APA In-Text Citations (7th Ed.) | Multiple Authors & Missing Info
In-text citations briefly identify the source of information in the body text. They correspond to a full reference entry at the end of your paper.
APA in-text citations consist of the author’s last name and publication year. When citing a specific part of a source, also include a page number or range, for example (Parker, 2020, p. 67) or (Johnson, 2017, pp. 39–41).
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Table of contents
- Worried about in-text citation errors?
- APA in-text citations explained in 4 minutes
- Parenthetical vs. narrative citations
- APA in-text citations with multiple authors
- No author, date or page number
- Multiple sources in one parenthesis
- Avoiding ambiguity in APA in-text citations
- Citing indirect sources (“as cited in”)
- Citing personal communication
- General mentions of websites and software
- Example paragraph with in-text citations
- Frequently Asked Questions
APA in-text citations explained in 4 minutes
Parenthetical vs. narrative citations
The in-text citation can be placed in parentheses or naturally integrated into a sentence.
- Parenthetical: There is a correlation between social media usage and anxiety symptoms in teenagers (Parker, 2019).
- Narrative: Parker (2019) found a correlation between social media usage and anxiety symptoms in teenagers.
The publication year appears directly after the author’s name when using the narrative format. The parenthetical citation can be placed within or at the end of a sentence, just before the period. Check out a full example paragraph with in-text citations.
APA in-text citations with multiple authors
If a work has two authors, separate their names with an ampersand (&) in a parenthetical citation or “and” in a narrative citation. If there are three or more authors, only include the first author’s last name followed by “et al.”, meaning “and others”.
Group authors known by their abbreviations (e.g., CDC) are written in full the first time and are abbreviated in subsequent citations.
| Author type | Parenthetical | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| One author | (Harris, 2020) | Harris (2020) |
| Two authors | (Harris & Cook, 2020) | Harris and Cook (2020) |
| Three or more authors | (Harris et al., 2020) | Harris et al. (2020) |
| Group authors | (Scribbr, 2020) | Scribbr (2020) |
Abbreviated group author
|
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020)
(CDC, 2020) |
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2020)
CDC (2020) |
No author, date or page number
| Unknown element | Solution | In-text citation |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Use the source title. | (Source Title, 2020) |
| Date | Write “n.d.” for “no date”. | (Harris, n.d.) |
| Page number | Use an alternative locator or omit the page number. |
(Harris, 2020, 03:46) or (Harris, 2020) |
No author
If the author of a source is unknown, try to determine if there is an organization or government responsible for creating the content. If so, include its name in the in-text citation (and reference entry).
Alternatively, use the source title in place of the author. Italicize the title if it’s italicized in the reference entry (except for court cases, which are italicized in the in-text citation but not the reference entry). Otherwise, enclose it in double quotation marks.
Apply title case capitalization, and shorten long titles. The first word of the title should always be included so readers can easily locate the corresponding reference entry.
- (“U.S. Flood Risk,” 2015)
- (Thinking, Fast and Slow, 2017)
No publication date
If the publication date is unknown, write “n.d.” (no date) in the in-text citation.
No page number (alternative locators)
Page numbers are only required with direct quotes in APA. If you are quoting from a work that does not have page numbers (e.g., webpages or YouTube videos), you can use an alternative locator, such as:
- (Liu, 2020, 03:26)
- (Johnson, 2019, Chapter 3)
- (McCombes, 2016, para. 4)
- (Davis, 2016, Slide 15)
- (Flores, 2020, Table 5)
- (Streefkerk, 2020, “No page number” section)
Note that Bible citations always use chapter and verse numbers, even when page numbers are available:
Multiple sources in one parenthesis
If a statement is supported by multiple sources, the in-text citations can be combined in one parenthesis. Order the sources alphabetically, and separate them with a semicolon.
When citing multiple works from the same author, list the years of publication separated by a comma.
Avoiding ambiguity in APA in-text citations
When in-text citations are ambiguous because they correspond to multiple reference entries, apply the solutions outlined in the table below.
| Situation | Solution | In-text citation |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple works by the same author in the same year. | Add a lowercase letter after the year. | (Cooper, 2018a) (Cooper, 2018b) |
| Different authors with the same last name. | Include the authors’ initials. | (H. Taylor, 2019) (B. J. Taylor, 2016) |
| Multiple works with 3+ authors that shorten to the same form (i.e., same first author(s) and date). | Include as many names as needed to distinguish the citations. | (Cooper, Lee, et al., 2015) (Cooper, Ross, et al., 2015) |
Citing indirect sources (“as cited in”)
If you want to refer to a source that you have found in another source, you should always try to access the original or primary source.
