• APA style: reference citations in text
   
  
 

APA Style: Reference Citations in Text

Whenever you use someone else’s words or ideas in your paper you must credit the source. This can be done by inserting a reference citation into the text of your paper. You may cite your source within a sentence or at the end of a sentence. You must include a page number when using a direct quote.

Examples:
  • Deikman (1971) states that the present data are congruent with the bimodal theory of processing.
  • The present data are congruent with the bimodal theory of processing (Deikman, 1971).
Examples for direct quotes (note the variations):
  • She stated, “The ‘placebo effect’…disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner” (Miele, 1993, p. 276), but she did not clarify which behaviors were studied.
  • Miele (1993) found that “the ‘placebo effect,’ which had been verified in previous studies, disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner” (p. 276).

Do not use quotation marks to enclose block quotations (any quotations of 40 or more words):

  • Miele (1993) found the following:

    The “placebo effect,” which had been verified in previous studies, disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner. Furthermore, the behaviors were never exhibited again, even when real drugs were administered. Earlier studies were clearly premature in attributing the results to a "placebo effect." (p. 276)
Additional Examples:

  • One work by multiple authors

    • Two authors (all references)
      (Nightlinger & Littlewood, 1993)

    • Three, four, or five authors
      • Cite all authors the first time the reference occurs.
        (Wasserstein, Zappulla, Rosen, Gerstman & Rock, 1994)
      • In subsequent citations include only the name of the first author followed by et al.
        (Wasserstein et al., 1994)
    • Six or more authors (all references)
      Cite only the name of the first author followed by et al.
      (Kosslyn et al., 1996)

  • Groups as authors
    Groups that serve as authors are usually spelled out each time they appear in a text citation.
    (National Institute of Mental Health, 1999)

  • Works with no author
    • Cite in the text the first few words from the “reference list” entry (usually the title) and the year.
    • Use double quotation marks around the title of an article or chapter:
       …on free care (“Study Finds,” 1982)…
    • Italicize the title of a book or periodical:
      …the book College Bound Seniors (1979)…