Parenthetical and narrative
In-text citations have two formats. In a parenthetical citation, the author name and date appear together in parentheses. In a narrative citation, the author's name is part of the sentence and only the year follows in parentheses.
Falsely balanced news coverage can distort the public's perception of expert consensus on an issue (Koehler, 2016).
Koehler (2016) noted the dangers of falsely balanced news coverage.
In a parenthetical citation with two authors, use an ampersand (&) between their names. In a narrative citation, always spell out "and."
One, two, or more authors
- One author: name in every citation
- Two authors: both names in every citation
- Three or more: first author + "et al." every time
For a work with three or more authors, include the name of only the first author plus "et al." in every citation, even the first one.
| Authors | Parenthetical | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| One | (Luna, 2020) | Luna (2020) |
| Two | (Salas & D'Agostino, 2020) | Salas and D'Agostino (2020) |
| Three or more | (Martin et al., 2020) | Martin et al. (2020) |
Group authors
You aren't required to abbreviate a group author's name, but you can if it's well-known, would otherwise repeat a lot, or appears at least three times in the paper. Give the full name the first time, then the abbreviation.
The American Psychological Association (APA, 2017) provided information on overcoming opioid abuse.
People can overcome opioid abuse through residential treatment (American Psychological Association [APA], 2017).
In the reference list entry, never abbreviate the group author name — spell it out in full.
Citing several works at once
When citing multiple works parenthetically, place the citations in alphabetical order and separate them with semicolons.
(Adams et al., 2019; Shumway & Shulman, 2015; Westinghouse, 2017)
For two or more works by the same authors, give the surname(s) once and list each date after it, ordered with undated works first, then chronologically, then in-press works last.
(Department of Veterans Affairs, n.d., 2017a, 2017b, 2019)
If multiple sources are cited within the narrative of a sentence, they can appear in any order.
A source has four authors: Smith, Jones, Lee, and Park (2021). Which is the correct parenthetical citation the very first time you cite it?
Show the answer
(Smith et al., 2021) APA Style says that for a work with three or more authors, you include only the first author plus 'et al.' in every citation, even the first one.