However, if you cannot find the original source, you should cite it through the secondary source that led you to it, using the phrase “as cited in”.
If the publication date of the primary source is unknown, include only the year of publication of the secondary source.
Only include a reference entry for the secondary source, not the primary source.
Citing personal communication
Personal communications, such as phone calls, emails, and interviews, are not included in the reference list because readers can’t access them. The in-text citation is also formatted slightly differently.
Include the initials and last name of the person you communicated with, the words “personal communication,” and the exact date in parentheses.
General mentions of websites and software
General mentions of a website or software don’t have to be cited with an in-text citation or entry in the reference list. Instead, incorporate relevant information into the running text.
- The website of Scribbr (www.scribbr.com) contains various useful resources.
- Statistical software SPSS (version 25) was used to analyze the data.
Example paragraph with in-text citations
Frequently Asked Questions
- What does an APA in-text citation for a website look like?
-
When citing a web page or online article in APA Style, the in-text citation consists of the author’s last name and year of publication. For example: (Worland & Williams, 2015). Note that the author can also be an organization. For example: (American Psychological Association, 2019).
If you’re quoting you should also include a locator. Since web pages don’t have page numbers, you can use one of the following options:
- Paragraph number: (Smith, 2018, para. 15).
- Heading or section name: (CDC, 2020, Flu Season section)
- Abbreviated heading: (CDC, 2020, “Key Facts” section)
- When should I use “et al.” in APA in-text citations?
-
The abbreviation “et al.” (meaning “and others”) is used to shorten in-text citations with three or more authors. Here’s how it works:
Only include the first author’s last name, followed by “et al.”, a comma and the year of publication, for example (Taylor et al., 2018).
- When should I include a page number in an APA in-text citation?
-
Always include page numbers in the APA in-text citation when quoting a source. Don’t include page numbers when referring to a work as a whole – for example, an entire book or journal article.
If your source does not have page numbers, you can use an alternative locator such as a timestamp, chapter heading or paragraph number.
- How do I cite an indirect source in APA Style? (“as cited in”)
-
In an APA in-text citation, you use the phrase “as cited in” if you want to cite a source indirectly (i.e., if you cannot find the original source).
Parenthetical citation: (Brown, 1829, as cited in Mahone, 2018)
Narrative citation: Brown (1829, as cited in Mahone, 2018) states that…On the reference page, you only include the secondary source (Mahone, 2018).
- Should I place the in-text citation before or after the period?
-
An APA in-text citation is placed before the final punctuation mark in a sentence.
- The company invested over 40,000 hours in optimizing its algorithm (Davis, 2011).
- A recent poll suggests that EU membership “would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” in a referendum (Levring, 2018).
55 comments
Lydia
May 1, 2022 at 8:02 PMReally helpful article thank you!
However I am confused by your reference to multiple authors in one parenthesis...is the order for multiple authors meant to be alphabetically written, or is it ordered by year the work has been published?
Your first example is (Brown, 2009; Porter, 2004; Smith, 2015, 2017).
However your sample paragraph states (Tiggermann & Slater, 2013; Meier & Gray, 2014) so I would just like to double check!
Thanks :)
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
May 2, 2022 at 12:40 PMHi Lydia,
The order should indeed be alphabetical according to APA rules. Thanks for pointing out the inconsistency! We'll update the example to reflect this.
FN
April 8, 2022 at 10:25 AMHow do I arrange multiple in-text citations with different authors and years?
Eg. (Smith, 2021), (Chan, 2009), (Porter, 2009)?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
April 8, 2022 at 11:24 AMWhen you need multiple different citations at the same point in the text, you can place them all in one set of parentheses, separated by semicolons: (Smith, 2021; Chan, 2009; Porter, 2009)
Heather
February 20, 2022 at 8:15 PMIf I’m referencing only one source document multiple times in my paper how do I do in-text citations? After the first citation can I just cite page numbers?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
February 21, 2022 at 11:55 AMHi Heather,
APA recommends that if you keep referring to the same source throughout a paragraph, you only need to cite it in the first sentence that refers to it. If you cited another source in between, it would be necessary to reintroduce the citation when you returned to the first source.
