APA Citation Style

The definition of author according to the American Psychological Association (2020) states,

"In a reference, the author refers broadly to the person(s) or group responsible for a work" (p. 285)

Follow these examples of APA style by number of authors:

• One author
• Two authors
• Three+ authors
• Twenty+ authors
• Group/organization/institution as author
• No Author

Reference page:

• Invert author's name (last name first) followed by first initials. Separate an author's last name from first initials with a comma. 
• Authors' first initials should be followed by a period. This applies to 1+ authors. 
• Use one space between initials. This applies to 1+ authors.
• Do not include titles or positions such as MS, PhD, MD, etc. 

Example: 

Tungate, M. (2011). Branded beauty: How marketing changed the way we look. Kogan Page.

In-text:

Tungate (2011) wrote . . . . (p. 43).    OR   . . . . (Tungate, 2011, p. 43).

See p. 286-287 in APA Seventh Edition

Reference page:

• Use a comma to separate first author's initials with additional author names. This applies to 2+ authors
• Separate authors' names with commas with the last author's name preceded with an ampersand (i.e. "&"). This applies for when there are between 2-19 authors

Example:

Manley, A., & Whitaker, L. (2011). Wii-learning: Using active video games to enhance the learning experience of undergraduate sport

psychology students. Sport & Exercise Psychology Review, 7(2), 45–55.

In-text:

• Use "and" between authors’ names when citing in the sentence
• In parentheses, use "&" between authors' names

Manley and Whitaker (2011) . . . . (p. 53).    OR    . . . . (Manley & Whitaker, 2011, p. 53).

See p. 286-287 in APA Seventh Edition

Reference page:

VanFleet, R., Sywulak, A. E., & Sniscak, C. C. (2010). Child-centered play therapy. Guilford Press.

In-text: 

• List first author's name followed by "et al." (the period goes after "al") even if citing in the text the first time. Unless when multiple authors leads to ambiguity such as when there are two citations with similar authors' names.

VanFleet et al. (2010) . . . . (p. 245).    OR    . . . . (VanFleet et al., 2010, p. 245).

See pp. 266-267 in APA Seventh Edition

Reference page:

• List the first 19 authors' names and follow the 19th author's name with an ellipsis. Put a comma after the nineteenth author's name.
• After the ellipsis list the last author's inverted name. 

Example: 

In-text:

Aslam et al. (2004) . . . . (p. 33).   OR    . . . . (Aslam et al., 2004, p. 33)

See pp. 286, 317 in APA Seventh Edition 

Reference page:

• For some resources there are layers of government agencies involved in the publication of the resource. List the most specific agency responsible, and then use the overseeing body/institution/department as the source. 

Example:

In-text:

• You can abbreviate group/institutional authors' names. There are a few stipulations of how to format this both in-text and for the reference page. Generally, provide the full name of group author name upon citing in parenthetical or narrative citations. Do not put the abbreviated version of the name in the reference list. 

Example:

Narrative citation

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI, 2020) described...

OR 

Parenthetical citation 

(National Center for Biotechnology Information [NCBI], 2020)

See pp. 268, 288 in APA Seventh Edition

Reference page:

• If no author is present, use the title element in place of the author’s name.
• If the title is lengthy, it may be shortened in the in-text reference 
• Use “Anonymous” in place of the author only if the source author is designated as such.

Example:

Gas main replacements continue. (2012, August 9). Medicine Hat News, p. A4.

In-text Example:

“Gas Main Replacements Continue” (2012) states . . . (p. A3).   OR   . . . . (“Gas Main Replacements Continue,” 2002, p. A3).

See p. 289 in APA Seventh Edition

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/000165-000