Topic outline

  • The way to include in-text references in your writing will depend on the referencing style you are required to use in your studies.   Examples throughout this referencing site are mainly in APA 7, but information about other referencing styles can be found under the Referencing style guides section of this site.

    APA 7 uses the author-date system where in-text references are included in the body of your writing each time you refer to ideas or information from another source.  The in-text reference includes:

    • the author's family name (not given names) OR authoring body or organisation (Recognising family names of authors - Pdf)
    • the year of publication
    • page numbers when quoting word for word

    There are two ways to present an in-text reference: Information prominent and author prominent citations.  

    1.  An information prominent in-text citation gives prominence to the information by placing the reference at the end of your sentence in brackets.  For example:

    Families can draw upon different strategies for raising bilingual children (Hoffman, 2014).

    2.  An author prominent in-text citation gives prominence to the author by placing the reference in the body of your sentence, with the author's name incorporated into the sentence structure and the date in brackets.  For example :

    Hoffman (2014) identifies different strategies that families can draw upon for raising bilingual children.