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MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics

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Guidelines for referring to the works of others in your text using MLA style are covered throughout the  MLA Handbook  and in chapter 7 of the  MLA Style Manual . Both books provide extensive examples, so it's a good idea to consult them if you want to become even more familiar with MLA guidelines or if you have a particular reference question.

Basic in-text citation rules

In MLA Style, referring to the works of others in your text is done using parenthetical citations . This method involves providing relevant source information in parentheses whenever a sentence uses a quotation or paraphrase. Usually, the simplest way to do this is to put all of the source information in parentheses at the end of the sentence (i.e., just before the period). However, as the examples below will illustrate, there are situations where it makes sense to put the parenthetical elsewhere in the sentence, or even to leave information out.

General Guidelines

• The source information required in a parenthetical citation depends (1) upon the source medium (e.g. print, web, DVD) and (2) upon the source’s entry on the Works Cited page.
• Any source information that you provide in-text must correspond to the source information on the Works Cited page. More specifically, whatever signal word or phrase you provide to your readers in the text must be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of the corresponding entry on the Works Cited page.

In-text citations: Author-page style

MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:

Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:

Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads . Oxford UP, 1967.

In-text citations for print sources with known author

For print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase (usually the author’s last name) and a page number. If you provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical citation.

These examples must correspond to an entry that begins with Burke, which will be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of an entry on the Works Cited page:

Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method . University of California Press, 1966.

In-text citations for print sources by a corporate author

When a source has a corporate author, it is acceptable to use the name of the corporation followed by the page number for the in-text citation. You should also use abbreviations (e.g., nat'l for national) where appropriate, so as to avoid interrupting the flow of reading with overly long parenthetical citations.

In-text citations for sources with non-standard labeling systems

If a source uses a labeling or numbering system other than page numbers, such as a script or poetry, precede the citation with said label. When citing a poem, for instance, the parenthetical would begin with the word “line”, and then the line number or range. For example, the examination of William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” would be cited as such:

The speaker makes an ardent call for the exploration of the connection between the violence of nature and the divinity of creation. “In what distant deeps or skies. / Burnt the fire of thine eyes," they ask in reference to the tiger as they attempt to reconcile their intimidation with their relationship to creationism (lines 5-6).

Longer labels, such as chapters (ch.) and scenes (sc.), should be abbreviated.

In-text citations for print sources with no known author

When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name, following these guidelines.

Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (such as an article) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire Web sites) and provide a page number if it is available.

Titles longer than a standard noun phrase should be shortened into a noun phrase by excluding articles. For example, To the Lighthouse would be shortened to Lighthouse .

If the title cannot be easily shortened into a noun phrase, the title should be cut after the first clause, phrase, or punctuation:

In this example, since the reader does not know the author of the article, an abbreviated title appears in the parenthetical citation, and the full title of the article appears first at the left-hand margin of its respective entry on the Works Cited page. Thus, the writer includes the title in quotation marks as the signal phrase in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader directly to the source on the Works Cited page. The Works Cited entry appears as follows:

"The Impact of Global Warming in North America." Global Warming: Early Signs . 1999. www.climatehotmap.org/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2009.

If the title of the work begins with a quotation mark, such as a title that refers to another work, that quote or quoted title can be used as the shortened title. The single quotation marks must be included in the parenthetical, rather than the double quotation.

Parenthetical citations and Works Cited pages, used in conjunction, allow readers to know which sources you consulted in writing your essay, so that they can either verify your interpretation of the sources or use them in their own scholarly work.

Author-page citation for classic and literary works with multiple editions

Page numbers are always required, but additional citation information can help literary scholars, who may have a different edition of a classic work, like Marx and Engels's  The Communist Manifesto . In such cases, give the page number of your edition (making sure the edition is listed in your Works Cited page, of course) followed by a semicolon, and then the appropriate abbreviations for volume (vol.), book (bk.), part (pt.), chapter (ch.), section (sec.), or paragraph (par.). For example:

Author-page citation for works in an anthology, periodical, or collection

When you cite a work that appears inside a larger source (for instance, an article in a periodical or an essay in a collection), cite the author of the  internal source (i.e., the article or essay). For example, to cite Albert Einstein's article "A Brief Outline of the Theory of Relativity," which was published in  Nature  in 1921, you might write something like this:

See also our page on documenting periodicals in the Works Cited .

