LibGuides: APA 7 Resource Center: In-text Citations

In-Text Citations

There are three basic parts to any in-text citation: the author's name, the date of publication, and the page numbers.

When do I use in-text citations?

There are several rules of thumb you can follow to make sure that you are citing your paper correctly in APA 7 format.

Think of your paper broken up into paragraphs. When you start a paragraph, the first time you add a sentence that has been paraphrased from a reference -> that's when you need to add an in-text citation.
Continue writing your paragraph, you do NOT need to add another in-text citation until: 1) You are paraphrasing from a NEW source, which means you need to cite NEW information OR 2) You need to cite a DIRECT quote, which includes a page number, paragraph number or Section title.
Important to remember: You DO NOT need to add an in-text citation after EVERY sentence of your paragraph.

What do in-text citations look like?

This table demonstrates how to create an in-text citation depending on how many authors are in your reference:
How many authors:	What a parenthetical citation looks like:	What a narrative citation looks like:
One author	(Forbes, 2020)	Forbes (2020) stated...
Two authors	(Bennet & Miller, 2019)	Bennet and Miller (2019) concluded that...
Three + authors	(Jones et al., 2020)	Jones et al. (2020) shared two different...
A group or organization as an author	(East Carolina University, 2020)	East Carolina University (2020) found...

Let's look at these paraphrased examples if they were written in text:

An example with 1 author:

Parenthetical citation: Following American Psychological Association (APA) style guidelines will help you to cultivate your own unique academic voice as an expert in your field (Forbes, 2020).

Narrative citation: Forbes (2020) shared that by following American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines, students would learn to find their own voice as experts in the field of nursing.

An example with 2 authors:

Parenthetical citation: Research on the use of progressive muscle relaxation for stress reduction has demonstrated the efficacy of the method (Bennett & Miller, 2019).

Narrative citation: As shared by Bennett and Miller (2019), research on the use of progressive muscle relaxation for stress reduction has demonstrated the efficacy of the method.

An example with 3 authors:

Parenthetical citation: Guided imagery has also been shown to reduce stress, length of hospital stay, and symptoms related to medical and psychological conditions (Jones et al., 2020).

Narrative citation: Jones et al. (2020) shared that guided imagery has also been shown to reduce stress, length of hospital stay, and symptoms related to medical and psychological conditions.

An example with a group/corporate author:

Parenthetical citation: Dr. Philip G. Rogers, senior vice president at the American Council on Education, was recently elected as the newest chancellor of the university (East Carolina University, 2020).

Narrative citation: Recently shared on the East Carolina University (2020) website, Dr. Philip G. Rogers, senior vice president at the American Council on Education, was elected as the newest chancellor.