APA In-Text Citations and Sample Essay 7th Edition

July 22, 2025

Posted by STLCC in Writing Resources 

Proper citation of sources is a two-part process: the in-text citation and the reference page. In-text citations are abbreviated citations inserted in the body of an essay. They point the reader to a source’s information on the references page. The in-text citation typically includes the author's last name and the year of publication. If you use a direct quote, the page number is also provided.

You must cite all quoted, paraphrased, or summarized words, ideas, and facts from sources. Without in-text citations, you are technically in danger of plagiarism, even if you have listed your sources at the end of the essay.

More information can be found on p. 253 of the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

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Print Citations

Narrative Quotation (Author Named in the Text)

The last names of the authors are used in the “signal phrase,” followed by the year of publication in parenthesis. The page number is listed in parenthesis at the end of the quote.

Heinze and Lu (2017) stated, “The NFL shifted its responses to institutional change around concussions significantly as the field itself evolved” (p. 509).

Parenthetical Quotation (Author Not Named in the Text)

At the end of the quote, the names of the authors, year of publication, and page number are listed in parentheses.

As the NFL developed as an organization, it “shifted its responses to institutional change around concussions significantly” (Heinze & Lu, 2017, p. 509).

Paraphrasing

For paraphrases, page numbers are encouraged but not required.

As the NFL developed as an organization, its reactions toward concussions also transformed (Heinze & Lu, 2017).

Works with 3 or More Authors

Use the first author’s name and follow it with “et al.” and the date. (This is the abbreviation for the Latin words meaning “and all.”)

Solving the issue of violence in prisons begins with determining aspects that might connect with prisoners' violent conduct (Thomson et al., 2019).

Sources without Author

For sources without an author, use the title of the work and the date in parentheses. Put the titles of articles, chapters, and web pages in quotation marks; italicize report titles. If necessary, shorten the title if it is long.

The U.S. should study the procedures that Chile’s government used to achieve a “flawless” rescue of 33 miners trapped after a tunnel collapsed (“All 33 Chilean miners,” 2010).

Secondary Sources

When using Secondary Sources, indicate “as cited in” and cite the secondary source on the References page.

In 1936, Keynes wrote, “governments should run deficits when the economy is slow to avoid unemployment” (as cited in Richardson, 2008, p. 257).

Long (Block) Quotations

When using direct quotations of 40 or more words, indent five spaces from the left margin without using quotation marks. The final period should come before the parenthetical citation.

At Meramec, an English department policy states:

To honor and protect their own work and that of others, all students must give credit to proprietary sources that are used for course work. It is assumed that any information that is not documented is either common knowledge in that field or the original work of that student. (St. Louis, 2001, p. 1)

An Organization or Group as Author

On the first reference, write out the organization’s full name, the date, and page number. With subsequent references, abbreviate the name. When naming the group after the citation, write out the name in full and add the abbreviation in brackets. Use the abbreviation thereafter.

Narrative citation:
According to the American Psychological Association (2010), the group’s mission is “to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people’s lives” (APA, p. 1).

Parenthetical citation:
More than 300 million people worldwide are affected by depression (World Health Organization [WHO], 2018, p. 7).

Citing Multiple Works by the Same Author

Use the date to distinguish the two works, e.g. Johnson (2012) and Johnson (2018). If the works were published the same year, use lower-case letters to distinguish them: Smith & Johnson (2015a), Smith & Johnson (2015b).

Citing Multiple Works with Different Authors

When two or more works provide the same or similar information, cite both and separate the works by semicolons.

Research shows that listening to a particular accent improves comprehension of accented speech in general (Gass & Varonis, 1984; Krech Thomas, 2004).

Sources without Dates

Use n.d. (for no date) in place of the date. Smith (n.d.)

Website Citations

The format for citations from a website is the same as for any other citation. If the source was found on a database, don’t include the database information in the citation, just as you wouldn’t include the name of the bookstore or library where you found a print work.

General Example

It was discovered that “Two out of five deaths among U.S. teens are the result of a motor vehicle crash” (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2004, Overview section, para. 1).

Direct Quotation with the Author, Date of Publication and Page Number

Page numbers are rare in online citations. If they’re available, use the same format as print works.

Direct Quotation with the Author and Date but no Page Number

Give the author’s name followed by the date in parentheses. The paragraph number replaces the page number at the end.

Gass and Varonis (1984) found that “the listener’s familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (para. 85)

View the Sample APA Essay

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For additional information on APA, check out STLCC's LibGuide on APA.