citation in text of a research paper

APA (7th Edition) Referencing Guide

• Information for EndNote Users
• Authors - Numbers, Rules and Formatting

Everything must match!

Types of citations, in-text citations, quoting, summarising and paraphrasing, example text with in-text referencing, slightly tricky in-text citations, organisation as an author, secondary citation (works referred to in other works), what do i do if there are no page numbers.

• Reference List
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• In-Text Citation Checklist Checklist provided by APA to help make sure your in-text citations are correct.

There are two basic ways to cite someone's work in text.

In narrative citations , the authors are part of the sentence - you are referring to them by name. For example:

Becker (2013) defined gamification as giving the mechanics of principles of a game to other activities.

Cho and Castañeda (2019) noted that game-like activities are frequently used in language classes that adopt mobile and computer technologies.

In parenthetical citations , the authors are not mentioned in the sentence, just the content of their work. Place the citation at the end of the sentence or clause where you have used their information. The author's names are placed in the brackets (parentheses) with the rest of the citation details:

Gamification involves giving the mechanics or principles of a game to another activity (Becker, 2013).

Increasingly, game-like activities are frequently used in language classes that adopt mobile and computer technologies (Cho & Castañeda, 2019).

Using references in text

For APA, you use the authors' surnames only and the year in text. If you are using a direct quote, you will also need to use a page number.

Narrative citations:

If an in-text citation has the authors' names as part of the sentence (that is, outside of brackets) place the year and page numbers in brackets immediately after the name, and use 'and' between the authors' names:  Jones and Smith (2020, p. 29)

Parenthetical citations:

If an in-text citation has the authors' names in brackets use "&" between the authors' names :  (Jones & Smith, 2020, p. 29).

Note: Some lecturers want page numbers for all citations, while some only want page numbers with direct quotes. Check with your lecturer to see what you need to do for your assignment. If the direct quote starts on one page and finishes on another, include the page range (Jones & Smith, 2020, pp. 29-30).

1 author

Smith (2020) found that "the mice disappeared within minutes" (p. 29).

The author stated "the mice disappeared within minutes" (Smith, 2020, p. 29).

Jones and Smith (2020) found that "the mice disappeared within minutes" (p. 29).

The authors stated "the mice disappeared within minutes" (Jones & Smith, 2020, p. 29).

For 3 or more authors , use the first author and "et al." for all in-text citations

Green et al.'s (2019) findings indicated that the intervention was not based on evidence from clinical trials.

It appears the intervention was not based on evidence from clinical trials (Green et al., 2019).

If you cite more than one work in the same set of brackets in text , your citations will go in the same order in which they will appear in your reference list (i.e. alphabetical order, then oldest to newest for works by the same author) and be separated by a semi-colon. E.g.:

• (Corbin, 2015; James & Waterson, 2017; Smith et al., 2016).
• (Corbin, 2015; 2018)
• (Queensland Health, 2017a; 2017b)
• Use only the   surnames   of your authors   in text   (e.g., Smith & Brown, 2014) - however, if you have two authors with the same surname who have published in the same year, then you will need to use their initials to distinguish between the two of them (e.g., K. Smith, 2014; N. Smith, 2014).   Otherwise, do not use initials in text .

If your author isn't an "author".

Whoever is in the "author" position of the refence in the references list is treated like an author in text. So, for example, if you had an edited book and the editors of the book were in the "author" position at the beginning of the reference, you would treat them exactly the same way as you would an author - do not include any other information. The same applies for works where the "author" is an illustrator, producer, composer, etc.

• Summarising
• Paraphrasing

It is always a good idea to keep direct quotes to a minimum. Quoting doesn't showcase your writing ability - all it shows is that you can read (plus, lecturers hate reading assignments with a lot of quotes).

You should only use direct quotes if the exact wording is important , otherwise it is better to paraphrase.

If you feel a direct quote is appropriate, try to keep only the most important part of the quote and avoid letting it take up the entire sentence - always start or end the sentence with your own words to tie the quote back into your assignment. Long quotes (more than 40 words) are called "block quotes" and are rarely used in most subject areas (they mostly belong in Literature, History or similar subjects). Each referencing style has rules for setting out a block quote. Check with your style guide .

It has been observed that "pink fairy armadillos seem to be extremely susceptible to stress" (Superina, 2011, p. 6).

NB! Most referencing styles will require a page number to tell readers where to find the original quote.

It is a type of paraphrasing, and you will be using this frequently in your assignments, but note that summarising another person's work or argument isn't showing how you make connections or understand implications. This is preferred to quoting, but where possible try to go beyond simply summarising another person's information without "adding value".

And, remember, the words must be your own words . If you use the exact wording from the original at any time, those words must be treated as a direct quote.

All information must be cited, even if it is in your own words.

Superina (2011) observed a captive pink fairy armadillo, and noticed any variation in its environment could cause great stress.

NB! Some lecturers and citation styles want page numbers for everything you cite, others only want page numbers for direct quotes. Check with your lecturer.

Paraphrasing often involves commenting about the information at the same time, and this is where you can really show your understanding of the topic. You should try to do this within every paragraph in the body of your assignment.

When paraphrasing, it is important to remember that using a thesaurus to change every other word isn't really paraphrasing. It's patchwriting , and it's a kind of plagiarism (as you are not creating original work).

Use your own voice! You sound like you when you write - you have a distinctive style that is all your own, and when your "tone" suddenly changes for a section of your assignment, it looks highly suspicious. Your lecturer starts to wonder if you really wrote that part yourself. Make sure you have genuinely thought about how *you* would write this information, and that the paraphrasing really is in your own words.

Always cite your sources! Even if you have drawn from three different papers to write this one sentence, which is completely in your own words, you still have to cite your sources for that sentence (oh, and excellent work, by the way).

Captive pink fairy armadillos do not respond well to changes in their environment and can be easily stressed (Superina, 2011).

NB! Some lecturers and citation styles want page numbers for all citations, others only want them for direct quotes. Check with your lecturer.

This example paragraph contains mouse-over text. Run your mouse over the paragraph to see notes on formatting.

Excerpt from "The Big Fake Essay"

You can read the entire Big Fake Essay on the Writing Guide. It includes more details about academic writing and the formatting of essays.

• The Big Fake Essay
• Academic Writing Workshop

When you have multiple authors with the same surname who published in the same year:

If your authors have different initials, then include the initials:

As A. Smith (2016) noted...

...which was confirmed by J.G. Smith's (2016) study.

(A. Smith, 2016; J. G. Smith, 2016).

If your authors have the same initials, then include the name:

As Adam Smith noted...

...which was confirmed by Amy Smith's (2016) study.

(Adam Smith, 2016; Amy Smith, 2016).

Note: In your reference list, you would include the author's first name in [square brackets] after their initials:

Smith, A. [Adam]. (2016)...

Smith, A. [Amy]. (2016)...

When you have multiple works by the same author in the same year:

In your reference list, you will have arranged the works alphabetically by title (see the page on Reference Lists for more information). This decides which reference is "a", "b", "c", and so on. You cite them in text accordingly:

Asthma is the most common disease affecting the Queensland population (Queensland Health, 2017b). However, many people do not know how to manage their asthma symptoms (Queensland Health, 2017a).

When you have multiple works by the same author in different years:

Asthma is the most common disease affecting the Queensland population (Queensland Health, 2017, 2018). 

When you do not have an author, and your reference list entry begins with the title:

Use the title in place of the author's name, and place it in "quotation marks" if it is the title of an article or book chapter, or in italics if the title would go in italics in your reference list:

During the 2017 presidential inauguration, there were some moments of awkwardness ("Mrs. Obama Says ‘Lovely Frame’", 2018).

Note: You do not need to use the entire title, but a reasonable portion so that it does not end too abruptly - "Mrs. Obama Says" would be too abrupt, but the full title "Mrs. Obama Says 'Lovely Frame' in Box During Awkward Handoff" is unecessarily long. You should also use title case for titles when referring to them in the text of your work.

If there are no page numbers, you can include any of the following in the in-text citation:

• "On Australia Day 1938 William Cooper ... joined forces with Jack Patten and William Ferguson ... to hold a Day of Mourning to draw attention to the losses suffered by Aboriginal people at the hands of the whiteman" (National Museum of Australia, n.d., para. 4).
• "in 1957 news of a report by the Western Australian government provided the catalyst for a reform movement" (National Museum of Australia, n.d., The catalyst for change section, para. 1)
• "By the end of this year of intense activity over 100,000 signatures had been collected" (National Museum of Australia, n.d., "petition gathering", para. 1).

When you are citing a classical work, like the Bible or the Quran:

References to works of scripture or other classical works are treated differently to regular citations. See the APA Blog's entry for more details:

Happy Holiday Citing: Citation of Classical Works . (Please note, this document is from the 6th edition of APA).

In text citation:

If the name of the organisation first appears in a narrative citation, include the abbreviation before the year in brackets, separated with a comma. Use the official acronym/abreviation if you can find it. Otherwise check with your lecturer for permission to create your own acronyms.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2013) shows that...

The Queensland Department of Education (DoE, 2020) encourages students to... (please note, Queensland isn't part of the department's name, it is used in the sentence to provide clarity)

If the name of the organisation first appears in a citation in brackets, include the abbreviation in square brackets.

(Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2013)

(Department of Education [DoE], 2020)

In the second and subsequent citations, only include the abbreviation or acronym

ABS  (2013) found that ...

DoE (2020) instructs teachers to...

This is disputed ( ABS , 2013).

Resources are designed to support "emotional learning pedagogy" (DoE, 2020)

In the reference list:

Use the full name of the organisation in the reference list.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2017).  Australia's welfare 2017 . https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/australias-welfare-2017/contents/table-of-contents

Department of Education. (2020, April 22). Respectful relationships education program . Queensland Government. https://education.qld.gov.au/curriculum/stages-of-schooling/respectful-relationships

Academically, it is better to find the original source and reference that.

If you do have to quote a secondary source:

• In the text you must cite the original author of the quote and the year the original quote was written as well as the source you read it in. If you do not know the year the original citation was written, omit the year.
• In the reference list you only list the source that you actually read.

Wembley (1997, as cited in Olsen, 1999) argues that impending fuel shortages ...

Wembley claimed that "fuel shortages are likely" (1997, as cited in Olsen, 1999, pp. 10-12).

Some have noted that fuel shortages are probable in the future (Wembley, 1997, as cited in Olsen, 1999).

Olsen, M. (1999).  My career.  Gallimard.

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APA Style 7th Edition: Citing Your Sources

• Basics of APA Formatting

Purpose and Overview of In-text Citations

Citations for direct quotes, in-text citations.

• In Text Quick View
• Block Quotes
• Books & eBooks
• Thesis/Dissertation
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• Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Additional Resources

• Reference Page
• Annotated Sample Student Paper Here's a sample paper provided by APA. For every style rule, there is a comment highlighted in the paper that tells you where to find the discussion of the rule in the APA Style Manual.

APA follows an author and date of publication model for citing sources in your research paper and are presented as either narrative or parenthetical citations.  The formatting does not vary due to format type, however it may deviate from the norm due to factors such as: number of authors, organization instead of individual author, lack of author, or lack of date.  By providing the standard author and date within your paper, the reader will be able to link the information presented easily to the full citation provided in the reference list.

View examples and explanations on this page or visit the In Text Quick View for more examples.

APA encourages paraphrasing over using direct quotes.  Use direct quotes when:

• Reproducing an exact definition
• Author has said something memorably or succinctly
• When you want to respond to exact wording

When creating a citation for a direct quote, provide author, year and page number for both narrative and parenthetical citations.

Ex.  University of Southern California (2020) "direct quote from author" (p. 4)  OR  "direct quote from author" (University of Southern California, 2020, p. 4).

How to cite specific parts of a source:

Single page  =  p. #

Multiple pages  =  p.p. #-#

Paragraph number  =  para. #

Multiple paragraphs  =  paras. #-#

Presentation  =  Slide #

Table or Figure  =  Table # or Figure #

Multimedia/Audiovisual timestamp  =  hour:minute:second or minute:second

Heading or section name  =  name of section

Select the scenarios below for formatting instructions and examples

One work, One Author

Author named in text:

Social historian Richard Sennett (1980) names the tendency to come to terms with difficult experiences a "purification process" whereby "threatening or painful dissonances are warded off to preserve intact a clear and articulated image of oneself and one's place in the world" (p. 11).

Author named in parentheses:

The tendency to come to terms with difficult experiences is referred to as a "purification process" whereby "threatening or painful dissonances are warded off to preserve intact a clear and articulated image of oneself and one's place in the world" (Sennett, 1980, p. 11).

These examples © Duke University Libraries http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/within/apa.html

More than one way to cite:

Flynn (1999) stated in her treatise In a recent treatise on services (Flynn, 1999) In a 1999 treatise, Flynn stated

Subsequent references to same study in same paragraph:

In her treatise on services, Flynn (1999) stated her evaluative methods…Flynn also described

One work, multiple authors

When a work has two authors, always cite both authors' names in your text:

        Significant findings in a study of Los Angeles (McCroskey & O'Keefe, 2000)

When a citation has 3 or more authors, include the last name of the first author, followed by et al. (not italicized), and the year.

        (Nishimoto et al., 1998)

For narrative citations, use the word "and" to separate authors, for parenthetical citations, use an ampersand:

         McCroskey and O'Keefe (2000) studied Los Angeles...          (McCroskey & O'Keefe, 2000)

Groups as authors

When a group or organization is created as the author, use the group's name. If that group or organization is known by a recognizable acroynum, provide the organization’s full name the first time it is cited with it’s acronym. For narrative citations, the acronym will appear in parentheses with the date. For parenthetical citations, the acronym follows the group name in brackets. Once the first citation from the group includes the full name and acronym, all subsequent citations should only include the acronym.