APA does say that you should reintroduce the citation when you start a new paragraph. So if in your paper you refer to one source continuously, it would still be necessary to cite it again at the start of each new paragraph.
Nelson
February 16, 2022 at 2:28 PMIf I want to cite two different works from the same author, should the sentence be in plural or singular; for example, which one of these would be correct:
1. Porter (2018a,2018b) state that...
2. Porter (2018a,2018b) states that...
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
February 17, 2022 at 10:51 AMHi Nelson,
The sentence should still be singular, because you're only referring to one author. You're just referring to the same author's statements in two different publications. So it should be "Porter (2018a, 2018b) states that ..."
Gatleen
February 12, 2022 at 11:46 AMWhen do we actually need to cite a source? Is it only when we directly use the words from an author or do we also have to cite even when we paraphrased them? And is it counted as plagiarism if we directly use the words despite having citations? Please do help me clear my doubts. Thank you so much! 😊
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
February 14, 2022 at 12:37 PMHi Gatleen,
This article may help you to understand when citations are needed. It's not plagiarism as long as you cite your sources, whether you're quoting or paraphrasing.
Elaine
January 29, 2022 at 7:06 AMHi,
How would you do an in-text citation for the same author within the same sentence if it was like the following:
(Smith et al., 2004) (Smith, 2010)
Would you do the in-text citation as (Smith et al.,2004, 2010) or Would you do the in-text citation as (Smith et al., 2004, Smith, 2010)
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
February 1, 2022 at 12:42 PMHi Elaine,
If the first source is by Smith and some coauthors, while the second source is by Smith alone, you need to keep the citations separated using a semicolon: (Smith et al., 2004; Smith, 2010)
If they're both by the exact same author or group of authors, the format "(Smith et al., 2004, 2010)" is correct.
Vanessa Rodriguez
February 14, 2022 at 9:12 AMHi, how would I use (a) and (b)with the same author and same date with the same source? Or would that not apply?
I understand using (a) and (b), same author and date with different source but I don’t understand if this applies when they source is the same?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
February 14, 2022 at 12:36 PMHi Vanessa,
No, there's no need to do this when you're citing the same source repeatedly. Different citations of the same source should look the same, except that they may specify different page numbers of course. All these citations are supposed to lead you to the same entry in your reference list, so there's no reason to differentiate between them.
Quisch
January 15, 2022 at 7:46 PMI need to in-text cite an author/organization which is very long. eg. American College of Sports Medicine Roundtable on Exercise Guidelines for Cancer Survivors.
This is what is given as the author in the citation from the college library. Can I abbreviate? Or do I need to use the full title?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
January 17, 2022 at 2:52 PMHi Quisch,
APA advises that you can indeed abbreviate organization names in in-text citations when necessary. Give the full organization name followed by the acronym the first time you cite the source, and for subsequent citations just use the acronym:
(American College of Sports Medicine Roundtable on Exercise Guidelines [ACSMREG], 2019)
(ACSMREG, 2019)
Don
January 13, 2022 at 8:33 PMI was wondering how I, using in-text citations, refer to a footnote in another article. If note 2 is on page 1, do I just write (author, year, p. 1) or instead of p. 1 do I need to clarify that I am referring to a note?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
January 14, 2022 at 10:27 AMHi Don,
You should mention that you are referring to the footnote in your in-text citation, in addition to the page the footnote is on. For example, (Smith, 2017, p. 15, footnote 2).
Rachel D'Mello
December 11, 2021 at 7:52 PMWhat if an article has many authors of which two names of two authors are mentioned while the rest are mentioned as members of a team. How do i cite the source if i know only two names and not the rest?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
December 13, 2021 at 1:48 PMHi Rachel,
You can only provide the information you have, and this is what will be most useful for the reader if they want to track down the article anyway. In your reference entry, write the names of the authors who are mentioned and the team or group identification of the others, e.g. De Vries, R., Nieuwenhuijze, M., Buitendijk, S. E., & the members of Midwifery Science Work Group. Then in the in-text citation, give the first name followed by “et al.” as you would for any group of three or more authors, e.g. (De Vries et al., 2013).
