APA Referencing: In-Text Citation

Paraphrasing is when you put into your own words the author's main ideas, points and concepts. Summarising is when you create a shortened version of the original text. You need to use your own words and still convey the author's ideas in this summary. These are the preferred methods to use when including information in an assignment as it shows that you have an understanding of the ideas expressed in the text. 

An in-text citation is required when you paraphrase or summarise information. This consists of the author's surname (or the name of the group) and the year of publication. A page or paragraph number is optional.

Part of the sentence

As Seligman (2018) states, the study found that managers preferred to arrange face to face or phone meetings rather than communicate in writing.

OR

End of the sentence

The study found that managers preferred to arrange face to face or phone meetings rather than communicate in writing (Seligman, 2018).

Paraphrasing author(s) multiple times in a paragraph.

 

One author

Part of the sentence

Hartley (2018) concludes that ...

OR

End of the sentence

... (Hartley, 2018).

Two authors

When the in-text citation is part of the sentence and outside the parentheses (round brackets), you spell the word and out in full. When the in-text citation is at the end of the sentence, it is in round brackets and the ampersand (&) which is the symbol for and is used

Part of the sentence

Fulton and Turner (2008) found “supervision was a positive predictor of perceptions of control for females but not for males” (p. 530).

OR

End of the sentence

Females reacted differently to supervision than males (Fulton & Turner, 2008).

Three or more authors

If there are three or more authors, cite only the first author followed by et al. This is an abbreviation of a Latin phrase and means 'and others'.

Part of the sentence

According to Dicker et al. (2018), “women survived to hospital handover in 29% of cases, which was not significantly different from men (31%)” (p. 369).

OR

End of the sentence

Survival and discharge from hospital after a coronary event depends on many factors (Dicker et al., 2018).

Group authors

Group authors may be abbreviated in the second and subsequent in text citations if the name is long or it is readily recognisable. (Spell out the full name in the reference list)

1st citation

Part of the sentence

Ministry of Health (MOH, 2020) states...

OR

End of the sentence

... (Ministry of Health [MOH], 2020).

2nd and subsequent citation

Part of the sentence

MOH (2020) indicated that...

OR

End of the sentence

... (MOH, 2020).

A direct quote is when you copy word for word, what is written in the book, journal, report etc.

If you directly quote an author you need to use double quotations marks around the quote and provide a way of locating the information in the original source. You do this by including the page number that the quote is found on.

Part of the sentence 

Elder (2020) believes "bringing forward our indigenous knowledge cannot be separated from aroha" (p. 111).

OR

End of the sentence 

"Bringing forward our indigenous knowledge cannot be separated from aroha" (Elder, 2020, p. 111).

No page numbers

If there are no page numbers (e.g. a web document or HTML version), you provide a paragraph number (para.), a section heading, or both.

Part of the sentence 

Ministry of Health (2019) reported that the app "incorporates user-generated content, allowing the community to upload content like activities, healthy recipes and exercise groups" (para. 10).

OR

End of the sentence 

"If the level of carbon monoxide in a room goes above ‘safe levels’ people with heart disease may get chest pain or angina" (Ministry of Health, 2012, Potential health effects section, para. 7).

Part of the sentence 

Orange (2021) states that: During the first decades of settlement, the foreshore was not automatically considered to be Crown property. The common law brought to New Zealand in 1840 recognised Māori customary rights to land and (in certain places) to the foreshore, which was seen by Māori as an extension of the land. (p. 111)

OR

End of the sentence 

Researchers state that, During the first decades of settlement, the foreshore was not automatically considered to be Crown property. The common law brought to New Zealand in 1840 recognised Māori customary rights to land and (in certain places) to the foreshore, which was seen by Māori as an extension of the land. (Orange, 2021, p. 111)

If a quote contains 40 words or more:

• It needs to start on a new line in an indented block that is 0.5 in. from the left margin
• No quotation marks are used
• Double space the entire block quotation

. You can either:

• Cite the author and year as part of the sentence before the quote, with the page number placed in round brackets after the quote's final full stop

OR

• Cite the author, year and page number at the end of the quote in round brackets after the final full stop

Citing multiple works written by different authors saying the same thing

Narrative citation 

Jones (2022) and Kukutai (2020) examined ...

