The core of an APA citation is the author of the source. That person’s last name links your use of the source in your paper with its full description in your list of references. Next comes the source’s date, which often tells readers its current or classic status. Include both each time you cite the source in parentheses, but don’t repeat the date if you simply refer to the source again unless a reader might mix up sources under discussion.

A common addition is a specific location, such as a page number (using “p.” for “page” or “pp.” for “pages”), that tells where the material appears in the original source. Unless the source lacks page numbers or other locators, this information is required for quotations and recommended for paraphrases and key concepts. When you supply these elements in parentheses, separate them with commas: (Westin, 2013, p. 48). This basic form applies whatever the type of source—article, book, or Web page.

As you check your APA style, keep in mind these three questions:

705

Who Wrote It?

Individual Author Not Named in Sentence

Climate change is being taught as a fact rather than as a scientific theory (Tice, 2015, p. A15).

Individual Author Named in Sentence

Tice (2015) voices his concern that climate change is being taught as a fact rather than as a scientific theory (p. A15).

Two Authors

List the last names of coauthors in the order in which they appear in the source. Join the names with “and” if you mention them in your text and with an ampersand (&) if the citation is in parentheses.

Seifried and de Wilde (2014) have demonstrated the importance of sports marketing in the creation of indoor arenas in the 1920s (p. 453).

Sports marketing played an important role in the creation of indoor arenas in the 1920s (Seifried & de Wilde, 2014, p. 453).

707

Three or More Authors

For three to five authors, include all the last names in your first reference. In any later references, follow only the first author with “et al.” (for “and others”) in the text or in parentheses. For six authors or more, simply follow the first author with “et al.” for all citations.

Compulsive buying behavior has traditionally been described as a type of addiction or pathological disorder (Spinella, Lester, & Yang, 2014, p. 670). New research by Spinella et al., however, suggests that such behavior may be more closely linked to general attitudes about money (p. 671).

Learning disabilities occur with each other, with emotional or attention disorders, or with social deficits (Fletcher, Lyon, Fuchs, & Barnes, 2006, p. 9). Thus Fletcher et al. characterize this likelihood as “co-morbidity” (p. 9).

Organization Author

Several factors, including prenatal hormone levels, genetics, and life experiences, can all contribute to a person becoming transgender (American Psychological Association, 2014, p. 2).

Author of an Article from a Reader or Collection

Cite the essay author; list the collection editor later with your references.

The body’s melatonin production is inhibited by light (Boyle, 2014, p. 49).

Unidentified Author

Identify the source with its title in your text or the first few words in parentheses so it is easy to locate in your alphabetical list of references.

Parents need to monitor their child’s online activities (“Social Networking,” 2012).

Same Author with Multiple Works

Three significant trends in parent-school relations evolved (Grimley, 2007) after the original multistate study (Grimley, 1987).

Different Authors with Multiple Works

Within a single citation, list the authors of multiple works in alphabetical order (as in your reference list). Separate the works with semicolons.

Several studies have demonstrated a link between celebrity worship and cosmetic surgery among adolescents (Abraham & Zuckerman, 2011; Huh, 2012; Maltby & Day, 2011; Swami et al., 2013).

What Type of Source Is It?

Naming the author is the core of a citation, regardless of the type of source used. Even so, a few types may present complications.

Online Source

Provide an in-text citation for an online source the same way you would for any other source.

Ballor (2015) provides some insight into the shifting of retail from a large and distant experience back to a small, local one.

708

If you are citing an entire Web site, include the URL in the text, but not in your reference list.

The Common Sense Media Web site (http://www.commonsensemedia.org) provides parents with age-appropriate ratings for movies, books, and television shows.

Indirect Source

If possible, locate and cite the original source. Otherwise, begin your citation with “as cited in” and name your source.

According to Claude Fischer, the belief in individualism favors “the individual over the group or institution” (as cited in Hansen, 2005, p. 5).

Government or Organization Document

If no specific author is identified, treat the sponsor as the author. Give its full name in your first citation. If the name is complicated or commonly shortened, you may add an abbreviation in parentheses. In later citations, use just the abbreviation and the date: (APA, 2010).

