APA style — from the American Psychological Association — is the citation format most common in psychology, education, and the social sciences. Its signature is the author–date in-text citation, like (Achebe, 2019), because in these fields how recent a source is really matters.

Every citation style is a consistent set of rules for one job: telling readers exactly where your information came from. APA is the one you’ll meet most in the social sciences — and once you see the logic behind its choices, the rules stop feeling arbitrary.

The two halves of APA

• In-text citation — a brief (Author, Year) in the sentence, e.g. “participation rose (Bello, 2021).”
• Reference list — full details at the end, alphabetical by author, so every in-text note can be traced to a complete source.
• Author and date lead — both halves foreground who and when, the things social scientists weigh most.

Why the date is up front

APA puts the year right beside the author for a reason: in fast-moving fields, a 2003 finding and a 2023 one carry very different weight. The style’s design quietly reminds both writer and reader to ask, “how current is this?”

🔗 A friendly free guide: Purdue OWL — APA Style

In the humanities, a different style dominates — one built around authorship and the page. On to MLA Citation Style.

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