As you have probably noticed, many authors of books and articles are learned individuals who have received doctorates. Therefore, you may sometimes find that you need to cite authors who have the suffix "Ph.D." listed after their names. However, if you listed "Ph.D." after the name of every author who had one, your term paper would quickly devolve into alphabet soup. Both American Psychological Association (APA) and Modern Language Association (MLA) styles agree on this point: never include the suffix "Ph.D." after an author's name when you are citing sources.
Omit the suffix "Ph.D." from the author's name when citing sources in your reference list. For example, a book authored by Jordan Jones, Ph.D. would be listed as being authored by Jordan Jones. In MLA style this would appear as: Jones, Jordan. In APA style, this would appear as: Jones, J.
Omit as well any titles such as "Ph.D." from the names of translators, editors, or any other names that might appear in your reference list entries.
Omit titles such as "Ph.D." from your in-text citations as well. Use only the last names of authors, editors and other persons in parenthetical citations. In MLA style, an in-text citation for the work of Jordan Jones, Ph.D. should appear as follows: (Jones 86). In APA, the same citation should appear as follows: (Jones, 2009, p. 86).
