how to cite a literature review apa

APA Style Citation Guide 7th Edition

• APA 7th Style Manual
• Books and eBooks
• Films, YouTube & More
• Government Sources
• Open Educational Resources
• AI or ChatGPT
• Social Media
• Art, Clip Art or Photos
• Authors: Missing or Anonymous
• Missing Reference Information
• Direct Quotes
• Reference Page Format
• Abstract and Keywords
• Annotated Bibliography
• Style and Grammar Guidlines
• Paper Formatting Tips
• Sample Paper
• APA 7th Style Chart
• Abbreviations
• Bias Free Language
• Capitalization
• DOIs and URLs

Literature Review

• Paraphrasing
• Preferred Spelling
• Quotation Marks
• APA 7th Tutorials
• APA 7th for Business
• APA 7th for Nursing
• Journal Accounting Reporting Standards (JARS)
• Presentations
• Dissertation & Thesis Resources
• Research Methods & Analysis Resources
• Statistics & Analysis Resources
• Publishing Resources
• CRAAP Criteria and Video
• Peer Review
• Zotero Reference Manager
• Literature Review via APA Style.org

"a narrative summary and evaluation of the findings or theories within a literature base.  Also known as 'narrative literature review'. "

• Key takeaways from the Psi Chi webinar So You Need to Write a Literature Review via APA Style.org

Examples of Literature Reviews

• Financial socialization: A decade in review (2021)
• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of anxiety disorders - a literature review (2021)
• << Previous: Italics
• Next: Paraphrasing >>
• Last Updated: May 2, 2024 9:06 AM
• URL: https://libguides.ggc.edu/apastyle_7th

Boatwright Memorial Library

Citing sources research guide: literature reviews.

• Quick Citing in Databases
• Chicago/Turabian
• ASA & AAA (Soc/Ant)
• ACS (Chemistry)
• AP (Associated Press)
• APSA (Political Science)
• SBL (Society of Biblical Literature)
• Harvard Style
• MS Word Help
• DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers)
• Annotated Bibliographies
• Literature Reviews
• EndNote Web
• Citation exercises This link opens in a new window

Literature Reviews: Overview

This video from NCSU Libraries gives a helpful overview of literature reviews. Even though it says it's "for graduate students," the principles are the same for undergraduate students too!

Reading a Scholarly Article

• Reading a Scholarly Article or Literature Review Highlights sections of a scholarly article to identify structure of a literature review.
• Anatomy of a Scholarly Article (NCSU Libraries) Interactive tutorial that describes parts of a scholarly article typical of a Sciences or Social Sciences research article.
• Evaluating Information | Reading a Scholarly Article (Brown University Library) Provides examples and tips across disciplines for reading academic articles.
• Reading Academic Articles for Research [LIBRE Project] Gabriel Winer & Elizabeth Wadell (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI))

Literature Review Examples

What is a Literature Review?

The literature review is a written explanation by you, the author, of the research already done on the topic, question or issue at hand. What do we know (or not know) about this issue/topic/question?

• A literature review provides a thorough background of the topic by giving your reader a guided overview of major findings and current gaps in what is known so far about the topic. 
• The literature review is not a list (like an annotated bibliography) -- it is a narrative helping your reader understand the topic and where you will "stand" in the debate between scholars regarding the interpretation of meaning and understanding why things happen. Your literature review  helps your reader start to see the "camps" or "sides" within a debate, plus who studies the topic and their arguments. 
• A good literature review should help the reader sense how you will answer your research question and should highlight the preceding arguments and evidence you think are most helpful in moving the topic forward.
• The purpose of the literature review is to dive into the existing debates on the topic to learn about the various schools of thought and arguments, using your research question as an anchor. If you find something that doesn't help answer your question, you don't have to read (or include) it. That's the power of the question format: it helps you filter what to read and include in your literature review, and what to ignore.

How Do I Start?

