APA in-text citations use the author's surname and the year of publication, with a page number for direct quotations. In APA 7th edition they appear either in parentheses or as part of your sentence.
This guide covers every common situation, from two authors to organizations, missing dates and sources you found quoted elsewhere, with examples you can follow.
The APA in-Text Formula
The basic format is (Author, Year) for a paraphrase and (Author, Year, p. X) for a direct quotation. In a narrative citation, the author's name goes in your sentence and the year follows in parentheses: Author (Year).
Every in-text citation must match an entry in your reference list, except personal communications.
Parenthetical and Narrative Citations
Both formats are correct. Use narrative citations when the author matters to your point and parenthetical ones when the idea matters more.
Parenthetical: Sleep loss impairs working memory (Okafor & Lindqvist, 2021).
Narrative: Okafor and Lindqvist (2021) found that sleep loss impairs working memory.
Note the ampersand (&) inside parentheses and the word "and" in running text. This is one of the most frequently marked errors.
Citing Different Numbers of Authors
| Authors | Parenthetical | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| One | (Patel, 2022) | Patel (2022) |
| Two | (Patel & Moreno, 2022) | Patel and Moreno (2022) |
| Three or more | (Patel et al., 2022) | Patel et al. (2022) |
| Group author with abbreviation, first use | (World Health Organization [WHO], 2023) | World Health Organization (WHO, 2023) |
| Group author, later uses | (WHO, 2023) | WHO (2023) |
| Group author, no abbreviation | (University of Leeds, 2021) | University of Leeds (2021) |
In APA 7, "et al." is used for three or more authors from the very first citation. Two-author works always name both authors.
If two different sources shorten to the same "et al." form, add surnames until they differ, for example (Patel, Moreno, et al., 2022) and (Patel, Chen, et al., 2022).
Direct Quotations
Direct quotations need a page number. Use "p." for one page and "pp." for a range.
Parenthetical: Working memory "declines measurably after a single night of restricted sleep" (Okafor & Lindqvist, 2021, p. 14).
Narrative: Okafor and Lindqvist (2021) reported that working memory "declines measurably after a single night of restricted sleep" (p. 14).
For a short quotation, the sentence's full stop comes after the closing parenthesis.
Sources Without Page Numbers
For web pages and other unpaginated sources, give a paragraph number, a section heading or both.
(Garcia, 2023, para. 5)
(Garcia, 2023, Discussion section, para. 2)
Block Quotations
Quotations of 40 words or more are set as a block. Start the quotation on a new line, indent the whole block 0.5 inch from the left margin, keep double spacing and omit quotation marks.
Place the citation after the final punctuation mark of the block, not before it. This is the opposite of short quotations.
[Quotation of 40 words or more, indented, without quotation marks, ending with its own full stop.] (Okafor & Lindqvist, 2021, p. 15)
Use block quotations sparingly. In most student papers, a paraphrase with a citation is more effective than a long quotation.
Paraphrases
A paraphrase puts a source's idea into your own words and structure. A page number is not required, but APA encourages one when it would help a reader find the passage in a long work.
Even one night of limited sleep can reduce how much information people hold in mind at once (Okafor & Lindqvist, 2021).
No Author, No Date and Other Gaps
| Situation | In-text format |
|---|---|
| No author: article, chapter or web page | ("Title of Article," 2022) |
| No author: book or report | (Title of Report, 2022) |
| No date | (Nguyen, n.d.) |
| Same author, same year | (Nguyen, 2020a) and (Nguyen, 2020b) |
| Same author, different years | (Nguyen, 2018, 2021) |
| Several sources in one citation | (Adeyemi, 2019; Brooks & Hale, 2021) |
| Republished or translated work | (Freud, 1900/1953) |
For no-author sources, use the first few words of the title in title case. When several sources share one set of parentheses, list them alphabetically, as they appear in the reference list, separated by semicolons.
Letters for same-author, same-year works follow the alphabetical order of titles in your reference list, and the reference entries must carry the same letters.
Personal Communications and Secondary Sources
Personal Communications
Emails, private interviews, phone calls and unrecorded lectures are cited in the text only, because readers cannot retrieve them. Give initials, surname and an exact date.
(J. Mwangi, personal communication, March 14, 2026)
J. Mwangi (personal communication, March 14, 2026) confirmed the schedule.
Interviews you conducted as part of your own research are not personal communications; they are research data and are described in your method.
Secondary Sources
Cite the original whenever you can. If you only read a work as quoted in another source, name the original and add "as cited in" before the source you read. Include the original's year if you know it.
(Ebbinghaus, 1885, as cited in Murre & Dros, 2015)
Only the source you actually read, here Murre and Dros (2015), goes in the reference list.
Common APA in-Text Mistakes
- Using "and" inside parentheses or "&" in running text.
- Leaving out page numbers for direct quotations.
- Using "et al." for a two-author source.
- Citing a source that does not appear in the reference list.
- Putting the citation after the full stop for a short quotation.
- Including first names or titles of works where only the surname is needed.
- Adding personal communications to the reference list.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Use "et al." for any source with three or more authors, starting with the first citation. Name both authors every time for two-author works.
No, it is optional. APA encourages one when it helps readers find a specific passage, especially in long works.
Use the first few words of the title in place of the author. Put article and web page titles in quotation marks and italicize book and report titles.
Place them in one set of parentheses, in alphabetical order, separated by semicolons: (Adeyemi, 2019; Brooks & Hale, 2021).
For short quotations and paraphrases, after the closing parenthesis. For block quotations, the full stop ends the quotation and the citation follows it.
Personal communications do not. Interviews conducted as part of your own research are reported in your method instead.