• When multiple authors are cited as part of the sentence they can appear in any order

Parenthetical citation

... (Jones, 2022; Kukutai, 2020).

• When citing multiple works by different authors in the same in-text parentheses, place the authors alphabetically by family name, separated by a semicolon (;)

 

Citing multiple works written by the same author in the same year saying the same thing

Narrative citation

The Ministry of Health (2017a, 2017b) states that hospitalisations ...

• When the same author says the same thing from two different sources that are published in the same year, the author is outside the parentheses, the dates are in the parentheses separated by a comma

Parenthetical citation

... equity in healthcare (Ministry of Health, n.d., 2017a, 2017b, 2019).

• Arrange multiple works by the same author by year of publication. Give the author name once. Place citations with no date first, then dates in chronological order separated by a comma. 

Citing multiple works written by the same author in the same year, saying different things

As Durie (2011a) explains .... ... (Durie, 2011b).

According to Singh ( n.d.-b), "hospital handover in ..." (para. 3.). Survival and discharge ... (Singh, n.d.-a)

• Reference list entries are arranged alphabetically by author
• If the same author writes multiple works in the same year, you arrange the reference list entries alphabetically by the title (disregarding "A", "An" and "The" at the beginning of the title)
• To show which book the quote or paraphrase comes from, you add a lowercase letter e.g. a, b, c, etc immediately after the year in your reference list
• It is this alphabetical order of titles in the reference list that determines which lowercase letter is next to the date in your in-text citation
• When there is no date, use (n.d.) which stands for no date and add a hyphen before the lowercase letters

Same author, different year

Hall (2020) believes that ...

... (Hall, 2019).

• When citing multiple works by the same author which have been published in different years, the reference list is arranged by year of publication, with the earliest first (see also books, ebooks)

 

Key Changes between APA 6th and APA 7th edition (University of Auckland)

Paraphrasing Author(s) Multiple Times in a Paragraph 

Whitireia/WelTec Learning Support Guides

Assignment Writing - Covers plagiarism, paraphrasing

Tūāpapa Online Study Hub Modules. To access go to Moodle:

Click here if you are a Whitireia student. 

Click here if you are a Weltec student. 

• Log in if prompted
• Click Academic Communication, then Introduction to APA and Plagiarism & Academic Integrity

Referencing Tools 

APA Interactive, Massey University

APA Style Blog

Referencite, University of Auckland

Referencing software

Mendeley 

Zotero

Plagiarism

Avoiding plagiarism guide 

Hill, D. J. (2015). A beginners' guide to plagiarism: What is plagiarism and how can you avoid it? Ako Aotearoa.  https://ako.ac.nz/assets/Knowledge-centre/RHPF-c57-A-beginners-guide-to-plagiarism/PRACTICAL-GUIDE-BOOK-A-Beginners-Guide-to-Plagiarism.pdf

Hyphenated names

If an author's surname is hyphenated, include both names and the hyphen

... (Smith-Jones, 2020).

Non hyphenated names

If there is no hyphen, but two parts to the surname, include both names

... (Smith Jones, 2020).

Surname with a prefix

If there is a prefix e.g. de, de la, der, van, von, include it before the surname. Keep the author's preferred capitalisation i.e. if it is lowercase v for von, that is what you would write.

... (von Thiele Schwarz, 2015).

... (de Tour, 2019).

Surname with a suffix

If there is Jr. or Sr. or III, include in the reference list entry but not in-text. e.g. John Smith Jr. 

... (Smith, 2020).

Author with a title

Omit titles e.g. Dr., Professor, Rt. Hon., Sir etc. e.g. A book by Professor Brian Cox

... (Cox, 2020).