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APA In-Text Citations (7th Ed.) | Multiple Authors & Missing Info

Published on November 4, 2020 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on September 30, 2022.

In-text citations briefly identify the source of information in the body text. They correspond to a full reference entry at the end of your paper.

APA in-text citations consist of the author’s last name and publication year. When citing a specific part of a source, also include a page number or range, for example (Parker, 2020, p. 67) or (Johnson, 2017, pp. 39–41) .

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Table of contents

Apa in-text citations explained in 4 minutes, parenthetical vs. narrative citations, apa in-text citations with multiple authors, no author, date or page number, multiple sources in one parenthesis, avoiding ambiguity in apa in-text citations, citing indirect sources (“as cited in”), citing personal communication, general mentions of websites and software, example paragraph with in-text citations, frequently asked questions.

The in-text citation can be placed in parentheses or naturally integrated into a sentence.

• Parenthetical : There is a correlation between social media usage and anxiety symptoms in teenagers (Parker, 2019) .
• Narrative: Parker (2019) found a correlation between social media usage and anxiety symptoms in teenagers.

The publication year appears directly after the author’s name when using the narrative format. The parenthetical citation can be placed within or at the end of a sentence, just before the period. Check out a full example paragraph with in-text citations .

If a work has two authors, separate their names with an ampersand (&) in a parenthetical citation or “and” in a narrative citation. If there are three or more authors, only include the first author’s last name followed by “et al.”, meaning “and others”.

Group authors known by their abbreviations (e.g., CDC) are written in full the first time and are abbreviated in subsequent citations.

If the author of a source is unknown, try to determine if there is an organization or government responsible for creating the content. If so, include its name in the in-text citation (and reference entry).

Alternatively, use the source title in place of the author. Italicize the title if it’s italicized in the reference entry (except for court cases , which are italicized in the in-text citation but not the reference entry). Otherwise, enclose it in double quotation marks.

Apply title case capitalization, and shorten long titles. The first word of the title should always be included so readers can easily locate the corresponding reference entry.

• (“U.S. Flood Risk,” 2015)
• ( Thinking, Fast and Slow , 2017)

No publication date

If the publication date is unknown, write “n.d.” (no date) in the in-text citation.

No page number (alternative locators)

Page numbers are only required with direct quotes in APA . If you are quoting from a work that does not have page numbers (e.g., webpages or YouTube videos ), you can use an alternative locator, such as:

• (Liu, 2020, 03:26 )
• (Johnson, 2019, Chapter 3 )
• (McCombes, 2016, para. 4 )
• (Davis, 2016, Slide 15 )
• (Flores, 2020, Table 5 )
• (Streefkerk, 2020, “No page number” section )

Note that Bible citations always use chapter and verse numbers, even when page numbers are available:

If a statement is supported by multiple sources, the in-text citations can be combined in one parenthesis. Order the sources alphabetically, and separate them with a semicolon.

When citing multiple works from the same author, list the years of publication separated by a comma.

When in-text citations are ambiguous because they correspond to multiple reference entries, apply the solutions outlined in the table below.

If you want to refer to a source that you have found in another source, you should always try to access the original or primary source .

However, if you cannot find the original source , you should cite it through the secondary source that led you to it, using the phrase “as cited in”.

If the publication date of the primary source is unknown, include only the year of publication of the secondary source.

Only include a reference entry for the secondary source, not the primary source.

Personal communications , such as phone calls, emails, and interviews, are not included in the reference list because readers can’t access them. The in-text citation is also formatted slightly differently.

Include the initials and last name of the person you communicated with, the words “personal communication,” and the exact date in parentheses.

General mentions of a website or software don’t have to be cited with an in-text citation or entry in the reference list. Instead, incorporate relevant information into the running text.

• The website of Scribbr (www.scribbr.com) contains various useful resources.
• Statistical software SPSS (version 25) was used to analyze the data.

When citing a webpage or online article , the APA in-text citation consists of the author’s last name and year of publication. For example: (Worland & Williams, 2015). Note that the author can also be an organization. For example: (American Psychological Association, 2019).