First narrative citation: National Association of Social Workers (NASW, 1987)

Subsequent narrative citation: NASW (1987)

First text citation: (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 1987)

Subsequent text citation: (NASW, 1987)

Works with no author

Works with no authors

Cite the work in your text using the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title). Put double quotation marks around the title of an article or chapter, and italicize the title of a periodical, book, brochure or report:

The policy stated in the article (“Services for Disabled Children,” 1992)

The policy stated in the book Access to Services for Children (1995)

Specific parts of a source

Indicate the page, chapter, figure, table, or equation at the appropriate point in your text. Give page numbers for quotations, and use the abbreviations for the words page and chapter:

(Aranda & Knight, 1997, p. 344)

(Ell & Castaneda, 1998, chap. 5)

Personal communications

This format applies to emails, messages from nonarchived discussion groups, electronic bulletin boards, personal interviews, telephone conversations, etc. Do not list personal communications in your reference list as they are not recoverable by your reader. In your text, provide initials and surname of communicator and as exact a date as possible.

(M. Flynn, personal communication, September 20, 1999)

Mulltiple works by the same author in the same year

Sometimes you'll have multiple works by the same author in the same year. For instance, you may reference a number of tax documents from the same year, which would all be cited with (Internal Revenue Service, 2012).  So how do you differentiate?

In those instances, differentiate sources with a letter after the year. From the example above, the 990 form might be (Internal Revenue Service, 2012a) and the 1040 form would be (Internal Revenue Service, 2012b). Just make sure the letters stay consistent in your reference list.

Citing Indirect Sources

Sometimes, you will use a source that you didn't yourself read.  In those cases, the original source came from a secondary source you did read.  APA states that you should use secondary sources sparingly and may occur when "the original work is out of print, unavailable, or available only in a language that you do not understand."

When using secondary sources, indicate it by included "as cited in" as part of your in-text citation

Johnson argued that...(as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102). (Johnson, 1984, as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102).

Your reference list should include the secondary source. In this example, Smith appears in your reference list and Johnson does not.

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A publication of the harvard college writing program.

Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

• The Honor Code
• In-Text Citations

In APA style, you use parenthetical citations within the text of your paper to credit your sources, to show how recently your sources were published, and to refer your reader to a more detailed citation of the source in the reference list at the end of your paper. You should use parenthetical citations when you paraphrase, quote, or make any reference to another author's work. A parenthetical citation in APA style includes the author's last name as well as the year in which the work was published, with a comma between them. If you are referring directly to a specific page in the source, you should also include the page number in your parenthetical citation. APA requires you to cite page numbers when you are quoting directly from the source. If you are paraphrasing, which is more common in the social sciences, you generally do not need to include a page number. If you have questions about whether you should include page numbers when citing in APA, you should consult your instructor.

If you mention the author's name and/or the year of publication in the sentence preceding the citation, you do not need to include them in the parenthetical citation. When you name the author in the sentence, you should include the publication year in parentheses right after the author’s name—do not wait until the end of the sentence to provide that information.

When you include a parenthetical citation at the end of a sentence, the punctuation for your sentence appears after the citation.

Citing author and date in a parenthetical citation

When you don’t mention either the author or the date of publication in your sentence, you should include both the author and the year, separated by a comma, in the parenthetical citation. 

Colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (Jack, 2019).         

Citing when author’s name is mentioned in body of paper

When you mention the author’s name in your sentence, the year of publication should immediately follow the author’s name.

Anthony Jack’s (2019) study of low-income students on an elite college campus revealed that these schools are often unprepared to support the students they admit.

Jack (2019) studied the ways low-income students experience elite college campuses.

Citing page numbers

When you cite a direct quote from the source or paraphrase a specific point from the source, you should include the page number in the parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. When you refer to a specific page or pages of the text, first list the year of publication and then list "p." followed by the page number or "pp." followed by the range of pages. If you refer to a specific chapter, indicate that chapter after the year.              

The author contends that “higher education in America is highly unequal and disturbingly stratified” (Jack, 2019, p. 4).

Jack (2019) contends that “higher education in America is highly unequal and disturbingly stratified” (p. 4).

Citing sources with more than one author

When you cite a source that has two authors, you should separate their names with an ampersand in the parenthetical citation.

The authors designed a study to determine if social belonging can be encouraged among college students (Walton & Cohen, 2011). 

If a work has three or more authors , you should only include the first author's name followed by et al. ( Et al. is the shortened form of the Latin et alia , which means “and others.”)

The implementation of postpartum contraceptive programs is both costly and time consuming (Ling et al., 2020).

Attributing a point to more than one source  

To attribute a point or idea to multiple sources, list them in one parenthetical citation, ordered alphabetically by author and separated by semicolons. Works by the same author should be ordered chronologically, from oldest to most recent, with the publication dates separated by commas.

Students who possess cultural capital, measured by proxies like involvement in literature, art, and classical music, tend to perform better in school (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Dumais, 2002; Orr, 2003).

Citing multiple works by the same author 

If your reference list includes multiple works by the same author in the same year, identify them in your parenthetical citations and in your reference list by a lowercase letter after the year, assigning each letter in alphabetical order by the title of the work. When establishing the alphabetical order of works in your reference list, do not count the words "A" or "The" when they appear as the first word in a title.

One union-endorsed candidate publicly disagreed with the teachers' union on a number of issues (Borsuk, 1999a).

Citing multiple authors with the same last name        

If your reference list includes sources by multiple authors with the same last name, list each author's initials before their last name, even when the works were published in different years.

The question of whether a computer can be considered an author has been asked for longer than we might expect (B. Sobel, 2017).

Citing when no author is listed           

To refer to a work that is listed in your reference list by title rather than by author, cite the title or the first few words of the title.

The New York Times painted a bleak picture of the climate crisis (“Climate Change Is Not Negotiable,” 2022).

Citing when no date is listed

If the work you are citing has no date listed, you should put “n.d.” for “no date” in the parenthetical citation.

Writing research papers is challenging (Lam, n.d.). 

Citing a specific part of a source that is not a page number

To refer to a specific part of a source other than page number, add that after the author-date part of your citation. If it is not clear whether you are referring to a chapter, a paragraph, a time stamp, or a slide number, or other labeled part of a source, you should indicate the part you are referring to (chapter, para., etc.).

In the Stranger Things official trailer, the audience knows that something unusual is going to happen from the moment the boys get on their bicycles to ride off into the night (Duffer & Duffer, 0:16).

• Citation Management Tools
• Reference List Format
• Examples of Commonly Cited Sources
• Frequently Asked Questions About Cite Sources in APA Format
• Sample Reference List

PDFs for This Section

• Citing Sources
• Online Library and Citation Tools

Penn State University Libraries

Apa quick citation guide.

• In-text Citation
• Citing Generative AI
• Citing Web Pages and Social Media
• Citing Articles
• Citing Books
• Citing Business Reports
• Other Formats
• APA Style Quiz

Using In-text Citation

Include an in-text citation when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list.

APA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the year of publication, for example: (Field, 2005). For direct quotations, include the page number as well, for example: (Field, 2005, p. 14). For sources such as websites and e-books that have no page numbers , use a paragraph number, for example: (Field, 2005, para. 1). More information on direct quotation of sources without pagination is given on the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines web page.

Example paragraph with in-text citation

A few researchers in the linguistics field have developed training programs designed to improve native speakers' ability to understand accented speech (Derwing et al., 2002; Thomas, 2004). Their training techniques are based on the research described above indicating that comprehension improves with exposure to non-native speech.   Derwing et al. (2002) conducted their training with students preparing to be social workers, but note that other professionals who work with non-native speakers could benefit from a similar program.

Derwing, T. M., Rossiter, M. J., & Munro, M. J. (2002). Teaching native speakers to listen to foreign-accented speech.  Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development , 23 (4), 245-259.

Thomas, H. K. (2004).  Training strategies for improving listeners' comprehension of foreign-accented speech  (Doctoral dissertation). University of Colorado, Boulder.

Citing Web Pages In Text

Cite web pages in text as you would any other source, using the author and date if known. Keep in mind that the author may be an organization rather than a person. For sources with no author, use the title in place of an author.

For sources with no date use n.d. (for no date) in place of the year: (Smith, n.d.). For more information on citations for sources with no date or other missing information see the page on missing reference information on the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines web page. 

Below are examples of using in-text citation with web pages.

Web page with author:

In-text citation

Heavy social media use can be linked to depression and other mental disorders in teens (Asmelash, 2019).

Reference entry

Asmelash, L. (2019, August 14). Social media use may harm teens' mental health by disrupting positive activities, study says . CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/13/health/social-media-mental-health-trnd/index.html

Web page with organizational author:

More than 300 million people worldwide are affected by depression (World Health Organization, 2018).

World Health Organization. (2018, March 22).  Depression . https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression

Web page with no date:

Establishing regular routines, such as exercise, can help survivors of disasters recover from trauma (American Psychological Association [APA], n.d.).

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Recovering emotionally from disaste r. http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/recovering-disasters.aspx

General Guidelines

In-text references should immediately follow the title, word, or phrase to which they are directly relevant, rather than appearing at the end of long clauses or sentences. In-text references should always precede punctuation marks. Below are examples of using in-text citation.

Author's name in parentheses:

One study found that the most important element in comprehending non-native speech is familiarity with the topic (Gass & Varonis, 1984).

Author's name part of narrative:

Gass and Varonis (1984) found that the most important element in comprehending non-native speech is familiarity with the topic.

Group as author: First citation: (American Psychological Association [APA], 2015) Subsequent citation: (APA, 2015)

Multiple works: (separate each work with semi-colons)

Research shows that listening to a particular accent improves comprehension of accented speech in general (Gass & Varonis, 1984; Krech Thomas, 2004).

Direct quote: (include page number and place quotation marks around the direct quote)

One study found that “the listener's familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (Gass & Varonis, 1984, p. 85).

Gass and Varonis (1984) found that “the listener’s familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (p. 85).

Note:  For direct quotations of more than 40 words , display the quote as an indented block of text without quotation marks and include the authors’ names, year, and page number in parentheses at the end of the quote. For example:

This suggests that familiarity with nonnative speech in general, although it is clearly not as important a variable as topic familiarity, may indeed have some effect. That is, prior experience with nonnative speech, such as that gained by listening to the reading, facilitates comprehension. (Gass & Varonis, 1984, p. 77)

Works by Multiple Authors

APA style has specific rules for citing works by multiple authors. Use the following guidelines to determine how to correctly cite works by multiple authors in text. For more information on citing works by multiple authors see the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines page on in-text citation .

Note: When using multiple authors' names as part of your narrative, rather than in parentheses, always spell out the word and. For multiple authors' names within a parenthetic citation, use &.

One author: (Field, 2005)

Two authors: (Gass & Varonis, 1984)

Three or more authors:   (Tremblay et al., 2010)

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MLA Citation Guide (MLA 9th Edition): In-Text Citation

• Understanding Core Elements
• Formatting Appendices and Works Cited List
• Writing an Annotated Bibliography
• Academic Honesty and Citation

In-Text Citation

• Charts, Graphs, Images, and Tables
• Class Notes and Presentations
• Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
• Generative AI
• In Digital Assignments
• Interviews and Emails
• Journal and Magazine Articles
• Newspaper Articles
• Social Media
• Special Collections
• Videos and DVDs
• When Information Is Missing
• Citation Software

In-text citations are inserted in the body of your research paper to briefly document the source of your information. 

• In-text citations in MLA style follow the general format of author's last name followed by a page number enclosed in parentheses. Here is an example: "Here's a direct quote" (Smith 8).
• If the author's name is not given, use the first word (or words) of the title. Follow the same formatting that is used in the works-cited list, such as quotation marks. Here is an example: This is a paraphrase ("Trouble" 22).
• If the source does not have page numbers (for example, some online articles, websites and e-books), only include the author's name for the in-text citation. Do not estimate or make up page numbers.  
• In-text citations point the reader to the works-cited list, which is located at the end of your paper, for more complete bibliographic information.

Repeated Use of Sources

If you use information from a single source more than once in succession (i.e., no other sources referred to in between), you can use a simplified in-text citation. Here is an example:

Cell biology is an area of science that focuses on the structure and function of cells (Smith 15). It revolves around the idea that the cell is a "fundamental unit of life" (17).

  Note: If using this simplified in-text citation creates ambiguity regarding the source being referred to, use the full in-text citation format.

In-Text Citation Formatting and Examples

Format:  (Author's Last Name Page Number)

Example: (Hunt 358)

Two Authors

Format:  (Author's Last Name and Author's Last Name Page Number)

Example: (Case and Daristotle 57)

Three or More Authors

Format:   (Author's Last Name et al. Page Number)

Example: (Case et al. 57)

Unknown Author

Where you would normally put the author's last name, instead use the first one, two, or three words from the title. Do not use  initial articles such as "A", "An" or "The". Provide enough words to clarify which sources from your works-cited list that you are referencing. 

Follow the formatting of the title. For example, if the title in the works-cited list is in italics, italicize the words from the title in the in-text citation, and if the title in the works-cited list is in quotation marks, put quotation marks around the words from the title in the in-text citation.

Format: (Title Page Number)

Examples : 

( Cell Biology 12)

("Nursing" 12)

Multiple Sources

To cite more than one source when you are paraphrasing, separate the in-text citations with a semi-colon.

Format: (Author's Last Name Page Number; Author's Last Name Page Number).

(Smith 42; Bennett 71). 

( It Takes Two ; Brock 43).

 Note: In MLA style, the sources within the in-text citation do not need to be in alphabetical order.

Works Quoted in Another Source

Sometimes an author of a book, article or website will mention another person's work by using a quotation or paraphrased idea from that source. (This may be a secondary source.) For example, the Kirkey article you are reading includes a quotation by Smith that you would like to include in your essay. The basic rule is that in both your Works-Cited List and in-text citation you will still cite Kirkey. Kirkey will appear in your Works Cited list – NOT Smith. Add the words "qtd. in" to your in-text citation.

Examples of in-text citations:

According to a study by Smith (qtd. in Kirkey) 42% of doctors would refuse to perform legal euthanasia.

Smith (qtd. in Kirkey) states that “even if euthanasia was legal, 42% of doctors would be against this method of assisted dying” (A.10).

