Parenthetical Citations in APA Style

Parenthetical Citations in APA Style

• Parenthetical citations are used to cite sources within the text of an essay in APA style.
• Include the author's last name, year of publication, and page number (if applicable) in parentheses.
• Example: (Smith, 2001, p. 163)
• Each parenthetical citation should correspond to a full citation in the reference list at the end of the essay.

Multiple Authors

• For two authors, use an ampersand (&).
• Example: (Smith & Jones, 2004)
• For three to five authors, cite all authors the first time, then use "et al." for subsequent citations.
• Example: (Smith, Jones, & Wilson, 1996, p. 345)
• Example: (Smith et al., 1996, p. 345)

Citations Without Authors

• If there is no author, cite the title of the work.
• Use the first few words of the title if it is very long.
• Example: (Annual Report, 2001)
• Example: ("Study finds", 2003)

Multiple Works by the Same Author in the Same Year

• Distinguish works by the same author in the same year with letters (a, b, c).
• Example: (Smith, 2001a, p. 45)

Citations for Web Documents

• For long web documents without page numbers, include the section and paragraph number.
• Example: (Jones, 2002, Introduction section, para. 2)

Multiple Citations in One Set of Parentheses

• Use a semicolon to separate multiple citations with different authors.
• Example: (Jones, 2002, p. 45; Smith, 1999, p. 67)
• Use a comma to separate multiple citations with the same author.
• Example: (Jones, 1999, 2002)

Incorporating Author's Name in the Text

• You can omit the author's name from the parenthetical citation if it is mentioned in the text.
• Example: Smith and Jones (2004, p. 678) argued that …
• Example: It has been argued (Smith & Jones, 2004, p. 678) that …