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Psychology Library Resources: Citing Sources in APA Style

A guide to help you find library materials for your psychology projects and assignments.

APA 7th Edition Basics Tutorial

Citation Quick Guide

Tip: Use the most recent version of the citation style unless your instructor requests otherwise. 

In-Text Citation Guidelines

Basic APA In-Text Citation Styles
Author Type Parenthetical Citation Narrative Citation
One author (Grace, 2003) Grace (2003)
Two authors (Verminski & Blanchat, 2017) Verminski and Blanchat (2017)
Three or more authors (Helling et al., 2021) Helling et al. (2021)

Group author with abbreviation

1. First citation

2. Subsequent citation

 

1. (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2021)

2. (NIMH, 2021)

 

1. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2021)

2. NIMH (2021)
Group author without abbreviation (University of Chicago, 2019) University of Chicago (2019)

Notes:

  • Define the abbreviation for a group author only once either in the parenthetical or narrative in-text citation. Every subsequent mention of the group author name can use the abbreviation. 

Exceptions to the basic in-text citation styles:

  • When two works in a paper would both abbreviate to the same "et al." form, spell out as many surnames as needed to differentiate between the two.
  • When multiple works in a paper have an identical author(s) and publication year, append letters to the year: (hooks, 1995a); (hooks, 1995b).
  • When the first authors of multiple references in a paper share the same surname but have different initials, use the initials in the in-text citation. 

For additional guidance please see the Author-Date Citation system page from the APA Style website

What is an indirect citation?

An indirect citation is when the ideas of one author are referenced in another author's work, and you have only read the second author's work and not the original work. When this occurs and you want to cite the original idea you will need to:

  • Include both the original author and the secondary author where the quote/idea was found in the text
  • Add "as cited in/by" before the author of the in-text reference: (as cited by Komlodi, 2005).
  • The reference list should contain an entry for the work in which you found the quotation/idea, and not for where that idea originated (original work)
Citing an indirect citation
Elements of the reference Follow the format type for the item in which you found the indirect citation (book, journal article, etc.)
In-text reference Hofstede (as cited by Komlodi, 2005) described uncertainty avoidance as...
Reference List Komlodi, A. (2005). Cultural models of Hall and Hofstede. In K. Fisher, S. Erdelez, & L. McKechnie (Eds.), Theories of Information Behavior (pp. 108-112). American Society for Information Science and Technology. 

blue icon depicting a bookChanges to quotations are covered in Sections 8.30–8.31 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition

This guidance has been taken directly from the APA Style website changes to quotations page: 

Changes to a quotation not requiring an explanation for readers: 

  • The first letter of the first word in a quotation may be changed to an uppercase or a lowercase letter to fit the context of the sentence in which the quotation appears.
  • Some punctuation marks at the end of a quotation may be changed to fit the syntax of the sentence in which the quotation appears, as long as meaning is not changed (e.g., it might alter meaning to change a period to a question mark, depending on how the sentence is written).
  • Single quotation marks may be changed to double quotation marks and vice versa.
  • Footnote or endnote number callouts can be omitted.
  • Any other changes (e.g., italicizing words for emphasis or omitting words) must be explicitly indicated.

Changes to a quotation requiring an explanation for readers: 

 
  • Use an ellipsis to indicate that you have omitted words within a quotation (e.g., to shorten a sentence or tie two sentences together).
  • Either type three periods with spaces around each ( . . . ) or use the ellipsis character created by your word processing program when you type three periods in a row ( … ), with a space before and after.
  • Use four periods—that is, a period plus an ellipsis (. … )—to show a sentence break within omitted material, such as when a quotation includes the end of one sentence and the beginning of another sentence.
  • Use square brackets, not parentheses, to enclose material such as an addition or explanation you have inserted in a quotation.
  • If you want to emphasize a word or words in a quotation, use italics. Immediately after the italicized words, insert “emphasis added” within square brackets as follows: [emphasis added].

If the quotation contains an error, it is necessary to indicate the error.

screenshot of quotation examples from the APA Style Website

 

APA Style Manuals in the Stacks

Sample APA Student Paper from OWL Purdue

Citation: A (Very) Brief Introduction (NC State Libraries)

Paraphrasing & Summarizing

Quoting, Paraphrasing and summarizing created by Brigham Young University. For APA specific citation guidance please consult a style guide or Weaver Library's Citation Quick Guide.

How to Paraphrase created by the QUT Library. For APA specific citation guidance please consult a style guide or Weaver Library's Citation Quick Guide. 

Helpful Websites