APA offers options for how you write in-text citations. There are two formats: parenthetical and narrative.

• Parenthetical: the author name and publication date appear in parentheses.
• Narrative: The author name is incorporated into the text as part of the sentence and the year follows in parentheses.

Examples

When the Author is Paraphrased/Summarized

• Parenthetical: Falsely balanced news coverage can distort the public’s perception of expert consensus on an issue (Koehler, 2016).
• Narrative: Koehler (2016) noted the dangers of falsely balanced news coverage.

When the Author is Directly Quoted

• Parenthetical: In contrast to the inhabitants of larger bodies of water, “many of the creatures in tide pools love to swim” (Doe, 2018, p. 280).
• Narrative: Doe (2018) argued that “many of the creatures in tide pools love to swim” (p. 280).

Which format you use is up to you. By using the narrative format you can highlight that it is the author, with parenthetical the emphasis is on the information.