When you use someone else’s words or ideas in your work, you need to cite them. In most Psychology courses, you will use APA style. An APA-style reference includes two components: an in-text citation and a reference list entry.

In-Text Citation

The in-text citation goes in your text where you quote or paraphrase an idea from another source. It includes the author last name(s) and the year of publication and, for a direct quotation, a page number. An in-text citation can be part of your sentence (narrative citation), or it can go in parentheses at the end of the relevant sentence or phrase (parenthetical citation).

Narrative citation example:

Parenthetical citation example:

Reference List Entry

An APA-style reference answers four questions about an information source. Click on each one to learn more about it.

A journal article reference uses this general structure to answer those questions:

Author(s). (Year). Title of the article: Subtitle of the article. Journal Name, volume(issue), page–range. https://doi.org/####

Here is an example of a journal article reference:

Bruce, N., & Lamb, L. (2019). The case of a home grown high-tech sector in a small Canadian city. Journal of Rural and Community Development, 14(3), 61–73. https://journals.brandonu.ca/jrcd/article/view/1653/388

Check Your Understanding

Question 1

Question 2

APA Guides and Tutorials

The U of A Library offers resources to help you cite your sources in APA style.

APA Citation Style QuickGuide (PDF)

• This PDF guide explains the elements of APA-style references and includes examples of many different types of sources.

APA Style Citation Tutorial

• This online tutorial explores APA citation in-depth, including lots of practice questions.

The next page explains where you can ask for help with your research.