APA Style: Using Source Material: In-Text Citations

When you incorporate any information drawn from an outside source in your paper, you need to identify the source within your text in one of the following ways:

1. Introduce the information with a signal phrase including the author’s last name and the year of publication.
   • According to Smith (2010) . . . or Smith (2010) reported . . .
2. Follow the information with the author's last name and the year of publication in parentheses:
   • (Smith, 2010).

For a direct quote, include the location (e.g., page number):

• ​ (Smith, 2010, p. 475).

For sources with two authors, include both authors’ names in the citation:​

• Smith and Jones (2010) reported . . . or (Smith & Jones, 2010).

For a source with three or more authors, use the last name of the first author listed, followed by the abbreviation et al. (meaning “and others”):

• Smith et al. (2010) reported . . . or (Smith et al., 2010)

For a source with an unknown author, use the first piece of information on the References entry for that source, usually the title. Long titles may be shortened to a few words. Use title case, and put article titles in quotation marks; use italics for book titles and other titles italicized on the References list:

• According to “Latest Developments” (2019) . . . or
• (“Latest Developments,” 2019)

For a source with no known publication date, use the initials n.d. where the year would appear:

• According to Lopez and Rivera (n.d.), . . . or (Lopez & Rivera, n.d.).

To cite multiple sources in a single citation, list alphabetically and separate with semi-colons:

• (Brooks, 2017; Park & Schmidt, 2015; Weil, 2019).