In-text citations are short notes in the text directing the reader to the source of your information. Your full citation appears in your References at the end of your paper. Use In-Text Citations when you are:

• Using a quote, or
• Using information that clearly came from a particular source

Your in-text citation will begin with the first piece of information in the reference page citation. For APA, this will be the author's last name and publication year, separated by a comma. If you are using a direct quote, the in-text citation will also include a page number.

APA in-text citations follow an author-date system and share the same basic format: author's last name followed by a comma followed by publication year followed by a lowercase p with a period and the page number. In other words, the in-text citation structure should look like:

(Author's last name, Year published, p. Page Number).

If the information cited is not a direct quote, do not include a page number. Additionally, in-text citations always appear in parentheses, and punctuation should appear outside of the closed parenthesis. 

Example 1: There was "no evidence that there was foul play at the site" (Andrade, 2022, p. 6). 

Example 2: It was reported the foul play occurred around the 1900s (Andrade, 2022). 

Narrative versus Parenthetical Citations

There are two ways to make an in-text citation: narrative and parenthetical. 

In a narrative citation, the source is mentioned in the text directly followed by the year in parentheses. If a page number is available, it is placed at the end of the sentence in parentheses.

Example 1: The report by Diez (2022) indicates that there are advancements in the field.

Example 2: The report by Diez (2022) indicates that the bioengineering field is growing rapidly (p. 5). 

In a parenthetical citation, include the author's last name, the year published, and the page number, if available. This information is all included in parentheses at the end of the sentence.

Example 1: The report showed that there were advancements in the field (Diez, 2022).

Example 2: The report mentioned "the bioengineering field is growing rapidly" (Diez, 2022, p. 5).

In-Text Citations with Two Authors

If a source has exactly two authors, both names should be included in the in-text citation. Follow the advice below for narrative and parenthetical citations. 

Narrative Citation: put the word "and" in between the names.

Example: Manna and Al-Sharif (2022) have made great advancements in the field.

Parenthetical Citation: put an ampersand (&) in between the names. 

Example: Advancements have been made in the field (Manna & Al-Sharif, 2022). 

In-Text Citations with Three or more Authors

If a source has three or more authors, put "et al." at the end of the first author's name. 

Narrative Citation:

Manna et al. (2002) have made great advancements in the field.

Parenthetical Citation:

Example: Advancements have been made in the field (Manna et al., 2022).

If a source is not published by an individual it may be published under an organization. In this case, include the full title of the organization in your in-text citation. 

Narrative Citation:

Example: The American Library Association (2024) traced a drastic increase in the number of book challenges in 2023.

Parenthetical Citation:

Example: In 2023, there were "1,247 efforts to censor books and other resources in libraries" (American Library Association, 2024). 

Abbreviating Organization Names

If you are going to cite the same source multiple times, you may want to abbreviate the organization title. You can do this by including the abbreviation with the full title in your first in-text citation for this source. In the following citations you can use just the abbreviation. 

Narrative Citation with abbreviation:

Example: The American Library Association (ALA, 2024) traced a drastic increase in the number of book challenges in 2023.

Parenthetical Citation with abbreviation:

Example: In 2023, there were "1,247 efforts to censor books and other resources in libraries (American Library Association [ALA], 2024).