APA Style consist of two parts, the in-text citations and the reference list at the end of the document. Cite the work of those individuals whose ideas, theories, or research have directly influenced your work and cite only works that you have read and ideas that you have incorporated into your writing. It is important that you present texts of others in your own words to show the reader that you have reflected on those texts and that your own writing is only an interpretation. When you cite it is good practice to use words which clearly indicate that you are citing someone else's text. Example: "The author shows that ..." or "The author explains ..." Other verbs that indicate that a citation is to follow, are: to state, mean, point out, propose, etc.
Each work cited in the text is given a brief in-text citation, including the author, publication year and page number if necessary. This in-text citation enables readers to locate the corresponding entry in the alphabetical reference list at the end of the paper. The in-text citation have two formats: in parenthetical citations, the author name and publication year appear in parentheses; in narrative citations this information is incorporated into the text as a part of the sentence.
Each work cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and each work in the reference list must be cited in the text. Each reference list entry provides detailed information about the author, date, title and source.
Below are some general guidelines, for more examples look up the document type under Examples in the Reference List.
Parenthetical: The production of electric cars in Sweden will increase (Andersson, 2013).
Narrative: Andersson (2013) discusses the production of electric cars in Sweden.
Parenthetical: Usage of graphene within the Swedish industry are discussed in a study (Andersson & Person, 2013).
Narrative: Andersson and Person (2013) discuss future usage of graphene...
Parenthetical: ... (Svensson et al., 2016)
Narrative: Svensson et al. (2016) write...
Provide the full name of the group on first mention in the text, followed by the abbreviation. The next time you cite the source, the abbreviation is used.
First time:
Parenthetical: Several types of cancer have decreased in the population (National Cancer Institute [NCI], 2018).
Narrative: A report from National Cancer Institute (NCI, 2018) shows...
Thereafter
Parenthetical: The report (NCI, 2018) also states...
Narrative: NCI (2018) further report...
When citing multiple works parenthetically, place the citations in alphabetical order, separating them with semicolons.
(Collette, 1992; Moriguchi & Terazono, 2000; Pany, 2019)
Arrange two or more works by the same authors by year of publication. Place citations with no date first, followed by works with dates in chronological order; in press citation appear last.
(Nationella folkhälsokommittén, n.d., 2018a, 2018b, 2020)
Hueng et al. (2017, 2019, in press)
If multiple sources are cited within the narrative of a sentence, they can appear in any order.
Örjansson (2020), Andersson (2019) and Magnusson (2019) argued...
For works with an unknown author the title moves to the author position in the reference list, include the title and year of publication in the in-text citation. Please note if the title of the work is italicized in the reference, also italicize the title in the in-text citation. If the title of a work is not italicized in the reference, use double quotation marks around the title in the in-text citation.
Book with no author: (Att utreda, forska och rapportera, 2001)
Article from newspaper with no author: "Oldest bacteria fossils? Or are they merely tiny rock flaws?" (2002)
If the first authors of multiple references share the same surname but have different initials, include the first authors´ initials in all in-text-citations, even if the year of publication differs, Initials help avoid confusion within the text and help readers locate the correct entry in the reference list.
Parenthetical: (J. M. Taylor & Neimeyer, 2015; T. Taylor, 2014)
Narrative: J. M. Taylor and Neimeyer, (2015) and T. Taylor (2014)
When multiple references have an identical author and publication date, include a lowercase letter after the year. These letters are assigned when the references are placed in order in the reference list alphabetically by title. The year-letter combination is used both in the in-text citation and the reference list entry.
Parenthetical: (Andersson, 2013a, 2013b)
Narrative: Andersson discusses the production of electric cars in Sweden (2013a) and in Germany (2013b)...
A quotation is identical to the original text. If the text you are quoting is short (i.e. less than 40 words), it is common to begin with the author's last name and the year of publication in parentheses, then put the original text between quotation marks, and end the sentence with page numbers in parentheses.
Example:
Andersson's (2012) study shows that "There are good opportunities to build more houses in Gothenburg ..." (p. 250).
If the quotation needs to be longer, begin the quote as shown above, and indent the text (also known as block quotation), and omit the quotation marks.
Example:
Anderson's (2012) study argues that:
There are good opportunities to build more houses in Gothenburg in the coming years.
Focus will be on a development on Hisingen where student housing is mixed
with larger apartments for families and small ones for single adults. (p. 250)
Cite secondary sources sparingly. As a matter of good scholarly practice always try to find the primary source, read it, and cite it rather than the secondary source. If it is not available and you consider the source be of great importance for your work, use the template below.
Parenthetical: (Dysthe, 1995, as cited in Davidsson & Boglind, 2000).
Narrative: Dysthe (1995) (as cited in Davidsson & Boglind, 2000) discuss…
In the reference list, provide an entry for the secondary source that you used.