Citing authors with same last names

Sometimes more information is necessary to identify the source from which a quotation is taken. For instance, if two or more authors have the same last name, provide both authors' first initials (or even the authors' full name if different authors share initials) in your citation. For example:

Citing a work by multiple authors

For a source with two authors, list the authors’ last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation:

Corresponding Works Cited entry:

Best, David, and Sharon Marcus. “Surface Reading: An Introduction.” Representations , vol. 108, no. 1, Fall 2009, pp. 1-21. JSTOR , doi:10.1525/rep.2009.108.1.1

For a source with three or more authors, list only the first author’s last name, and replace the additional names with et al.

Franck, Caroline, et al. “Agricultural Subsidies and the American Obesity Epidemic.” American Journal of Preventative Medicine , vol. 45, no. 3, Sept. 2013, pp. 327-333.

Citing multiple works by the same author

If you cite more than one work by an author, include a shortened title for the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the others. Put short titles of books in italics and short titles of articles in quotation marks.

Citing two articles by the same author :

Citing two books by the same author :

Additionally, if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence, format your citation with the author's name followed by a comma, followed by a shortened title of the work, and, when appropriate, the page number(s):

Citing multivolume works

If you cite from different volumes of a multivolume work, always include the volume number followed by a colon. Put a space after the colon, then provide the page number(s). (If you only cite from one volume, provide only the page number in parentheses.)

Citing the Bible

In your first parenthetical citation, you want to make clear which Bible you're using (and underline or italicize the title), as each version varies in its translation, followed by book (do not italicize or underline), chapter, and verse. For example:

If future references employ the same edition of the Bible you’re using, list only the book, chapter, and verse in the parenthetical citation:

John of Patmos echoes this passage when describing his vision (Rev. 4.6-8).

Citing indirect sources

Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited within another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example:

Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an indirect source.

Citing transcripts, plays, or screenplays

Sources that take the form of a dialogue involving two or more participants have special guidelines for their quotation and citation. Each line of dialogue should begin with the speaker's name written in all capitals and indented half an inch. A period follows the name (e.g., JAMES.) . After the period, write the dialogue. Each successive line after the first should receive an additional indentation. When another person begins speaking, start a new line with that person's name indented only half an inch. Repeat this pattern each time the speaker changes. You can include stage directions in the quote if they appear in the original source.

Conclude with a parenthetical that explains where to find the excerpt in the source. Usually, the author and title of the source can be given in a signal phrase before quoting the excerpt, so the concluding parenthetical will often just contain location information like page numbers or act/scene indicators.

Here is an example from O'Neill's  The Iceman Cometh.

WILLIE. (Pleadingly) Give me a drink, Rocky. Harry said it was all right. God, I need a drink.

ROCKY. Den grab it. It's right under your nose.

WILLIE. (Avidly) Thanks. (He takes the bottle with both twitching hands and tilts it to his lips and gulps down the whiskey in big swallows.) (1.1)

Citing non-print or sources from the Internet

With more and more scholarly work published on the Internet, you may have to cite sources you found in digital environments. While many sources on the Internet should not be used for scholarly work (reference the OWL's  Evaluating Sources of Information  resource), some Web sources are perfectly acceptable for research. When creating in-text citations for electronic, film, or Internet sources, remember that your citation must reference the source on your Works Cited page.

Sometimes writers are confused with how to craft parenthetical citations for electronic sources because of the absence of page numbers. However, these sorts of entries often do not require a page number in the parenthetical citation. For electronic and Internet sources, follow the following guidelines:

• Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name).
• Do not provide paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your Web browser’s print preview function.
• Unless you must list the Web site name in the signal phrase in order to get the reader to the appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like  CNN.com  or  Forbes.com,  as opposed to writing out http://www.cnn.com or http://www.forbes.com.

Miscellaneous non-print sources

Two types of non-print sources you may encounter are films and lectures/presentations:

In the two examples above “Herzog” (a film’s director) and “Yates” (a presentor) lead the reader to the first item in each citation’s respective entry on the Works Cited page:

Herzog, Werner, dir. Fitzcarraldo . Perf. Klaus Kinski. Filmverlag der Autoren, 1982.

Yates, Jane. "Invention in Rhetoric and Composition." Gaps Addressed: Future Work in Rhetoric and Composition, CCCC, Palmer House Hilton, 2002. Address.

