APA citation style - 7th edition
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Authors
One author
- In most cases, providing the author's last name and the publication year are sufficient:
Smith (1997) compared reaction times...
Within a paragraph, you need not include the year in subsequent references.
Smith (1997) compared reaction times. Smith also found that...
Two authors
- If there are two authors, include the last name of each and the publication year:
... as James and Ryerson (1999) demonstrated...
... as has been shown (James & Ryerson, 1999)...
3 or more authors
- If there are three or more authors, include the last name of only the first author followed by "et al.":
Wottom et al. (2017) found that...
... was also noted (Wotton et al., 2017)...
Corporate authors
- The names of groups that serve as authors (e.g., corporations, associations, government agencies, and study groups) are usually spelled out each time they appear in a text citation. If it will not cause confusion for the reader, names may be abbreviated thereafter:
First citation: (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 1999)
Subsequent citations: (NIMH, 1999)
Updated: Tuesday 15 March 2022