[OWL hoot]
Hello, and welcome to the Purdue OWL.
I am Alyssa Fernandez, and in this video, I will explain how to write in-text citations
according to the 7th edition of the APA style guide.
Before getting into any specifics, however, let’s first answer an important question.
What is an in-text citation?
An in-text citation is a reference that appears within the body of a paper that cites an external
text via its author and year of publication.
Each in-text citation should correspond to a reference list entry at the end of the paper.
Thus, the in-text citation indicates to an interested reader where to look within the
reference list to find the original source material.
However, it is important to know that there are two ways authors can write in-text citations.
In addition to parenthetical citations, like the ones we’ve just seen, writers can also
make something called a narrative citation.
In parenthetical citations, the author and publication year appear within a set of parentheses
that is usually placed at the end of a sentence.
By contrast, in narrative citations, some or all of this information is placed within
the sentence itself.
As its name suggests, in parenthetical citation, the last name of the source’s author and
the year of publication appear separated by a comma within a set of parentheses.
If you are borrowing the author’s precise wording, that is, if you’re making a quotation,
you should also include a page number after the date, separated from the date by a comma.
Use the abbreviation “p.” for one page and “pp.” for a range of pages.
On the other hand, if you’re paraphrasing an idea or argument from the source without
using the author’s precise wording, page numbers are optional.
You might consider including them if you think they will help readers find a specific passage
you’ve paraphrased in a complex work.
In either case, the parenthetical can appear within or at the end of a sentence.
If it occurs at the end of a sentence, place the period directly following the set of parentheses.
In a narrative citation, however, the author’s last name appears in the text of the sentence,
and the date appears in parentheses directly following the author’s name, not separated
by a comma.
Just as with parenthetical citations, page numbers should be included if you’re making
a direct quotation.
However, in this case, you should place the page number in its own parenthetical after
the closing quotation mark but before the period that ends the sentence.
Sources with multiple authors have special rules, but don’t worry, they’re easy to
follow.
We’re now going to quote directly from page 266 of the APA 7th edition manual: “The
format of the author element of the in-text citation changes depending on the number of
authors and is abbreviated in some cases.
For a work with one or two authors, include the author name(s) in every citation.
For a work with three or more authors, include the name of only the first author plus ‘et
al.,’ a Latin phrase meaning ‘and others.’”
In parenthetical citations for a work with two authors, use an ampersand between the names.
In narrative citations, however, use the word “and.”
Does that all make sense?
To reiterate, if a work has two authors, use an ampersand to separate their names in a
parenthetical and the word “and” in a narrative citation.
If there are more than two authors, just put the first author’s name followed by “et al."
Before we move on to more complicated cases, let’s recap.
Here’s a look at the three different styles of citations that can appear within a text.
Remember that you can use either parenthetical or narrative citations in the text as you
please, or both, but every source that gets cited in the text should get a corresponding
reference list entry.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s move on to some examples of more complex in-text
citations.
To cite multiple works in the same parenthetical, place the citations in alphabetical order,
separated by semicolons.
Listing authors in alphabetical order helps readers retrieve sources in the reference
list where they will appear in the same order.
You might cite multiple authors in the same parenthetical like this if you’re trying
to demonstrate the many independent sources have arrived at some shared conclusion.
To cite multiple works by the same author, arrange the works by year, beginning with
citations without a date and then moving forward in chronological order.
In this case, you need only list the author’s last name once.
You might make this sort of citation if you’re trying to demonstrate that an author has been
writing about a certain topic or arguing a certain conclusion for a long time.
To cite multiple works in which some author’s names have been abbreviated to “et al.,”
place the citations in chronological order, regardless of what order they appear in the
reference list.
Note that the last few examples assume parenthetical formatting.
If multiple sources are referenced as narrative citations, they may appear in any order.
To cite a specific part of a source, provide additional information about the specific
part you’re referencing along with the standard author-date citation.
In addition to page numbers, which we’ve already covered, it’s also possible to cite
paragraphs, sections, forwards, chapters, time stamps of videos or audiobooks, and slide
numbers within a slide deck this way.
For religious and classical works within canonically numbered parts, common across editions, cite
these parts instead of using page numbers.
To cite a source with an unknown author, simple place the title of the work where the author’s
last name would typically go.
If the author is explicitly listed as “Anonymous,” however, “Anonymous” should take the place
of the author’s name.
Follow all other citation conventions normally.
When referencing a translated, reprinted, republished, or otherwise reissued work, you
should list two dates in your in-text citation: first, the original publication date, followed
by the reissue date, separated by a backslash.
To cite multiple references with identical author or authors and publication year, include
a lowercase letter after the year to distinguish between the works.
This year-letter combination is used in the reference list entry as well.
Finally, to cite multiple references whose authors share the same surname but have different
initials, include the first author’s initials in all in-text citations, even when the year
of publication differs.
This helps readers locate the correct works in the reference page.
If the authors have the same surname and the same initials, just use the ordinary author-date
format, no initials.
There you have it!
All of the major rules for in-text citations in APA 7th edition style guide.
For further information, be sure to check out the other videos on our channel as well
as the resources available at Owl.Purdue.edu.
Happy citing!