Electronic sources

Electronic sources may include web pages and online news or magazine articles:

In the first example (an online magazine article), the writer has chosen not to include the author name in-text; however, two entries from the same author appear in the Works Cited. Thus, the writer includes both the author’s last name and the article title in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader to the appropriate entry on the Works Cited page (see below).

In the second example (a web page), a parenthetical citation is not necessary because the page does not list an author, and the title of the article, “MLA Formatting and Style Guide,” is used as a signal phrase within the sentence. If the title of the article was not named in the sentence, an abbreviated version would appear in a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. Both corresponding Works Cited entries are as follows:

Taylor, Rumsey. "Fitzcarraldo." Slant , 13 Jun. 2003, www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/fitzcarraldo/. Accessed 29 Sep. 2009. 

"MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL , 2 Aug. 2016, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/. Accessed 2 April 2018.

Multiple citations

To cite multiple sources in the same parenthetical reference, separate the citations by a semi-colon:

Time-based media sources

When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference. For example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).

When a citation is not needed

Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting sources. You do not need to give sources for familiar proverbs, well-known quotations, or common knowledge (For example, it is expected that U.S. citizens know that George Washington was the first President.). Remember that citing sources is a rhetorical task, and, as such, can vary based on your audience. If you’re writing for an expert audience of a scholarly journal, for example, you may need to deal with expectations of what constitutes “common knowledge” that differ from common norms.

Other Sources

The MLA Handbook describes how to cite many different kinds of authors and content creators. However, you may occasionally encounter a source or author category that the handbook does not describe, making the best way to proceed can be unclear.

In these cases, it's typically acceptable to apply the general principles of MLA citation to the new kind of source in a way that's consistent and sensible. A good way to do this is to simply use the standard MLA directions for a type of source that resembles the source you want to cite.

You may also want to investigate whether a third-party organization has provided directions for how to cite this kind of source. For example, Norquest College provides guidelines for citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers⁠ —an author category that does not appear in the MLA Handbook . In cases like this, however, it's a good idea to ask your instructor or supervisor whether using third-party citation guidelines might present problems.

MLA In-text Citations and Sample Essay 9th Edition

Listing your sources at the end of your essay in the Works Cited is only the first step in complete and effective documentation. Proper citation of sources is a two-part process . You must also cite, in the body of your essay, the source your paraphrased information or where directly quoted material came from. These citations within the essay are called in-text citations . You must cite all quoted, paraphrased, or summarized words, ideas, and facts from sources. Without in-text citations, you are in danger of plagiarism , even if you have listed your sources at the end of the essay. In-text citations point the reader to the sources’ information in the works cited page, so the in-text citation should be the first item listed in the source’s citation on the works cited page, which is usually the author’s last name (or the title if there is no author) and the page number, if provided.

Two Ways to Cite Your Sources In-text

Parenthetical citation.

Cite your source in parentheses at the end of quoted or paraphrased material.

Example with a page number: In regards to paraphrasing, "It is important to remember to use in-text citations for your paraphrased information, as well as your directly quoted material" (Habib 7).

Example without a page number : Paraphrasing is "often the best choice because direct quotes should be reserved for source material that is especially well-written in style and/or clarity" (Ruiz).

Signal Phrase

Within the sentence, through the use of a "signal phrase" which signals to the reader the specific source the idea or quote came from. Include the page number(s) in parentheses at the end of the sentence, if provided.

Example with a page number: According to Habib, "It is important to remember to use in-text citations for your paraphrased information, as well as your directly quoted material" (7).

Example without a page number: According to Ruiz, paraphrasing is "often the best choice because direct quotes should be reserved for source material that is especially well-written in style and/or clarity."

*See our handout "Signal Phrases" for more examples and information on effective ways to use signal phrases for in-text citations.

Do you need to include a page number in your in-text citation?

Printed materials such as books, magazines, journals, or internet and digital sources with PDF files that show an actual printed page number need to have a page number in the citation.

Internet and digital sources with a continuously scrolling page without a page number do not need a page number in the citation.

Commonly used in-text citations in parentheses

Notes on quotes, block quotation format.

When using long quotations that are over four lines of prose or over three lines of poetry in length, you will need to use block quotation format. Block format is indented one inch from the margin (you can hit the "tab" button twice to move it one inch). Additionally, block quotes do not use quotation marks, and the parenthetical citation comes after the period of the last sentence. Please see the following sample essay for an example block quote.

