Names and initials in APA style

If you format the bibliography in APA style, you will use initials and last names of authors, not their full names. In the running text, you use only the last name (no initials) for references. This is quite complicated! Within the APA style there are several rules for how you refer to authors. Do you list someone with the surname ‘De Vries’ with the 'D' of 'de,' or with the 'V' of 'Vries'? This article describes all these types of practical rules.

The basic rule is that for entries in the bibliography, you start with the author's last name followed by a comma and then their initials. You don't mention the author's first name, or titles like "Mr." or "Dr."

General format:

Last name, Initial. (Year). Title. Publisher

Correct is thus:

• Barelds, D.P.H., Dijkstra, P., & Dijkstra, A. (2019). Introduction to psychology. Boom Publishers.
• Inchauspé, J. (2022). Glucose revolution . Fontaine Publishers.

Incorrect:

• Barelds, Dick, Dijkstra, Pieternel, & Dijkstra, Arie (2019). Introduction to psychology. Tree Publishers.
• Inchauspé, Jessie. (2022). Glucose revolution. Fontaine Publishers.

In the running text, you always refer to the authors by their last names only. Again, you do not use first names or titles such as "Dr." or "Prof."

Correct is thus:

• According to Klaassens (2017), independent work at an early age is crucial for children's development.
• Van Dalen and De Vries (2015) conducted research on the presence of social anxiety in a group of one thousand highschool6vwo students.

Incorrect:

• According to Mathijs Klaassens (2017), working independently at an early age is crucial for children's development.
• Prof. Van Dalen and Dr. De Vries (2015) conducted research on the presence of social anxiety in a group of one thousand highschool students.

Note: Do two authors from different sources have the same last name? In this case to distinguish them, you do use their initial in the running text. In practice, this does not happen very often.

In both Dutch and other languages, insertions between a first and last name are common. Well-known insertions include 'van', 'van der,' or 'de' in Dutch, and in other languages 'el', 'la,' and 'da' are among the more common insertions.

These insertions are part of a person's last name. Therefore, when referencing, always use the last name including the insertion. The insertion should be placed before the last name and capitalized. This rule applies both to the bibliography and to references in the text.

Correct is thus:

• Van Charldorp, T.C. (2012). From police interrogation to police record. Boxpress Publishing.
• In her dissertation, Van Charldorp (2012) argues that...
• Van den Heuvel (2013) describes in his report that...

Sort the bibliography in alphabetical order. In doing so, you consider the insertion to be part of the last name. For example, you put Van Charldorp's dissertation in the bibliography by the "v" of "Van".

Does someone have a double first name with a hyphen? Then you put the dash at the initials as well. With a double first name without a hyphen, this is not necessary and you just put dots between the initials.

To illustrate:

• Jan-Willem de Vries becomes "De Vries, J.-W." in the bibliography.
• Jacqueline Maria Jacobs becomes "Jacobs, J.M." in the bibliography.

Does someone have a double surname with a middle initial? In that case, the insertion to the second surname is not capitalized. For example, that looks like this:

• Van Leeuwen-de Vries, P.K. (2000)
• Van Leeuwen-de Vries believes that...

As you can see, source citation involves many rules. Want to make sure you've included all names and references correctly? Have your sources checked by our AthenaCheck editors. For a small fee, they will carefully check each source in your bibliography.That way, no mistakes will slip through.