Rachel D'Mello
December 28, 2021 at 9:47 PMThank you, Jack, for your help! I appreciate it!
gabriel ordonez
October 21, 2021 at 9:37 AMHi just a question how does one cite a source with
1. No author, no available page number, e.g., a webpage with no author
2. The author is already mentioned in the paragraph body
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
October 25, 2021 at 5:21 PMHi Gabriel,
Usually a source with no author will be cited by title instead, e.g. ("Beginner's Guide," 2021). You can just omit page numbers when they are not available.
When the author (or title, in cases where there's no author) is already mentioned outside the parenthetical citation, the citation just consists of the year and, if applicable, page number, e.g. Smith states that ... (2019, p. 11).
Houssem
July 19, 2021 at 1:08 AMHi,
How to refer to an equation?
Eq. (1)
OR
Equation (1)?
And how to refer to multiple equations at the same time?
Eqs. (1, 2, 3)
OR
Eqs. (1-3)
OR
Equations (1, 2, 3)
OR
Equations (1-3)?
Kind regards.
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
July 20, 2021 at 3:34 PMHi Houssem,
When referring to a numbered equation in the text, use the full word "Equation," capitalized, followed by the number. For example, "As shown in Equation 3, ..."
If referring to multiple equations at once, write e.g. "Equations 1 and 3" or use an en dash to indicate a range of three or more consecutive equations, e.g. "Equations 1–3"
Marie
April 7, 2021 at 3:52 PMWhen I mention a source for the first time, should I then include the first name(s)?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
April 16, 2021 at 2:50 PMHi Marie,
You never mention the author's first name within a parenthetical citation. However, you can clarify an author's name in the text the first time you mention them if you think it's relevant. For example:
John Smith argues that . . . (2020, p. 21).
You might do this with an author whose work is particularly central to your argument; for most authors, it's fine to just refer to them by their last name throughout.
Jordyn
April 4, 2021 at 9:08 AMHi there, I was trying to figure out how to shorten a title of a journal article in 7th APA format thats in-text. I cannot figure out the rules if I need to shorten it to an agreed number of words etc. Thank you
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
April 6, 2021 at 3:26 PMHi Jordyn,
The best approach when you need to include a shortened title in your in-text citation (note that this is only necessary when no individual or organizational author can be listed) is to shorten it to the initial noun phrase or to the first 2–4 words, omitting any articles ("the," "a," or "an"). So for example, "The southern slope of Monsalvat: How Spanish Wagnerism became Catalan" would become "Southern slope of Monsalvat"
Hope that helps!
Nicole
March 14, 2021 at 5:10 AMWhen quoting multiple lines of text, how for should it be indented? is it still double spaced?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
March 15, 2021 at 2:14 PMHi Nicole,
See here for information on how to create block quotes (for longer quotations) in APA Style. The block quote is double-spaced like the rest of the text.
Suchi
March 12, 2021 at 11:30 AMHello,
If I have two summary sentences from the different articles published in two different years but the first author of both the article is the same, how can I cite them?
Also, should I cite them in a narrative or parenthetical manner?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
March 15, 2021 at 2:51 PMHi Suchi,
If the two articles are published in different years, that's enough to distinguish between them; you don't need to do anything special with the citations. For example, with (Smith et al., 2019) and (Smith et al., 2020), it's clear from the different years that these are different articles.
It's up to you whether to cite in a narrative or parenthetical manner; do whatever fits most smoothly in each case.
Ethan
March 9, 2021 at 12:58 PMI use a printing of a book from a more recent date, say 2015. But the book was originally printed in 1936. How do I cite, in-text and reference list, the source I used (2015) but mention the original publication date?
I'm told I have to acknowledge the original publication date at least in-text.
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
March 15, 2021 at 3:26 PMHi Ethan,
When you need to acknowledge the original publication date of a work consulted in a more recent edition, you can just add this at the very end of the reference entry, in parentheses (and not followed by a period): (Original work published 1936)
Only the more recent date needs to be mentioned in the in-text citation; if you want to mentioned the original date in the text, you can do so outside of the citation, e.g.:
Animal Farm, originally published in 1945, is an allegorical story about … (Orwell, 2021).
Sam
March 7, 2021 at 5:53 AMIf you are assessing an article published by one author, and within that article they have cited sources by other works, do you need to cite the authors they have cited?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
March 15, 2021 at 3:13 PMHi Sam,
Generally no, you don't need to cite a source just because it's cited in something you already cite; otherwise you could end up with an infinitely expanding number of sources!