Signal Phrase Examples and Ideas

Please see the following sample essay for different kinds of signal phrases and parenthetical in-text citations, which correspond with the sample Works Cited page at the end. The Writing Center also has a handout on signal phrases with many different verb options.

Learn more about the MLA Works Cited page by reviewing this handout .

For information on STLCC's academic integrity policy, check out this website .

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• Harvard In-Text Citation | A Complete Guide & Examples

Harvard In-Text Citation | A Complete Guide & Examples

Published on 30 April 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 5 May 2022.

An in-text citation should appear wherever you quote or paraphrase a source in your writing, pointing your reader to the full reference .

In Harvard style , citations appear in brackets in the text. An in-text citation consists of the last name of the author,  the year of publication, and a page number if relevant.

Up to three authors are included in Harvard in-text citations. If there are four or more authors, the citation is shortened with et al .

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Table of contents

Including page numbers in citations, where to place harvard in-text citations, citing sources with missing information, frequently asked questions about harvard in-text citations.

When you quote directly from a source or paraphrase a specific passage, your in-text citation must include a page number to specify where the relevant passage is located.

Use ‘p.’ for a single page and ‘pp.’ for a page range:

• Meanwhile, another commentator asserts that the economy is ‘on the downturn’ (Singh, 2015, p. 13 ).
• Wilson (2015, pp. 12–14 ) makes an argument for the efficacy of the technique.

If you are summarising the general argument of a source or paraphrasing ideas that recur throughout the text, no page number is needed.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

When incorporating citations into your text, you can either name the author directly in the text or only include the author’s name in brackets.

Naming the author in the text

When you name the author in the sentence itself, the year and (if relevant) page number are typically given in brackets straight after the name:

Naming the author directly in your sentence is the best approach when you want to critique or comment on the source.

Naming the author in brackets

When you  you haven’t mentioned the author’s name in your sentence, include it inside the brackets. The citation is generally placed after the relevant quote or paraphrase, or at the end of the sentence, before the full stop:

Multiple citations can be included in one place, listed in order of publication year and separated by semicolons:

This type of citation is useful when you want to support a claim or summarise the overall findings of sources.

Common mistakes with in-text citations

In-text citations in brackets should not appear as the subject of your sentences. Anything that’s essential to the meaning of a sentence should be written outside the brackets:

• (Smith, 2019) argues that…
• Smith (2019) argues that…

Similarly, don’t repeat the author’s name in the bracketed citation and in the sentence itself:

• As Caulfield (Caulfield, 2020) writes…
• As Caulfield (2020) writes…

Sometimes you won’t have access to all the source information you need for an in-text citation. Here’s what to do if you’re missing the publication date, author’s name, or page numbers for a source.

If a source doesn’t list a clear publication date, as is sometimes the case with online sources or historical documents, replace the date with the words ‘no date’:

When it’s not clear who the author of a source is, you’ll sometimes be able to substitute a corporate author – the group or organisation responsible for the publication:

When there’s no corporate author to cite, you can use the title of the source in place of the author’s name:

No page numbers

If you quote from a source without page numbers, such as a website, you can just omit this information if it’s a short text – it should be easy enough to find the quote without it.

If you quote from a longer source without page numbers, it’s best to find an alternate location marker, such as a paragraph number or subheading, and include that:

A Harvard in-text citation should appear in brackets every time you quote, paraphrase, or refer to information from a source.

The citation can appear immediately after the quotation or paraphrase, or at the end of the sentence. If you’re quoting, place the citation outside of the quotation marks but before any other punctuation like a comma or full stop.

In Harvard referencing, up to three author names are included in an in-text citation or reference list entry. When there are four or more authors, include only the first, followed by ‘ et al. ’

In Harvard style , when you quote directly from a source that includes page numbers, your in-text citation must include a page number. For example: (Smith, 2014, p. 33).

You can also include page numbers to point the reader towards a passage that you paraphrased . If you refer to the general ideas or findings of the source as a whole, you don’t need to include a page number.

When you want to use a quote but can’t access the original source, you can cite it indirectly. In the in-text citation , first mention the source you want to refer to, and then the source in which you found it. For example:

It’s advisable to avoid indirect citations wherever possible, because they suggest you don’t have full knowledge of the sources you’re citing. Only use an indirect citation if you can’t reasonably gain access to the original source.

