APA @ Conestoga

About Authors

Authors with Only a First and Last Name

If the author's name is Jane Doe,

• Jane is the first name and
• Doe is the last name.

Use the last name in citations.

Parenthetical Citation Example

Narrative Citation Example

Authors With Multiple Names

If the author's name is John Marc Smith, assume that

• John is the first name,
• Marc is the middle name, and
• Smith is the last name.

Use the last name in citations.

Parenthetical Citation Example

Narrative Citation Example

Authors with Two Last Names, Not Hyphenated

The first last name is treated as a middle initial in the reference unless it is known that the author uses both last names. Therefore, use only the last name for citations.

If the author's name is Margaret Mclean Heitkemper,

• Margaret is the first name,
• McLean is treated as the middle name, and
• Heitkemper is the last name.

Use only the last name in citations.

Parenthetical Citation Example

Narrative Citation Example

Different Authors, Same Last Name, Different First Initial

If there are two authors with the same last name but different first initials, include the first initial followed by a period before the last name in the citation.

Parenthetical Citation Example

Narrative Citation Example

Different Authors, Same Last Name, Same First Initial

If there are two authors with the same last name and the same first initial, the first name of the author should be included in the citation – even if the years of publication are different.

Include the first name followed by the last name.

Parenthetical Citation Example

Narrative Citation Example

Same Author and Same Year of Publication

If there are two different sources by the same author in the same year, put the sources in alphabetical order and add a lower-case letter after the year (this will correspond with the matching reference).

Parenthetical Citation Example

Narrative Citation Example