Example of Works Cited List citation:

Kirkey, Susan. "Euthanasia."   The Montreal Gazette , 9 Feb. 2013, p. A.10. Canadian Newsstand Major Dailies.

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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / MLA Format / MLA In-text Citations

MLA In-Text Citations

An in-text citation is a reference to a source that is found within the text of a paper ( Handbook 227). This tells a reader that an idea, quote, or paraphrase originated from a source. MLA in-text citations usually include the last name of the author and the location of cited information.

This guide focuses on how to create MLA in-text citations, such as citations in prose and parenthetical citations in the current MLA style, which is in its 9th edition. This style was created by the Modern Language Association . This guide reviews MLA guidelines but is not related directly to the association.

Table of Contents

Here’s a quick rundown of the contents of this guide on how to use in-text citations.

Fundamentals

• Why in-text citations are important
• Prose vs parenthetical in-text citation differences
• Parenthetical citation reference chart

In-text citation examples

• In-text citation with two authors
• In-text citation with 3+ authors
• In-text citation with no authors
• In-text citation with corporate authors
• In-text citation with edited books and anthologies
• In-text citation with no page numbers and online sources
• Citing the same sources multiple times
• Citing 2+ sources in the same in-text citation
• Citing multiple works by the same author in the same in-text citation
• Abbreviating titles
• Citing religious works and scriptures
• Citing long or block quotes

Why are in-text citations important?

In-text citations

• Give full credit to sources that are quoted and paraphrased in a work/paper.
• Help the writer avoid plagiarism.
• Are a signal that the information came from another source.
• Tell the reader where the information came from.

In-text citation vs. in-prose vs. parenthetical

An in-text citation is a general citation of where presented information came from. In MLA, an in-text citation can be displayed in two different ways:

• In the prose
• As a parenthetical citation

While the two ways are similar, there are slight differences. However, for both ways, you’ll need to know how to format page numbers in MLA .

Citation in prose

An MLA citation in prose is when the author’s name is used in the text of the sentence. At the end of the sentence, in parentheses, is the page number where the information was found.

Here is an example

When it comes to technology, King states that we “need to be comfortable enough with technology tools and services that we can help point our patrons in the right direction, even if we aren’t intimately familiar with how the device works” (11).

This MLA citation in prose includes King’s name in the sentence itself, and this specific line of text was taken from page 11 of the journal it was found in.

Parenthetical citation

An MLA parenthetical citation is created when the author’s name is NOT in the sentence. Instead, the author’s name is in parentheses after the sentence, along with the page number.

Here is an MLA parenthetical citation example

When it comes to technology, we “need to be comfortable enough with technology tools and services that we can help point our patrons in the right direction, even if we aren’t intimately familiar with how the device works” (King 11).

In the above example, King’s name is not included in the sentence itself, so his name is in parentheses after the sentence, with 11 for the page number. The 11 indicates that the quote is found on page 11 in the journal.

Full reference

For every source that is cited using an in-text citation, there is a corresponding full reference. This allows readers to track down the original source.

At the end of the assignment, on the MLA works cited page , is the full reference. The full reference includes the full name of the author, the title of the article, the title of the journal, the volume and issue number, the date the journal was published, and the URL where the article was found.

Here is the full reference for King’s quote

King, David Lee. “Why Stay on Top of Technology Trends?” Library Technology Reports , vol. 54, no. 2, Feb.-Mar. 2018, ezproxy.nypl.org/login?url=//search-proquest-com.i.ezproxy.nypl.org/docview/2008817033?accountid=35635.

Readers can locate the article online via the information included above.

Citation overview

The next section of this guide focuses on how to structure an MLA in-text citation and reference in parentheses in various situations.

A narrative APA in-text citation and APA parenthetical citation are somewhat similar but have some minor differences. Check out our helpful guides, and others, on EasyBib.com!

Wondering how to handle these types of references in other styles? Check out our page on APA format , or choose from more styles .

Parenthetical Citation Reference Chart

Sources with Two Authors

There are many books, journal articles, magazine articles, reports, and other source types written or created by two authors.

When a source has two authors, place both authors’ last names in the body of your work ( Handbook 232). The last names do not need to be listed in alphabetical order. Instead, follow the same order as shown on the source.

In an MLA in-text citation, separate the two last names with the word “and.” After both authors’ names, add a space and the page number where the original quote or information is found on.

Here is an example of an MLA citation in prose for a book with two authors

Gaiman and Pratchett further elaborate by sharing their creepy reminder that “just because it’s a mild night doesn’t mean that dark forces aren’t abroad. They’re abroad all of the time. They’re everywhere” (15).

Here is an example of an MLA parenthetical citation for a book with two authors

Don’t forget that “just because it’s a mild night doesn’t mean that dark forces aren’t abroad. They’re abroad all of the time. They’re everywhere” (Gaiman and Pratchett 15).

If you’re still confused, check out EasyBib.com’s MLA in-text citation generator, which allows you to create MLA in-text citations and other types of references in just a few clicks!

If it’s an APA book citation you’re looking to create, we have a helpful guide on EasyBib.com. While you’re at it, check out our APA journal guide!

Sources With Three or More Authors

There are a number of sources written or created by three or more authors. Many research studies and reports, scholarly journal articles, and government publications are developed by three or more individuals.

If you included the last names of all individuals in your MLA in-text citations or in parentheses, it would be too distracting to the reader. It may also cause the reader to lose sight of the overall message of the paper or assignment. Instead of including all last names, only include the last name of the first individual shown on the source. Follow the first author’s last name with the Latin phrase, “et al.” This Latin phrase translates to “and others.” Add the page number after et al.

Here’s an example of an MLA parenthetical citation for multiple authors

“School library programs in Croatia and Hong Kong are mainly focused on two major educational tasks. One task is enhancing students’ general literacy and developing reading habits, whereas the other task is developing students’ information literacy and research abilities” (Tam et al. 299).

The example above only includes the first listed author’s last name. All other authors are credited when “et al.” is used. If the reader wants to see the other authors’ full names, the reader can refer to the final references at the end of the assignment or to the full source.

The abbreviation et al. is used with references in parentheses, as well as in full references. To include the authors’ names in prose, you can either write each name out individually or, you can type out the meaning of et al., which is “and others.”

Here is an acceptable MLA citation in prose example for sources with more than three authors

School library programming in Croatia and Hong Kong is somewhat similar to programming in the United States. Tam, Choi, Tkalcevic, Dukic, and Zheng share that “school library programs in Croatia and Hong Kong are mainly focused on two major educational tasks. One task is enhancing students’ general literacy and developing reading habits, whereas the other task is developing students’ information literacy and research abilities” (299).

If your instructor’s examples of how to do MLA in-text citations for three or more authors looks different than the example here, your instructor may be using an older edition of this style. To discover more about previous editions, learn more here .

Need some inspiration for your research project? Trying to figure out the perfect topic? Check out our Dr. Seuss , Marilyn Monroe , and Malcolm X topic guides!

Sources Without an Author

It may seem unlikely, but there are times when an author’s name isn’t included on a source. Many digital images, films and videos, encyclopedia articles, dictionary entries, web pages, and more do not have author names listed.

If the source you’re attempting to cite does not have an author’s name listed, the MLA in-text citation or parenthetical citation should display the title. If the title is rather long, it is acceptable to shorten it in the body of your assignment. If you choose to shorten the title, make sure the first word in the full citation is also the first word used in the citation in prose or parenthetical citation. This is done to allow the reader to easily locate the full citation that corresponds with the reference in the text.

If, in the Works Cited list, the full reference has the title within quotation marks, include those quotation marks in the in-text citation or reference in parentheses. If the title is written in italics in the full reference, use italics for the title in the in-text citation or reference in parentheses as well.

Parenthetical Citations MLA Examples

The example below is from a poem found online, titled “the last time.” the poem’s author is unknown..

“From the moment you hold your baby in your arms you will never be the same. You might long for the person you were before, when you had freedom and time and nothing in particular to worry about” (“The Last Time”).

The example below is from the movie, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain .

“Perhaps it would have been different if there hadn’t been a war, but this was 1917, and people were exhausted by loss. Those that were allowed to stay manned the pits, mining the coal that would fuel the ships. Twenty-four hours a day they labored” ( Englishman ).

Notice the shortened title in the above reference. This allows the reader to spend more time focusing on the content of your project, rather than the sources.

If you’re looking for an MLA in-text citation website to help you with your references, check out EasyBib Plus on EasyBib.com! EasyBib Plus can help you determine how to do in-text citations MLA and many other types of references!

Corporate Authors

Numerous government publications, research reports, and brochures state the name of the organization as the author responsible for publishing it.

When the author is a corporate entity or organization, this information is included in the MLA citation in prose or parenthetical citation.

“One project became the first to evaluate how e-prescribing standards work in certain long-term care settings and assessed the impact of e-prescribing on the workflow among prescribers, nurses, the pharmacies, and payers” (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 2).

If the full name of the organization or governmental agency is long in length, it is acceptable to abbreviate some words, as long as they are considered common abbreviations. These abbreviations should only be in the references with parentheses. They should not be used in citations in prose.

Here is a list of words that can be abbreviated in parentheses:

• Department = Dept.
• Government = Govt.
• Corporation = Corp.
• Incorporated = Inc.
• Company = Co.
• United States = US

Example of a shortened corporate author name in an MLA parenthetical citation

“Based on our analysis of available data provided by selected states’ departments of corrections, the most common crimes committed by inmates with serious mental illness varied from state to state” (US Govt. Accountability Office 14).

Here is how the same corporate author name would look in an MLA citation in prose

The United States Government Accountability Office states, “Based on our analysis of available data provided by selected states’ departments of corrections, the most common crimes committed by inmates with serious mental illness varied from state to state” (14).

Remember, citations in prose should not have abbreviations; other types of references can.

Looking for more information on abbreviations? Check out our page on MLA format.

Edited Books and Anthologies

Edited books and anthologies often include chapters or sections, each written by an individual author or a small group of authors. These compilations are placed together by an editor or a group of editors. There are tons of edited books and anthologies available today, ranging from ones showcasing Black history facts and literature to those focusing on notable individuals such as scientists like Albert Eintein and politicians such as Winston Churchill .

If you’re using information from an edited book or an anthology, include the chapter author’s name in your MLA citation in prose or reference in parentheses. Do not use the name(s) of the editor(s). Remember, the purpose of these references is to provide the reader with some insight as to where the information originated. If, after reading your project, the reader would like more information on the sources used, the reader can use the information provided in the full reference, at the very end of the assignment. With that in mind, since the full reference begins with the author of the individual chapter or section, that same information is what should be included in any citations in prose or references in parentheses.

Here is an example of an MLA citation in prose for a book with an editor

Weinstein further states that “one implication of this widespread adaptation of anthropological methods to historical research was the eclipse of the longstanding concern with “change over time,” and the emergence of a preference for synchronic, rather than diachronic, themes” (195).

Full reference at the end of the assignment

Weinstein, Barbara. “History Without a Cause? Grand Narratives, World History, and the Postcolonial Dilemma.” Postcolonial Studies: An Anthology , edited by Pramod K. Nayar, Wiley-Blackwell, 2015, p. 196. Wiley , www.wiley.com/en-us/Postcolonial+Studies%3A+An+Anthology-p-9781118780985.

Once you’re through with writing and citing, run your paper through our innovative plagiarism checker ! It’s the editor of your dreams and provides suggestions for improvement.

Sources Without Page Numbers and Online Sources

When a source has no page numbers, which is often the case with long web page articles, e-books, and numerous other source types, do not include any page number information in the body of the project. Do not estimate or invent your own page numbering system for the source. If there aren’t any page numbers, omit this information from the MLA in-text citation. There may, however, be paragraph numbers included in some sources. If there are distinct and clear paragraph numbers directly on the source, replace the page number with this information. Make it clear to the reader that the source is organized by paragraphs by using “par.” before the paragraph number, or use “pars.” if the information is from more than one paragraph.

Here is an example of how to create an MLA parenthetical citation for a website

“She ran through the field with the wind blowing in her hair and a song through the breeze” (Jackson par. 5).

Here’s an example of an MLA citation in prose for a website

In Brenner’s meeting notes, he further shared his motivation to actively seek out and secure self help resources when he announced, “When we looked at statistical evidence, the most commonly checked out section of the library was self-help. This proves that patrons consistently seek out help for personal issues and wish to solve them with the help of the community’s resources” (pars. 2-3).

Here’s another MLA in-text citation example for a website

Holson writes about a new mindful app, which provides listeners with the soothing sound of not only Bob Ross’ voice, but also the “soothing swish of his painter’s brush on canvas.”

In above example, the information normally found in the parentheses is omitted since there aren’t any page, parentheses, or chapter numbers on the website article.

Looking for APA citation website examples? We have what you need on EasyBib.com!

Need an in-text or parenthetical citation MLA website? Check out EasyBib Plus on EasyBib.com! Also, check out MLA Citation Website , which explains how to create references for websites.

Citing the Same Source Multiple Times

It may seem redundant to constantly include an author’s name in the body of a research project or paper. If you use an author’s work in one section of your project, and the next piece of information included is by the same individual(s), then it is not necessary to share in-text, whether in prose or in parentheses, that both items are from the same author. It is acceptable to include the last name of the author in the first use, and in the second usage, only a page number needs to be included.

Here is an example of how to cite the same source multiple times

“One of the major tests is the Project for Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills. This measurement was developed over four years as a joint partnership between the Association of Research Libraries and Kent State University” (Tong and Moran 290). This exam is just one of many available to measure students’ information literacy skills. It is fee-based, so it is not free, but the results can provide stakeholders, professors, curriculum developers, and even librarians and library service team members with an understanding of students’ abilities and misconceptions. It is not surprising to read the results, which stated that “upper-level undergraduate students generally lack information literacy skills as evidenced by the results on this specific iteration of the Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills test” (295).

The reader can assume that the information in the second quote is from the same article as the first quote. If, in between the two quotes, a different source is included, Tong and Moran’s names would need to be added again in the last quote.