In Harvard style referencing , to distinguish between two sources by the same author that were published in the same year, you add a different letter after the year for each source:

• (Smith, 2019a)
• (Smith, 2019b)

Add ‘a’ to the first one you cite, ‘b’ to the second, and so on. Do the same in your bibliography or reference list .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2022, May 05). Harvard In-Text Citation | A Complete Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 23 December 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/harvard-in-text-citation/

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APA in-text citations

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In-text citations are short versions of citations that give a brief indication of the sources used in the paper. They are written in the text and inform the reader that full details are available in the reference list. The information available in the list will help the reader to find and use the sources listed. To write in-text citations, you should know two important components:

Author or organization’s name

Publication date

In-text citations overview

APA uses the author-date system for in-text citations. This means that in-text citations usually include information on the author, then the date published. For example, if Harold King wrote a book in 2021, his in-text citations would look like this:

(King, 2021)

King (2021)

There are two kinds of in-text citations are available in APA style: narrative citations and parenthetical citations. Let’s review them both.

Narrative citation

A narrative citation includes the name of the author or the organization as part of sentence text and includes the year published in parentheses. Here are two examples:

Blanchard (2020) argues that the development of a country depends on the growth of the village in the country.

API (2007) revised the guidelines for oil and natural gas field.

Parenthetical citation

A parenthetical citation includes both the name of the author or the organization and the date of publication inside parentheses. A comma comes between the author and the publication date.

For quotes, parenthetical citations must also include a page number. Use “p.” for a single page and “pp.” for a page range. Here are examples:

With the author

It is argued that the development of a country depends on the growth of the village in the country (Blanchard, 2020).

It is argued that the development of a country depends on the growth of the village in the country (Blanchard, 2020, p. 17).

Organization treated as the author

It was concluded to release the revised guidelines for the oil and natural gas field (AIP, 2007).

In-text citation examples

Narrative: Author Surname (Publication date)

Parenthetical: (Author Surname, Publication date)

Narrative: Coleman (2011)

Parenthetical: (Coleman, 2011)

Two authors

In narrative citations, the word “and” separates the surnames of the two authors. In parenthetical citations, use an ampersand between the two authors.

Narrative: First author Surname and Second author Surname (Publication date)

Parenthetical: (First author Surname & Second author Surname, Publication date)

Narrative: Francis and RIchter (2007)

Parenthetical: (Francis & RIchter, 2007)

Three or more authors

If the number of authors is more than two, use “et al.” in both narrative and parenthetical citations.

Narrative: First author Surname et al. (Publication date)

Parenthetical: (First author Surname et al., Publication date)

Narrative: Rolph et al. (2017)

Parenthetical: (Rolph et al., 2017)

Group author

If a source is by a group author, use the group author name in the author’s name field. Abbreviations are allowed in a group author name. If the group name first occurs in citations, you can still abbreviate it in citations. Note that a narrative citation and a parenthetical citation have different formats in using the abbreviation when included.

If the first occurrence of an abbreviation comes in a narrative citation, include the abbreviation inside the parenthesis before the date. If your abbreviation comes first in a parenthetical citation, add the abbreviation in square brackets after the group author name as shown below:

Narrative: Group author (Abbreviation, Publication date)

Parenthetical: (Group author [Abbreviation], Publication date)

Narrative: Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists (IACP, 2008)

Parenthetical: (Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists [IACP], 2018)

No author/Anonymous author

For a reference with no author, you need to include the title of the paper for the in-text citations. Usually, they appear as parenthetical citations. The title is written in the same way as it is mentioned in the reference list. For example, if the title is written in italics in the list, you need to italicize it in the in-text citation as well. However, if the title is plain in the list, write using title case, meaning that you must capitalize significant words of the title and enclose it in double quotes.

Parenthetical: (“Title of the Work,” Publication date)

Parenthetical: (“Human Behavior,” 2018)

If the author of a work is given as “Anonymous,” use “Anonymous” in place of the author.

Parenthetical: (Anonymous, 2007)

Other citations

Multiple citations in one sentence.

Multiple citations appearing together are arranged alphabetically within the group. Note that alphabetical arrangement is applicable only for in-text citations. The citations are separated by semicolons. Example:

(Anna, 2021; Blume & Alex, 2012; Robert, 2004)

If you include many references contributed by the same group of authors, arrange them chronologically and separate them by commas. The order of chronological citation for the same author group is (1) n.d., (2) citation with a publication date, and (3) in press. “n.d.” refers to “no date.”

