APA-CITATION

APA Citation Basics

  • In-text citations provide a way to acknowledge sources of information used within the body of a text.

Types of Citations

Parenthetical vs. Narrative Citations

  • Parenthetical citation: Information is enclosed in parentheses.

    • Example: There is a correlation between social media usage and anxiety symptoms in teenagers (Parker, 2019).

  • Narrative citation: The author’s name is included in the text as part of the sentence.

    • Example: Parker (2019) found a correlation between social media usage and anxiety symptoms in teenagers.

Author Types in Citations

  • One Author:

    • Parenthetical: (Harris, 2020)

    • Narrative: Harris (2020)

  • Two Authors:

    • Parenthetical: (Harris & Cook, 2020)

    • Narrative: Harris and Cook (2020)

  • Three or More Authors:

    • Parenthetical: (Harris et al., 2020)

    • Narrative: Harris et al. (2020)

  • Group Authors:

    • First citation: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020)

    • Subsequent citations: (CDC, 2020)

    • Narrative: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2020)

    • Subsequent: CDC (2020)

APA Referencing Style

  • The American Psychological Association (APA) style is widely used in education and is known for the author-date citation method.