Essentially you will need to:

• Identify and evaluate relevant literature (books, journal articles, etc.) on your topic/question.
• Figure out how to classify what you've gathered. You could do this by schools of thought, different answers to a question, the authors' disciplinary approaches, the research methods used, or many other ways.
• Use those groupings to craft a narrative, or story, about the relevant literature on this topic. 
• Remember to cite your sources properly! 
• Research: Getting Started Visit this guide to learn more about finding and evaluating resources.
• Literature Review: Synthesizing Multiple Sources (IUPUI Writing Center) An in-depth guide on organizing and synthesizing what you've read into a literature review.
• Guide to Using a Synthesis Matrix (NCSU Writing and Speaking Tutorial Service) Overview of using a tool called a Synthesis Matrix to organize your literature review.
• Synthesis Matrix Template (VCU Libraries) A word document from VCU Libraries that will help you create your own Synthesis Matrix.

Additional Tutorials and Resources

• UR Writer's Web: Using Sources Guidance from the UR Writing Center on how to effectively use sources in your writing (which is what you're doing in your literature review!).
• Write a Literature Review (VCU Libraries) "Lit Reviews 101" with links to helpful tools and resources, including powerpoint slides from a literature review workshop.
• Literature Reviews (UNC Writing Center) Overview of the literature review process, including examples of different ways to organize a lit review.
• “Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review.” Pautasso, Marco. “Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review.” PLOS Computational Biology, vol. 9, no. 7, July 2013, p. e1003149.
• Writing the Literature Review Part I (University of Maryland University College) Video that explains more about what a literature review is and is not. Run time: 5:21.
• Writing the Literature Review Part II (University of Maryland University College) Video about organizing your sources and the writing process. Run time: 7:40.
• Writing a Literature Review (OWL @ Purdue)
• << Previous: Annotated Bibliographies
• Next: Zotero >>
• Last Updated: Mar 20, 2024 9:09 AM
• URL: https://libguides.richmond.edu/citingsources

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition)

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

In-Text Citations

Resources on using in-text citations in APA style

Reference List

Resources on writing an APA style reference list, including citation formats

Other APA Resources

Citation Styles

• Chicago Style
• Annotated Bibliographies

What is a Lit Review?

How to write a lit review.

• Video Introduction to Lit Reviews

Main Objectives

Examples of lit reviews, additional resources.

• Zotero (Citation Management)

What is a literature review?

• Either a complete piece of writing unto itself or a section of a larger piece of writing like a book or article
• A thorough and critical look at the information and perspectives that other experts and scholars have written about a specific topic
• A way to give historical perspective on an issue and show how other researchers have addressed a problem
• An analysis of sources based on your own perspective on the topic
• Based on the most pertinent and significant research conducted in the field, both new and old

• A descriptive list or collection of summaries of other research without synthesis or analysis
• An annotated bibliography
• A literary review (a brief, critical discussion about the merits and weaknesses of a literary work such as a play, novel or a book of poems)
• Exhaustive; the objective is not to list as many relevant books, articles, reports as possible
• To convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic
• To explain what the strengths and weaknesses of that knowledge and those ideas might be
• To learn how others have defined and measured key concepts    
• To keep the writer/reader up to date with current developments and historical trends in a particular field or discipline
• To establish context for the argument explored in the rest of a paper
• To provide evidence that may be used to support your own findings
• To demonstrate your understanding and your ability to critically evaluate research in the field
• To suggest previously unused or underused methodologies, designs, and quantitative and qualitative strategies
• To identify gaps in previous studies and flawed methodologies and/or theoretical approaches in order to avoid replication of mistakes
• To help the researcher avoid repetition of earlier research
• To suggest unexplored populations
• To determine whether past studies agree or disagree and identify strengths and weaknesses on both sides of a controversy in the literature

• Choose a topic that is interesting to you; this makes the research and writing process more enjoyable and rewarding.
• For a literature review, you'll also want to make sure that the topic you choose is one that other researchers have explored before so that you'll be able to find plenty of relevant sources to review.

