Author and publication year
In APA, an in-text citation consists of the author and the year. For direct quotations, page numbers (or some other locator for sources without page numbers) must be provided as well.
In-text citations have two formats
In-text citations are either parenthetical or narrative.
- In a parenthetical citation, both the author’s surname and the year of publication are enclosed in parentheses, separated by a comma.
(Jones, 2022)
- In a narrative citation, the author's name is mentioned in the running text, and only the year is in parentheses.
Jones (2022)
Multiple narrative citations of the same work in a single paragraph
After the first narrative in-text citation within a paragraph, the year need not be re-stated in a subsequent narrative citation to the same work. However, a parenthetical reference to the same work must include the year.
Davison (2021) showed that frequent exposure to media violence increased physical and verbal aggression in adolescents and young adults. Davison also found . . . . Furthermore, violent video games had a greater adverse effect than violent television and movies (Davison, 2021).
