Cite using APA

For in-text citations using APA 7 you use parentheses. The citation should include information about author and year of publication. Each in-text citation must correspond to a full entry in the reference list and each entry in the reference list must be cited in the text. 

There are two formats for in-text citations in APA 7, parenthetical and narrative.

• In parenthetical citations, you include the author's surname and publication year in the parentheses. If the parentesis is included at the end of a sentence the parenthesis is placed before the full stop.
• In narrative citations, the author's name is included in the text as part of the sentence and you only include the publication year in the parentheses directly following the name.

The ampersand (&) is used both in the parenthesis and in the reference list but not in your own text. 

Note that the author refers to the person(s) or group(s) responsible for a work. An author may be an individual, multiple people, a group (institution, government agency, organization, etc.), or a combination of people and groups. If there is no information of a named author you instead include the title of the work and if there is no known year of publication you write n.d. for "no date".  

Examples of in-text citations:

If the work has 1-2 authors both are listed in the citation. You always write the names in the same order as they appear in the publication. 

If the work has 3-20 authors only the first author is listed in the citation followed by "et al."

If the work has more than 20 authors only the first author is listed in the citation followed by" et. al." In the reference list only up to 20 authors are listed. If there are 21 authors or more you list the first 19 followed by three full stops and then the last author. Remember to always list the authors in the same order as they appear in the publication. 

Group authors are often government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and task forces. If the names of individuals are presented on the title page or cover of a work you treat the work as having individual authors. If only the name of the group is presented treat the group as the author. On a page from an organizational or government agency website, the organization or government agency is considered the author, unless otherwise specified.

Group author abbreviations

If a group author has a well-known abbreviation you can, if you want, use the abbreviation. As with any abbreviation you provide the full name the first time on first mention, followed by the abbreviation. 

If you first mention the group name in a narrative citation you include the abbreviation before the year in the parenthesis, separated with a comma. If you first mention the group name in a parenthetical citation you include the abbreviation in square brackets, followed by a comma and the year. 

In the reference list, however, you do not use the abbreviation but spell out the full name of the group. If a date of last update is available you include that in the reference but do not include a date of last review since it does not mean the content has been changed. 

If there is no information of a named individual or group author you instead include title and year of publication in your citation. 

Works published the same year by the same author you list alphabetically based on title. Also give these entries a separating letter after the year of publication. The first letter is a, the following b, etc. The separating letters are also included in the reference list entry. 

In in-text citations you only include year of publication, even if the reference list entry has a more specific date (e.g. year, month and day).

For works with no date you use the abbreviation "n.d." for no date in the in-text citation.

For works that have been accepted for publication but not been published yet you use "in press."

If you wish to cite two or more publications in the same parenthesis you separate the citations with a semicolon. List the works alphabetically within the parenthesis. If you include several publications by the same author in the parenthesis you do not have to repeat the name. 

If you use a direct quote you should always include on what page the quote can be found.  

Follow these guidelines when you provide a page number:

• Use the abbreviation "p." for a single page (e.g. p. 51).
• Use the abbreviation "pp." for multiple pages in a range (e.g. pp. 51–54).
• Use a comma between the page numbers if the pages are discontinuous (e.g., pp. 48, 52).

If there are no page numbers in the cited work you should use another way to specify where in the text the quote is found. Sometimes it helps to download the work in the pdf format. In this format there are usually page numbers. If not you can for example give chapter or paragraph.

Page number might be included in the in-text citation even if it is not a direct quote. It might for example be relevant if you discuss a particular part of the work.