In The Impact of Food Advertising on Childhood Obesity (2010), the American Psychological Association (APA) reports a direct link between number of hours of television watched by and rates of obesity among children.

Source without a Date

When the date is unknown, use “n.d.” (“no date”).

Interval training encourages rotation between high-intensity spurts and “active recovery, which is typically a less-intense form of the original activity” (Interval Training, n.d., para. 2).

A Classic

If the original date is unknown, use “n.d.” (“no date”). If it is known, include it with your edition’s date: (Burton, 1621/1977). For ancient texts, use the year of the translation: (Homer, trans. 1990). For a quotation from a classic, identify lines, sections, or other standard divisions that locate a passage in any edition. For biblical references, specify the version in your initial citation. Classics—ancient or religious—need not be listed as references.

Many cultures affirm the importance of religious covenant in accounts as varied as the biblical “Behold, I make a covenant” in Exodus 34:10 (King James Version) and The Iliad (Homer, trans. 1990), which opens with the cause of the Trojan War, “all because Agamemnon spurned Apollo’s priest” (Book 1, line 12).

Visual Material

To refer to your own figure or table, mention its number in your sentence: “As Figure 2 shows, . . .” Clearly cite a visual from a source.

Use of pro-social media among teenagers is likely to result in more empathetic behavior in real life (Prot et al., 2014, Table 2).

To include or adapt a source’s table or visual, you may need to request permission from the author or copyright holder. Many sources—from scholarly journals to Web sites—state their permissions policy in the issue or on the site. (Ask your instructor’s advice if you are unsure how to proceed.) Credit the material in a “From” or “Adapted from” note below it.

709

Personal Communication

Omit personal communications—such as face-to-face, online, or telephone interviews, letters, memos, and e-mail—from your reference list because your readers won’t be able to find and use such sources. Simply name your source and the date of the communication in your paper.

J. T. Moore (personal communication, October 10, 2016) has made specific suggestions for stimulating the local economy.

How Are You Capturing the Source Material?

The way you capture source material—in your own words or in a quotation—affects how you will present and credit it. Always identify words taken directly from a source by using quotation marks or the indented form for a long “block” quotation. Specify the location of quoted words. If you present in your own words material from a specific place in your source, APA also recommends that you add the location. A citation, but no location, is needed for general information, such as your summary of an overall finding.

To identify the location of material in a source, supply the page number. For an unpaginated source, especially online, give the paragraph number it supplies (para. 3). Otherwise, give the section name (or a shortened version), and identify the paragraph within the section (Methods section, para. 2). If appropriate, identify other parts: Chapter 5, Figure 2, Table 3.

The next few examples illustrate how Emily Lavery varied her presentation of sources in her paper “A New Time: Female Education and Teachers in Western Territories,” about education during the mid-1800s.

Overall Summary or Important Idea

Horace Mann and other educational reformers began the Common School Movement, advocating for public primary schools (Nasaw, 1979, p. 30). The movement was revolutionary for education and marked the first attempt to create public school systems, across the United States and all its territories, in order to educate the youth.

Blended Paraphrase and Quotation

According to Hoffman (2003), Mann’s movement sought to develop the “informal rural schools supported by parents” (p. 30) and establish a state-sponsored school system.

Brief Quotation Integrated in Sentence

Jennifer Madigan (2009) defined a dame school as a “school influenced by the English model of home instruction for small groups of children” (p. 11).

710

Long Quotation

If you quote forty words or more, indent the quotation one-half inch and double-space it instead of using quotation marks. After it, add your citation with no additional period, including whatever information you have not already mentioned in your launch statement.

Emma Willard and Catharine Beecher fought for female educational opportunities, such as a more inclusive curriculum and higher educational opportunities. In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton published the “Declaration of Sentiments” at the Seneca Falls Convention to address and rectify the wrongs done to women, including this resolution:

That the speedy success of our cause depends upon the zealous and untiring efforts of both men and women, for the overthrow of the monopoly of the pulpit, and for securing to woman an equal participation with men in the various trades, professions, and commerce. (p. 73)