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APA 7th Referencing

American Psychological Association, 7th edition

In-text citations overview

In-text citations appear in the body of your assignment. 

You must include an in-text citation when using text (quote or paraphrasing) or visual content (image, chart or table) that has been taken from another source.

The citation should include:      

  • Author's surname* 

  • Year of publication

  • Page number** 

*If there is no author or organisation name, please refer to more citation formats. 
**When quoting, page numbers must be included where available. When paraphrasing, you do not need to include the page number; however it is encouraged, as it assists others to find the information that is referenced.

Citations can be positioned in the text as follows:

  • At the start of the sentence
    e.g. Bond (2015) states...

  • At the end of the sentence
    e.g. The results in the study were not conclusive (Bond, 2015). 

 

Avoid undercitation and overcitation:

  • Undercitation: Ensure all sources of information or works referred to are given credit using an in-text citation. 

  • Overcitation: Do not repeat the same citation for every subsequent sentence where the source and topic are unchanged.
    e.g. ... was concluded by the study (Hamburg & Schulz, 2022). The results centred around the link between the participants and their experiences and outlined justification for the program's continuation. In addition, the positive relationships built between groups A and B were noted and are to be further investigated in the coming months. 

 

 In-text citations are normally included in the word count unless otherwise specified in your assessment submission guidelines.

Speak to your teacher regarding assessment submission requirements.

Example in-text citations

Screenshot of a paragraph with in-text citation

Citation elements

Paraphrase

Example screenshot of an in-text citation for a paraphrase

Quote

Example screenshot of an in-text citation for a quote

Citation formats

Author
First citation
2nd citation onwards                       
Notes
1 author

(Bond, 2015)

OR

Bond (2015)

See: first citation. 
2 authors

(Tsukino & Shields, 2014)

OR

Tsukino and Shields (2014)

See: first citation. 
3 or more authors

(Potter et al., 2015)

OR

Potter et al. (2015)

See: first citation. 

All citations:

  • List first author only, followed by: et al.
Organisation/Corporate
author (no abbreviated
name)

(Austin Health, 2016)

OR

Austin Health (2016)

See: first citation. 

Includes: 

  • Organisations
  • Associations
  • Government agencies 
  • Universities 
  • Educational institutes 
  • Businesses
Organisation/Corporate
author (widely known by abbreviation)

(Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2024)

OR

Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS] (2024)

(ABS, 2024)

OR

ABS (2024)

First citation:

  • Use full name with
    abbreviation in [square brackets]

2nd citation onwards:

  • Use abbreviated form without square brackets
As cited in (secondary source)

(O'Reilly, 1998, as cited in Byrne, 2008)

OR

O'Reilly (1998, as cited in Byrne, 2008)		 See: first citation.  Used to cite a reference mentioned in another source.
Hyphenated names
  • Authors/Editors with a hyphenated first name should have a hyphen added in between their initials with no space.
    e.g. Fernández-Castillo, R.-J.
Editor
  • If the author is an editor, such as the compiler of collected works, list the editor(s) in-text.
    E.g. Saligari (2017) or (Saligari, 2017)

 

  • You can also refer in-text to an author from the collected works.
    E.g. Preston was a prolific poet (for a collection of his works, see Logan, 2016)
No author

  • Use the title in place of the author. Capitalise tiltes in-text but not in reference list. Book titles should be italicised, journal article titles should be enclosed in "double quotation marks".
    E.g. Book: (Career Success, 2018) or Career Success (2018) 
           Journal article: ("Business Plans," 2015) or "Business Plans", 2015

  • If the title is long, shorten the title to the first few words.
    ​E.g. The full title Organizing from the inside out: The foolproof system for organizing your home, your office and your life could be shortened to Organizing From The Inside Out
No date
  • Use n.d. in place of date.
    E.g. (Hair and Beauty Australia, n.d.) or Hair and Beauty Australia (n.d.).
No page numbers (quotes)
  • Quotes for webpages do not require a page number.
  • When quoting a source (e.g. ebook) with no page numbers available, you can provide a heading/section name or paragraph number instead. e.g. (Hobson, 2021, para. 3).
Discontinuous page numbers from same source
  • Separate discontinous page numbers from the same source with a comma.
    E.g. (Tang & Chen, 2022, pp. 14, 20-21)
Multiple authors with the same surname
  • Use their initials to differentiate the authors.
    E.g. J. H. Bond (2015) or (J. H. Bond, 2015), and J. A. Bond (2015) or (J. A. Bond, 2015)
Multiple citations in one reference 
  • For multiple citations in one reference, list in alphabetical order and separate with a semicolon.
    E.g. (Bond, 2015; Tsukino & Shields, 2014)
Multiple works by the same author with the same date
  • Differentiate by adding a-z in alphabetical order after the year.
    E.g. (Bond, 2015a) and (Bond, 2015b). Where Bond, 2015a will be the first Bond with the year 2015 listed in the reference list

Quotes / Paraphrasing

Quotes are text that is repeated or copied from text written by another person, with the exact same wording, punctuation and spelling.

  • “Double quotation marks” must be used.
  • The author, year and page number (if provided) must be cited.
  • The page number can be placed at the end of the quote, as in the image below.
     

Paraphrasing is when you use your own words to express someone else's ideas, or to summarise their research.

When paraphrasing, you do not need to include the page number; however it is encouraged, as it assists others to find the information that is referenced.

Example screenshot of document showing in-text citations throughout paragraph

 

Brief or longer quotes

Brief quotes are less than 40 words. Refer to Quotes above for format.
 

Longer quotes are 40 words or more. Format as a block quote, as explained below:

  • Do not use “quotation marks”.
  • Start the quote on a new line.
  • Indent the block quote about half an inch on the left margin.
  • Cite the source at the end of the quote, after the final punctuation mark. If the author was cited in the sentence before the quote, then only reference the page or paragraph at the end.
     

Example of a longer quote:

The study by Preston and Logan (2014) showed that

this is the quote here. It started in lowercase because it is continuing on from the sentence above. The quote goes for at least 40 words. The paragraph can continue after this block quote; just continue with the text aligned on the left margin, in line with the sentence that introduced this quote. This quote then stands out, indented on its own (p. 78).

Further information on in-text citations