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APA Citation

Author Information

This element refers to any main person(s) of a source, such as: author(s), editor(s), creator(s), director(s), performer(s), translator(s), etc. For main persons other than authors, add the respective word or abbreviation in parentheses after the name(s).

 

One author

For a source with one author, your author information will consist of the last name and initials (not full given names). Note that in the related in-text citation only the last names are used. 

 

Example:

Smail, D. L. (2008). On deep history and the brain. University of California Press.

 

A related possible in-text citation:

Smail (2008) suggested that the speed of human cultural evolution is linked to the turnover rate of cultural entities.

 

For more detailed information, see the In-text Citations Author page.

 

Two to twenty authors

For two to twenty authors, list them in the order in which they are listed in the work. Begin the entry with the last name of the first author, followed by a comma and initial(s). Follow this with any further authors in the same way and use an ampersand (&) before the last author. Note that in the related in-text citation only up to two authors' names are listed.

 

Example two authors:

Clarkson, S., & Mildenberger, M. (2011). Dependent America?: How Canada and Mexico construct U.S. power. University of Toronto Press.

Example four authors: 

Songer, D. R., Johnson, S. W., Ostberg, C. L., & Wetstein, M. E. (2012). Law, ideology, and collegiality: Judicial behaviour in the Supreme Court of Canada. McGill-Queen's University Press. 

For more than twenty authors, see here

 

Related possible in-text citations:

The economic wellbeing of both Canada and Mexico is dependent on their relations with the United States (Clarkson & Mildenberger, 2011).  

Songer et al. (2012) found that "the actual voting behaviour of the justices is related to the political attitudes they bring to the court" (p. 174). 

 

For more detailed information, see the In-text Citations Author page.

 

Same author(s) and same date

If you have two or more sources from the same author(s) and with the same year, add the letter a, b, c, etc. to the date. List the citations in alphabetical order of the title in the reference list. For more information, see APA's page on citing works with the same author and same date.

 

Example:

Koriat, A. (2008a). Easy comes, easy goes? The link between learning and remembering and its exploitation in metacognition. Memory & Cognition, 36, 416–428. https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.36.2.416
Koriat, A. (2008b). Subjective confidence in one’s answers: The consensuality principle. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 945–959. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.34.4.945

 

Related possible in-text citations: 

In his initial study, Koriat (2008a) hypothesized that ......, but his other study showed that .... (Koriat, 2008b).

 

For more detailed information, see the In-text Citations Author page.

 

Group author

Group authors are often government agencies, nonprofit organizations, institutions, and task forces. Although for the in-text citation, the name of the group can sometimes be abbreviated, the name of a group author must be spelled out in full in the reference list entry.

 

Example:

Kwantlen Polytechnic University. (2024). Kwantlen Polytechnic University pay transparency report.  https://www.kpu.ca/sites/default/files/KPU_Pay%20Transparency%20Report_2024_Final.pdf
 

Related possible in-text citation (first mention): 

A recent report by this institution shows that more women hold lower paying jobs than men (Kwantlen Polytechnic University [KPU], 2024). 

Related possible in-text citation (after first mention): 

According to a recent report, more women hold lower paying jobs than men at this institution (KPU, 2024).

 

For more detailed information, see the In-text Citations Author page.

 

No author

Put the title in the author position (abbreviate it if it is long). If the title in the Reference list is in italics, italicize the title in the in-text citation as well. If the title is NOT italicized in the reference list, put it in quotation marks in the in-text citation. Capitalize these titles in the text using title case, even though sentence case is used in the reference list entry. Add a locator if necessary.

 

Examples:

The Good housekeeping illustrated book of child care: From newborn to preteen. (1995). Hearst Books.

 

Related possible in-text citations: 

One important relationship between nutrition and health is .... (Good Housekeeping, 1995).

 

For more detailed information, see the In-text Citations Author page.

 

Main persons of a source other than authors

Add the respective word or abbreviation in parentheses after the name(s).

 

Examples:

Toner, J. P. (Ed.). (2019). A cultural history of the senses: Vol. 1. A cultural history of the senses in antiquity. Bloomsbury Academic.  

Coates, C. M., & Wynn, G. (Eds.). (2019). The nature of Canada. On Point Publishing.

Wenders, W. (Director). (2003). Wings of desire [DVD]. MGM Home Entertainment.

Martin, A. (Writer), & Earnshaw, P. (Director). (2010). Jenny from the block [Television series episode]. In T. Fortier, I. Schneeberg, A. Martin, & J. Sinyor (Executive Producers), Being Erica. Temple Street Productions.