If you’re quoting you should also include a locator. Since web pages don’t have page numbers, you can use one of the following options:

• Paragraph number: (Smith, 2018, para. 15).
• Heading or section name: ( CDC, 2020, Flu Season section)
• Abbreviated heading:  ( CDC, 2020, “Key Facts” section)

Instead of the author’s name, include the first few words of the work’s title in the in-text citation. Enclose the title in double quotation marks when citing an article, web page or book chapter. Italicize the title of periodicals, books, and reports.

If the publication date is unknown , use “n.d.” (no date) instead. For example: (Johnson, n.d.).

The abbreviation “ et al. ” (meaning “and others”) is used to shorten APA 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).

Always include page numbers in the APA in-text citation when quoting a source . Don’t include page numbers when referring to a work as a whole – for example, an entire book or journal article.

If your source does not have page numbers, you can use an alternative locator such as a timestamp, chapter heading or paragraph number.

If you cite several sources by the same author or group of authors, you’ll distinguish between them in your APA in-text citations using the year of publication.

If you cite multiple sources by the same author(s) at the same point , you can just write the author name(s) once and separate the different years with commas, e.g., (Smith, 2020, 2021).

To distinguish between sources with the same author(s) and  the same publication year, add a different lowercase letter after the year for each source, e.g., (Smith, 2020, 2021a, 2021b). Add the same letters to the corresponding reference entries .

In an APA in-text citation , you use the phrase “ as cited in ” if you want to cite a source indirectly (i.e., if you cannot find the original source).

Parenthetical citation: (Brown, 1829, as cited in Mahone, 2018) Narrative citation: Brown (1829, as cited in Mahone, 2018) states that…

On the reference page , you only include the secondary source (Mahone, 2018).

An APA in-text citation is placed before the final punctuation mark in a sentence.

• The company invested over 40,000 hours in optimizing its algorithm (Davis, 2011) .
• A recent poll suggests that EU membership “would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” in a referendum (Levring, 2018) .

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Sources with two authors

If you are citing a source with two authors, the surname of both of the authors should be listed in your in-text citation. You should keep the names in the same order as they are in the source.

The surname and initial(s) of both the authors should appear in the full reference for the source. Use a comma to separate them (as well as an ampersand).

The rest of the reference should follow the usual style for the type of source you are citing.  

In-text citation:

(Reiss & White, 2013, p.6)

Reference list:

Reiss M.J., & White, J. (2013).  An aims-based curriculum: the significance of human flourishing for schools. London:  IOE Press.

Sources with three to five authors

If you are citing a source with three to five authors, cite all authors in the in-text citation the first time it occurs; after this only include the first author's surname followed by 'et al'.

The surname and initial(s) of all the authors should appear in the full reference for the source. Use commas to separate the authors and an ampersand before the last one.

(Rogers, Hallam, Creech & Preti, 2018) - first time

(Rogers et al., 2018) - subsequent references

Rogers, L., Hallam, S., Creech, A., & Preti, C. (2018). Learning about what constitutes effective training from a pilot programme to improve music education in primary schools.  Music Education Research ,  10 (4), 485-497.

Sources with six or more authors

If you are citing a source with six or more authors, the surname of only the first person attributed as one of the source's authors should be included in your in-text citation, followed by the words 'et al'.

All the authors' surnames and initial(s) should appear in the full reference for the source (separated by commas) and with an ampersand before the last author. 

(Battersby et al., 2018)

Battersby, C., Armus, L., Bergin, E., Kataria, T., Meixner, M., Pope, A., Stevenson, K. B., Cooray, A., Leisawitz, D., Scott, D. Bauer, J., Bradford, C. M., Ennico, K., Fortney, J. J., Kaltenegger, L., Melnick, G. J., Milam, S. M., Narayanan, D., Padgett, D., & Wiedner M. C. (2018). The Origins Space Telescope.  Nature Astronomy, 2 , 596-599.

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In-Text Citations: Author/Authors

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APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6 th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , (6 th ed., 2 nd printing).

Note:  This page reflects APA 6, which is now out of date. It will remain online until 2021, but will not be updated. The equivalent APA 7 page can be found here .

APA style has a series of important rules on using author names as part of the author-date system. There are additional rules for citing indirect sources, electronic sources, and sources without page numbers.

Citing an Author or Authors

A Work by Two Authors: Name both authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses each time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in parentheses.

A Work by Three to Five Authors: List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the first time you cite the source. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in parentheses.

In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or in parentheses.

Six or More Authors: Use the first author's name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in parentheses.

Unknown Author: If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks. APA style calls for capitalizing important words in titles when they are written in the text (but not when they are written in reference lists).

Note : In the rare case the "Anonymous" is used for the author, treat it as the author's name (Anonymous, 2001). In the reference list, use the name Anonymous as the author.

Organization as an Author: If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source.

If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets the first time the source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations.

Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses: When your parenthetical citation includes two or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list (viz., alphabetically), separated by a semi-colon.

Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Parentheses: When your parenthetical citation includes two or more works from the same author, list the years of publication in sequence, with the earliest first. Provide in-press citations last. Only list authors' surnames once for each list of dates. 

Following this pattern, multiple works from multiple authors can be contained within a single parenthetical. Separate authors' sources with a semicolon. Note, however, that the authors' names should be provided in the order they appear in the reference list regardless of when their sources were published.

Authors With the Same Last Name: To prevent confusion, use first initials with the last names.

Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year: If you have two sources by the same author in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in the reference list. Use the lower-case letters with the year in the in-text citation.

Introductions, Prefaces, Forewords, and Afterwords: When citing an Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterword in-text, cite the appropriate author and year as usual.

(Funk & Kolln, 1992)

Personal Communication: For interviews, letters, e-mails, and other person-to-person communication, cite the communicator's name, the fact that it was personal communication, and the date of the communication. Do not include personal communication in the reference list.

Citing Indirect Sources

If you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source in your signal phrase. List the secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the parentheses.

Note: When citing material in parentheses, set off the citation with a comma, as above. Also, try to locate the original material and cite the original source.

Electronic Sources

If possible, cite an electronic document the same as any other document by using the author-date style.

Unknown Author and Unknown Date: If no author or date is given, use the title in your signal phrase or the first word or two of the title in the parentheses and use the abbreviation "n.d." (for "no date").

Sources Without Page Numbers

When an electronic source lacks page numbers, you should try to include information that will help readers find the passage being cited. When an electronic document has numbered paragraphs, use the abbreviation "para." followed by the paragraph number (Hall, 2001, para. 5). If the paragraphs are not numbered and the document includes headings, provide the appropriate heading and specify the paragraph under that heading. Note that in some electronic sources, like webpages, people can use the "find" function in their browser to locate any passages you cite.

Note: Never use the page numbers of webpages you print out; different computers print webpages with different pagination.

Other Sources

The APA Publication Manual describes how to cite many different kinds of authors and content creators. However, you may occasionally encounter a source or author category that the manual does not describe, making the best way to proceed can be unclear.

In these cases, it's typically acceptable to apply the general principles of APA citation to the new kind of source in a way that's consistent and sensible. A good way to do this is to simply use the standard APA directions for a type of source that resembles the source you want to cite. For example, a sensible way to cite a virtual reality program would be to mimic the APA's guidelines for ordinary computer software .

You may also want to investigate whether a third-party organization has provided directions for how to cite this kind of source. For example, Norquest College provides guidelines for citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers⁠ —an author category that does not appear in the APA Manual . In cases like this, it's a good idea to ask your instructor or supervisor whether using third-party citation guidelines might present problems.

APA Citations (7th ed.)

• General Formatting
• Professional Paper Elements - Title Page
• Student Paper Elements - Title Page
• In-text Citation Basics
• In-text Citation Author Rules
• Citing Multiple Works
• Personal Communications
• Classroom or Intranet Resources
• Secondary Sources
• Periodicals
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• Audio Works
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• Basics & Formatting
• Avoiding Plagiarism

Author Rules

APA has different rules for in-text citations depending on:

• The number of authors of a work
• Whether you are citing a group author that has an abbreviation
• If an author is unknown or anonymous
• If more than one work has the same author and date
• If multiple authors share surnames

Look to the right to find rules about each of these circumstances.

Number of Authors to Include in In-text Citations

For a work with one or two authors, include the author name(s) in every citation.

     (McCall, 2019)

     (Moyer & Hendricks, 2014)

     Thornton and Manning (2016)

For a work with three or more authors, include the name of only the first author plus "et al." in every citation, including the first citation, unless doing so would create ambiguity.

     (Huerta et al., 2019)

     Kapoor, Bloom, Montez, et al. (2017)

     Kapoor, Bloom, Zucker, et al. (2017)

To learn more about avoiding ambiguity in in-text citations, see pp.266-267 of the manual.

Group Authors, With and Without Abbreviations

Authors may be groups. For example, you may cite a work written by the National Institute of Mental Health, or NIMH.

If a work is authored by one or two groups, include the group author name(s) in every citation.

     (Morningside College, 2019)

     (Harvard University & Cambridge College, 2018)

     (U.S. Department of Agriculture et al., 2019)

If a group author has an abbreviation, introduce the abbreviation in the first citation. In subsequent citations, use the abbreviation in place of the full group name.

      First citation:  (Mothers Against Drunk Driving [MADD], 2015)

      Subsequent citations:  (MADD, 2015)

Unknown or Anonymous Author

For works with an unknown author, include the title and year of publication in the in-text citation.

If the title of the work is italicized in the reference list, also italicize the title in the in-text citation. If the title of the work is not italicized in the reference list, use double quotation marks around the title in the in-text citation.

Capitalize titles in in-text citations using title case, even though sentence case is used in the reference list entry.

      Book with no author:  ( The Future of Entrepreneurship , 2018)

      Magazine article with no author:  ("Towards a Psychology of Collective Memory," 2015)

When the author of a work is overtly designated as "Anonymous," this takes the place of the author name in the in-text citation.

     (Anonymous, 2016)

See pp. 264-265 of the manual for more information.

Works With the Same Author and Same Date

When multiple references have an identical author (or no authors) and publication year, include a lowercase letter after the year. This lowercase letter is also included in the reference entry.

Use only the year with a letter in the in-text citation, even if the reference list entry contains a more specific date.

     (LaBlanc & Ibarra, 2019a)

     (LaBlanc & Ibarra, 2019b)

     (Kirk, n.d.-a, n.d.-b)

Authors With the Same Surname

If the first authors of multiple references share the same surname but have different initials, include the first author's initials in all in-text citations, even if the year of publication differs.

     (J. R. Stuart & Frey, 2016; M. Stuart, 2019)

If the first authors of multiple references share the same surname and the same initials, cite the works in the standard author-date format.

     (Grant, 2019; Grant & Reese, 2017)

If multiple authors within a single reference share the same surname, the initials are not needed in the in-text citations.

     (Chen & Chen, 2018)

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APA (7th Edition) Referencing Guide

• Information for EndNote Users

Number of authors

Format of authors, order of authors, when the author isn't a person, no author or anonymous, who's the author.

• In-Text Citations
• Reference List
• Books & eBooks
• Book chapters
• Journal Articles
• Conference Papers
• Newspaper Articles
• Web Pages & Documents
• Specialised Health Databases
• Using Visual Works in Assignments & Class Presentations
• Using Visual Works in Theses and Publications
• Using Tables in Assignments & Class Presentations
• Custom Textbooks & Books of Readings
• ABS AND AIHW
• Videos (YouTube), Podcasts & Webinars
• Blog Posts and Social Media
• First Nations Works
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• Personal Communication
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• Film / TV / DVD
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• APA Format for Assignments
• What If...?
• Other Guides
• How many authors do you have?
• 1-2 Authors
• 3-20 authors
• More than 20 authors

How many authors?

APA has strict rules for how to show the author's names in the text of your assignment and in your reference list. You need to check the number of authors you have for your work, and then format your references accordingly:

• 1-2 authors

See the tabs on this box for details.

Things to Note:

Pay attention to the use of commas, the ampersand (&), and the word "and".

• You use the word "and" when you are using the author's names as part of your sentence, but an "&" when the names are in the brackets or the reference list.
• In text, you will always use a comma after each author (except the last one) when you have more than two names. In your reference list, you put a comma after each author (except the last one).

You always put a full stop after the al. in et al., because it is short for "et alia" ("and others").

For one or two authors , always mention the names of all authors

Narrative citation: Zhang and Webb (2019) noted that students who read bilingual books performed better in vocabulary tests.

Parenthetical citation: Students who read bilingual books may perform better in vocabulary tests ( Zhang & Webb, 2019).

In Your Reference List:

Zhang, Z., & Webb, S. (2019). The effects of reading bilingual books on vocabulary learning. Reading in a Foreign Language, 31 (1), 109–139.  http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/April2019/April2019/articles/zhang.pdf

When you have 3 or more authors , you only use the first author's surname in text, and abbreviate the rest of the list with "et al." (Latin for "and others"). In your reference list, you list all of the authors (up to 20) .

Narrative citation: Boers et al.'s (2017) research i  nto the use of pictures in glosses found they may decrease the amount of attention given to the words.

Parenthetical citation: Using pictures to illustrate glosses may, in fact, decrease the amount of attention given to the words ( Boers et al. , 2017).

Boers, F., Warren, P., He, L., & Deconinck , J. (2017). Does adding pictures to glosses enhance vocabulary uptake from reading? System, 66, 113-129. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.system.2017.03.017

When you have more than 3 authors (regardless of how many) , you only use the first author's surname in text, and abbreviate the rest of the list with "et al.". In your reference list, you list the first 19 authors and the last one, using an ellipses (...) to show that some authors have been omitted (do not use an ampersand &).

Narrative citation: Tobler et al.'s (2017) research found genetic evidence that suggests Australian Aboriginal people have inhabited the Australian landmass for approximately 50,000 years.

Parenthetical citation: Genetic evidence suggests the Australian Aboriginal people have inhabited the Australian landmass for approximately 50,000 years ( Tobler et al. , 2017).

Always include no more than twenty names, the first 19 and the last one:

Tobler , R., Rohrlach , A., Soubrier , J., Bover , P., Llamas, B., Tuke , J., Bean, N., Abdullah-Highfold , A., Agius , S., O'Donoghue , A., O'Loughlin , I., Sutton, P., Zilio , F., Walshe , K., Williams, A. N., Turney , C. S. M., Williams, M., Richards, S. M., Mitchell, N., ... Cooper, A. (2017) . Aboriginal mitogenomes reveal 50,000 years of regionalism in Australia. Nature, 544 (7649), 180-184. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21416

• Use only initials of author's first or given names within the reference list
• If the author's first name is hyphenated then format as initial, full stop, hyphen and second initial. For example, Jean-Luc Picard is formatted as Picard, J.-L.
• For hyphenated surnames include both names and the hyphen in the reference list and the in text citation. For example: (Jones-Smith, 2015)
• For surnames with multiple parts that do not include a hyphen include both names separated by a space in the reference list and the in text citation. For example: Arce Arias, A. (2017).
• If the surname includes a particle (for example, van, der, den, la, von etc), include the particle before the surname in the reference list and the in text citation. Follow the authors example regarding capitalisation. For example: (van der Woodsen, 2021) (Del Castillo, 2017)
• If the authors name has a suffix, include the suffix after the second initial in the reference list. For example, Jones, H. W., Jr., & Jones, H. W., Sr. (1941) ... Do not include the suffix in the in-text citation

Some points to remember about authors:

• Do not alter the order of the authors within a citation (that is, the first, second, third etc authors of a work). You should leave them in the order they appear on the work.
• Your reference list will be placed in alphabetical order based on the name of the first author for each reference. See the page on Reference list structure for more information about the order of your references.
• (Corbin, 2015; James & Waterson, 2017; Smith et al., 2016).
• (Corbin, 2015; 2018)
• (Queensland Health, 2017a; 2017b)
• Use only the surnames of your authors in text (e.g., Smith & Brown, 2014) - however, if you have two authors with the same surname who have published in the same year, then you will need to use their initials to distinguish between the two of them (e.g., K. Smith, 2014; N. Smith, 2014). Otherwise, do not use initials in text .

Notes on et al.:

"Et al." is short for "et alia" - which means "and others". Note this is plural - "other s " - you only use it when there is more than one "other" (which is why you never use it for a work with two authors - always name both authors). Never use et al. to replace one person.

If you have the same first author and date for two works, but the other authors are not the same for both works, keep listing authors until the citations are clearly different, and then use et al. for the remaining authors.

For example:

Chan, G. C., Leung, J., Quinn, C., Kelly, A. B., Connor, J. P., Weier, M., & Hall, W. D. (2016). Rural and urban differences in adolescent alcohol use, alcohol supply, and parental drinking. The Journal of Rural Health, 32 (3), 280-286. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12151

Chan, G. C., Kelly, A. B., Connor, J. P., Hall, W., Young, R. M., Toumbourou, J. W., & Williams, J. (2016). Regional versus urban differences in teenage alcohol use: Does parental disapproval account for these differences? Australian Journal of Rural Health, 24 (1), 3-8. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajr.12177

If you used both of these works for your paper you would cite them like this:

(Chan, Leung, et al., 2016)

(Chan, Kelly, et al. 2016)

If the first two or three (etc) authors are the same, keep adding authors until they are different.

(Chan, Kelly, Smith, et. al, 2016)

(Chan, Kelly, White, et al., 2016)

Remember, you don't use et al. for only one person, so if there were only three authors and you needed to name the first two authors in your in-text citation, you would name all three authors. If you had only four authors, and you had to include the first three authors to make the citation clear, then you would include all four authors.

When this happens, use an & between your last two authors:

(Smith, Jones & Brown, 2016)

(Taylor, Brown, Gwyrdd & Schwarz, 2016)

There are circumstances where you cannot find a person to use as your author because the "author" is a group, a company or an organisation. Some times there is no author, in which case see " No author or anonymous " below.

Is the author a company or organisation?

• Government bodies (such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics or the Department of Education and Training) are often the official "author" of the works they publish.
• Companies are usually the authors of their web pages

Write the company's name in full, the first time you use them, in text, then you can use an acronym. Always write the name in full in the reference list.

For example :

In text, the first time:

Narrative: The American Psychological Association (APA, 2012) noted that...

Parenthetical: The consumer price index is collated by using around a million pricing structures (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2018).

In text, subsequent times:

Narrative: As noted by the APA (2012)...

Parenthetical: New weights were used to maximise transaction data (ABS, 2018).

In the reference list:

Do not use acronyms unless the acronym is the official name of the company/organisation - and even then try to find the full version (e.g. CSIRO is Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation). Check the legal information or copyright pages of the organisation's web site.

American Psychiatric Association. (2012). How to write an APA style reference when information is missing . http://blog.apastyle.org/files/missing-pieces---apa-style-reference-table.pdf

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2018). Consumer price index, Australia, Dec 2017 (No. 6410.0). http://www.abs.gov.au

N.B. Write author names "as is" to the best of your ability. Use their capitalisation, spacing and punctuation. If they use an "and" or and "&" in their name (e.g. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) retain the version of "and/&" they have used.

Is there a corporate body (like a government department or a company) who is responsible for the work? They're probably your author. Take a look at " When the Author isn't a person " above.

Is the work anonymous, or without a byline?

• Sometimes newspaper articles and dictionary or encyclopedia entries don't have an author attributed. Editorials in peer reviewed journals may not have a byline. These works are unattributed, but they are not "anonymous".
• Only list the author as "anonymous" if the article/work has been attributed to "Anonymous" or "Anon". If there is no attribution, follow the advice below.

When there is no attributed author, move the title of the article (or encyclopedia entry, etc) to the first position in the reference list. In text, use the title of the document in "quotation marks" where you would use the author's name. For long titles, it is okay to use only the first few words.

Narrative: In the Nature editorial, "On the March" (2017), it was suggested that crowds might be "painted as hostile" (p. 137) by the media.

Parenthetical: During the 2017 presidential inauguration, there were some moments of awkwardness ("Mrs. Obama Says ‘Lovely Frame’", 2018).

Please note: In text, the title of the article is given title case - that is, major words are capitalised. You do not use title case in the reference list.

On the march. (2017). Nature, 554 , 137. https://www.nature.com/articles/544137a.pdf

Mrs. Obama says ‘lovely frame’ in box during awkward handoff. (2018, February 1). AP News . https://www.apnews.com/31f3520500c94a6ebfdbd2a0db5f4b60

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APA 7th Edition Citation Guide

• Introduction
• Formatting Your Paper
• In-Text Citations
• Books and eBooks
• Business Reports
• Conference Presentations and Publications
• Dissertations and Theses
• Government Documents, Statutes, and Court Cases
• Images and Advertisements
• Missing Information
• Multiple Authors
• Personal Communications (E-mails, Interviews, etc.)
• Previous Coursework
• Religious Works
• Secondary Source/Indirect Citation (as cited in)
• Social Media
• Video and Audio
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Annotated Bibliographies
• Get Help Now

Source with Two Authors

Rules for citing more than one author apply to all sources, regardless of format. Below is an example of a book with two authors.

Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use an ampersand (&) for parenthetical citations.

Reference Page Format:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of Publication). Format the remainder according to resource type.

Reference Page Example:

Loveless, D., & Griffith, B. (2014).  Critical pedagogy for a polymodal world . Birkhäuser.

In-text Citation Examples:

According to Loveless and Griffith (2014) ... ...(Loveless & Griffith, 2014). ...(Loveless & Griffith, 2014, p. 121).

Source with Three to Twenty Authors

For all sources with three to twenty authors, include all of the authors on your References page. 

For in-text citations, sources with three or more authors can be abbreviated to only the first author's last name followed by "et al." For example, (Author et al., Year).

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C. (Year of Publication).  Format the remainder according to resource type .

Somerville, I., Purcell, A., & Morrison, F. (2011). Public relations education in a divided society: PR, terrorism and critical pedagogy in post-conflict Northern Ireland.  Public Relations Review, 37 (5), 548-555. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.09.008

According to Somerville et al. (2011) ... ... (Somerville et al., 2011). ... (Somerville et al., 2011, p. 549).

Source with Twenty-One or More Authors

For sources with twenty-one or more authors, write out the first twenty authors on the References page, add an ellipsis (...), and end with the last author. 

For in-text citations, sources with more than twenty authors can be abbreviated to only the first author's last name followed by "et al." For example, (Author et al., Year).

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C., Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F., Author, G. G., Author, H. H., Author, I. I., Author, J. J., Author, K. K., Author, L. L., Author, M. M., Author, N. N., Author, O. O., Author, P. P., Author, Q. Q., Author, R. R., Author, S. S., Author, T. T., . . . Author, Z. Z. (Year of Publication).  Format the remainder according to resource type .

Aad, G., Abbott, B., Abdallah, J., Abdinov, O., Aben, R., Abolins, M., AbouZeid, O. S., Abramowicz, H., Abreu, H., Abreu, R., Abulaiti, Y., Acharya, B. S., Adamczyk, L., Adams, D. L., Adelman, J., Adomeit, S., Adye, T., Affolder, A. A., Agatonovic-Jovin, T., Aguilar-Saavedra, J. A., Alen, S. P., . . . Woods, N. (2015). Combined measurement of the Higgs boson mass in pp collisions at √s=7 and 8 TeV with the ATLAS and CMS experiments.  Physical Review Letters, 114 (19), 1-33. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.191803

According to Aad et al. (2015) ... ... (Aad et al., 2015). ... (Aad et al., 2015, p. 20).

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APA 7th Edition Referencing Guide1

• What is APA?

