APA 7 APA 6 MLA Chicago

APA 6 Style Guide

In-Text Citations

In-text citations are required when you use someone else's ideas, theories or research in your paper.

Quick Guide

Examples: (choose depending if author and/or date is mentioned in text)

Quotation:

"The bones were very fragile" (Cole, 2011, p. 13).
Cole (2011) found that "The bones were very fragile" (p. 33).
In 2011, Cole found that "The bones were very fragile" (p. 33).

Paraphrase:

The bones broke easily because they were porous (Cole, 2011).
Cole (2011) discovered that the bones broke easily.
In 2011, Cole found that the bones were easily broken (p. 33).

Note: APA style encourages the inclusion of page numbers for paraphrases, but it is not mandatory. Include page or paragraph numbers if it will help reader find the information.

Authors

No authors: Use the title in place of author. Shorten title if needed. Use double quotation marks for title of an article, a chapter, or a web page. Use italics for title of a periodical, a book, a brochure or a report.

the observations found ("Arctic Voyage," 2014)
the book Vitamin Discoveries (2013)

Two or more authors: Within the text use the word and. If the authors' names are within parentheses use the & symbol.

Cole and Dough (1998) argued ...
...if they were left to their own devices.(Cole & Dough, 1998)

Three to five authors: Include all authors' last names the first time the citation is used. If you use the same citation again within the same paragraph, use only the first last name followed by 'et al'. If you used the citation again omit the year.

First time: Cole, Dough and Ferris (1998) explained...
Second time: Cole et al. (1998) proved ...
Third time: Cole et al. demonstrated...

Six or more authors: Include only the last name of the first author followed by "et al."

(Wasserstein et al., 2010)

Groups

Spell out the name in full the first time and abbreviate subsequent times only if abbreviation is well known.

First time: American Psychological Association (1998) explained...
Second time: APA (1998) proved ...

Quotations

When quoting always provide author, year and specific page citation or paragraph number for nonpaginated material.

If the quotation is less than 40 words incorporate it into the text and enclose the quotation with quotation marks. Cite the source immediately after the close of the quotation marks.

If the authors are named in the text, they do not have to be used in the citation.

In fact, "a neurosis is characterized by anxiety" (Kristen & Warb, 2012, p. 157).

"A neurosis is characterized by anxiety," according to Kristen and Warb's (2012, p. 157) longitudinal study.

If the quotation is over 40 words, you must indent the entire quotation and start the quotation on a new line. No quotation marks are required. Cite the quoted source after the final punctuation mark.

Alberta is occasionally divided into two regions, Northern Alberta and Southern Alberta. The majority of Alberta's population is located in large urban cities, mostly located in the South. Alberta is Canada's most populous province of all three Canadian Prairie provinces. Edmonton is the Capital of Alberta. (Hern, 1996, p. 22)

Paraphrasing

APA style encourages the inclusion of page numbers, but it is not mandatory. Include page or paragraph numbers if it will help reader find the information.

(Reiton, 2003, para. 3)

If the document does not contain page numbers, include paragraph numbers.

(Reiton, 2003, para. 3).

If neither is available omit page and paragraph numbers. Do not count paragraph numbers.

When paraphrasing from multiple sources, include all authors name in parentheses in alphabetical order.

(Cole, 2006; Mann & Arthur, 2011; Zigmung, 2000).