APA requires both in-text citations and full reference citations. In-text citations appear in the body of the text to acknowledge the source of information that thas been referred to or quoted, and they point to the full reference citation on the References page at the end of the paper. All APA papers will include both in-text and reference citations.
Each source cited must appear in the reference list, and each work in the reference list must be cited in the text.
In-text citations go in the body of your paper and use author-date format. When a source is quoted or referred to in text, cite it by including the author's name and the source's publication date in parentheses.
Examples:
Even if you are using your own words and not a direct quote, use an in-text citation when you use ideas or information from an outside source.
Reference citations go on the References page at the end of your paper. Different types of resources have different reference citation formats in APA Style. Two commonly used formats are shown below. You can find more citation format examples on the library's APA Citations guide.
Academic journal article:
Webpage on a website:
No date:
If the source you are using does not include a publication date, use n.d. for "no date" in place of the date in your citation.
Examples:
No author's name:
If the source you are citing does not provide an author's name, use the title of the source itself. Longer titles may be shortened in in-text citations.
Examples:
