APA

In-text citations are used to acknowledge sources within the body of a text, ensuring proper attribution and credibility. The APA 7th edition follows the author-date citation style, which requires the author's last name and the year of publication.

Types of in-text citations

1. Parenthetical citations 

• The author and year appear together in brackets at the end of the sentence.
• Example: Studies indicate that interactive learning improves student performance (Johnson, 2024).

2. Narrative citations

• The author’s name appears as part of the sentence, followed by the year in parentheses.
• Do not repeat the year for narrative in-text citations the second and subsequent times they appear in a single paragraph, unless you are citing multiple works by the same author(s) with different publication years. In such cases, include the year in every citation to prevent ambiguity.
• Example: Johnson (2024) found that students performed better with interactive learning methods. Unlike Smith (2018), Johnson emphasised the importance of real-world applications in improving retention rates.

Basic in-text citation formats

Note, if multiple works in your reference list share the same lead authors and year, list as many names as needed in your in-text citation before using "et al."

• Example:
  • Kapoor, Bloom, Montez, Warner, and Hill (2017) → (Kapoor, Bloom, Montez, et al., 2017)
  • Kapoor, Bloom, Zucker, Tang, Koroglu, L'Enfant, Kim, and Daly (2017) → (Kapoor, Bloom, Zucker, et al., 2017)

Citing multiple works in the same in-text citation

1. Direct quotes

• If quoting directly, include a page number (p.) or paragraph number (para.) if no page number is available.
• Place a comma after the year and use p. for single page, and pp. for multiple pages.
  • Single page example:  (Harris, 2012, p. 164).
  • Page range example: (Lewis, 2016, pp. 56-58)
  • Discontinuous pages example: (Zhou, 2018, pp. 67, 72)
• When quoting from sources without page numbers (such as web pages or some ebooks) use a paragraph number, section heading or another locator. 
  • Paragraph number example: (Australian Catholic University, 2020, para. 4).
  • Section name example: (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2024, Burden of Disease section)

Tip: Try to avoid excessive direct quotes. Instead, paraphrase where possible to demonstrate understanding and integrate sources smoothly into your writing.

2. Paraphrasing

• When restating ideas in your own words, a page number is optional, but recommended.
  • Example: According to Harris (2018, p. 45), paraphrasing allows writers to convey ideas in their own words while maintaining the original meaning, which helps to integrate sources more naturally into their work.

1. Corporate or group authors

• Spell out the full name in the first citation, then use the abbreviation in subsequent citations.
• Example (first mention): (World Health Organization [WHO], 2020).
• Example (subsequent mentions): (WHO, 2020).

2. Personal communications (emails, conversations)

• Personal communications are cited in-text only and are not included in the reference list.
• Example: (H. Zhang, personal communication, March 5, 2021).

3. Secondary sources (citing a source within another source)

• Use the original source whenever possible. However, if this can't be avoided, make sure to list both the secondary source and the original source in the in-text citation. In the reference list, only include the secondary source (the source you consulted).
• Example: (Farrow, 1968, as cited in Ward & Decan, 1988).