How do I cite the same author twice?

Answer

The citation depends on if the two sources from the same author are the same year or different years. 

For two works by the same author, but with different years, the year of publication will point the reader to the right reference.

  • For example, the two in-text citations could be (Jones, 2018, p. 37) and (Jones, 2019, p. 301).
  • So, the References page would have two different works by author Jones.

To cite two works by the same author and the same year, differentiate the two works with small lowercase letters.

  • For example, use in-text citations like (Smith, 2019a, p. 78) and (Smith, 2019b, p. 24).
  • On the References page, sort the two entries in alphabetical order by the title, since the names will be identical.

Example:

Smith, J. (2019a). Rise and fall of management systems. Wiley.

Smith, J. (2019b). Systems management. Hawthorne Press.

Thank you for using ASK US.  For more information, please contact your Baker librarians.

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  • Last Updated Apr 24, 2023
  • Views 69397
  • Answered By Baker Librarians

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Comments (8)

  1. What if I use two or more citations from the work of one author? Would the reference list state the author once or do I differentiate with the alphabetical letters next to publishing date? I'm new to this. Any guidance would be appreciated.
    by Bronwen on Dec 14, 2016
  2. When using two separate references by the same author, they will be distinguished by their publication year. If they are the same publication year, then add a letter to the year as an indicator. For example:

    Reference: Smith, A. (2010a)....

    In-text: (Smith, 2010a).

    Reference: Smith, A. (2010b)....

    In-text: (Smith, 2010b).

    For more information, see this post at the APA Style Blog: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/10/reference-twins.html

    And please let us know if you have any further questions!
    by Patrick Mullane on Dec 14, 2016
  3. Hi, what should we do if there are two studies by the same first author but different order of coauthors in the same year:
    For example Johnson, Brown, Smith, White, & Kang (2015)
    and Johnson, White, Hanson, King, & Wright (2015).
    When we start using Johnson et al., 2015 how, do we differentiate these two from each other?
    Thanks
    by Gulcin on May 23, 2017
  4. Despite the authors being in a different order, it will still be difficult to differentiate between them in-text with the same first author after the first citation. To fix this, treat them as if they're the same by adding the letter to the date:

    Reference: Johnson, Brown, Smith, White, & Kang (2015a)

    In-text: (Johnson, Brown, Smith, White, & Kang, 2015a). in first citation of paper

    In-text: (Johnson et al., 2015a) in subsequent citations


    Reference: Johnson, White, Hanson, King, & Wright. (2015b).

    In-text: (Johnson, White, Hanson, King, & Wright, 2015b) in first citation of paper

    In-text: (Johnson et al., 2015b) in subsequent citations


    See this APA Style Blog entry for more information: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/11/the-proper-use-of-et-al-in-apa-style.html

    Please let us know if you have any further questions!
    by Patrick Mullane on May 23, 2017
  5. Hey, what should I do if I have the same author twice, but the year is unknown? For example Johnson, A. (n.d.). Agricultural management.

    Do I write:

    Reference:
    Johnson, A. (n.d.a). Agricultural management.
    Johnson, A. (n.d.b). Agricultural management.

    In-text:
    Johnson (n.d.a) / (Johnson, n.d.a)
    Johnson (n.d.b) / (Johnson, n.d.b)

    Thank you
    by Steve on Jun 11, 2017
  6. Hello,

    Yes, what you provided is the correct format for citations with the same author and no date.

    Please let us know if you have any further questions!
    by Patrick Mullane on Jun 12, 2017
  7. What if I cite... Haff et al. (2003, 2008) proposed that...
    So same lead author but different years. I´m having some difficulty in finding an answer for this.
    Any help would be appreciated.
    by Tobias on Sep 08, 2019
  8. For the same lead author but different years, it would look like:
    In-text citation (paraphrase)

    …in their work on rocks (Haff et al., 2003, 2008). They are also interested in the landscape during the Pleistocene (Haff et al., 2003).
    by ASK US Librarian on Sep 18, 2019

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