In-text citations include the author’s surname (family name) or the authorial body (e.g. BBC), the year of publication (if available) and page numbers (where direct quotation or paraphrasing has been used).
Examples
According to Brown (2014, p.5). Dogs bark when they are bored.
Dogs bark when they are bored (Brown, 2014, p.5).
In his paper Brown (2014) considers the reasons why dogs bark and concludes that they bark when they are bored.
Brown (2014, p.5) states, ‘bored dogs bark’.
Please note
If the author forms part of the sentence, then they remain outside of the bracket (1). If the whole reference comes at the end of a piece of information they are placed inside the brackets (2). Page numbers (where available) are used for paraphrased information (1&2) but not for summary (3). Page numbers are used for direct quotation (4).
Example
Referencing is an integral part of academic writing (Student Development and Study Skills Service, 2023).
Example
Original: “ We are so made, that we can only derive intense enjoyment from a contrast and only very little from a state of things.” (Freud, Civilisation and its discontents, 1929, p.13).
Paraphrase: Freud (1929, p.13) highlighted that people become bored with sameness and suggested that it is a natural human desire to experience new things in order to experience happiness.
At the end of your work, you are required to provide the full bibliographic information for each source cited in-text. References must be listed in alphabetical order by author and then chronologically with the earliest date appearing first.
APA uses a hanging indent of 0.5 inch to each reference list entry. The first line of the reference starts at the page margin and the second and subsequent lines are indented 0.5 inches from the left margin.
Where one author has produced several and/or different works in different years these should be cited chronologically, with earliest appearing first.
To distinguish between works by the same author all published in one year use a, b, c etc. Don’t forget to include these in your reference list too!
Example
(Freud, 1929a, 1929b, 1929c).
Please note, that the software used for this guide does not enable reference list examples to be shown with a 0.5 inch indent, which is how APA references should appear in a reference list.
These are fewer than 40 words and incorporated into the text. Use a double set of inverted commas to enclose the quote.
It is accepted that the “APA Style sets a standard that is realized in APA journals, books, and electronic databases.” (VandenBos, 2010, p.15).
Longer quotations comprise 40 words or more. They should be indented from the main text as a separate paragraph. Long quotations start on a new line and are indented half an inch from the left margin. They are double spaced. Note that when quotes are set apart like this – you do not need to use quotation marks. The reference will appear immediately after the final punctuation mark.
In-text example:
Most people are biased in one way or another. Person bias, sometimes called the fundamental attribution error, is claimed to be the most common.
So we see a nurse, or a teacher or a policeman or policewoman
going about their business and tend to judge them as being particular
types of people rather than as people being constrained by the roles
that they are playing in their work (Strongman, 2006, p. 94).
Reference example:
Strongman, K. T. (2006). Applying psychology to everyday life: a beginner’s guide. John Wiley and Sons Ltd.