• Your research doesn't need to be exhaustive. Pay careful attention to bibliographies. Focus on the most frequently cited literature about your topic and literature from the best known scholars in your field. Ask yourself: "Does this source make a significant contribution to the understanding of my topic?"
• Reading other literature reviews from your field may help you get ideas for themes to look for in your research. You can usually find some of these through the library databases by adding literature review as a keyword in your search.
• Start with the most recent publications and work backwards. This way, you ensure you have the most current information, and it becomes easier to identify the most seminal earlier sources by reviewing the material that current researchers are citing.

The organization of your lit review should be determined based on what you'd like to highlight from your research. Here are a few suggestions:

• Chronology : Discuss literature in chronological order of its writing/publication to demonstrate a change in trends over time or to detail a history of controversy in the field or of developments in the understanding of your topic.  
• Theme: Group your sources by subject or theme to show the variety of angles from which your topic has been studied. This works well if, for example, your goal is to identify an angle or subtopic that has so far been overlooked by researchers.  
• Methodology: Grouping your sources by methodology (for example, dividing the literature into qualitative vs. quantitative studies or grouping sources according to the populations studied) is useful for illustrating an overlooked population, an unused or underused methodology, or a flawed experimental technique.

• Be selective. Highlight only the most important and relevant points from a source in your review.
• Use quotes sparingly. Short quotes can help to emphasize a point, but thorough analysis of language from each source is generally unnecessary in a literature review.
• Synthesize your sources. Your goal is not to make a list of summaries of each source but to show how the sources relate to one another and to your own work.
• Make sure that your own voice and perspective remains front and center. Don't rely too heavily on summary or paraphrasing. For each source, draw a conclusion about how it relates to your own work or to the other literature on your topic.
• Be objective. When you identify a disagreement in the literature, be sure to represent both sides. Don't exclude a source simply on the basis that it does not support your own research hypothesis.
• At the end of your lit review, make suggestions for future research. What subjects, populations, methodologies, or theoretical lenses warrant further exploration? What common flaws or biases did you identify that could be corrected in future studies?

• Double check that you've correctly cited each of the sources you've used in the citation style requested by your professor (APA, MLA, etc.) and that your lit review is formatted according to the guidelines for that style.

Your literature review should:

• Be focused on and organized around your topic.
• Synthesize your research into a summary of what is and is not known about your topic.
• Identify any gaps or areas of controversy in the literature related to your topic.
• Suggest questions that require further research.
• Have your voice and perspective at the forefront rather than merely summarizing others' work.
• Cyberbullying: How Physical Intimidation Influences the Way People are Bullied
• Use of Propofol and Emergence Agitation in Children
• Eternity and Immortality in Spinoza's 'Ethics'
• Literature Review Tutorials and Samples - Wilson Library at University of La Verne
• Literature Reviews: Introduction - University Library at Georgia State
• Literature Reviews - The Writing Center at UNC Chapel Hill
• Writing a Literature Review - Boston College Libraries
• Write a Literature Review - University Library at UC Santa Cruz
• << Previous: Annotated Bibliographies
• Next: Zotero (Citation Management) >>
• Last Updated: Jan 17, 2024 2:47 PM
• URL: https://researchguides.elac.edu/Citation

Literature Review: A Self-Guided Tutorial for NUR 288

• Literature Reviews: A Recap
• Peer-Review
• Reading the Literature
• Developing Research Questions
• 2. Review discipline styles
• Super Searching
• Finding the Full Text
• Citation Searching
• Evaluating online information
• When to stop searching
• How to cite your sources following APA
• In-Text Citations
• Keeping track of your references
• Annotating Articles Tip
• 5. Critically analyze and evaluate
• How to review the literature
• Using a synthesis matrix
• 7. Write literature review

APA Overview

For a quick overview of how to cite your sources following APA Style, watch the video APA Style.

Watch the APA 7th Edition Overview 00:03:02   

Source:  American Psychological Association. (2020).  Publication manual of the American Psychological Association  (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

• Owl Excelsior Lab

APA Citation Style Overview

Start by Downloading   the APA 7th Edition  Reference Quick Guide to help you visualize how you cite your references.

The Quick Guide is missing on how to cite a webpage. A webpage will never be the home page of the URL. It is part of a greater whole that is the website. When the author and site name are the same, omit the site name from the source element. Provide the most specific date possible. Include a retrieval date only when the content is designed to change over time and the page is not archived.