In-text citations

• Reference list
• Chapter in an edited book
• Journal articles & Databases
• Works with multiple authors
• Webpages & online
• General images faqs
• Audiovisual media
• Personal communication
• Study material
• New Zealand legislation
• Other resources
• Tricky health resources
• APA for publication

Quick links

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Referencing works with multiple authors

Reference list entries for books, journal articles, or any resource with multiple authors can include up to 20 authors' names before it is necessary to abbreviate.

• For resources with 21+ authors, use the names of the first 19 authors, followed by ellipsis (...) and the name of the final author (i.e., there should be a maximum of 20 authors included in the reference list entry). 

Number of authors to include in text

In-text citations for works with three (3) or more authors can be shortened to the name of the first author and 'et al.' (and page/para. number as usual). 

Important When abbreviating in-text citations with the use of et al., take care to avoid ambiguity.  For example:

(Smith, Jones, & Brown, 2018). (Smith, Jones, Brown, Anderson, Williams, Wilson, & Andrews, 2018).

Both citations above refer to  different works  published in the same year. Both could be shortened to simply (Smith et al., 2018), thereby creating confusion as to which work is being cited. To avoid ambiguity,  the names of as many authors as necessary to distinguish the sources should be used in each citation before abbreviation with et al. For example :

(Smith, Jones, & Brown, 2018). (Smith, Jones, Brown, Anderson et al., 2018).

Referencing a book with two authors

The example below shows how to reference a book with two authors and indicates the different elements needed.

Surname, A., & Surname, A. (Copyright date).   Title: Subtitle in italic sentence case (edition number if applicable.). Publisher.

Dawson, J., & Lucas, R. (1993). Lifestyles of New Zealand forest plants (4th ed.) .   Victoria University Press. 

Reference list entry

Dawson, J., & Lucas, R. (1993). Lifestyles of New Zealand forest plants . Victoria University Press.

Page/paragraph numbers are optional for paraphrased information.

Narrative Dawson and Lucas (1993) argue that ... (p. 67). Parenthetical ... (Dawson & Lucas, 1993, p. 67).

Referencing a work with three or more authors

Stillings, N. A., Weisler, S. E., Chase, C. H., Feinstein, M. H., Garfield, J. L., & Rissland, E. L. (1995).  Cognitive science: An introduction  (2nd ed.). The MIT Press.

Narrative Stillings et al. (1995) argue that ... (p. 67). Parenthetical ... (Stillings et al., 1995, p. 67).

Referencing a work with 21+ authors

List the first 19 authors in correct APA style, followed by an ellipsis (three consecutive dots), then the last author's name in APA style.

Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Zhu, Y., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Higgins, W., Janowiak, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetmaa, A., ... Joseph, D. (1999). The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meterological Society , 77 (3), 437–471. https://doi.org / fg6rf9 

Narrative Kalnay et al. (1996) outline ... (p. 438). Parenthetical ... (Kalnay et al., 1996, p. 438).

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• URL: https://libguides.wintec.ac.nz/APA7

APA Citation Style Guide (7th Edition)

• In-text: Multiple Authors
• In-text: First and Subsequent Citations
• In-text: Authors and Dates Matching
• APA Examples- Print
• APA Examples- Electronic
• APA Examples- Multimedia
• Step 1- Author
• Step 2- Date
• Step 3- Title
• Step 4- Source
• Guide to Citing Sources This link opens in a new window

How to Use This Guide

Citations are a two-part system: in-text citations connected to reference list citations .

This guide will help you create in-text citations that correlate with the corresponding reference list citations.

Follow the assignment formatting instructions provided by your professors.  They often dictate which style and edition they prefer you use.  If you are uncertain, it's usually best to ask them directly what they prefer. 

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If you are citing a source that has multiple authors, follow the directions below.

Multiple Authors

• 3 or More Authors:

Always cite both authors' names in-text every time you reference them.

Johnson and Smith (2019) found...

...was their conclusion (Johnson & Smith, 2019).

If a document has three or more authors, simply provide the last name of the first author with "et al." from the first citation to the last.

   Ramirez et al. (2017) likened abnormal psychology to...

   ... distractions (Ramirez et al., 2017).

Important Note: If you have two or more documents that look the same when shortened, please follow the guidelines set out in the Authors and Dates Matching section.

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