Whenever you quote or paraphrase the other’s work, you are required to cite its source. Citations to sources are placed within the text of the paper to briefly identify the sources and enable readers to locate the source of the cited information in the reference list.
In APA Style, references are cited in text with an author-date citation system and they are listed alphabetically in the reference list.
| Works by a single author |
Last name of author and year of publication are inserted in the text at appropriate points. If the name of author appears as part of the narrative, cite only the year of publication in parentheses. |
| Works by two authors |
When a work has two authors, always cite both last names every time the reference occurs in the text. Join the names with an ampersand (&) in parentheses. In the narrative text, join the names with the word "and". |
| Works by three or more authors |
When a work has three or more authors, cite only the last name of the first author followed by “et al.” and the year of publication in every citation. |
| Works by associations, corporations, government agencies, etc. | The names of groups that serve as authors are usually written out each time they appear in the text. When appropriate, the names of some corporate authors are spelled out in the first reference and abbreviated in all subsequent citations. e.g. In the study of The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK, 2017) … EdUHK (2017) found that … |
| Works with no author |
For works with an unknown author, include the title and year of publication in the in-text citation. Italicize the title if the title of work is italicized in the reference. Place the title in quotation marks if the title of the work is not italicized in the reference. Capitalize the title in the text using title case. If the title is long, shorten it for the in-text citation. |
| Multiple works |
When citing two or more references within the same parentheses, place the citations in alphabetical order, separating them with semicolons. |
| Secondary sources |
In the text, identify the primary source and write "as cited in" the secondary source that you used. |
| Direct quotation |
Provide the author, year, and page number of the quotation in the in-text citation in either parenthetical or narrative format. |
The APA Style is the editorial style commonly used in the field of social and behavioral sciences and has been used to present written material by writers around the world.
APA Style rules and guidelines are found in the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. They are designed for clear and consistent presentation of written materials.
American Psychological Association (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association: The official guide to APA style. (7th ed.).
Available in Library: BF76.7 .P83 2020