by similar groups of authors on particular topics. In many cases these groups of authors will publish a number of articles in the same year. When the lead (first) author is different this is not an issue. Where the lead author is the same it can create an identification issue between sources for in-text referencing.
Where the authors listed in the group are exactly the same, in the same order in the same year, follow the pattern for 'Same Author/s and Same Year' (i.e. adding letters after the Year to distinguish the in-text citations) from the previous tab on this page.
Where the lead author is the same but the other authors are different (names or order) in the same year, this pattern is not suitable. To cite these kinds of references in-text, the citations must include enough extra authors to help differentiate the citations. Examples are shown below.
Reference list examples:
Both of these references have 6 authors. In normal circumstances (Silva et al., 2017) would be the standard formatting for either reference if it was by itself, but as we need to include both in the reference list we need to differentiate them in-text.
Incorrect In-text:
(Silva et al., 2017a)
(Silva et al., 2017b)
Correct In-text:
(Silva, Kurappu, et al., 2017)
(Silva, Maduwage, et al., 2017)
We need to include as many authors in the citations as possible to help differentiate the references in-text. See the p. 267 of the Publication Manual for more information.
Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.
If no publication date is available, after the name of the author substitute ‘n.d.’ (no date) for the year.
Examples:
Peterson's study (n.d.) showed that pictures of kittens on Facebook are popular.
According to a study by Peterson (n.d.), pictures of kittens are popular on Facebook.
Pictures of kittens are popular on Facebook (Peterson, n.d.).
Whenever you reference works by authors who SHARE the SAME SURNAME, but who are in fact different people:
Adding the initial to the author names helps readers avoid confusion with the in-text referencing and allows easier location of entries in your reference list.
Here we have two articles written by two different authors with the same surname, Campbell:
As the above examples have 3 authors the in-text citations will follow the required pattern for that number of authors.
Both studies (A. Campbell et al., 1993; W. K. Campbell et al., 2005) provided participants with …
OR
Both A. Campbell et al. (1993) and W. K. Campbell et al. (2005) provided participants with …
Sources cited within another source are known as 'secondary sources'. In-text citations to secondary sources must name the original source, and also provide a citation for the secondary source.
An example of a secondary source is provided here:
Situation: An article written by Featherstone in 1999 was found useful for historical perspective. The Featherstone article includes a quote from another article, written by Begley in 1990. If we cannot access the original Begley article, we could reference Begley as a secondary source:
... research has been conducted studying the falling PPH rates in the third stage (Begley, 1990, as cited in Featherstone, 1999)
OR
Begley’s study (1990, as cited in Featherstone, 1999) ...
By following this pattern we are crediting the original author while being able to reference the source we are actually using.
For more information see the page on Secondary sources.
If you need to cite more than one publication within an in-text citation, include each source alphabetically separating each citation with a semi colon. For example:
...several reviews (Featherstone, 1999; Gates, 2010; Muldoon, 2008) have found that...
If you need to cite two or more publications by the same author, list by year of publication, earliest year first. Separate each year with a comma.
For example:
...found that participants were negatively affected (Smith, n.d., 2003, 2005)...
Identify works by the same author with the same publication date by adding a suffix (a, b, c, etc) after the year. Ensure that the corresponding reference list entries are assigned the same suffix.
For example:
(Keleher & Joss, 2007a, 2007b)
Paraphrasing means putting someone else's ideas into your own words. This helps to show that you have understood the source and are able to apply it within your assignment.
When paraphrasing a source it is not required to include page numbers in the in-text citation, however it may still be useful to include the page numbers if the paraphrased information is from a source such as a textbook where the reader may have difficulty locating the original information within the source.
While not officially required in APA, some lecturers at UON may ask you to include page numbers for all your in-text citations - check with your lecturer if this is the case for their class.
If you include a direct quote, that is word-for-word, from another source the in-text citation must include the author, year and page numbers where the quotation appeared.
Direct quotations must be accurate and follow the wording, spelling and punctuation of the original source.
The general format of an in-text citation to a direct quotation is:
For quotes from a single page - (Author surname, Year, p. Page number)
For quotes crossing over multiple pages - (Author surname, Year, pp. Page number-Page number)
Variations will occur depending on the number of authors. (See examples below)
If you include a direct quote, that is word-for-word from a source which has 1 author, the general format of the in-text citation appears: (Author's surname, Year, p. X)
“These films absorb, through a collage of images, traces of the Italian inheritance of neo-realist cinema” (Acciari, 2014, p. 14).
If you include a direct quote, that is word-for-word from another source which has 2 authors, the general format of the in-text citation appears: (1st Author surname & 2nd Author surname, Year, p. X)
"The convergence of media means that the dichotomy between old and new media economies is hard to maintain" (Gorton & Garde-Hansen, 2013, p. 298).
