Citations

Rules for in-text citing in APA style

Gordon Coleman, “In-text Citation in APA Style: Notes Sheet, Exercise, Answer Key”, https://urls.
bccampus.ca/35.
 What does “cite” mean?

Source:
Oxford
Dictionaries
What do you cite?

• A fact

• An idea
that you have borrowed from
• A quote another author/source

• Data
How do you cite?
• Parenthetical citation / in-text citation
(Last name of author, year of publication, page number)
Ex:
(De Silva, 2006, p. 23)

• Each in-text citation must correspond to a full citation in your

reference list
Ex:
De Silva, J. (2006). A greener world with green building practices.
Journal of Construction. 4, 20-35
But, is ‘citing’ that simple?
• Answer: No. Given below are some complications in citations:

a) If you are referring to the whole document or article, a page

number is not necessary.
Ex:
(Perera, 2005)

b) For work with two authors, use an ampersand ‘&’

Ex:
(Raheem & Ratwatte, 2013)
c) If there are 3-5 authors;
• The first time you cite, cite them all
(Karunarathne, Perera, & Silva, 1998, p. 65)
• From the second time onwards, use “et al”
(Karunarathne, et al., 1998, p. 65)

d) If there are six or more authors;

• Use “et al” after the first author’s last name, from the
first time of citing onwards
(De Silva, et al., 2016) [=This means this book is written
by De Silva and more than five other authors]
e) If there is no author, you sometimes use the title of the item/
article/webpage as author. If it is very long, use the first few words.
Ex:
If it’s an article (“Comprehensive study on”, 2003)
If it’s a book/ report (Annual Report, 2017)

f) Multiple authors: Separate items by semicolons [ ; ]

Ex:
(Kellar, 2009; Rodrigo, 2015; Newton; 1985; Gass, 2003)
f) Multiple work by the same author: separate items with commas [ , ]
Ex:
(Norton, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2013)

g) Multiple work by the same author published in the same year:

Distinguish them with a, b, c. Separate with commas [ , ]
Ex:
(Norton, 2001a, 2001b)

h) In instances where the author can be a group/an institution:

Ex:
(University of Moratuwa Library, 2005)
Styles of Citing
• Stylistically, it is common practice to use the author’s name in the
text of the essay, in which case you can omit it from the
parenthetical citation. Either of the following two versions is fine:

Smith and Jones (2005) argued that ….

It has been argued that ……. (Smith & Jones, 2005)

Reporting Verbs
State Argue Recommend
Maintain Contend
Claim Assert
Disagree Emphasize
Demonstrate Deny Highlight
Manifest Stress
Present Suggest
Posit
According to ….. As V+ed by ….