CPCC Library logo

Basic In-Text APA Citation format

  • Standard format - (Author's last name, publication year)
    • Or, cite a source in-text using the author's last name, followed year of publication in parentheses. According to Moyer (2011), "New college students often had some initial difficulty using APA style.”
  • No date - use n.d. in place of the year (Author’s last name, n.d.)

Tricky In-Text APA Citation format

  • Unknown author - use title (or first few words of the title) in place of author; ex. ("Television," 2010).
  • If the title is italicized in the References page citation, italicize it in the in-text citation. Ex. (Wuthering Heights, 2011).

Tangled In-Text APA Citation format

  • Multiple Authors
    • 2 authors - use both last names with & between; ex. (Smith & Jones, 2014, p. 65)
    • 3 or more authors – Use the first name and then “et al.” ex. (Smith et al., 2014)

​Punctuation - Carefully proofread your citations for proper use of punctuation (periods, commas, quotation marks, italics, etc.)

If your in-text citation question is more complicated, contact a Librarian who can provide you the answer in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition, which is not available online.

For more assistance, please contact a Librarian.