Here is the full reference at the end of the project:

Tong, Min, and Carrie Moran. “Are Transfer Students Lagging Behind in Information Literacy?” Reference Services Review , vol. 45, no. 2, 2017, pp. 286-297. ProQuest , ezproxy.nypl.org/login?url=//search-proquest-com.i.ezproxy.nypl.org/docview/1917280148?accountid=35635.

Citing Two or More Sources in the Same In-text Citation

According to section 6.30 of the Handbook , parenthetical citations containing multiple sources in a single parenthesis should be separated by semicolons.

(Granger 5; Tsun 77) (Ruiz 212; Diego 149)

Citing Multiple Works by the Same Author in One In-text Citation

Just as you might want to cite two different sources at the same time, it can also be useful to cite different works by the same author all at once.

Section 6.30 of the Handbook specifies that “citations of different locations in a single source are separated by commas” (251).

(Maeda 59, 174-76, 24) (Kauffman 7, 234, 299)

Furthermore, if you are citing multiple works by the same author, the titles should be joined by and if there are only two. Otherwise, use commas and and .

(Murakami, Wild Sheep Chase and Norwegian Wood ) (Murakami, Wild Sheep Chase , Norwegian Wood , and “With the Beatles”)

Abbreviating Titles

When listing the titles, be aware that long titles in parenthetical citations can distract the reader and cause confusion. It will be necessary to shorten the titles appropriately for in-text citations. According to the Handbook , “shorten the title if it is longer than a noun phrase” (237). The abbreviated title should begin with the word by which the title is alphabetized.

Best practice is to give the first word the reference is listed by so the source is easily found in the works cited. Omit articles that start a title: a, an, the. When possible, use the first noun (and any adjectives before it). For more on titles and their abbreviations, head to section 6.10 of the Handbook .

• Full title :  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 
• Abbreviated: Curious
• Full title:  The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks 
• Abbreviated:  Disreputable History

Religious Works and Scriptures

There are instances when religious works are italicized in the text of a project, and times when it is not necessary to italicize the title.

If you’re referring to the general religious text, such as the Bible, Torah, or Qur’an, it is not necessary to italicize the name of the scripture in the body of the project. If you’re referring to a specific edition of a religious text, then it is necessary to italicize it, both in text and in the full reference.

Here are some commonly used editions:

• King James Bible
• The Orthodox Jewish Bible
• American Standard Bible
• The Steinsaltz Talmud
• The Babylonian Talmud
• New International Bible

When including a reference, do not use page numbers from the scripture. Instead, use the designated chapter numbers and verse numbers.

MLA example of an in-text citation for a religious scripture

While, unacceptable in today’s society, the Bible is riddled with individuals who have two, three, and sometimes four or more spouses. One example in the King James Bible , states that an individual “had two wives, the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children” (1 Sam. 1.2)

The only religious scripture that is allowed to be in the text of a project, but not in the Works Cited list, is the Qur’an. There is only one version of the Qur’an. It is acceptable to include the name of the Qur’an in the text, along with the specific chapter and verse numbers.

If you’re attempting to create a reference for a religious work, but it’s not considered a “classic” religious book, such as a biography about Mother Teresa , or a book about Muhammed Ali’s conversion, then a reference in the text and also on the final page of the project is necessary.

If you’re creating an APA bibliography , you do not need to create a full reference for classic religious works on an APA reference page .

For another MLA in-text citation website and for more on the Bible and other source types, click here .

Long or Block Quotes

Quotes longer than four lines are called, “block quotes.” Block quotes are sometimes necessary when you’re adding a lengthy piece of information into your project. If you’d like to add a large portion of Martin Luther King ’s “I Have a Dream” speech, a lengthy amount of text from a Mark Twain book, or multiple lines from Abraham Lincoln ’s Gettysburg Address, a block quote is needed.

MLA block quotes are formatted differently than shorter quotes in the body of a project. Why? The unique formatting signals to the reader that they’re about to read a lengthy quote.

Block quotes are called block quotes because they form their own block of text. They are set apart from the body of a project with different spacing and margins.

Begin the block quote on a new line. The body of the full project should run along the one inch margin, but the block quote should be set in an inch and a half. The entire quote should be along the inch and a half margin.

If there aren’t any quotation marks in the text itself, do not include any in the block quote. This is very different than standard reference rules. In most cases, quotation marks are added around quoted material. For block quotes, since the reader can see that the quoted material sits in its own block, it is not necessary to place quotation marks around it.

Here is an MLA citation in prose example of a block quote

Despite Bruchac’s consistent difficult situations at home, basketball kept his mind busy and focused:

When I got off the late bus that afternoon, my grandparents weren’t home. The store was locked and there was a note from Grama on the house door. Doc Magovern had come to the house because Grampa was “having trouble with his blood.” Now they were off to the hospital and I “wasn’t to worry.” This had happened before. Grampa had pernicious anemia and sometimes was very sick. So, naturally, it worried the pants off me. I actually thought about taking my bike down the dreaded 9N the three miles to the Saratoga Hospital. Instead, I did as I knew they wanted. I opened the store and waited for customers. None came, though, and my eye was caught by the basketball stowed away as usual behind the door. I had to do something to take my mind off what was happening to Grampa. I took out the ball and went around the side. (13)

Notice the use of the colon prior to the start of the block quote. Do not use a colon if the block quote is part of the sentence above it.

Here is an example of the same block quote, without the use of the colon:

Despite Bruchac’s consistent difficult situations at home, it was clear that basketball kept his mind busy and focused when he states

When I get off the late bus that afternoon, my grandparents weren’t home…

If two or more paragraphs are included in your block quote, start each paragraph on a new line.

Looking for additional helpful websites? Need another MLA in-text citation website? Check out the style in the news . We also have other handy articles, guides, and posts to help you with your research needs. Here’s one on how to write an MLA annotated bibliography .

Visit our EasyBib Twitter feed to discover more citing tips, fun grammar facts, and the latest product updates.

If you’re looking for information on styling an APA citation , EasyBib.com has the guides you need!

MLA Handbook . 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.

Published October 31, 2011. Updated July 5, 2021.

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau. Michele Kirschenbaum is a school library media specialist and the in-house librarian at EasyBib.com. Elise Barbeau is the Citation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing.

MLA Formatting Guide

MLA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Sample Paper
• Works Cited
• MLA 8 Updates
• MLA 9 Updates
• View MLA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all MLA Examples

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In MLA style, if multiple sources have the same author , the titles should be joined by and if there are only two. Otherwise, use commas and and .

• In-text citation: (Austen Emma and Mansfield Park )
• Structure: (Last name 1st Source’s title and 2nd Source’s title )
• In-text citation: (Leung et al. 58)

If the author is a corporate entity or organization, included the name of the corporate entity or organization in the in-text citation.

• In-text citation: (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 2)

Yes, there’s an option to download source citations as a Word Doc or a Google Doc. You may also copy citations from the EasyBib Citation Generator and paste them into your paper.

Yes! Whether you’d like to learn how to construct citations on your own, our Autocite tool isn’t able to gather the metadata you need, or anything in between, manual citations are always an option. Click here for directions on using creating manual citations.

An in-text citation is a shortened version of the source being referred to in the paper. As the name implies, it appears in the text of the paper. A works cited list entry, on the other hand, details the complete information of the source being cited and is listed within the works cited list at the end of the paper after the main text. The in-text citation is designed to direct the reader to the full works cited list entry. An example of an in-text citation and the corresponding works cited list entry for a journal article with one author is listed below:

In-text citation template and example:

Only the author surname (or the title of the work if there is no author) is used in in-text citations to direct the reader to the corresponding reference list entry. For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the author for the first occurrence. In subsequent citations, use only the surname. In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the author. If you are directly quoting the source, the page number should also be included in the in-text citation.

Citation in prose:

First mention: Christopher Collins ….

Subsequent occurrences: Collins ….

Parenthetical:

….(Collins)

….(Collins 5)

Works cited list entry template and example:

The title of the article is in plain text and title case and is placed inside quotation marks. The title of the journal is set in italics.

Surname, F. “Title of the Article.” Journal Title , vol. #, no. #, Publication Date, page range.

Collins, Christopher. “On Posthuman Materiality: Art-Making as Rhizomatic Rehearsal.” Text and Performance Quarterly , vol. 39, no. 2, 2019, pp. 153–59.

Note that because the author’s surname (Collins) was included in the in-text citation, the reader would then be able to easily locate the works cited list entry since the entry begins with the author’s surname.

An in-text citation is a short citation that is placed next to the text being cited. The basic element needed for an in-text citation is the author’s name . The publication year is not required in in-text citations. Sometimes, page numbers or line numbers are also included, especially when text is quoted from the source being cited. In-text citations are mentioned in the text in two ways: as a citation in prose or a parenthetical citation.

Citations in prose are incorporated into the text and act as a part of the sentence. Usually, citations in prose use the author’s full name when cited the first time in the text. Thereafter, only the surname is used. Avoid including the middle initial even if it is present in the works-cited-list entry.

Parenthetical

Parenthetical citations add only the author’s surname at the end of the sentence in parentheses.

Examples of in-text citations

Here are a few tips to create in-text citations for sources with various numbers and types of authors:

Use both the first name and surname of the author if you are mentioning the author for the first time in the prose. In subsequent occurrences, use only the author’s surname. Always use only the surname of the author in parenthetical citations.

First mention: Sheele John asserts …. (7).

Subsequent occurrences: John argues …. (7).

…. (John 7).

Two authors

Use the first name and surname of both authors if you are mentioning the work for the first time in the prose. In subsequent occurrences, use only the surnames of the two authors. Always use only the authors’ surnames in parenthetical citations. Use “and” to separate the two authors in parenthetical citations.

First mention: Katie Longman and Clara Sullivan ….

Subsequent occurrences: Longman and Sullivan ….

…. ( Longman and Sullivan).

Three or more authors

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues.” For parenthetical citations, use only the surname of the first author followed by “et al.”

Lincy Mathew and colleagues…. or Lincy Mathew and others ….

…. (Mathew et al.).

Corporate author

For citations in prose, treat the corporate author like you would treat the author’s name. For parenthetical citations, shorten the organization name to the shortest noun phrase. For example, shorten the Modern Language Association of America to Modern Language Association.

The Literary Society of Malaysia….

…. (Literary Society).

If there is no author for the source, use the source’s title in place of the author’s name for both citations in prose and parenthetical citations.

When you add such in-text citations, italicize the text of the title. If the source title is longer than a noun phrase, use a shortened version of the title. For example, shorten the title Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them to Fantastic Beasts .

Knowing Body of Work explains …. (102).

….( Knowing Body 102).

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APA In-Text Citations for Research Writing

Why Use In-Text Citations?

When writing a journal article, literature review, convention paper, or any other academic document, authors must include in-text citations whenever they refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. In addition, every time a work is cited within a paper (in APA style, a parenthetical citation), a corresponding entry must be included in the reference list.

How to Cite a Research Paper Using In-Text Citations

The rationale behind citing other people’s publications in your own manuscript is that you want to avoid intellectual dishonesty by giving credit to whoever reported a finding first or invented a specific technique. This is not only an ethical question, as being “sloppy” with your sources can easily be considered plagiarism (and even self-plagiarism , if you fail to refer to your own work), which can have legal consequences and damage your reputation.

General rules for what information should be provided when citing sources in a research paper vary across fields and depend on the type of source (e.g., books, journal articles, patents, conference proceedings, websites, etc.). We are not going into such differences here but will focus on the correct way of referencing other people’s research in your own paper according to one of the most common styles used to cite sources within the social sciences and in several other academic disciplines , that is, APA (American Psychological Association) style .

In research papers, in-text citations are most commonly used in the Introduction and Discussion Results sections. The following guidelines and examples are taken from the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition, 2nd printing , which details rules and application of APA style in research papers, including in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and references. For more information, consult the APA Style Manual website .

This resource provides detailed guidelines for citing sources in your paper and includes examples of in-text citations for reference by research authors. Before submitting your manuscript to a journal or publisher, be sure to use our free APA citation generator for your references and in-text citations.

APA Citation Rules: The Basics

Order and structure of in-text citation content.

When using APA format, follow the “author-date” method of in-text citation. Write the author’s last name and publication year for the source in parentheses and separate these pieces of information with a comma.

When referring to external work or referencing an entire work but not directly quoting the material, you only need to make a reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your citation.

The results of the first enzyme study (Chen et al., 2014) revealed several relationships.

If you mention the name of the author of the work in the sentence or earlier in the paragraph, you only need to include the year of publication in the citation.

Chen (2014) discusses several relationships revealed in this study.

Verb tense used in referring to other works

APA style requires authors to use past tense or present perfect tense (NOT present tense) when using signal phrases to refer to or discuss previous research (have a look at this article for more details on the correct tenses for different parts of a research paper ).

Radnitz (1995) found… / Radnitz (1995) has found…

Placement of in-text citations in the sentence (no quotation)

When referring to a specific work or works, place the citation (publication date only) directly after the author of the study referenced.

Klinge and Rogers (2010) found that mirroring is instrumental in developments of performative gender roles.

When giving information that reflects the results or implications of previous work, place the citation (author and publication date) at the end of the sentence.

Mirroring has been found to be instrumental in the development of performative gender roles (Klinge and Rogers, 2010).

Capitalization

Always capitalize author names and initials in in-text citations.

(r. kazinsky, 2014)    (R. Kazinsky, 2014)

In-Text Citation Rules for Short Quotations

When quoting directly from a work, include the author, publication year, and page number of the reference (preceded by “p.”).

Method 1 : Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author’s last name; the publication year will follow in parentheses. Include the page number in parentheses at the end of the quoted text. Note that the quotation marks surround the text only, and not the parenthetical citation.

According to Khan (1976), “Graduate students tend to apply more diverse methods during their first two years of research” (p. 45). Khan (1976) noted that “graduate students tend to apply more diverse methods during their first two years of research” (p. 45), a fact that has profound implications for research departments.