The exception is if you quote or paraphrase a part of the text where the author is clearly quoting or paraphrasing another source. In that case, it's best to seek out the original source and cite the information directly. If you can't access the original source, you can use an indirect citation, as explained in this FAQ.
DONNA
March 4, 2021 at 9:48 PMIf I start out a sentence as, Chris Last name states "the quote".
Do I cite the author's name after this, since credit was given at the beginning of the sentence?
Thank you !
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
March 8, 2021 at 5:08 PMHi Donna,
No, if you've already mentioned the author's name in the sentence, you don't need to repeat it in the citation. Just include the year and page number, e.g. John Smith states "quote" (2010, p. 15).
Matilda
February 17, 2021 at 2:13 PMHello!
I wonder how to shorten a citation? If I e.g wants to start in the middle of a sentence or take a, for the context, irrelevant part of the text out. Do I use the (---) or is that from some other reference style?
All the best!
Matilda
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
February 17, 2021 at 3:08 PMHi Matilda,
You can find some guidance on shortening quotations in APA Style here. In general, you'd use an ellipsis (…) to omit something from the middle of a quotation. It's not necessary to use one to omit something at the start or end of a quote or to mark that a quote begins in mid-sentence.
Laura
January 31, 2021 at 4:52 AMHi! I want to cite two powerpoint presentations by the same teacher. How do I differentiate them as in- text citations?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
February 1, 2021 at 3:21 PMHi Laura,
When citing two sources with the same author, usually the year of publication differentiates them, e.g. (Smith, 2016) vs. (Smith, 2018). If both presentations in this case were in the same year, they should be differentiated with a letter after the year. The earlier presentation would be "a," the later one "b." For example, (Smith, 2020a) vs. (Smith, 2020b). These letters should also appear in the reference list entries for the presentations.
Feel free to check our article on citing PowerPoints if you need any more specific advice on this format.
Jane
January 22, 2021 at 6:34 AMIf the article is by one author, do we have to cite their name every time or just once and then just the year and page number after that?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
January 26, 2021 at 3:32 PMHi Jane,
In the case of a single author, cite their name in every in-text citation, not just the first one.
tiffany
December 29, 2020 at 4:10 PMWhat if the two authors are husband and wife so the last name is the same?
Shona McCombes (Scribbr Team)
January 11, 2021 at 3:53 PMHi Tiffany,
When the two authors of a source have the same last name, you simply cite both names as usual, for example: (Smith & Smith, 2020).
Hope that helps!
Alex
December 28, 2020 at 6:08 AMI don't know where to say this so I will post it here. Your in-text help tool in the citation generator does not follow the APA 7th rules for 3 or more authors. As noted above in "APA in-text citations with multiple authors", in text citation of 3 or more authors should use the first author's last name followed by et al. While using the citation tool, I click on in-text citation, and it still follows the 6th edition rules of listing 3 authors names separately during the first in-text reference with all others using et al.
Shona McCombes (Scribbr Team)
January 6, 2021 at 1:11 PMHi Alex,
Our APA Generator supports both the 6th and 7th editions – are you sure you've switched to the 7th edition? You can find this option in the top right corner of your reference list (next to the language selector).
Let me know if this doesn't solve the issue and we can look into it further!
sage sonson
December 15, 2020 at 3:46 AMwhat do you do if only a first name is given
Shona McCombes (Scribbr Team)
December 21, 2020 at 7:52 PMHi,
Ideally you should try to identify the author's full name – if this isn't possible, the source may not be reliable enough to use in an academic paper. However, if an author only has one name, you may simply cite that name in both your in-text citation and reference entry.
Nicole
December 3, 2020 at 5:18 AMHow do you do the in text citation for an online dictionary?
Shona McCombes (Scribbr Team)
December 10, 2020 at 7:42 PMHi Nicole,
We have a separate article with examples of citing an online dictionary in APA. In most cases, you'll cite the name of the organization responsible for the dictionary (e.g. Merriam-Webster). Hope that answers your question!
Valesca
November 29, 2020 at 11:32 PMHow do I cite forthcoming research, if it is not officially published yet?
Shona McCombes (Scribbr Team)
December 8, 2020 at 8:01 PMHi Valesca,
Our article about APA journal citations includes some examples of how to cite unpublished research. Hope that helps :)