APA Style is widely used by students, researchers, and professionals in the social and behavioral sciences. The Seekrot APA Citation Generator automatically generates accurate references and in-text citations for free.
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APA Citation Generator
In-text citations are brief references in the running text that direct readers to the
reference entry at the end of the paper. You include them every time you quote or
paraphrase someone else’s ideas or words.
An APA in-text citation consists of the author’s last name and the year of
publication (also known as the author-date system). If you’re citing a specific part
of a source, you should also include a locator such as a page number or timestamp.
For example: (Smith, 2020, p. 170).
The in-text citation can take two forms: parenthetical and narrative. Both types are
generated automatically when citing a source with Seekrot’s APA Citation Generator
Parenthetical citation: According to new research … (Smith, 2020).
Narrative
citation: Smith (2020) notes that …
The in-text citation changes slightly when a source has multiple authors or an organization as an author. Pay attention to punctuation and the use of the ampersand (&) symbol.
An APA in-text citation consists of the author’s last name, publication year, and when quoting, a page number: (Parker, 2020, p. 67)
The APA reference page starts with the label “References” in bold and centered. Double-space all text and apply a hanging indent.
The 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual introduces updated guidelines for citing sources, formatting, and academic writing.
On the reference page, you list all the sources that you’ve cited throughout your paper. Place
the page right after the main body and before any appendices.
On the first line of the page, write the section label “References” (in bold and centered). On
the second line, start listing your references in alphabetical order.
Apply these formatting guidelines to the APA reference page:
Double spacing (within and
between references)
Hanging indent of ½ inch
Legible font (e.g. Times
New Roman 12 or Arial 11)
Page number in the top
right header
On the reference page, you only include sources that you have cited in the text (with an in-text citation). You should not include references to personal communications that your reader can’t access (e.g. emails, phone conversations or private online material).
When no individual author name is listed, but the source can clearly be attributed to a
specific organization—e.g. a press release by a charity, a report by an agency, or a
page from a company’s website—use the organization’s name as the author in the reference
entry and in-text citations.
When no author at all can be determined—e.g. a collaboratively edited wiki or an online
article published anonymously—use the title in place of the author. In the in-text
citation, put the title in quotation marks if it appears in plain text in the reference
list, and in italics if it appears in italics in the reference list. Shorten it if
necessary.
When you quote or paraphrase a specific passage from a source, you need to indicate the
location of the passage in your in-text citation. If there are no page numbers (e.g.
when citing a website) but the text is long, you can instead use section headings,
paragraph numbers, or a combination of the two:
(Caulfield, 2019, Linking section, para. 1).
Section headings can be shortened if necessary. Kindle location numbers should not be
used in ebook citations, as they are unreliable.
If you are referring to the source as a whole, it’s not necessary to include a page
number or other marker.
The abbreviation “et al.” (meaning “and others”) is used to shorten in-text citations
with three or more authors. Here’s how it works:
Only include the first author’s last name, followed by “et al.”, a comma and the year of
publication, for example (Taylor et al., 2018).
APA Style usually does not require an access date. You never need to include one when
citing journal articles, e-books, or other stable online sources.
However, if you are citing a website or online article that’s designed to change over
time, it’s a good idea to include an access date. In this case, write it in the
following format at the end of the reference: Retrieved October 19, 2020
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