APA Style Guide

A parenthetical citation is a citation made with parentheses. It contains the author's name, the publishing year, and the source location (such as page numbers, paragraph numbers, tables, chapters, etc).

Parenthetical citations should be placed at the end of the sentence or clause that contains the cited material, and they must always correspond to a full entry in your reference list.

Here's an example: 

" He told me how there’s a theory that Sasquatch (Sasquatches? Sasquai? Depends on who you ask) have underground caves where they sleep, only seldomly coming out to find food. He explained how they are omnivores, eating berries and greens just as often as a deer or a dog. He warned me to watch out for thrown rocks, as Bigfoot was rumored to chuck stones at people passing too close" (Klos, 2020, p. 117).

In the above quote, we can glean that the author's surname is Klos, the article was written in 2020, and the direct quote can be found on page 117. When we visit the reference page, we should be able to find the article by the author's name and see precisely where the quote came from. 

A narrative citation is a citation in which you include the author's name in the sentence itself. After the author's name, the publication year and source location are written in parentheses.

As with parenthetical citations, your source must always correspond to a full entry in your reference list. 

Here's an example:

Klos (2020, p. 120) recalls a very vivid memory of her time Bigfoot hunting: "I heaved myself up the last few steps of an incline and looked to see the striking “X” come into view. When we reached it, we both took a moment to catch our breath and stood in awe of this structure. Two thick tree branches crossed, one bent and curved but still rooted to the earth, the other picked up and moved into place, a chipped and rotting end exposing the mossy and moist interior. It would be a feat for a handful of men to hoist and bend trees of this size and width. Who would have the strength to do such a thing?"

Abbreviations for Page & Other Locators 

• p. : page
• pp. : pages
• para. : paragraph
• chap. : chapter
• figure : figure
• table : table

Abbreviation for No Date 

• n.d. : no date

Abbreviation for Multiple Authors 

• et al. : and others. Used for the third author and subsequent authors in both parenthetical and narrative citations