APA Format Citations

by Stephen on October 2, 2012

The APA system provides in-text parenthetical citations for quotations, paraphrases, summaries, and other specific information from a source. APA style makes the year of publication part of an in-text citation which refers to a reference list. See some APA format citation/APA style citation examples below.

APA Format Citations Examples:

Author’s Name in Parentheses:
When you include both the author’s name and the year of publication in parentheses, separate them with a comma. To specify the location of a quotation, paraphrase, summary, or other information, add a comma, p. or pp., and the page number(s) on which the material appears in the source. Example: One recent study examines the emotional intensity of “the fan’s link to the star” (Gitlin, 2001, p. 129).

Author’s Name in Discussion:
When you include an author’s name in your discussion, give the date of the source in parentheses after the name. Provide the page number in the source following any quotation or paraphrase. Example: For Gitlin (2001), emotion is the basis of “the fan’s link to the star” (p. 129).

Specific Reference:
Indicate what you are citing: p. (page), chap. (chapter), figure, para. (paragraphs) in electronic sources. Spell potentially confusing words. For classical works always indicate the part (chap. 5), not the page. Example: Teenagers who survive suicide attempts experience distint stages of recovery (Mauk & Weber, 1991, Table 1).

One Author:
You can vary your in-ext citations as you present both the name and date in parentheses, both in the text, or the name in the text. Example: Dell’s 2002 study of charter schools confirmed issues identified earlier (James, 1996) and also updated Rau’s (1998) school classification.

Two Authors:
In a parenthetical citation, separate the names with an ampersand (&); in your text, use the word and. Example: Given evidence that married men earn more than unmarried men (Chun & Lee, 2001), Nakosteen and Zimmer (2001) investigate how earnings affect spousal selection.

Three to Five Authors:
Include all the names, separated by commas, in the first citation. In parenthetical citations, use an ampersand (&) rather than and. Example: Sadeh, Raviv, and Gruber (2000) related “sleep problems and neuropsychological functioning in children” (p. 292). In any following references, give only the first author’s name and et al. (and others): Sadeh et al. (2000) reported their findings.

Six or More Authors:
In all textcitations, follow the first author with et al. Example: (Berg et el., 1998).

Corporate or Group Author:
Spell out the name of the organization, corporation, or agency in the first citation. Follow any cumbersome name with an abbreviation in brackets, and use the shorter form in later citations. Example, first citation: Besides instilling fear, hate crimes limit where women live and work (National Organization of Women [NOW], 2001). Example, later citation: Pending legislation would strengthen the statuses on bias-motivated crimes (NOW, 2001).

No Author Given:
Give the title or the first few words of a long title. Example: These photographs represent people from all walks of live (Friendship, 2001). Full title: Friendship: Celebration of humanity.

Citing More Than Once:
When you cite the same source more than once in a paragraph, repeat the source as necessary to clarify a page reference or specify one of several sources. If a second reference is clear, don’t repeat the date. Example: Much of the increase in personal debt can be linked to unrestrained use of credit cards (Schor, 1998, p. 73). In fact, according to Schor, roughly a third of consumers “describe themselves as either heavily or moderately in financial debt” (p. 72).

Authors with the Same Name:
When your references include works by two authors who share the same last name, provide the author’s initials for each in-text citation. Example: Scholars have examined the development of African American culture during slavery and reconstruction (E. Foner, 1988), including the role of Frederick Douglass in this process (P. Foner, 1950).

Personal Communications, Including Interviews and Email:
In your text, cite letters, interviews, memos, email, telephone calls, and so on using the name of the person, the expression personal communication, and the full date. Readers have no access to such sources, so you can omit them from your reference list. Example: According to J. M. Hostos, the state no longer funds services duplicated by county agencies (personal communication, October 7, 2003).

Two or More Sources in a Citation:
If you sum up information from several sources, include them all in your citation. Separate the authors and years with commas; separate the sources with semicolons. List the sources alphabetically, then oldest to most recent for several by the same author. Example: Several studies have related job satisfaction with performance (Faire, 2002; Hall, 1996, 1999).

Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year:
If you use works published in the same year by the same author or author team, alphabetize the works, and add letters after the year to distinguish them. Example: Gould (1987a, p. 73) makes a similar point.

References:

– Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition
– The Longman Writer’s Bible , P158-P161