APA Citing In-Text

Using the APA style of referencing, you must acknowledge the source within the text by citing the author’s last name and date of publication in parentheses, e.g. (Jones, 2015). Moreover, you must give full details of each item in an alphabetical reference list at the end of your assignment. You may also include a bibliography, although it is not a necessity.

As of the creation of this handbook, the courses at the University that use the APA style include Psychology and some modules within SportExR. If you are still not completely sure which referencing style to use, consult your tutor or subject advisor.

Please note that these pages are based on the sixth edition of the APA style.

A seventh edition has since been produced. Details of this edition can be found on the APA web pages:

Setting out citations

Using this method of referencing, the citations in your work must be included in the final word count. In-text citations give brief details of the source that you are quoting from or referring to. These citations will then link to the full reference that will be found in the reference list at the end of your work. The reference list is always arranged in alphabetical order by author. If you have cited a work in an appendix, but not in the main body of your text, this should still be included in the reference list.

Footnotes and endnotes are only used in this style if extra information is needed at the bottom of the page, rather than for a reference. Use a superscript number for this.

There are many ways in which citations can be used in your work, but your tutor or supervisor should advise you on which format they prefer.

Your citations should always include the following elements;

Author(s) or editor (s) surname/family name
Year of publication
Page number(s) if required

Style guides

One Author

In-text citation requires that the last name of the author and the year of publication be inserted into the text, for example:

Marks (2011) states that ...

...(Marks, 2011)

Two Authors

If there are two authors of a work, both should be cited.

Bee and Boyd (2010) state that ...

...(Bee & Boyd, 2010)

Note. Link the two authors’ names with and when cited outside parentheses. Link with an ampersand (&) inside parentheses.

Three, four or five authors

If there are three, four or five authors of a work all authors should be cited the first time. Subsequently use et al. after the first author.

(Rolfe, Jasper, & Freshwater, 2010) first cite

(Rolfe et al., 2010) subsequent cites

Note. There is a comma after the second-to-last author.

Six or more authors

If there are six authors or more only the first author is cited followed by et al.

....Yamada et al. (2003)

... (Yamada et al., 2003)

Note: et al. is an abbreviation of the Latin "at alia", meaning "and others".

More than one work cited

If you cite two or more works within the same parentheses they should be in alphabetical order of author.

....(Phillips, Ajrouch, & Hillcoat-Nalletamby, 2010; Rolfe, Jasper, & Freshwater, 2010).

Arrange two or more works by the same authors (in the same order) by year of publication. Place in-press citations last. Give the authors’ last names once; for each subsequent work, give only the date.

.... (Davies, 2008, 2010, 2012)

Author with two or more cited works in the same year

Use lower case letters (a, b etc.) to distinguish between works published in the same year by the same author (s).

...Hewitt (2010a) states that... this was supported by Hewitt (2010b) ...

The suffixes are assigned in the reference list, where these kind of references are ordered alphabetically by title (of the article, chapter, or complete work).

Authors with the same last name

If a reference list includes publications by two or more primary authors with the same last name, include the first author’s initials in all text citations, even if the year of publication differs. Initials help the reader to avoid confusion within the text and to locate the entry in the list of references.

Davies, H., Brophy, S., Dennis, M., Cooksey, R., Irvine, E., & Siebert, S. (2013).
Patient perspectives of managing fatigue in ankylosing spondylitis, and views on potential interventions: a qualitative study. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 14 doi: 16310.1186/1471-2474-14-163

Davies, P. G., Revell, P. A., & Mayston, V. (1986).
Demonstration of antiglobulin activity in the synovial-membrane of patients with rheumatoid-arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis after pepsin treatment - real or artifact. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 45(10), 821-826. doi: 10.1136/ard.45.10.821

In-text citation

Among studies, H. Davies et al. (2013) and P. G. Davies, Revel and Mayston (1986)…