Method 2 : If the author is absent in the signal phrase, include the author’s last name, the publication year, and the page number together in parentheses after the quoted text.

Researchers noted that “graduate students tend to apply more diverse methods during their first two years of research” (Khan, 1976, p. 45), but they did not offer a suggestion as to the cause.

In-text Citation Rules for Long Quotations

Long direct quotations are those with at least 40 words of quoted text in a row. Long quotes should be placed in a separate block of lines without quotation marks, similar to creating a new paragraph. Begin the quotation on a new line and indent 0.5in/1.27cm from the left margin. Type the entire quotation within these new margins using double-spacing. Include the parenthetical citation after the final punctuation mark.

Khan’s (1976) study found the following: Graduate students tend to apply more diverse methods during their first two years of research, especially when conducting research in teams of three or fewer with no senior researchers    present. This tendency could be attributed to either a misunderstanding of correct methodology or to a feeling of freedom to explore different approaches that the researchers have yet to employ. (p. 45)

Summarizing and Paraphrasing Other Works

When  paraphrasing another work , you only need to cite the author and year of publication in your in-text citation. It may be a good idea to include the page number as well if the paraphrased information is located on a specific page of the original text. APA guidelines encourage this inclusion but do not require it.

According to Khan (1976), new researchers tend to use more diverse methodologies. New researchers tend to use more diverse methodologies (Khan, 1976, p. 45).

Common Signal Phrases for Introducing External Works

• According to Johnson (publication year)…
• As Johnson (publication year) has noted…
• Johnson and Smith (publication year) contend that…
• As Johnson’s (2011) study revealed…

Citing Works by Multiple Authors/Editors

When making an in-text citation of works by multiple authors, there are specific rules to follow depending on the number of authors of a publication and the number of times you cite the same works.

Citing Multiple Works in One In-text Citation

When citing more than one source in the same in-text citation, list all sources in the standard way and separate them with a semi-colon. List the sources alphabetically (by author’s last name or by title if no author is given) in the order they appear in the reference list.

(Marsh, 1997; Johnson, 2002). (Kazinsky, 2017; “Three Different Roads,”  2013).

Citing Works by the Same Author with the Same Publication Year

When citing two or more sources with the same author and year of publication, assign lowercase letters directly after the year of publication (a, b, c) according to the alphabetical order of titles. You will use the same alphabetical designations in your in-text citations that you do in your reference list.

The incidence of West Nile virus in Florida increased between 2002 and 2004 (Dickens, 2014a). According to Dickens (2014b), “these viral infections were precipitated by record levels of rainfall around the peninsula” (p. 150).

Citing a Work Quoted in another Source

Work quoted or paraphrased in another text is called a “secondary source.” While in your reference list you must cite the primary source as well, in your in-text citation you will add the words “as cited in” followed by the secondary source. For example, if a review article by Franklin you are citing includes a useful quote by Adams that supports your paper, your in-text citation would look like this:

According to a study by Adams (as cited in Franklin, 2016), 25% of all US federal prisoners have been diagnosed with some form of social disorder. Adams (as cited in Franklin) contends that this statistic “reflects the dehumanizing conditions of most federal institutions” (p. 76).

Citing Web Pages

Entire website.

When citing an entire website (with no specific webpage or article given), simply provide the title and web address within the text of your paper. No citation is needed in the References.

The American Psychological Association includes detailed information on how to apply APA citation (http://www.apa.org).

Webpage with author(s)

A webpage with an individual author or authors should be cited in the same way as other texts, with the name or names written first, followed by the publication year.

There were 523 new cases reported in 2011 alone (Kristoff, 2012).

Webpage with a group author

Treat group authors as individual authors in in-text citations, but instead of the author’s last name, include the name of the group.

Claustrophobia afflicts one in five Britons (The Surrey Group, 2003).

Webpage with missing information

Even when some central information is missing from a website (e.g., no author, date, or webpage title), you may still cite it as a source if you use the correct formatting. For information on how to cite a website with missing information, visit the APA Style Blog post on  Missing Pieces .

Citing social media sources

For a more comprehensive explanation of social media citation guidelines, visit the APA Style Blog post on  How to Cite Social Media in APA Style .

And when submitting your finished AP document to journals or for a class assignment, be sure to get professional English editing services , including academic editing , manuscript editing , and research paper editing services . Professional editors with experience in APA, AMA, MLA, and other popular style guides will make sure that your document’s citations and references conform to the journal of your choice.

Wordvice Resources

Wordvice provides a variety of other articles on topics such as the number of references your manuscript should contain , different citation styles if your target style does not use APA, and how to paraphrase correctly when citing sources in your paper, as well as more general advice on how to write research papers on the Wordvice academic resources website .

• MLA 9th Edition Quick Style Guide

Current Section

• Citation Tools
• AMA 11th Edition Quick Style Guide
• APA 7th Edition Quick Style Guide

MLA Style is a writing and citation style defined by the Modern Language Association, most commonly used within the liberal arts and humanities. The 9th Edition was released in April 2021. 9th Edition changes are summarized at OWL Purdue . 

Section 1: Citation Format

Changes to mla citation style in 8th edition.

MLA style does not distinguish citation formatting by type of source. Instead, core bibliographic elements are included in a set order. Elements not relevant to the citation style are omitted. If given, include the following elements in a citation in this order: 

• Title of source.
• Title of container,
• Other contributors,
• Publication date,

Sometimes, elements 3-9 will repeat again, if, for example, your journal was inside a database.

For electronic sources (such as webpages), include Date of access (if applicable) after the Location. 

Gowdy, John. "Avoiding Self-Organized Extinction: Toward a Co-Evolutionary Economics of Sustainability." International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, vol. 14, no. 1, 2007, pp. 27-36. www.proquest.com/docview/197927785?parentSessionId=9%2BgIqOlvelZCV%2Ba15wYkkOJ2oFCfp8R25b%2FUDlBCzCE%3D . Accessed 23 May 2023.

Examples of Citations by Format

Section 2: In-Text Citations

About parenthetical citation in text.

In-text citations appear in the body of your paper. They identify your use of an idea or quotation from one of your sources. The MLA Handbook uses the author-page citation system for in-text citations.

Example of Paraphrased In-Text Citation

Ancient writers attributed the invention of the monochord to Pythagoras, who lived in the sixth century BC (Marcuse 197).

The parenthetical citation “(Marcuse 197)” tells the reader that the information in the sentence was derived from page 197 of a work by an author named Marcuse. If the reader wants more information about this source, they can turn to the works cited list, where a complete citation for Marcuse's work will be found.

Example of Quoted In-Text Citation

According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though others disagree.

The quoted phrase, “profound aspects of personality”, uses the exact wording of the author to share the tone of the information as well as the meaning. A complete citation of Foulkes' work will also be listed on the Works Cited page.

Note: Every in-text citation must correspond to a source in your Works Cited page.

Section 3: Synthesizing Research Sources

When using sources in your paper it's important to show readers where you used your sources to develop your argument and analysis. Signal phrases alert your readers that you are about to refer to your research, either by paraphrasing or with a quote. The signal phrase shows how the information from one source relates to that of another by relating the ideas in your own voice. This synthesis creates the flow of how you contribute to the research conversation.

Example of Signal Phrase

Dr. Sue Biggins, genetics and biology researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, proclaimed the environment of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center provides great hope for finding effective cancer treatments:“It isn't about playing it safe or working alone. It isn't about empire building. It's not full of policies and politics to trip over. It's all about having the freedom to do the best, most unconventional science possible” (3).

Section 4: Works Cited

Reference citations.

Information about the sources you use in your work are included as a separate list at the end of the paper. The MLA Handbook suggests using the title, "Works Cited", for the list.

Formatting of Works Cited page

• Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper.
• Label the page Works Cited, centered at the top of the page.
• Double space all citations.
• Indent the second and all following lines of a citation by 0.5” to create a hanging indent.

Example of a Works Cited Page

Works Cited

An Inconvenient Truth . Directed by Davis Guggenheim, performances by Al Gore and Billy West, Paramount, 2006.

Dean, Cornelia. "Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet." The New York Times , 22 May 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/science/earth/22ander.aspx . Accessed 12 May 2016.

Leroux, Marcel. Global Warming: Myth Or Reality?: The Erring Ways of Climatology . Springer, 2005.

Additional Information

For additional information, visit Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL) MLA Formatting and Style Guide .

Section 5: Citing AI Sources

The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (such as ChatGPT) in academic work is currently under discussion. LWTech does not have a campus-wide policy on the use of AI. Instead, instructors have their own policies for each class. Before using AI in any assignment, check your syllabus or ask your instructor about their policy. Violating your instructor's policy on the use of AI may be considered an act of academic dishonesty, to be treated similarly to plagiarism or cheating.

Because some instructors permit the use of AI in class assignments, the Library does offer guidance on how to cite AI sources according to different style guides. Visit the LWTech AI Citation Quick Guide (on Canvas) to learn how to cite AI in MLA style.

About This Guide

Sources used in this resource.

This resource was developed out of and adapted from the following sources:

• Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of American, 2009.
• The Online Writing Lab at Purdue, Glendale Community College's MLA Style Guides, Bedford St. Martin's Diane Hacker.
• OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab, MLA Formatting and Style Guide.

Quick Guide Version

This webpage edition (05/31/23) by Greg Bem, Sue Wozniak, and Katherine Kelley. 

Appropriate Level of Citation

The number of sources you cite in your paper depends on the purpose of your work. For most papers, cite one or two of the most representative sources for each key point. Literature review papers, however, typically include a more exhaustive list of references.

Provide appropriate credit to the source (e.g., by using an in-text citation) whenever you do the following:

• paraphrase (i.e., state in your own words) the ideas of others
• directly quote the words of others
• refer to data or data sets
• reprint or adapt a table or figure, even images from the internet that are free or licensed in the Creative Commons
• reprint a long text passage or commercially copyrighted test item

Avoid both undercitation and overcitation. Undercitation can lead to plagiarism and/or self-plagiarism . Overcitation can be distracting and is unnecessary.

For example, it is considered overcitation to repeat the same citation in every sentence when the source and topic have not changed. Instead, when paraphrasing a key point in more than one sentence within a paragraph, cite the source in the first sentence in which it is relevant and do not repeat the citation in subsequent sentences as long as the source remains clear and unchanged.

Figure 8.1 in Chapter 8 of the Publication Manual provides an example of an appropriate level of citation.

Determining the appropriate level of citation is covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Section 8.1 and the Concise Guide Section 8.1

Related handouts

• In-Text Citation Checklist (PDF, 227KB)
• Six Steps to Proper Citation (PDF, 112KB)

From the APA Style blog

The importance of integrating APA Style into high school classrooms

Read insights from a recent high school graduate about the value of learning APA Style in high school.

How to cite your own translations

If you translate a passage from one language into another on your own in your paper, your translation is considered a paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

Key takeaways from the Psi Chi webinar So You Need to Write a Literature Review

This blog post describes key tasks in writing an effective literature review and provides strategies for approaching those tasks.

How to cite a work with a nonrecoverable source

In most cases, nonrecoverable sources such as personal emails, nonarchived social media livestreams (or deleted and unarchived social media posts), classroom lectures, unrecorded webinars or presentations, and intranet sources should be cited only in the text as personal communications.

The “outdated sources” myth

The “outdated sources” myth is that sources must have been published recently, such as the last 5 to 10 years. There is no timeliness requirement in APA Style.

From COVID-19 to demands for social justice: Citing contemporary sources for current events

The guidance in the seventh edition of the Publication Manual makes the process of citing contemporary sources found online easier than ever before.

Citing classical and religious works

A classical or religious work is cited as either a book or a webpage, depending on what version of the source you are using. This post includes details and examples.

Academic Writer—APA’s essential teaching resource for higher education instructors

Academic Writer’s advanced authoring technology and digital learning tools allow students to take a hands-on approach to learning the scholarly research and writing process.

APA Style webinar on citing works in text

Attend the webinar, “Citing Works in Text Using Seventh Edition APA Style,” on July 14, 2020, to learn the keys to accurately and consistently citing sources in APA Style.

• Library Guides
• Literature Reviews
• Why Citing is Important

Literature Reviews: Why Citing is Important

Why citing is important.

It's important to cite sources you used in your research for several reasons:

• To show your reader you've done proper research by listing sources you used to get your information
• To be a responsible scholar by giving credit to other researchers and acknowledging their ideas
• To avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas used by other authors
• To allow your reader to track down the sources you used by citing them accurately in your paper by way of footnotes, a bibliography or reference list

About citations

Citing a source means that you show, within the body of your text, that you took words, ideas, figures, images, etc. from another place.

Citations are a short way to uniquely identify a published work (e.g. book, article, chapter, web site).  They are found in bibliographies and reference lists and are also collected in article and book databases.

Citations consist of standard elements, and contain all the information necessary to identify and track down publications, including:

• author name(s)
• titles of books, articles, and journals
• date of publication
• page numbers
• volume and issue numbers (for articles)

Citations may look different, depending on what is being cited and which style was used to create them. Choose an appropriate  style guide  for your needs.  Here is an example of an article citation using four different citation styles.  Notice the common elements as mentioned above:

Author - R. Langer

Article Title - New Methods of Drug Delivery

Source Title - Science

Volume and issue - Vol 249, issue 4976

Publication Date - 1990

Page numbers - 1527-1533

American Chemical Society (ACS) style:

Langer, R. New Methods of Drug Delivery. Science 1990, 249, 1527-1533.

IEEE Style:

R. Langer, "New Methods of Drug Delivery," Science, vol. 249, pp. 1527-1533, SEP 28, 1990.

American Psychological Association  (APA) style:

Langer, R. (1990). New methods of drug delivery. Science, 249(4976), 1527-1533.

Modern Language Association (MLA) style:

Langer, R. "New Methods of Drug Delivery." Science 249.4976 (1990): 1527-33.

What to cite

You  must  cite:

• Facts, figures, ideas, or other information that is not common knowledge

Publications that must be cited include:  books, book chapters, articles, web pages, theses, etc.

