How to Cite Lists In-Text With Definitions in the Body of the Text in APA Format

APA (American Psychology Association) Style is a format often used with social science research papers. Like other style guides, it tells authors how to properly space, paginate and organize papers as well as how to properly construct in-text and reference list citations. The APA style guide provides rules that are helpful when an author needs to reference lists of results or definitions from other authors in-text.

Things You'll Need

  • Author name
  • Publication date
  • Page range
  • Computer with word processing software
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Instructions

    • 1

      Enumerate another author's list you want to reference in your paper to make it easier for the reader to interpret lengthy or complex information. Identify the elements of your list with a letter before each piece if the list contains multiple parts within a sentence, or by a number at the start of each section if the list is composed of multiple paragraphs.

    • 2

      Surround unitalicized letters with parentheses. Use commas to separate three or more elements that do not have internal commas but use semicolons to distinguish three or more elements that contain commas in them. Separate referenced paragraphs with itemized numbers. List numbers followed by periods but do not enclose them with parentheses.

    • 3

      Display a citation of less than 40 words in your text without breaking format by surrounding the citation with double quotation marks. Show a citation of more than 40 words as a freestanding, indented block of copy without quotation marks.

    • 4

      Identify the author of the cited list at the introduction or conclusion of the reference. If introducing the cited list, type the author's last name followed by the year of publication in parentheses. At the end of the list, include the page number(s) in parentheses. If concluding the list, include the author's last name followed by the year of publication and page number(s) separated by commas and enclosed in parentheses.

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