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page or section. Site Name. URL

National Nurses United. (n.d.). National Nurses United response to COVID-19. https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/covid-19

The Quick Guide is missing how to cite Web supplemental materials.

• Report: Corporate/government, group author, retrieved on online:
• If a report, series, or issue number is given, provide this in parentheses after the title. Describe less common forms of reports in square brackets after the title like the example below. If the report number is available, and the report needs a special description, place the parentheses before the brackets in the reference entry.

Name of Group. (Year, Month Day). Title of report (Report number, if available) [Description, if needed]. Publisher Name (omit if the same name as group author). DOI or URL

National Institute of Health. (2019, May). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml

• APA 7th ed. Reference Guide APA guide
• APA Documentation Style 7th edtion WCC Writing Center 2023
• << Previous: 4. Manage your references
• Next: In-Text Citations >>
• Last Updated: May 1, 2024 2:54 PM
• URL: https://libguides.wccnet.edu/literature_review

How to Write a Literature Review: Writing a Literature Review in APA Format

• Writing a Literature Review in APA Format
• Chicago/Turabian Citation Style
• Primary and Secondary Sources
• Basic Research Strategies
• Evaluating Sources
• Using the Library's Ebooks
• Using the Library's Catalog
• Copyright Information
• Contact Information & Feedback

Writing a Literature Review in APA

• << Previous: Videos
• Next: APA/Chicago/Turabian/MLA Citation Style >>
• Last Updated: Sep 25, 2023 2:24 PM
• URL: https://tuskegee.libguides.com/c.php?g=692585

How to Write a Literature Review

• Critical analysis
• Sample Literature Reviews
• Scaffold examples for organising Literature Reviews
• Writing an Abstract
• Creating Appendices
• APA Reference Guide
• Library Resources
• Guide References

Reference Guide

APA 7th edition Reference Guide  

St Patrick's College uses APA 7th edition to reference information sources. There are some subjects where APA Referencing is not used, so it is important to clarify with your teacher regarding the reference style required.    

This guide provides the rules for the  APA  7th Edition Reference style  and its application across a range of source material, including print, online, audio/visual, images and graphs, social media and personal communication. Each source has its own page within the guide, with in-text citation and reference listing examples.

The Library Team are available to help you get your head around referencing, and can check your reference lists prior to assignment submission. A Library Helpdesk ticket needs to be raised to action this request.

The APA Reference Guide can be found on the Library website:

The APA Reference Guide can also be found in every Research Guide, as per highlighted area below:

• << Previous: Glossary
• Next: Library Resources >>
• Last Updated: Apr 8, 2024 9:14 AM
• URL: https://saintpatricks-nsw.libguides.com/lit_review

• Link to facebook
• Link to linkedin
• Link to twitter
• Link to youtube
• Writing Tips

How to Cite a Review in APA Referencing

2-minute read

• 8th November 2020

Reviews of books, films, and other media can be great sources in academic writing. But how do you cite a review using APA referencing ? In this post, we explain the basics of citations and the reference list entry.

In-Text Citations for a Review in APA Style

Citations for a review in APA referencing are similar to those for other sources. This means you cite the reviewer’s surname and year of publication:

One review was especially scathing (Smith, 2001).

In addition, if you quote a print source, make sure to cite a page number:

Smith (2001) dismisses the argument as “puerile” (p. 16).

For more on APA citations, see our blog post on the topic .

Reviews in an APA Reference List

The format for a review in an APA reference list will depend on where it was published. For instance, for a review published in a newspaper, you would cite it as a newspaper article . But for a review published on a blog or website, you would cite it as a blog post or website instead.

Find this useful?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.

In all cases, though, you will need to adapt the format by adding details of the thing being reviewed in square brackets after the review title.

You can see APA-style references for reviews from an academic journal and a website below, complete with this extra information:

Smith, G. (2001). A backward step for applied ethics [Review of the book Righteous Thought, Righteous Action , by X. Morrison]. Journal of Applied Philosophy , 18(1), 16–24.