Another person's exact words should be quoted and cited to show proper credit 

When in doubt, be safe and cite your source!

Avoiding plagiarism

Plagiarism occurs when you borrow another's words (or ideas) and do not acknowledge that you have done so. In this culture, we consider our words and ideas intellectual property; like a car or any other possession, we believe our words belong to us and cannot be used without our permission.

Plagiarism is a very serious offense. If it is found that you have plagiarized -- deliberately or inadvertently -- you may face serious consequences. In some instances, plagiarism has meant that students have had to leave the institutions where they were studying.

The best way to avoid plagiarism is to cite your sources - both within the body of your paper and in a bibliography of sources you used at the end of your paper.

Some useful links about plagiarism:

• OSU Academic Integrity 
• Plagiarism: What It IS and How to Recognize and Avoid It
• Plagiarism: An Overview
• Last Updated: Sep 23, 2024 11:11 AM
• URL: https://info.library.okstate.edu/literaturereviews

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• Citing Sources

Citing Sources: What are citations and why should I use them?

What is a citation.

Citations are a way of giving credit when certain material in your work came from another source. It also gives your readers the information necessary to find that source again-- it provides an important roadmap to your research process. Whenever you use sources such as books, journals or websites in your research, you must give credit to the original author by citing the source. 

Why do researchers cite?

Scholarship is a conversation  and scholars use citations not only to  give credit  to original creators and thinkers, but also to  add strength and authority  to their own work.  By citing their sources, scholars are  placing their work in a specific context  to show where they “fit” within the larger conversation.  Citations are also a great way to  leave a trail  intended to help others who may want to explore the conversation or use the sources in their own work.

In short, citations

(1) give credit

(2) add strength and authority to your work

(3) place your work in a specific context

(4) leave a trail for other scholars

"Good citations should reveal your sources, not conceal them. They should honeslty reflect the research you conducted." (Lipson 4)

Lipson, Charles. "Why Cite?"  Cite Right: A Quick Guide to Citation Styles--MLA, APA, Chicago, the Sciences, Professions, and More . Chicago: U of Chicago, 2006. Print.

What does a citation look like?

Different subject disciplines call for citation information to be written in very specific order, capitalization, and punctuation. There are therefore many different style formats. Three popular citation formats are MLA Style (for humanities articles) and APA or Chicago (for social sciences articles).

MLA style (print journal article):  

Whisenant, Warren A. "How Women Have Fared as Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Since the Passage of Title IX." Sex Roles Vol. 49.3 (2003): 179-182.

APA style (print journal article):

Whisenant, W. A. (2003) How Women Have Fared as Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Since the Passage of Title IX. Sex Roles , 49 (3), 179-182.

Chicago style (print journal article):

Whisenant, Warren A. "How Women Have Fared as Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Since the Passage of Title IX." Sex Roles 49, no. 3 (2003): 179-182.

No matter which style you use, all citations require the same basic information:

• Author or Creator
• Container (e.g., Journal or magazine, website, edited book)
• Date of creation or publication
• Publisher 

You are most likely to have easy access to all of your citation information when you find it in the first place. Take note of this information up front, and it will be much easier to cite it effectively later.

• << Previous: Basics of Citing
• Next: When should I use a citation? >>
• Last Updated: May 1, 2024 12:48 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/citations

Generate accurate APA citations for free

• Knowledge Base
• APA Style 7th edition
• APA format for academic papers and essays

APA Formatting and Citation (7th Ed.) | Generator, Template, Examples

Published on November 6, 2020 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on September 5, 2024.

The 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual provides guidelines for clear communication , citing sources , and formatting documents. This article focuses on paper formatting.

Generate accurate APA citations with Scribbr

Throughout your paper, you need to apply the following APA format guidelines:

• Set page margins to 1 inch on all sides.
• Double-space all text, including headings.
• Indent the first line of every paragraph 0.5 inches.
• Use an accessible font (e.g., Times New Roman 12pt., Arial 11pt., or Georgia 11pt.).
• Include a page number on every page.

Let an expert format your paper

Our APA formatting experts can help you to format your paper according to APA guidelines. They can help you with:

• Margins, line spacing, and indentation
• Font and headings
• Running head and page numbering

Table of contents

How to set up apa format (with template), apa alphabetization guidelines, apa format template [free download], page header, headings and subheadings, reference page, tables and figures, frequently asked questions about apa format.

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References are ordered alphabetically by the first author’s last name. If the author is unknown, order the reference entry by the first meaningful word of the title (ignoring articles: “the”, “a”, or “an”).

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Student papers and professional papers have slightly different guidelines regarding the title page, abstract, and running head. Our template is available in Word and Google Docs format for both versions.

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In an APA Style paper, every page has a page header. For student papers, the page header usually consists of just a page number in the page’s top-right corner. For professional papers intended for publication, it also includes a running head .

A running head is simply the paper’s title in all capital letters. It is left-aligned and can be up to 50 characters in length. Longer titles are abbreviated .

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APA headings have five possible levels. Heading level 1 is used for main sections such as “ Methods ” or “ Results ”. Heading levels 2 to 5 are used for subheadings. Each heading level is formatted differently.

Want to know how many heading levels you should use, when to use which heading level, and how to set up heading styles in Word or Google Docs? Then check out our in-depth article on APA headings .

The title page is the first page of an APA Style paper. There are different guidelines for student and professional papers.

Both versions include the paper title and author’s name and affiliation. The student version includes the course number and name, instructor name, and due date of the assignment. The professional version includes an author note and running head .

For more information on writing a striking title, crediting multiple authors (with different affiliations), and writing the author note, check out our in-depth article on the APA title page .

The abstract is a 150–250 word summary of your paper. An abstract is usually required in professional papers, but it’s rare to include one in student papers (except for longer texts like theses and dissertations).

The abstract is placed on a separate page after the title page . At the top of the page, write the section label “Abstract” (bold and centered). The contents of the abstract appear directly under the label. Unlike regular paragraphs, the first line is not indented. Abstracts are usually written as a single paragraph without headings or blank lines.

Directly below the abstract, you may list three to five relevant keywords . On a new line, write the label “Keywords:” (italicized and indented), followed by the keywords in lowercase letters, separated by commas.

APA Style does not provide guidelines for formatting the table of contents . It’s also not a required paper element in either professional or student papers. If your instructor wants you to include a table of contents, it’s best to follow the general guidelines.

Place the table of contents on a separate page between the abstract and introduction. Write the section label “Contents” at the top (bold and centered), press “Enter” once, and list the important headings with corresponding page numbers.

The APA reference page is placed after the main body of your paper but before any appendices . Here you list all sources that you’ve cited in your paper (through APA in-text citations ). APA provides guidelines for formatting the references as well as the page itself.

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Write the section label “References” at the top of a new page (bold and centered). Place the reference entries directly under the label in alphabetical order.

Finally, apply a hanging indent , meaning the first line of each reference is left-aligned, and all subsequent lines are indented 0.5 inches.

Tables and figures are presented in a similar format. They’re preceded by a number and title and followed by explanatory notes (if necessary).

Use bold styling for the word “Table” or “Figure” and the number, and place the title on a separate line directly below it (in italics and title case). Try to keep tables clean; don’t use any vertical lines, use as few horizontal lines as possible, and keep row and column labels concise.

Keep the design of figures as simple as possible. Include labels and a legend if needed, and only use color when necessary (not to make it look more appealing).

Check out our in-depth article about table and figure notes to learn when to use notes and how to format them.

The easiest way to set up APA format in Word is to download Scribbr’s free APA format template for student papers or professional papers.

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APA Style papers should be written in a font that is legible and widely accessible. For example:

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The same font and font size is used throughout the document, including the running head , page numbers, headings , and the reference page . Text in footnotes and figure images may be smaller and use single line spacing.

You need an APA in-text citation and reference entry . Each source type has its own format; for example, a webpage citation is different from a book citation .

Use Scribbr’s free APA Citation Generator to generate flawless citations in seconds or take a look at our APA citation examples .

Yes, page numbers are included on all pages, including the title page , table of contents , and reference page . Page numbers should be right-aligned in the page header.

To insert page numbers in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, click ‘Insert’ and then ‘Page number’.

APA format is widely used by professionals, researchers, and students in the social and behavioral sciences, including fields like education, psychology, and business.

Be sure to check the guidelines of your university or the journal you want to be published in to double-check which style you should be using.

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Speaker 1: Are you supposed to cite your sources in MLA style? Then you need to keep watching. In this video, you'll learn what to include in an MLA in-text citation, where to place it in a sentence, and how to deal with missing information. Hi, I'm Jessica from Scribbr, here to help you achieve your academic goals. An in-text citation is a concise way to identify the source of certain information. You should include an in-text citation every time you paraphrase or quote from a source. It helps the readers to locate the corresponding entry in the reference list at the end of your paper. The in-text citation consists of the author's last name and the page number. Yep, easy as that. Now you can integrate your in-text citation in a sentence using a parenthetical or narrative citation. Place the parenthetical citation directly after the relevant quote or paraphrase, and before the period or other punctuation mark. If you've already named the author in a sentence, add only the page number in parentheses, like this. This is called a narrative citation. Now, if a sentence is supported by more than one source, you can combine the citations in a single set of parentheses. Separate the two sources with a semicolon. By the way, you can generate your in-text citations and works cited lists super easily with Scribbr's free MLA citation generator. Just click, and it's copied. But what if there's more than one author? Good question right there. If a source has two authors, name both. If a source has more than two authors, name only the first author followed by et al, which means and others. This one doesn't have an author. What do I do? If the author is unknown, the in-text citation must match the first element of the works cited entry. This may be the name of an organization or a shortened version of the title. If the title is longer than four words, shorten the title to the first word or phrase. Now, depending on the type of source, if it's a self-contained work, for example, a whole website or an entire book, put the titles in italics. If the source is contained within a larger whole, for example, a page on a website or a chapter of a book, put the title in quotation marks. Um, there's no page number on this one. If a source does not have page numbers but is divided into number parts, for example, chapters, scenes, or times, use these numbers to locate the relevant passage. If the source does not use any numbering system, include only the author's name in the in-text citation. Don't include paragraph numbers unless they're explicitly numbered in the source. Let's take a look at some exceptions. If you cite more than one work by the same author, add a shortened title to signal which source you're referring to. In this example, the first source is a whole book, so the title appears in italics. The second is an article published in a journal, so the title appears in quotation marks. To distinguish between different authors with the same last name, use the author's initials, or if the initials are the same, full first names in your in-text citations. Sometimes, you might want to cite something that you found quoted in a secondary source. If possible, always seek out the original source and cite it directly. If you can't access the original source, make sure to name both the original author and the author of the source that you accessed. Use the abbreviation qtd.in, which is short for quoted in, to indicate where you found the quotation. Now go on and cite your sources either manually or with help from Scribbr's citation generator. Before you do that, make sure to drop a like and sub Scribbr for more academic content. I'll see you in the next one.

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• Lifetime effects and cost-effectiveness of statin therapy for older people in the United Kingdom: a modelling study
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• http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0951-1304 Borislava Mihaylova 1 , 2 ,
• Runguo Wu 2 ,
• Junwen Zhou 1 ,
• Claire Williams 1 ,
• http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4154-1431 Iryna Schlackow 1 ,
• Jonathan Emberson 3 ,
• Christina Reith 3 ,
• Anthony Keech 4 ,
• John Robson 5 ,
• Richard Parnell 6 ,
• Jane Armitage 3 ,
• http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0239-7278 Alastair Gray 1 ,
• John Simes 4 ,
• Colin Baigent 3
• 1 Health Economics Research Centre, Nuffield Department of Population Health , University of Oxford , Oxford , UK
• 2 Health Economics and Policy Research Unit, Wolfson Institute of Population Health , Queen Mary University of London , London , UK
• 3 Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health , University of Oxford , Oxford , UK
• 4 NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre , The University of Sydney , Sydney , New South Wales , Australia
• 5 Clinical Effectiveness Group, Wolfson Institute of Population Health , Queen Mary University of London , London , UK
• 6 Patient and Public Representative , Havant , UK
• Correspondence to Dr Borislava Mihaylova; boby.mihaylova{at}dph.ox.ac.uk

Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk increases with age. Statins reduce cardiovascular risk but their effects are less certain at older ages. We assessed the long-term effects and cost-effectiveness of statin therapy for older people in the contemporary UK population using a recent meta-analysis of randomised evidence of statin effects in older people and a new validated CVD model.

Methods The performance of the CVD microsimulation model, developed using the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ Collaboration (CTTC) and UK Biobank cohort, was assessed among participants ≥70 years old at (re)surveys in UK Biobank and the Whitehall II studies. The model projected participants’ cardiovascular risks, survival, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and healthcare costs (2021 UK£) with and without lifetime standard (35%–45% low-density lipoprotein cholesterol reduction) or higher intensity (≥45% reduction) statin therapy. CTTC individual participant data and other meta-analyses informed statins’ effects on cardiovascular risks, incident diabetes, myopathy and rhabdomyolysis. Sensitivity of findings to smaller CVD risk reductions and to hypothetical further adverse effects with statins were assessed.

Results In categories of men and women ≥70 years old without (15,019) and with (5,103) prior CVD, lifetime use of a standard statin increased QALYs by 0.24–0.70 and a higher intensity statin by a further 0.04–0.13 QALYs per person. Statin therapies were cost-effective with an incremental cost per QALY gained below £3502/QALY for standard and below £11778/QALY for higher intensity therapy and with high probability of being cost-effective. In sensitivity analyses, statins remained cost-effective although with larger uncertainty in cost-effectiveness among older people without prior CVD.

Conclusions Based on current evidence for the effects of statin therapy and modelling analysis, statin therapy improved health outcomes cost-effectively for men and women ≥70 years old.