If you include a direct quote, that is word-for-word from another source which has 3 or more authors, the general format of the in-text citation appears as: (1st Author surname et al., Year, p. X)
Sanders et al. (2013, p. 92) reported a "direct proportional increase" in the understanding of these new technologies in a classroom setting.
Pages 264 and 273 of the APA 7 manual discuss how to cite specific parts of sources that do not have pagination:
Quotations of less than 40 words should form part of your text, and be enclosed in double quotation marks.
Example:
"Historically, nursing competence has long been associated with the more technical aspect of function" (Axley, 2014, p. 218).
Quotations of 40 words or more should not be enclosed in quotation marks. Instead, set the quotation apart - starting on a new line, indenting the quote. The block quote should be double spaced. Note that the page reference is at the end, after the full-stop.
Example
Jorgensen and Dole (2011) found the following:
By having an idea of how students learn, teachers are better able to plan and anticipate in particular ways, create
learning environments to facilitate better learning and identify constructions akin to the objective of the lesson as well
as identify misconceptions. (p.31)
A quotation may be shortened from that included in the original source by including three spaced ellipses points (...) within the quotation to indicate where the omitted words had been included.
Example
Whereas, other researchers "believe that the third stage of labour is a much neglected stage in the process of labour ... and it deserves much greater attention" (Harris & Clark, 2011, p. 856).
Errors in the original source may be identified within a quotation by including the word (sic) in italics and brackets immediately after the error. This shows the reader that the error was in the original source, not in your usage of it.
As the name author–date system implies, APA Style in-text citations include the author and date, either both inside parentheses or with the author names in running text and the date in parentheses. Here are two examples:
The "and" in Smith and Wexwood is written as an ampersand ('&') inside parentheses and as a word ('and') outside of parentheses, as shown in the examples above.
When multiple studies support what you have to say, you can include multiple citations inside the same set of parentheses. Within parentheses, alphabetize the studies as they would appear in the reference list and separate them by semicolons. In running text, you can address studies in whatever order you wish. Here are two examples:
Each source should be listed only once in the reference list, although it can be referred to multiple times using in-text citations.
Note: there are some sources that might appear to be the same, but are actually treated as individual items. This includes different webpages from the same website, and different chapters from an edited book.
The same single reference can be used multiple times across different paragraphs. While there is only a single entry for the resource in the reference list, we need to use a full in-text citation at each new place in the document that the resource is referenced.
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In response to growing concerns about public health and rising rates of obesity and chronic diseases, the Australian Government (Health Star Rating, n.d.) took a proactive step in 2014 by implementing the Health Star Rating system. The primary objective of this system was to assist consumers in making informed decisions about the nutritional content of packaged foods and beverages. By providing a simple and intuitive rating scale, the government aimed to empower individuals to compare products and make healthier choices. The Health Star Rating (n.d.) was designed to be a voluntary initiative, encouraging food and beverage manufacturers to participate and display the rating on their products. However, certain categories of products were excluded from the system's scope. For example, alcoholic beverages were not included due to their unique composition and potential for misuse. Similarly, formulated infant foods, which have specific nutritional requirements for infants and young children, were also excluded as they fell under separate regulations governing infant nutrition. References Health Star Rating. (n.d.). How to use Health Star Ratings. Health Star Rating System. http://www.healthstarrating.gov.au/internet/healthstarrating/publishing.nsf/Content/How-to-use-health-stars |
The bolded text above shows examples of how to refer back to a source repeatedly in different paragraphs.
There may be times when you need to use the same reference multiple times in consecutive sentences (or even a whole a paragraph) where there are no other references to break up the in-text citations.
As long as it is made clear that you are referring to the same source, you do not need to repeat the (Author, Year) citations throughout the paragraph. An example is presented below:
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Smith and Jones’ (2020) study assessed Alzheimer’s patients living in care facilities. Their findings suggested that male patients were more likely to become violent when confused, lashing out at those around them, including care-givers. They further noted that these outbursts often occurred after periods of agitation or excitement. While their study had limitations due to a small sample size, the results are consistent with other studies conducted in similar locations (see Burns, 2019; Porter & Niles, 2017; Rupert et al., 2018). The study undertaken by Smith and Jones (2020) can be linked to ... |
The bolded text above shows examples of how it is possible to refer back to a source repeatedly in the same paragraph without needing to continually add the in-text citation for (Smith & Jones, 2020). By adding these referral words it is still clear which article we are referring to within the paragraph.
Notice, however, that once we introduce additional references into our text (or start a new paragraph), we need to reintroduce the full in-text citation to make it clear for the reader.
For other examples, see pages 265 and 270 of the Publication Manual.