Bert, E. (2018). Neil Breen outdoes himself again [Review of the film Twisted Pair , by N. Breen, Dir.]. BadMovieCentral. http://www.badmoviecentral.com/reviews/twisted-pair/

This ensures the reader can identify both the review you’re citing and the thing being reviewed from the reference list entry alone.

Expert APA Proofreading

To make sure your references are all in order, as well as the rest of your academic writing, check out our free online APA guide . You might also want to get your work proofread by one of our APA experts. Learn more about our APA proofreading services here.

Share this article:

Post A New Comment

Got content that needs a quick turnaround? Let us polish your work. Explore our editorial business services.

3-minute read

How to Insert a Text Box in a Google Doc

Google Docs is a powerful collaborative tool, and mastering its features can significantly enhance your...

How to Cite the CDC in APA

If you’re writing about health issues, you might need to reference the Centers for Disease...

5-minute read

Six Product Description Generator Tools for Your Product Copy

Introduction If you’re involved with ecommerce, you’re likely familiar with the often painstaking process of...

What Is a Content Editor?

Are you interested in learning more about the role of a content editor and the...

4-minute read

The Benefits of Using an Online Proofreading Service

Proofreading is important to ensure your writing is clear and concise for your readers. Whether...

6 Online AI Presentation Maker Tools

Creating presentations can be time-consuming and frustrating. Trying to construct a visually appealing and informative...

Make sure your writing is the best it can be with our expert English proofreading and editing.

× The Sherrill Library will be REMOTE March 4-17 due to construction. Study spaces, computers and printers will be available in the open atrium spaces. Moriarty Library will be open as usual. See library hours below. As always, our web resources are available 24/7. Questions? Our Chat and Ask Us! services are available from Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm.

× the libraries will be closed for patriots' day on monday, april 15th. enjoy the holiday, × spring break: monday, 03/13/2023 - sunday, 03/19/2023: library pickups are by appointment. need an appointment email us at sherrill library: [email protected] or moriarty library: [email protected], × alert mm/dd/yyyy: something is broken please contact us with questions., × alert 12/14/2023: ebsco allsearch is unavailable. we are working to fix this as quickly as we can. in the meanwhile, please try searching for articles from our proquest central database and for ebooks and books from our flo catalog . we're very sorry for the inconveniance. --> × welcome back our remote services guide has everything you need to know about library services we're offering this semester, including research help, study spaces, and more for other campus plans, see the lesley university covid-19 response. any other questions ask us, × welcome back our remote services guide has everything you need to know about library services we're offering this semester, including research help, study spaces, and more any other questions ask us, apa format - 6th edition.

• Using Visual Media
• Organizing Your Literature Review
• What type of literature review should you write?
• Hide Menu Thingy Widget
• Sample Papers & Other APA Resources

Library & Research Help

• Sherrill Library: 617-349-8850
• Moriarty Library: 617-349-8070
• Text: 617-340-8008
• Research Help:  Ask Us!
• Email:  [email protected]
• Art & Design Research Email: [email protected]

There are different methods to organize and present the materials collected for the literature review.

The list below goes over different organizational frameworks that can be used to present the research conducted. If you are not sure what method to use, check with your professor.​

• Chronological:  The chronological framework organizes the literature in the order in which they are published. For example, if you were writing about a specific teaching method, you would begin with the materials that first introduced the method. You would then follow with case studies applying that method. You would conclude your review with contemporary papers that may even give a historical perspective on the method from when it was first conceived and how it is applied today.
• by publication:  This framework is useful if you notice a series of articles that are written in response to one another that are all within one publication. You still follow chronological order, but you break it so that the articles responding to one another are grouped together.
• by trend:  This framework looks at specific trends and organizes them chronologically. For example, if you were looking at the history of assistive technology in helping students with disabilities, you may organize the reviews by what disability was being treated, and then present the history of using assistive technology to treat that particular disability in chronological order.
• Thematic:  The thematic framework is similar to organizing by trend, except that you are not organizing the reviews in the order that they were published. This does not mean that you do not consider the timeline for how a topic or issue developed, but that you will not focus on organizing your reviews chronologically. Rather, the emphasis will be on the themes you find within the topic or issue — such as commonalities — and from there you fit your reviews into the separate ideas in which they fit. For example, if the review topic was arts-based research, your review may focus on different ways artistic inquiry was used to understand the creative process, focusing then on the concepts rather than the development.
• Methodological:  The method or practice applied in a case study can be the basis for organizing a literature review. This framework focuses on how the author(s) or the person(s) administering a study applied similar methods as another study. As a result, the types of literature in a literature review that applies the methodological framework tends to review similar materials. For example, if you reviewed methods used to treat post traumatic stress syndrome, the review would organize the studies by the methods used to treat the patients and not the order that the studies were published.