• Health Care Economics and Organizations
• Computer Simulation
• Cardiovascular Diseases
• Outcome Assessment, Health Care

Data availability statement

Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. The datasets used in the current study may be obtained from third parties (UK Biobank https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/ ; Whitehall II study www.ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology-health-care/research/epidemiology-and-public-health/research/whitehall-ii ) and are not publicly available. Researchers can apply to use the UK Biobank resource and Whitehall II study data.

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See:  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

https://doi.org/10.1136/heartjnl-2024-324052

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WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ON THIS TOPIC

Randomised studies showed that statins reduce the incidence of myocardial infarction and ischaemic stroke by about one quarter for every 1 mmol/L reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol but direct evidence among older people without prior cardiovascular disease (CVD) is limited.

In previous studies, statin therapy has been shown to be cost-effective in older people, but it has been suggested that a small further adverse effect would offset its cardiovascular benefit.

Despite markedly increased CVD risks with advancing age, lower statin use is reported among older people.

WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS

The value of statin therapy was reassessed using a contemporary UK CVD model validated in older people together with the synthesised evidence of statins’ beneficial effects on CVD events and adverse effects on myopathy, rhabdomyolysis and incident diabetes.

The study reported that both standard and higher intensity statin therapies enhanced health outcomes, with higher intensity therapy achieving larger benefits, and were cost-effective in people ≥70 years old in the UK. These findings remained robust in scenarios with smaller CVD risk reductions and further hypothetical adverse effects with statin therapy, though with increased uncertainty among older people without CVD.

HOW THIS STUDY MIGHT AFFECT RESEARCH, PRACTICE OR POLICY

While ongoing statin trials in older people without CVD will add valuable data, particularly in those over the age of 75 years, statin treatment of individuals should not be delayed while awaiting their findings.

Increasing statin uptake and adherence among older people will reduce CVD risks.

Introduction

Statins are widely available generically and a cornerstone in cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention. High-quality randomised evidence has shown that statins reduce the incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) and ischaemic stroke by about one quarter for every 1 mmol/L reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). More intensive statin regimens achieve larger reductions in LDL-C and prevent more atherosclerotic cardiovascular events. 1 However, there is less definitive evidence for statin benefit among older patients without CVD history 2 and guidelines stop short of making specific recommendations on initiating statins for primary CVD prevention in older people. 3 4 Despite the growing proportion of older people (people ≥70 years old make up about 30% of those over the age of 40 years in the UK) and the markedly higher cardiovascular risk with increasing age, lower statin use is reported. 5 6

Evidence for treatments’ long-term effects and cost-effectiveness guides healthcare decisions in many countries and healthcare systems, including in the UK. Such evidence ensures that by implementing cost-effective treatments, healthcare systems efficiently use their resources to maximise population health. Previous evidence has indicated that statin therapy is likely to be cost-effective for older people, but the estimates were sensitive to further adverse effects of statins or lower statin effectiveness. 7–9 A recent individual participant data meta-analysis of large statin trials strengthened the evidence for efficacy and safety of statins in older people. 2 Therefore, we set out to reassess the lifetime effects and cost-effectiveness of statin therapy in people ≥70 years old in the contemporary UK population, in categories by prior CVD, sex and LDL-C level, using this evidence 2 and a new UK CVD microsimulation model. 10

Study population

The lifetime effects and cost-effectiveness of statin therapy were assessed in categories of UK adults ≥70 years old in the UK Biobank and the Whitehall II cohort studies. All UK Biobank participants ≥70 years old at recruitment into the study (2006–2010), and those who reached this age by subsequent resurveys, were included in the present study from their earliest eligible attendance. All Whitehall II participants ≥70 years old at phase 9 (2007–2009) in Whitehall II were also included. Information on the derivation of participants’ baseline characteristics is presented in the online supplemental methods . To assess the lifetime effects of statin therapy, a model is required that reliably projects individual participant’s morbidity, mortality, quality of life (QoL) and healthcare costs over their lifetimes without and with statin therapy.

Supplemental material

Cvd microsimulation model.

The CVD microsimulation model has been reported elsewhere. 10 Briefly, the model was developed using the individual participant data of large statin clinical trials, and calibrated using the UK Biobank’s participant data. The model employs a broad range of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics to project annually the first occurrence of MI, stroke, coronary revascularisation, vascular death, incident diabetes, incident cancer and non-vascular death. Participant characteristics and incident events determined health-related QoL 10 and primary care and hospital admission costs 11 in the model. The model was validated in UK Biobank and Whitehall II studies and against national data.

CVD microsimulation model validation in older people

In the present study, the model performance was further assessed among participants ≥70 years old during follow-up in the UK Biobank and Whitehall II studies using their linked electronic hospital admissions, primary care records (UK Biobank only), cancer registrations and death records to identify MIs, strokes, coronary revascularisations (UK Biobank only), incident diabetes (UK Biobank only), cancers and deaths during follow-up.

Effects and costs of statin therapy

The Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ Collaboration (CTTC) individual participant data meta-analysis of large randomised statin trials informed the relative reductions in the risks of cardiovascular events per 1 mmol/L in LDL-C with statin therapy ( table 1 ) of 24% in MI risk, 16% in stroke, 25% in coronary revascularisation and 12% in cardiovascular death. 2 We assessed the effects of standard (eg, achieving 35%–45% LDL-C reduction: atorvastatin 20 mg/day, rosuvastatin 5–10 mg/day or simvastatin 40–80 mg/day) and higher intensity statin therapy (eg, achieving ≥45% LDL-C reduction: atorvastatin 40–80 mg/day, rosuvastatin 20–40 mg/day) ( online supplemental table 1 ). 12 The reduction in LDL-C achieved with each level of statin intensity was derived using the therapy’s proportional reduction and participant’s untreated LDL-C level (with the effects of any ongoing statin therapy removed). Meta-analyses of statin therapies informed 9% excess odds of new-onset diabetes with standard 13 and further 12% excess odds with higher intensity 14 statin therapy. An overview of cohort studies informed excess rates of myopathy (11 cases per 100 000 treated per year) and rhabdomyolysis (3.4 cases per 100 000 treated per year; 10% case fatality) with statin therapy 15 ; with myopathy and rhabdomyolysis effects on QoL informed from a modelling study. 16 Generic statin medication costs, 17 costs of consultations 18 and blood lipids tests 19 for initiation and monitoring of statin prescribing in the UK National Health Service were included ( table 1 ).

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Statin treatment effects and statin treatment costs

Cost-effectiveness of statin therapy

We employed the model to project event risks and survival and summarise life years, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and primary and hospital care costs over individuals’ remaining lifetimes (ie, death or 110 years of age) without and with statin therapy and to assess the cost-effectiveness of different statin therapies in categories of older individuals.

Base-case analysis

In our base-case analysis, we assessed the cost-effectiveness of lifetime statin therapy from the perspective of the UK National Health Service under a number of key assumptions based on current evidence. First, the reductions in individuals’ LDL-C levels with a particular statin therapy were assumed to correspond to the average proportional reduction achieved with the therapy. Second, we assumed that the relative effects of a particular statin therapy on event risks were independent of duration of therapy or individual person characteristics including age (ie, the overall effects reported in meta-analyses were employed). Third, disease events were assumed not to differ in severity or otherwise, irrespective of statin treatment status. Finally, statin therapy was assumed not to affect the risks of cancer or other non-vascular events, 20 nor confer any discomfort or disutility beyond the adverse events specified above.

Assessment of uncertainty

We ran 500 microsimulations per individual for each set of parameters. We summarised the parameter uncertainty, including uncertainty in effects of statin therapy on vascular and non-vascular events, all event risk equations, QoL and healthcare cost equations in the decision-analytic model using 1000 sets of parameter values, derived using a bootstrap approach, employing sampling with replacement from respective populations. 21 Values for treatment effects were sampled from lognormal distributions corresponding to the natural logarithm of relative risk reductions with statin therapy.

We report life years and QALYs gained, the additional statin and other healthcare costs (2020/2021 UK£) and the incremental costs per QALY with standard and higher-intensity statin therapies. We discounted future QALYs and costs at 3.5% per year in the summary measures for cost-effectiveness. 22 We present cost-effectiveness acceptability curves for willingness-to-pay values from £0-£40K/QALY.

Sensitivity and scenario analyses

The following parameters were varied. First, in view of the higher uncertainty in the effects of statin therapy in older people, in scenario analyses, we applied relative risk reductions in cardiovascular endpoints per 1 mmol/L LDL-C, informed from data only among: (1) people >75 years old at randomisation and (2) people >75 years old and without prior CVD at randomisation in the individual participant data meta-analysis. 2 Second, to explore sensitivity to possible double counting of statin effects in the model through its direct effect on vascular death risk and indirect effects through MI and stroke risks, we studied the impact of smaller direct relative risk reduction in cardiovascular death with statin therapy (ie, 7% instead of 12% per 1 mmol/L in LDL-C reduction). Third, to assess sensitivity to variation in major non-vascular disease risk, we ran scenario analyses with a small detrimental or beneficial statin effect on incident cancer, informed by the 95% CI limits reported in a meta-analysis of randomised statin trials. 20 Fourth, in acknowledgement of substantial rates of statin discontinuation and reinitiation, a scenario analysis assessed statin cost-effectiveness using estimated real-world compliance with statin derived from routine UK data, 23 with statin effects and costs discontinued with therapy discontinuation. Fifth, to acknowledge the uncertainty concerning any further QoL disutility from taking a daily statin pill, we included analyses with yearly disutility equal to 0.001, 0.002 or 0.005. Sixth, we present scenarios with doubled risk of non-vascular death; with lower general QoL; and both together to assess sensitivity to further reduced potential in older people to benefit from preventive treatment. We also present scenario analyses with only healthcare costs for CVD and incident diabetes included; with higher costs of statin therapy and with 1.5% discount rate for costs and outcomes.

Further details are provided in the online supplemental methods .

Patient and public involvement

Three members of the public were involved in the study management and steering groups. Study methods and results were also discussed in separate sessions with our lay members who helped us refine the study methodology and approach to presenting study findings.

The baseline characteristics of participants ≥70 years old in the UK Biobank and Whitehall II studies in categories by prior CVD are presented in table 2 and online supplemental table 2 . There were 15 019 (52% men; mean age 72.5 years) participants without CVD and 5103 (66% men; mean age 72.9 years) with history of CVD. Among participants without and with prior CVD, 29% and 58%, respectively, were prescribed a statin at baseline and the derived untreated mean LDL-C levels were 4.2 mmol/L (SD 0.78 mmol/L) and 4.3mmol/L (SD 0.98 mmol/L), respectively.

Baseline characteristics of UK Biobank and Whitehall II participants 70 years and older

In model validation, the cumulative event rates predicted by the CVD microsimulation model, using the baseline characteristics of participants ≥70 years old, corresponded mostly well to the observed rates of cardiovascular and non-vascular events in categories of participants by prior CVD, respectively, though higher MI risks, but not cardiovascular death risks, were predicted among participants with prior CVD in UK Biobank but not in Whitehall II study ( figure 1 ).

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CVD microsimulation model validation among UK Biobank and Whitehall II participants 70 years and older.In the Whitehall II study, no linked data for CRV and diabetes were available and, therefore, no model validation performed for CRV and diabetes. CRV, coronary revascularisation; CVD, cardiovascular disease; MI, myocardial infarction; NVD, nonvascular death; VD, vascular disease.

In participant categories by sex, prior CVD and LDL-C level, standard statin therapy was projected to increase individual survival (undiscounted) by 0.37 to 1.05 life years (0.24 to 0.7 QALYs), and higher intensity statin therapy by a further 0.08 to 0.21 life years (0.04 to 0.13 QALYs) ( figure 2A , online supplemental tables 3 and 4 ). Across these categories, the incremental cost per QALY gained for standard statin therapy compared with no statin ranged from £116 to £3502 and that for higher intensity compared with standard statin from £2213 to £11 778 per QALY ( figure 2B ). The analyses of parameter uncertainty indicated that at £20 000/QALY willingness to pay threshold, higher intensity statin therapy had a very high probability of being cost-effective across all categories of men and women ≥70 years old ( figure 3 ). The probability that statin therapy was cost-effective for people ≥70 years old remained high even at a cost-effectiveness threshold of £5K/QALY. However, at this lower threshold, the standard statin therapy had the highest probability of being cost-effective among women with a pretreatment LDL-C lower than 4.1 mmol/L and among men with a pretreatment LDL-C lower than 3.4 mmol/L ( figure 3 ).

Life years and QALYs gained (A) and cost-effectiveness (B) of lifetime statin therapy in categories by prior cardiovascular disease, sex and pre-treatment LDL cholesterol level. Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) is the ratio of the incremental costs divided by the incremental QALYs with costs and QALYs discounted at 3.5% per year. CVD, cardiovascular disease; LDL, low density lipoprotein; QALY, quality-adjusted life years.

Probability that lifetime statin therapy is cost-effective in categories by prior cardiovascular disease, sex and pre-treatment LDL cholesterol level. The probability that the treatment scenario provides the highest QALYs gain at the particular threshold of cost-effectiveness plotted. CVD, cardiovascular disease; LDL-C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; QALY, quality-adjusted life years.

These cost-effectiveness results remained robust in a wide range of sensitivity analyses ( figure 4 , online supplemental table 5 ) with higher sensitivity noted for a higher intensity statin at a five times higher price. In particular, although reduced gains in QALYs were projected, standard statin therapy remained cost-effective in people ≥70 years old if relative risk reductions after age 75 were equal to those reported in the subgroup of participants >75 years old, or indeed in the subgroup of participants >75 years old without CVD at randomisation, in the CTTC meta-analysis ( figures 4 and 5 and online supplemental figure 1 ). Higher intensity statin therapy remained cost-effective among older people with pretreatment cholesterol levels 3.4 mmol/L or higher. In these scenario analyses with lower CVD risk reductions with statin therapy, the probability of standard or higher intensity statin therapy being cost-effective remained higher than no statin therapy in all categories of older people but was substantially reduced among older women with lower LDL-C levels.

