Use author–date format: (Author, Year)
If the author is named in the sentence: Author (Year)
If both author and year are unknown: use (Title, Year)
For direct quotes: include page number (Author, Year, p. xx)
For direct quotes with multiple pages: (Author, Year, pp. xx–xx)
For direct quotes from a web source without page numbers: use (Author, Year, para. #)
For multiple authors (2): (Author & Author, Year)
For multiple authors (3+): (Author et al., Year)
For group/organization authors: (Organization Name, Year)
For two sources in one set of parentheses: (Author1, Year; Author2, Year)
For alphabetizing in the same parentheses: order by first author’s last name
For multiple works by the same author in the same year: (Author, 2020a) and (Author, 2020b)
If citing multiple years: (Author, 2018, 2020)
If citing a specific part (chapter/section) without page numbers: use (Author, Year, section/heading)
For indirect citations (paraphrasing): use (Author, Year)
For citing a source within a source: (Original Author, Year, as cited in Secondary Author, Year)
For personal communications (not in a recoverable source): (Initials Lastname, personal communication, Year)
For class lectures or unpublished materials: (Last Name, Year)
Use the same citation style consistently across your paper
Match every in-text citation to a matching reference entry in the reference list