Library Guides: APA Quick Citation Guide: In-text Citation (2026)

FAQs

Library Guides: APA Quick Citation Guide: In-text Citation? ›

Using In-text Citation

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, like, for example, (Jones, 1998). One complete reference for each source should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

The basic format for an in-text citation is: Title of the Book (Author Last Name, year). One author: Where the Wild Things Are (Sendak, 1963) is a depiction of a child coping with his anger towards his mom.

In-text citations in APA follow the Author-Date system, therefore the minimum information required for the in-text citations is the last name of the author followed by the publication year. Even if the reference includes month and year, the in-text citation only requires the year.

Short Quotations

Include the author, year of publication, and page number for the reference. If the author and date are introduced in the sentence as a narrative citation, then add the page number in parentheses at the end of the quote. For example, Smith (2019) demonstrated how to "..." (p. 112).

APA Referencing Basics: In-Text Citation

These citations include the surname of the author and date of publication only. Using an example author James Mitchell, this takes the form: Mitchell (2017) states… Or …(Mitchell, 2017).

Last name, First Initial. (Year, Month Day). Article title. Magazine/Journal/Newspaper Title, Volume number(Issue number), Page numbers of the entire article.

If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number (although it is not required).

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Which formatting example of an in-text citation is correct in APA format? ›

In-text citations include the last name of the author followed by a comma and the publication year enclosed in parentheses: (Smith, 2007).

Article or Chapter: When you refer to the title of a part of a work, such as an article or a chapter, put quotation marks around the title and capitalize it as you would for a journal title in a reference, e.g., In the chapter “Where's the Wine,” Zauner (2021) describes how she decided to become a musician.

APA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the year of publication, for example: (Field, 2005). For direct quotations, include the page number as well, for example: (Field, 2005, p. 14).

APA7 (American Psychological Association – 7th edition) is an 'author-date' citation style. This means it uses in-text citations which include the author's name and the resource's publication date, followed by a reference list containing fuller item details at the end of the document.

There are two types of in-text citations in APA format: parenthetical and narrative. Parenthetical citations include the author(s) and the date of publication within parentheses. Narrative citations intertwine the author as part of the sentence with the date of publication (in parentheses) following.

The parenthetical citation should contain the person's name, the phrase “personal communication,” and the date of the communication. Examples of properly formatted in-text citations for personal communications: (T. Smith, personal communication, February 25, 2014).

Citations are placed in the context of discussion using the author's last name and date of publication. When a work has no identified author, cite in text the first few words of the article title using double quotation marks, “headline-style" capitalization, and the year.

If you are citing a source with three to five authors, cite all authors in the in-text citation the first time it occurs; after this only include the first author's surname followed by 'et al'. The surname and initial(s) of all the authors should appear in the full reference for the source.