Sensitivity analyses of cost-effectiveness of statin therapy for people 70 years or older. (A) Incremental cost (£) per QALY gained (standard statin vs no statin). (B) Incremental cost (£) per QALY gained (higher intensity vs standard statin). See online supplemental methods table 7 for description of sensitivity analyses. The * on the horizontal axes represent the base-case analysis. CVD, cardiovascular disease; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; NVD, nonvascular death; QALY, quality-adjusted life year; QoL, quality of life.

Life years and QALYs gained and cost-effectiveness of lifetime statin therapy in older people: scenario analyses with CVD reductions with statin therapy in people>75 years old informed from effects of statin therapy among participants>75 years old (Scenario 1) or >75 years old without CVD (Scenario 2) from Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ collaborative meta-analysis. Statin effects up to age 75 as in base-case analysis; statin effect thereafter as per respective scenario analysis. CVD, cardiovascular disease; ICER, Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio with costs and QALYs discounted at 3.5% per year; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; QALY, quality-adjusted life year.

This assessment of the lifetime effects and cost-effectiveness of statin therapy in people ≥70 years old in the UK used contemporary patient data, a validated CVD microsimulation model and a meta-analysis of the effects of statin treatment across age categories. It concluded that lifetime statin treatment increased quality-of-life-adjusted survival in older men and women and, at UK cost of generic statins, was highly cost-effective for all, irrespective of their CVD history or LDL-C level. Higher intensity statin therapy was the strategy likely to bring the highest health benefits cost-effectively, although standard statin regimens would achieve most of these benefits. These findings remained robust in sensitivity analyses with smaller cardiovascular risk reductions with statin therapy, though smaller benefits were projected and standard statin therapy became the preferred option for older people with LDL-C levels <3.4 mmol/L.

In this analysis, we used the overall relative risk reductions in cardiovascular events per 1 mmol/L LDL-C reduction with statin therapy given the similar relative risk reductions across age categories in the individual participant meta-analysis of statin trials. 2 The meta-analysis, however, noted trends towards smaller proportional reductions in major coronary events and vascular deaths in older people. Data were particularly limited among participants >75 years old without prior CVD, where there was no direct evidence for statistically significant cardiovascular risk reductions with statin therapy. In the present report, two scenario analyses assessed the sensitivity of findings to the size of statin effects using relative risk reductions in cardiovascular events in the meta-analysis (1) among participants >75 years old, and (2) among participants >75 years old without prior CVD at randomisation. 2 In both scenarios, despite smaller net health benefits, statin therapy remained cost-effective although with larger uncertainty.

We previously reported that statin therapy, at generic prices, is highly cost-effective in UK across patients 40–70 years old irrespective of their sex, age, CVD risk and LDL-C level. 21 Here, we extend this work to older people and indicate that, although the gains in QALYs are smaller, the additional costs are also lower, and the incremental cost per QALY remains highly attractive. Moreover, with a substantially higher CVD risk (99% of ≥70 years old UK Biobank participants without prior CVD had estimated 10 year CVD risk ≥10%; and 88% had 10-year CVD risk ≥15%, data not shown), the level of risk is irrelevant in guiding statin treatment decisions in older people.

This reassessment of statins’ value in the contemporary older UK population confirms findings of earlier cost-effectiveness studies 8 9 and reaffirms that, despite substantial reductions in CVD incidence and mortality over the last decades, statins remain a cornerstone in CVD prevention in this population. Our findings differ from an earlier study of cost-effectiveness of statin therapy for the primary prevention of CVD in people ≥75 years old, which reported that, although statin treatment was highly cost-effective, even a small hypothetical increase in a geriatric-specific adverse effect (ie, reducing disability-adjusted life years by 0.003–0.004) would offset its cardiovascular benefit. 7 In our study, the known small excesses of myopathy, rhabdomyolysis and incident diabetes with statin treatment were explicitly integrated, and our findings remained robust to hypothetical further statin-associated reductions in QoL up to 0.005 QALY/ year and to lower statin efficacy, suggesting that the value of statin therapy for older people is more certain than implied. It is important to also underline that high-quality randomised evidence indicate that the vast majority of adverse effects reported on statin therapy were also reported in the absence of statin therapy, 24 25 indicating serious misattribution of adverse effects in observational and uncontrolled studies.

Our results indicate that older people are likely to cost-effectively benefit from statin treatment. Statin treatment rates in our ≥70 years old cohort (29% among people without CVD to 58% among people with prior CVD) were similar to statin treatment rates reported by the Health Survey for England. 26 Hence, from the 9.1 million adults ≥70 years old in UK, 27 a third of them with prior CVD, 26 just over 40%, or less than 4 million, are receiving statin treatment. While further evidence for statins effects in older people will be helpful, the robustness of the findings to variations in key parameters suggests that delaying statin treatment in the millions of older people while awaiting new evidence is unjustifiable.

Our study has a number of strengths. We used a contemporary UK CVD model, developed using a large and rich population biobank with demonstrable ability to predict cardiovascular and mortality risks in older people. We used the baseline characteristics of more than 20 000 people ≥70 years old to evaluate lifetime benefits and cost-effectiveness of statin therapy. A further strength of our analysis is the use of synthesised randomised evidence for the effects of statin therapy by age that allowed us to study the robustness of our findings to somewhat smaller reductions in cardiovascular risks in older people. Finally, the reported excesses in myopathy, rhabdomyolysis and incident diabetes with standard and higher intensity statin therapy were integrated allowing the net effects of treatment to be fully assessed.

The study has some limitations. First, the majority of our data is among people aged 70 to early 80s. Our findings, however, were very similar in participants 70–75 and ≥75 years old (results not shown), which suggest that they are generalisable to much older people. Second, our model and results are based on population cohorts, in which the healthy volunteer effect may limit generalisability. To address this limitation, the model used a broad range of socioeconomic, lifestyle and clinical characteristics that allow generalisations to populations with different distributions of these characteristics. Moreover, statin therapy remained cost-effective in scenario analyses with substantially higher risk of non-vascular death and lower QoL. Third, a small excess in milder muscle symptoms was recently reported with statin treatment across randomised studies with excess confined to the first year of treatment. 28 The sensitivity analyses suggest that this adverse effect is unlikely to materially alter statin’s cost-effectiveness. Fourth, two ongoing large statin trials, scheduled to complete in 2026, will add valuable further data to the direct evidence of effects of statin therapy in people aged ≥75 years without atherosclerotic CVD. 29 30 Fifth, missing baseline data were imputed using a single imputation. Moreover, while the model performance was good for most participant categories, endpoints and across the two datasets, there were some deviations. Therefore, it is possible that the uncertainty may be larger than reported by the model. However, the consistency of cost-effectiveness results across categories of participants and across a broad range of sensitivity analyses for key parameters indicate that our general findings are robust.

In conclusion, this study reports that statin therapy is highly likely to be cost-effective in older people, although there was greater uncertainty among older people without CVD in scenario analysis with substantially smaller CVD risk reductions with statin therapy. While further randomised evidence will be helpful, the robustness of these findings indicates that older people are likely to benefit cost-effectively from statin therapy and should be considered for treatment.

Ethics statements

Patient consent for publication.

Not applicable.

Ethics approval

This work used data of participants in research studies (UK Biobank, Whitehall II) who have consented to collection and use of their data for research. Ethics committee approval was not required for this secondary research study. Participants gave informed consent to participate in the study before taking part.

Acknowledgments

This research has been conducted using data from Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ Collaboration https://www.cttcollaboration.org/ , UK Biobank Resource under Application Number 56757 www.ukbiobank.ac.uk , and Whitehall II study www.ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology-health-care/research/epidemiology-and-public-health/research/whitehall-ii . We thank all the participants, staff and other contributors to these resources. Project Oversight Group: Colin Baigent, Alison Gater, Borislava Mihaylova, Stephen Morris, Paul Roderick (Chair), Natalie Rowland, Peter Sever, Liam Smeeth. We also thank further members of the public with whom we discussed the project and emerging results.

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Supplementary materials

Supplementary data.

This web only file has been produced by the BMJ Publishing Group from an electronic file supplied by the author(s) and has not been edited for content.

• Data supplement 1

BM and RW are joint first authors.

Correction notice This article has been corrected since it was first published. Missing panel and axes titles have been added to Figure 1.

Collaborators Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ Collaborators: CTT secretariat: J Armitage, C Baigent, E Barnes, L Blackwell, R Collins, K Davies, J Emberson, J Fulcher, H Halls, WG Herrington, L Holland, A Keech, A Kirby, B Mihaylova, R O’Connell, D Preiss, C Reith, J Simes, K Wilson. CTT Collaborating trialists: A to Z trial (phase Z): M Blazing, E Braunwald, J de Lemos, S Murphy; TR Pedersen, M Pfeffer, H White, S Wiviott; AFCAPS/TEXCAPS (AirForce/Texas Coronary Atherosclerosis Prevention Study) M Clearfield, JR Downs, A Gotto Jr, S Weis; ALERT (Assessment of Lescol in Renal Transplantation) B Fellström, H Holdaas (deceased), A Jardine, TR Pedersen; ALLHAT (Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial) D Gordon, B Davis; C Furberg, R Grimm, S Pressel, JL Probstfield, M Rahman, L Simpson; ALLIANCE (Aggressive Lipid-Lowering Initiation Abates New Cardiac Events) M Koren; ASCOT (Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial) B Dahlöf, A Gupta, N Poulter, P Sever, H Wedel; ASPEN (Atorvastatin Study for the Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease Endpoints in Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus) RH Knopp (deceased); AURORA (A study to evaluate the Use of Rosuvastatin in subjects On Regular haemodialysis: an Assessment of survival and cardiovascular events) S Cobbe, B Fellström, H Holdaas (deceased), A Jardine, R Schmieder, F Zannad; CARDS (Collaborative Atorvastatin Diabetes Study) DJ Betteridge (deceased), HM Colhoun, PN Durrington, J Fuller (deceased), GA Hitman, A Neil; CARE (Cholesterol And Recurrent Events Study) E Braunwald, B Davis, CM Hawkins, L Moyé, M Pfeffer, F Sacks; CORONA (Controlled Rosuvastatin Multinational Trial in Heart Failure) J Kjekshus, H Wedel, J Wikstrand; 4D (Die Deutsche Diabetes Dialyse Studie): C Wanner, V Krane; GISSI (Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Sopravvivenza nell’Infarto miocardico) Heart Failure and Prevention trials: MG Franzosi, R Latini, D Lucci, A Maggioni;, R Marchioli, EB Nicolis, L Tavazzi, G Tognoni; HOPE-3: J Bosch, E Lonn, S Yusuf; HPS (Heart Protection Study): J Armitage, L Bowman, R Collins, A Keech, M Landray, S Parish, R Peto, P Sleight (deceased); IDEAL (Incremental Decrease in Endpoints through Aggressive Lipid-lowering) JJP Kastelein, TR Pedersen; JUPITER (Justification for the Use of Statins in Prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin) R Glynn, A Gotto Jr, JJP Kastelein, W Koenig, J MacFadyen, PM Ridker; LIPID (Long-term Intervention with Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease) A Keech, S MacMahon, I Marschner, A Tonkin, J Shaw (deceased), J Simes, H White; LIPS (Lescol Intervention Prevention Study) PW Serruys; Post-CABG (Post-Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Study) G Knatterud (deceased); PROSPER (Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk) GJ Blauw, S Cobbe, I Ford, P Macfarlane, C Packard, N Sattar, J Shepherd (deceased), S Trompet; PROVE-IT (Pravastatin or Atorvastatin Evaluation and Infection Therapy) E Braunwald, CP Cannon, S Murphy; SEARCH (Study of Effectiveness of Additional Reductions in Cholesterol and Homocysteine): R Collins, J Armitage, L Bowman, R Bulbulia, R Haynes, S Parish, R Peto, P Sleight (deceased); SPARCL (Stroke Prevention by Aggressive Reduction in Cholesterol Levels): P Amarenco, KM Welch; (4S Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study) J Kjekshus, TR Pedersen, L Wilhelmsen; TNT (Treating to New Targets) P Barter, A Gotto Jr, J LaRosa, JJP Kastelein, J Shepherd (deceased); WOSCOPS (West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study) S Cobbe, I Ford, S Kean, P Macfarlane, C Packard, M Roberston, N Sattar, J Shepherd (deceased), R Young, Other CTT Members: H Arashi, R Clarke, M Flather, S Goto, U Goldbourt, J Hopewell, GK Hovingh, G Kitas, C Newman, MS Sabatine, GG Schwartz, L Smeeth, J Tobert, J Varigos, J Yamamguchi.

Contributors BM and CB conceived the study. BM, IS, JE, CR, JR, AG, JA, CB secured funding. All authors contributed to study design. BM, RW, JZ, CW, IS performed the analyses. BM drafted the paper with support from RW. All authors provided comments on the paper. BM acts as guarantor. The corresponding author attests that all listed authors meet authorship criteria and that no others meeting the criteria have been omitted.

Funding This study was funded by the UK NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme (17/140/02). Further support from the British Heart Foundation (PG/18/16/33570 and CH/1996001/9454), the UK Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00017/4), the National Institute for Health Research Barts Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR203330) and NHMRC, Australia is acknowledged. The study was designed and analysed independently of all funders and the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR, the Department of Health and Social Care or any other funder. For the purpose of Open Access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.

Competing interests AK reports research support from Abbott, Amgen, ASPEN, Bayer, Mylan, Novartis, Sanofi, Viatris; speaker fees from Novartis; and is a Data Safety Monitoring Board member for Kowa. JR reports funding from North East London Integrated Care Service. JA reports receiving a grant to their research institution from Novartis for the ORION 4 trial of inclisiran. JS reports receiving grants for his institution from Amgen, Bayer, BMS, MSD, Pfizer and Roche; consulting fees from FivepHusion, and is a chair (unpaid) of STAREE DSMB. CB reports research grants from Boehringer Ingelheim and Health Data Research UK and is a chair (unpaid) of a Data Safety Monitoring Board for Merck. All other authors declare no competing interests.

Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research. Refer to the Methods section for further details.

Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer-reviewed.

Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.

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