HSA 3111 APA Support: In-Text Citations

Parenthetical vs Narrative citation: 

• Parenthetical citation requires author and date in parentheses (Author last name, date). 
• Narrative citation incorporates the author name in the narrative, followed by year in parentheses. Author (date) writes... In date, Author stated...

Example:

• Huskin (2016) suggests that classroom activities that include writing help students stay engaged. (narrative)

• In 2016, Huskin suggests that classroom activities that include writing help students stay engaged. (narrative)

• “Writing activities increase students’ learning and engagement” (Huskin, 2016). (parenthetical)

In-text citations for reliable websites

Many reliable resources published by the government, educational institutions or organizations do not have a specific author. In this case, the organization that published the resource becomes the author. 

(Organization, date). -parenthetical 

Organization (date) -narrative 

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020). -parenthetical
*note: following citations of the same source can be shortened to (CDC, 2020).  

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2020)…  -narrative

Single Author: 

(Author Last Name, Year)

Example:

“Writing activities increase students’ learning and engagement” (Huskin, 2016). 

Two Authors:

(Author Last Name & Author Last Name, Year)

Example:

(D'Amico & Barbarito, 2016) -parenthetical

D'Amico and Barbarito (2016) state... -narrative

*note: use the "&" in parenthetical citation, use "and" in narrative

Three and More Authors:

(Author Last Name et al., Year)

Example:

(Landon et al., 2017). -parenthetical

Landon et al. (2017) write... -narrative

Source with no known date:

When a date for a source is not available, APA uses the abbreviation n.d. for no date.

Example:

(Island Health, n.d.). -parenthetical

Island Health (n.d.) -narrative