Note: After choosing the organizational framework for the literature review, it should be easier to write because you should have a clear idea of what sections you need to include in the paper. For example, a chronological review will have subsections for each vital time period. A thematic review will have subtopics based upon factors that relate to the theme or issue.

In some cases the literature does not quite fit the framework you have chosen. In this case, you should determine where it makes sense to place the literature and confirm this choice with your professor.

• << Previous: Literature Review
• Next: Sample Papers & Other APA Resources >>
• Last Updated: Mar 17, 2024 1:40 PM
• URL: https://research.lesley.edu/apa-6

Moriarty Library

Porter Campus 1801 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02140 617-349-8070

Sherrill Library

South Campus 89 Brattle Street Cambridge, MA 02138 617-349-8850

• UWF Libraries

Literature Review: Conducting & Writing

• Sample Literature Reviews
• Steps for Conducting a Lit Review
• Finding "The Literature"
• Organizing/Writing
• APA Style This link opens in a new window
• Chicago: Notes Bibliography This link opens in a new window
• MLA Style This link opens in a new window

Sample Lit Reviews from Communication Arts

Have an exemplary literature review.

• Literature Review Sample 1
• Literature Review Sample 2
• Literature Review Sample 3

Have you written a stellar literature review you care to share for teaching purposes?

Are you an instructor who has received an exemplary literature review and have permission from the student to post?

Please contact Britt McGowan at [email protected] for inclusion in this guide. All disciplines welcome and encouraged.

• << Previous: MLA Style
• Next: Get Help! >>
• Last Updated: Mar 22, 2024 9:37 AM
• URL: https://libguides.uwf.edu/litreview

• Harvard Library
• Research Guides
• Harvard Graduate School of Design - Frances Loeb Library

Write and Cite

• Literature Review
• Academic Integrity
• Citing Sources
• Fair Use, Permissions, and Copyright
• Writing Resources
• Grants and Fellowships
• Last Updated: Apr 30, 2024 4:28 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/gsd/write

Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy

• Plagiarism and grammar
• Citation guides

Cite a Review

Don't let plagiarism errors spoil your paper, consider your source's credibility. ask these questions:, contributor/author.

• Has the author written several articles on the topic, and do they have the credentials to be an expert in their field?
• Can you contact them? Do they have social media profiles?
• Have other credible individuals referenced this source or author?
• Book: What have reviews said about it?
• What do you know about the publisher/sponsor? Are they well-respected?
• Do they take responsibility for the content? Are they selective about what they publish?
• Take a look at their other content. Do these other articles generally appear credible?
• Does the author or the organization have a bias? Does bias make sense in relation to your argument?
• Is the purpose of the content to inform, entertain, or to spread an agenda? Is there commercial intent?
• Are there ads?
• When was the source published or updated? Is there a date shown?
• Does the publication date make sense in relation to the information presented to your argument?
• Does the source even have a date?
• Was it reproduced? If so, from where?
• If it was reproduced, was it done so with permission? Copyright/disclaimer included?
• Citation Machine® Plus
• Citation Guides
• Chicago Style
• Harvard Referencing
• Terms of Use
• Global Privacy Policy
• Cookie Notice
• DO NOT SELL MY INFO

How To Do In-Text Citations with Multiple Authors in APA Format

APA (or American Psychological Association) Style   was introduced in 1929 to establish a consistent style guide for scientific writing. It sought to make scientific works easier to read and understand. However, the style guidelines have expanded to include many disciplines, such as the humanities and health care.

