APA In-Text Citation: Rules, Format, and Examples
Your bibliography
0 sourcesAPA In Text Citation uses the author-date system: place the author’s surname and the publication year in the text, as either parenthetical (Garcia, 2021) or narrative Garcia (2021). Add a page number for direct quotations, for example (Garcia, 2021, p. 45).
What is an APA in-text citation?
An APA in-text citation is a brief note inside your sentence that credits a source and points readers to the full reference list. It contains the author’s surname and the year of publication, and it appears every time you quote, paraphrase, or summarize another work. Each in-text citation must match one entry in your reference list.
APA uses two forms. In a parenthetical citation both elements sit in brackets at the end of the borrowed material: (Okafor, 2019). In a narrative citation the author’s name is woven into your sentence and only the year is bracketed: Okafor (2019) argued that…. Use whichever reads more smoothly; both are equally correct.
What is the correct APA in-text citation format?
The core format is the author’s surname, a comma, and the four-digit year, all inside parentheses placed before the closing punctuation. For a direct quotation, add a comma and a page number. The anatomy below shows how a full parenthetical citation is built for a quotation.
- Author surname — the last name only, no first name or initials
- Year — the publication year, preceded by a comma
- Locator —
p.for one page orpp.for a range, required for quotes - Parentheses — enclose all elements; the sentence period follows them
- No DOI or URL — links belong only in the reference list, never in-text
ParentheticalReading fluency improves with repeated exposure to connected text (Delgado, 2020).
NarrativeDelgado (2020) found that fluency improves with repeated exposure to connected text.
How do I cite different numbers of authors?
The number of authors changes what you write. One or two authors are always named in full. For three or more authors, APA 7th edition uses only the first author’s surname followed by et al. from the very first citation. Group authors are spelled out and may be abbreviated after first use.
| Authors | Parenthetical | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| One author | (Nakamura, 2018) | Nakamura (2018) |
| Two authors | (Nakamura & Ellis, 2018) | Nakamura and Ellis (2018) |
| Three or more | (Nakamura et al., 2018) | Nakamura et al. (2018) |
| Group author | (World Health Organization, 2021) | World Health Organization (2021) |
| Group, abbreviated | (WHO, 2021) | WHO (2021) |
Note the ampersand rule: use & inside parentheses but write out and in narrative sentences. In et al., only “al.” takes a period — never write “et.” with a period after “et”.
When do I need a page number?
Add a page number whenever you quote a source word for word, and whenever you paraphrase a specific passage you want readers to locate. Use p. for a single page and pp. for a range. For sources without page numbers, cite a paragraph, heading, or section instead.
Direct quoteThe author describes memory as “an act of reconstruction, not retrieval” (Hassan, 2022, p. 8).
Page range(Hassan, 2022, pp. 8–9)
No pages (web)(Reyes, 2023, para. 4)
Named heading(Reyes, 2023, Discussion section)
For a quotation of 40 words or more, omit the quotation marks and set the passage as an indented block quote; the citation then follows the final period of the block.
How do I cite a source with no author or no date?
When a work has no named author, move the title into the author position. Italicize titles of standalone works such as books and reports, and place titles of articles or web pages in quotation marks. When there is no date, use the abbreviation n.d. (“no date”) in place of the year.
No author (article)(“Climate Adaptation Strategies,” 2021)
No author (book)(Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, 2020)
No date(Fitzgerald, n.d.)
Secondary source(Piaget, 1952, as cited in Vygotsky, 1978)
For a secondary source, name the original author in your sentence but cite the work you actually read in the reference list — here, Vygotsky.
How do I cite multiple works or repeated authors?
To support one point with several sources, list them alphabetically inside a single set of parentheses, separated by semicolons. When one author has two works from the same year, add lowercase letters after the year to tell them apart, matching the letters in your reference list.
Multiple worksSeveral studies confirm this trend (Adeyemi, 2019; Chen & Park, 2020; Silva, 2021).
Same author, same year(Kowalski, 2020a, 2020b)
Same surname, different authors(J. Smith, 2019; R. Smith, 2021)
Include initials when two authors share a surname, even if the years differ, so readers can distinguish them. Order multiple works by the same author from oldest to newest: (Adeyemi, 2015, 2019).
How accurate is this guide, and what are its limits?
Every rule and example here reflects the APA 7th edition Publication Manual (2020), the current standard. The examples use realistic names and are formatted exactly as APA specifies, so you can copy the patterns directly. Still, a few limitations apply.
- Edition matters. Older APA 6th edition rules differ — notably, 6th edition spelled out up to five authors before using et al. Confirm your instructor or journal wants 7th edition.
- Unusual sources vary. Personal communications, legal materials, and datasets follow specialized formats not covered in full here.
- Automation is not proofreading. A generator speeds up formatting, but you should always verify author names, years, and page numbers against the original source.
When in doubt, cross-check against the official APA Style website or your reference list, since every in-text citation must have a matching full reference.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about APA in-text citations are answered below.