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APA Style Guide: 7th Edition

How to Format In-text Citations

APA uses the (author, date) citation system, which means that each in-text citation requires the following parts:

  • Author(s) - surname(s) only
  • Publication - year only

Sometimes, you must also include a page number, paragraph number, heading or time stamp in your in-text citation.

Examples are outlined below:

 

1.

Author(s) last name(s), and year placed in brackets immediately following the title, word, or phrase it is related to. Note: If you are paraphrasing from a long book or article, also include page, paragraph or heading info. 

 

Consider this a paraphrased sentence (Robins, 2009).

2.

Quote, beginning with date and author(s) last name(s); page # at the end of the sentence in brackets

 

In 2009Robins stated that "consider this a direct quote" (p. 6).

3.

Sentence beginning with author(s) last name(s) followed immediately by date in brackets; page # in brackets at the end of the quote

 

According to Robins (2009), "consider this a direct quote" (p. 6).