The APA’s Publication Manual does not cover the general writing style rules in other editorial style guides, such as the MLA Handbook . APA Style seeks to create uniformity of common writing styles relevant to behavior and social sciences primarily.

Consistent formatting allows the reader to engage with the presented ideas rather than be distracted by the author’s personal formatting preferences. It also helps readers quickly review the document for references and sources to aid their research. Using APA Style keeps authors transparent by providing rules about citing their sources and giving credit for others’ ideas.

How to do in-text citations in APA

• Understanding “et. al.” usage in APA

Citing multiple authors in APA

• In-text citations for various author types in APA

Best practices and common mistakes

APA Style allows writers to credit and cite other works appropriately and avoid plagiarism through in-text citations. APA Style uses the author–date citation system, which requires notations to be included within the document to reference ideas, paraphrases and quotations from other bodies of work. Each in-text citation within the paper (or chart, footnote or figure) briefly identifies the cited work and guides the reader to a longer list of cited sources at the end of the document, called the reference list.

In-text citations can be written within a paper parenthetically or narratively. Both include the same information: the author’s last name and the publication date.

• Parenthetical citation : Great falls can be caused by sitting on tall walls (Dumpty, 1797).
• Narrative citation : Dumpty (1797) claims that great falls can be caused by sitting on tall walls.
• Reference list entry: Dumpty, Humpty (1797). Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall. Nursery Rhymes, 100.

APA Style requires citations to conform to a set of guidelines , which includes proper spelling of author names, consistency between the in-text citation information and its reference list entry and rules about crediting all facts and figures mentioned – especially those which are not common knowledge.

Understanding “et al.” usage in APA

Et al. is an abbreviation used to indicate multiple people. It’s the abbreviated version of “et alia,” a neutral plural version of “and others.” Most commonly, et al. indicates more than one contributor, such as multiple authors or editors, in a work.

In APA Style citations, et al. is used to indicate a cited work with three or more authors and serves as a way to condense the in-text citation to avoid confusion and unnecessary length. An APA in-text citation with three or more authors will include only the first author’s name plus “et al.” in every citation.

Citing multiple authors in APA Style is similar to MLA Style . For one or two authors, list the last name(s) followed by the year of publication. 

• One author: (Beyonce, 1997)
• Contributors: Daryl Hall and John Oates

To cite three or more authors using APA Style, use only the first author’s last name listed, plus “et al.” 

• Contributors: Earth, Wind and Fire

When two separate sources have the same abbreviated et al. form , spell out as many last names as needed to distinguish the sources from each other. It may include two last names followed by et al.

Similarly, when the first authors of separate sources share the same last name but have different initials, use their first initials in the in-text citations.

• Beyonce Knowles & Solange Knowles

In-text citation for various author types in APA

You may face a challenging situation where you must cite a group author , such as an institution or university, rather than a list of authors’ names. In this instance, you’ll list the group or organization.

• Group author: (Furman University, 2020)

If the group also has an abbreviation to its name, you may note the first and subsequent citations differently to be as concise as possible.

• Group author with abbreviation – 1st citation: (American Psychological Association [APA], 2024)
• Group author with abbreviation – 2nd citation : (APA, 2024)

The most common mistake when citing sources is forgetting to cite a source. One way to ensure you include all required sources is to document and manage your sources as you use their ideas within the document. This may mean you create the citations as you conduct your research, create your outline or type the final paper.

Some applications exist to help you manage and document citations, including EasyBib , Mendeley , EndNote and Zotero . Depending on your writing style, these applications can help you create citations, save your research sources, annotate documents and format references. 

Regarding best practices for in-text citations in APA Style, it’s good practice to proofread your citations and reference list together. When citing multiple authors, ensure all spellings are accurate and consistent throughout the document and reference list. Refer to the APA Style Publication Manual and other guideline reference documents to confirm your citing within the latest citation guidelines.

