Counseling Research Guide

In-text citations

In-text citations are covered extensively in Chapter 8 of the APA Style Manual.  If your question isn't addressed here, consult the manual or contact the library so that we can look up the information you need.

Parenthetical versus Narrative styles of in-text citations

Your first decision, do you want to cite your source in narrative fashion or in parenthetical fashion.  This APA page will show you the basic formats for each.

Multiple authors

APA acknowledges two types of publications, student publications and professional publications.  Professional publications have more information and style elements included because they are generally being submitted for publication in a professional journal.

APA 7 2.2 states that student papers include at a minimum

• Title page (see title page tab in this research guide)
• Page numbers
• Text of the paper
• References

Student papers do not typically include (unless required by the instructor)

• Running head
• Author note
• Abstract

Inclusive Language

With the 7th edition of the APA Style Manual, APA promotes the use of language of inclusivity and rejects language that is harmful or offensive towards people in marginalized communities.  This guide has specific guidelines you should adopt when using terms that refer to the age, race, sexual orientation, social class or ability of others.

If you a new user of APA style, the way article and chapter titles are capitalized in your references may look strange.  Article and chapter titles are written as if they are sentences and APA refers to this as "sentence case."  

What you should capitalize in article and chapter titles

• The first word of the title
• The first word in the subtitle, if there is a subtitle.
• Proper nouns

Any other word in the title should be written in all lower case.

Journal article example:  I speak English, but I am still a Malay: Language attitudes and identity amongst Bruneians living in London.

• I is capitalized because it is a proper noun AND it is the first word of the title.
• English is capitalized because it is a language/nationality
• I again, a proper noun.
• Malay is also a language/nationality
• LANGUAGE is the first word in the article's subtitle
• Bruneians is a proper noun referring to a group of people who are native to or from Brunei.
• London is a city, so it's also a proper noun because it is a place name.

 Please note:  Many of the citation tools provided by databases do not have the ability to change the letters in the titles to the proper case.  The way the article or chapter title is entered into the database is the way it will appear in the citation that is generated.

If you use the citation generation tool, researchers should check for "sentence case" or "title case" before copying and pasting into your references.

And Further Note:  The rules above apply only to article and chapter titles in your references list.  Journal titles and book titles have all important words capitalized (APA refers to this as "title case") and also appear in italics.  See the Publication Manual of the APA 7th edition, sections 6.13 - 6.21 for more information about capitalization.