The American Psychological Association (APA) style is widely used in the social and behavioral sciences. In this article, we will explore the key guidelines for APA in-text citations, references, and formatting.
In-text citations are brief references in the running text that direct readers to the reference entry at the end of the paper. They include the author's last name and the year of publication, as well as a locator such as a page number or timestamp.
| Author Type | Parenthetical Citation | Narrative Citation |
|---|---|---|
| One author | (Smith, 2020) | Smith (2020) |
| Two authors | (Smith & Jones, 2020) | Smith and Jones (2020) |
| Three or more authors | (Smith et al., 2020) | Smith et al. (2020) |
| Organization | (Scribbr, 2020) | Scribbr (2020) |
APA references generally include information about the author, publication date, title, and source. Depending on the type of source, you may have to include extra information that helps your reader locate the source.
The reference page is where you list all the sources that you've cited throughout your paper.
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Note: This article is based on the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual. For information on the older APA 6th edition, check out our APA 6th edition guide.