Giving credit to other authors who have shaped your research and ideas is incredibly important. You can do so without risking plagiarism accusations through in-text citations that are marked and referenced. Not only does it provide you with an honest and accurate reputation, but it also helps your readers gain more valuable knowledge from other sources.

Citing sources should not discourage you from sharing your knowledge within academic writing. Sooner or later, you’ll become a pro at in-text citations in APA style! The more you write, the more familiar you’ll become with the guidelines; you’ll no longer need to reference the style guides for help.

The perspectives and thoughts shared in the Furman Blog belong solely to the author and may not align with the official stance or policies of Furman University. All referenced sources were accurate as of the date of publication.

How To Do In-Text Citations in MLA Format: A Quick Guide for Students

How to become a therapist, a brand strategy and creative thinking reflection | go further podcast.

AI-Based Literature Review Resources

STEM Librarian

Brainstorming

• ChatGPT ChatGPT is useful for brainstorming new ideas and it helps if your prompts are detailed and provide plenty of context.
• Copilot Use Copilot to generate alternative viewpoints, unique angles, or unexpected twists.
• Gemini If you have a basic idea, Gemini can help find fresh perspectives on it.
• Perplexity You may get better responses if you click Focus and select Academic, which allows you to search in published academic papers.
• Hypothesis Maker HyperWrite's Hypothesis Maker is an AI-driven tool that generates a hypothesis based on your research question.

Searching the Literature

• Research Rabbit Research Rabbit is a good place to start to get an overview of the field and explore citation networks to identify important authors. It allows you to visualize citation chains by network or timeline.
• Litmaps Litmaps allows you to search the literature using citation maps and seedmaps that allow you to discover key authors, spot research gaps. Upload a paper and map top connected authors, and search by momentum to see which papers are being cited fastest,
• Consensus Consensus lists and summarizes papers it finds into single sentence summaries with clickable endnotes to references from Semantic Scholar. Categorizes methodology, citation activity, and journal rigor. Consensus meter calculates number of papers supporting or negating research question. Filter useful studies by year, citation count, method, controlled studies, human studies.
• SciSpace Search, summarize/TLDR, add columns to compare articles and article sections to create a synthesis matrix, upload papers into MyLibrary, highlight sections of paper and ask questions about it. Includes citation generattor, paraphraser, ai detector.

Summarizing and Synthesizing the Literature

• AskYourPDF You can upload and ask questions of PDFs to create an interactive reading experience that provides an alternative to skimming and browsing.
• docAnalyzer.ai Ask questions and receive precise answers in real time. docAnalyzer.ai offers dynamic, context-aware interactions with one or multiple PDFs, powered by AI research for superior document analysis.
• Explainpaper Explainpaper allows you to highlight text for explanations and to ask follow-up questions.
• Humata Summarize and question literature, and Humata provides answers with citations, and allows you to compare documents.
• TLDR This Upload text for explanation, summarize any piece of text into concise, easy to digest content, and use the browser extension to summarize webpages.
• Notably Summarize secondary research, evaluate it, and look for gaps in knowledge to fill with more secondary or primary research.

Citing the Literature

• Bibliography.com Bibliography.com offers a user-friendly interface and a comprehensive database where users can seamlessly input source information, select the desired citation style, and generate accurate citations with ease.
• Citation Machine This artificial intelligence citation generator allows you to cite websites, books, journals, newspapers, films, videos, databases, blogs, and much more.
• EduBirdie This tool features a simple interface and step-by-step guide to help authors with citation formatting and creation.
• Opendemia The open-source nature of this tool allows users to modify and adapt the tool to their specific needs like notes taking, upload images and cite, making it a versatile option for researchers and developers.
• Petal Petal Citation Generator automatically creates citations for sources in over 10,000 styles, such as Harvard, MLA, APA, IEEE, AMA, Chicago, ACS, Vancouver.
• Quetext Citation Generator Quetext offers a straightforward interface and a comprehensive source input method, allowing users to quickly and easily create citations for their research papers, essays, and other written works.
• Last Updated: May 2, 2024 10:56 AM
• URL: https://guides.library.ttu.edu/c.php?g=1398054