APA Style Guide - Recommended for Psychology Students: Citing References

Here are some general rules for citing references within the text of your paper:

1. Do not mention the author's first name -- if you reference two authors with the same last name, you may use their first and middle initial to distinguish between them.
2. Do not mention the author's institutional affiliation, or the title of the article or book you are citing.
3. Give credit to the author after the first sentence in a paragraph that refers to the author's ideas -- don't wait until the end of the paragraph.
4. Use page numbers only for direct quotations, and use direct quotations very sparingly.

There are three primary methods for citing a reference within the text of your paper.  Here are examples of all three:

1. Smith (2009) discovered that college students prefer tacos over burritos.
2. Test results indicated a stronger preference for Cheddar cheese among male college students (Smith, 2009).
3. In 2009, Smith's study confirmed that Dr. Pepper is the drink of choice for college students from Kentucky.

Here are some examples if you are citing a resource that has more than one author.  Notice that the ampersand (&) is used in a parenthetical reference.

• Two authors, the first time referenced: Smith and Jones (2009) or (Smith & Jones, 2009)
• Two authors, subsequent references: Smith and Jones (2009) or (Smith & Jones, 2009)

• Three authors, the first time referenced: Smith, Jones, and Lane (2009) or (Smith, Jones, & Lane, 2009)
• Three authors, subsequent references: Smith et al. (2009) or (Smith et al., 2009)

• Four authors, the first time referenced: Smith, Jones, Lane, and Young (2009) or (Smith, Jones, Lane, & Young, 2009)
• Four authors, subsequent references: Smith et al. (2009) or (Smith et al., 2009)

• Five authors, the first time referenced: Smith, Jones, Lane, Young, and Will (2009) or (Smith, Jones, Lane, Young, & Will, 2009)
• Five authors, subsequent references: Smith et al. (2009) or (Smith et al., 2009)

• Six or more authors, the first time referenced: Smith et al. (2009) or (Smith et al., 2009)
• Six or more authors, subsequent references: Smith et al. (2009) or (Smith et al., 2009)