Apa Style

Handling In-Text Citations

The APA system of citing sources indicates the author’s last name and the date, in

parentheses, within the text of your paper.

A. A typical citation of an entire work consists of the author’s name and the year

of publication.

Example:

Charlotte and Emily Bronte were polar opposites, not only in their personalities but in

their sources of inspiration for writing (Taylor, 1990).

Use the last name only in both first and subsequent citations, except when there is

more than one author with the same last name. In that case, use the last name and the

first initial.

B. If the author is named in the text, only the year is cited.

Example:

According to Irene Taylor (1990), the personalities of Charlotte. . .

C. If both the name of the author and the date are used in the text, parenthetical

reference is not necessary.

Example:

In a 1989 article, Gould explains Darwin’s most successful. . .

D. Specific citations of pages or chapters follow the year.

Example:

Emily Bronte “expressed increasing hostility for the world of human relationships,

whether sexual or social” (Taylor, 1988, p. 11).

E. When the reference is to a work by two authors, cite both names each time the

reference appears.

Example:

Sexual-selection theory often has been used to explore patters of various insect mating

(Alcock & Thornhill, 1983) . . . Alcock and Thornhill (1983) also demonstrate. . .

F. When the reference is to a work by three to five authors, cite all the authors the

first time the reference appears. In a subsequent reference, use the first author’s

last name followed by et al. (meaning “and others”).

Example of a subsequent reference:

Patterns of byzantine intrigue have long plagued the internal politics of community

college administration in Texas (Douglas et al., 1997)

G. When the reference is to a work by six or more authors, use only the first

author’s name followed et al. in the first and all subsequent reference.

The only...