Each time you use a source of information in your text, you need to identify the source. In the APA style, you do this by an in-text citation or parenthetical citation technique. It looks like this:
Example:
It can be seen that the trend for smaller families in the northern hemisphere developed in the latter half of the 20th Century (Philllips, 2003). However, there were some exceptions in southern Europe (UNICEF, 2009). Indeed, one study found that "Albania did not show such a trend at all" (Singh, Mathews and Pfeffer, 2010, p.55).
Analysis:
In this fictitious example, a source of information by one author, together with the year of publication (Phillips, 2003) has been used, followed by information in a website by an organization (UNICEF, 2009). Finally, a study by 3 authors has been used and here, a quote from the source is used, so a page number needs to be added.
Each time you use a source of information, you need to cite in-text.
The in-text citation in APA adopts the following order:
open bracket or parenthesis sign
author's surname or family name (or organization's name or acronym)
comma
year of publication
close bracket or parenthesis sign
When quoting, following this order:
open bracket or parenthesis sign
author's surname or family name (or organization's name or acronym)
comma
year of publication
comma
p then a full stop or period
space
page number
close bracket or parenthesis sign
Some tips
A quote needs to be in double quotation marks, i.e. "............(quote)............."
Don't forget, an author can be an individual or an organization.
You only put the author's last name, not first name, in the in-text citation.
If you reference two sources at the same time, you put them in the same brackets, e.g. (Jenkins and Rodriguez, 1999; Smallbone, 1987). The order is alphabetic, according to the first-named author's surname. You separate the two references by a semi-colon (;).
