As with styles of documentation, the American Psychological Association (APA) has established a standardized arrangement for acknowledging the contributions of other researchers in specific research work. The “parenthetical” approach involves incorporating references to the original work in your text. Without the need for footnotes or endnote citations, the reader can easily trace the source of your text.
The writers predominantly use citation in APA in science subjects where laboratory work is used. For example, APA is used in chemistry, biology, geology, and medicine. Citation in APA is also used in social sciences such as economics, education, psychology, and many others.
APA refers to the complete presentation and shape of your written report, which allows for consistency. It includes guidelines for:
- line spacing, margins, page headers
- acceptable fonts
- punctuation and abbreviations
- headings
- citation of references
- tables and figures
PARTS OF CITATION IN APA
There are two parts to every APA citation:
- An in-text citation for every source quoted or paraphrased; and
- A complete citation is in an alphabetized reference list at the end of the paper.
This article discusses the in-text citation in APA.
REFERENCING SOURCES WITHIN THE TEXT (In-Text Citations)
Including citations in the text of your document can aid in identifying the sources of information that were provided in alphabetical order at the reference list’s end.
The last name of the author and publication date should be identical to the corresponding entry within each reference list, as per APA text citations. Furthermore, the page number should be exclusively used for direct citation purposes.
When citing the selected section of a source, such as an article, page, or chapter, along with images or tables, ensure that they are designated at the appropriate point on your paper. Ensured that the page numbers were accurate when using quotes. Such textual citations are abbreviated to denote pages and chapters.
General Rules
- It is recommended to leave a space after the quotation mark.
- It is important to use abbreviations such as page (p.), pages (pp.) or chapter (chap) when citing a direct quote.
- Incorporate every number within a page range, such as 120–124, not 120–4.
- The author’s last name should be preceded by an ampersand (&) when citing a parenthetical reference.
- If the reference is included in the sentence, use ‘and’.
- When listing an item, APA requires a serialized comma to be used before the word ‘and.
- The use of semicolons allows for the simultaneous citation of two or more sources within a single parenthesis, as demonstrated (Ahmed, Bilal, & Bashir, 1996; Shoaib et al., 2011).
CITING ONE OR TWO AUTHORS
1. Research is centered around specific issues:
In-text citation example 1
- Ahmed (1985) provided a suggestion that
- Noman and Hameed (2021) indicate that
Focusing on the idea
In text citation, example 2
- In a fresh investigation (Asad, 2001)
- In the latest study, research shows (Ahmed & Ali, 2023).
A focus on chronology:
In-text citation example 3
- In 2001, Asad proposed
- In 2004, Ahmed and Ali studied
A Direct Quote or Paragraph
- (Shahzad, 1998, pp. 11-16)
Note: It is advisable to reference both names of the two authors in work that has been mentioned.
2) CITING THREE, FOUR, OR FIVE AUTHORS
When citing three, four, or five authors, it is recommended to mention all authors name when citing them for the first time and in later citations only mention the surname of first author followed by “et al.” and the year.
In-text citation example 4
- Ahmed, Fahad and Jawad (1998) found… [First occurrence]
- Ahmed et al. (1998) recommended… [subsequent citations]
- (Hameed, Faizan, & Humair, 2020) [citation for the first time]
- (Hameed et al., 2020) [later citations]
3) APA in-text citation multiple authors
When the researcher is using APA in-text citation multiple authors and citing six or more than six authors, then he or she should use surname of first author’s followed by et al., in each of the in-text citations, including the initial one.
- (Asad et al., 2004)
Note: The reference list in APA in-text citation using multiple authors should contain the names of all authors, with a maximum of six being included. Employ the term ‘et al., to locate the seventh (and subsequent) authors.
4) MISSING THE AUTHOR OR AN UNIDENTIFIED AUTHOR
If no one can be identified as the author, include only two or three words from the title and year as in-text citation from the reference list entry. If the detail being referred to is an article or it is the chapter, use double quotation marks around the title and in case of periodical or book, titles must be italics.
- (“Mad Cow” 2005)
- (Vegetarian Living, 2010)
To indicate an writer as ‘Anonymous,’ include the word Anonymous in your text with space for a single comma and date, just like you would do for any other author.
- (Anonymous, 2007)
Note: An anonymous work is arranged in alphabetical order by using the word Anonymous in the reference list.
5) CORPORATE AUTHORS
The corporate authors’ names are typically spelled whenever they were used in a text citation. Suppose the abbreviation is easily understandable besides the corporate name is lengthy and cumbersome, you can also make the shorter name in the next and succeeding citations. If researcher intends to use it later Provide the acronym in square brackets for your initial reference.
- (United Nations [UN], 2003) [First In-Text Citation]
- (UN, 2003) [Succeeding In txt citations]
6) PRIVATE (PERSONAL) COMMUNICATIONS
E-mail, phone calls, interviews, letters, memos and speeches are all forms of personal communication. Personal messages are not considered in the reference list because the information cannot be retrieved. Only cite textual references. Please provide the name of the person who delivered the communication and their last name, along with an exact date.
- As per Hamid Khan (personal communication, October 21, 2022).
- A fresh inquiry (H. Khan, personal communication, October 21, 2022) was reported.
7) ELECTRONIC SOURCES
Cite just as you would cite information for a print publication, but with some difficulty (it may be harder to determine who is writing it on the Internet). When in doubt, adhere to the guidelines for citing a work that does not have an author, an anonymous or corporate author. Complete information about the website will be included on your References page.
- (Hamid Foundation, 2022).
- (“Benign Passages,” n.d.)
A Direct Quotation or Rephrase of an Online Sources:
The document which is online and highlights the page or chapter number, it is likely that it is the electronic arrangement of a printed document. Now the researcher will cite the mentioned page numbers only.
- (Aslam & Irfan, 1972, p. 256)
- (United Nation, 2004, chap. 3)
No Page Number:
For electronic sources lacking paginity, the number of paragraph, if available, is used followed by either the abbreviation ‘para’ or the para symbol. In case the internet is not displaying any paragraphs or page numbers, indicate the title and number of the subsequent paragraph to guide the reader to the relevant information.
- (Hasan, 2011,p 4)
- (Basit, 2008, Conclusion section, para. 3)