(Allen, 2016a, 2016b; Bennet & Bennet, 2012, in press; Peterson, n.d., 2002)

Same surname, same publication date, different initials

You may have to include initials within in-text citations if multiple entries in the reference list have the same surname of the first author and same publication date, but different initials. This will aid the reader to find out the correct source of the citation. A few examples are listed below for your understanding. “F” and “M” are the first initials of the authors.

Narrative: F. Author Surname (Publication date)

Narrative: M. Author Surname (Publication date)

Parenthetical: (F. Author Surname, Publication date)

Parenthetical: (M. Author Surname, Publication date)

Narrative: G. Beauchamp (2013)

Narrative: L. Beauchamp (2013)

Parenthetical: (G. Beauchamp, 2013)

Parenthetical: (L. Beauchamp, 2013)

Same surname, same initials, same publication date

You may have to include a lowercase letter after the date if you have multiple entries in the reference list with the same surname of the first author, same publication date, and same initials. This will help the reader locate the correct source of a citation. This will help the reader to identify the correct source of the citation. A few examples are listed below for your understanding.

Narrative: Author Surname (Publication date followed by a suffix)

Narrative: Author Surname (Publication date followed by a different suffix)

Parenthetical: (Author Surname, Publication date followed by a suffix)

Parenthetical: (Author Surname, Publication date followed by a different suffix)

Narrative: Ikehara (2011a)

Narrative: Ikehara (2011b)

Parenthetical: (Ikehara, 2011a)

Parenthetical: (Ikehara, 2011b)

Translated work

Two dates are used for a translated work: publication date of the original work and the publication date of the translated work. Both dates are added to the in-text citations. Add the publication date of the original work first followed by the date of the translated work. Use a slash as a separator between the dates.

Narrative: Author Surname (Original work’s date/Translated work’s date)

Parenthetical: (Author Surname, Original work’s date/Translated work’s date)

Narrative: Hopkins (1997/1999)

Parenthetical: (Hopkins, 1997/1999)

Personal communication

Works such as telephonic conversation, chat messages, personal interviews, text messages, and emails do not need any source. These are classified under personal communication. It is not possible to get the information again; therefore, they are not included in the reference list. When you want to cite personal communication, use the initials of the authors in the text. Give the exact date of personal communication.

Narrative: Communicator’s name (personal communication, Month Day, Year)

Parenthetical: (Communicator’s name, personal communication, Month Day, Year)

Narrative: T. Kirubakaran (personal communication, May 15, 2005)

Parenthetical: (T. Kirubakaran, personal communication, May 15, 2005)

APA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• Headings & Headers
• In-text Citations
• Reference Page
• Paper Format
• View APA Formatting Guide

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APA Citation Style, 7th Edition: In-Text Citations & Paraphrasing

• APA 6/7 Comparison Guide
• New & Notable Changes
• Student Paper Layout
• Journal Article with One Author
• Journal Article with Two Authors
• Journal Article with Three or more Authors
• Help?! I can't find the DOI
• One Author/Editor
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• Chapter in a Book
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• Canvas Posts & Class Discussion Boards
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• Government Websites & Publications, & Gray Literature
• Infographic, Powerpoint, or other visual works
• Legislative (US & State House & Senate) Bills
• Podcast or other audio works
• Social Media Posts
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• YouTube or other streaming video
• Citing the use of AI
• Interviews & Emails
• Magazine Articles
• Newspaper Articles
• Posters & Conference Sessions
• Photographs, Tables, & PDF's
• In-Text Citations & Paraphrasing
• References Page
• Free APA 7th edition Resources, Handouts, & Tutorials

When do I use in-text citations?

When should you add in-text citations in your paper .

There are several rules of thumb you can follow to make sure that you are citing your paper correctly in APA 7 format. 

• Think of your paper broken up into paragraphs. When you start a paragraph, the first time you add a sentence that has been paraphrased from a reference -> that's when you need to add an in-text citation. 
• Continue writing your paragraph, you do NOT need to add another in-text citation until: 1) You are paraphrasing from a NEW source, which means you need to cite NEW information OR 2) You need to cite a DIRECT quote, which includes a page number, paragraph number or Section title. 
• Important to remember : You DO NOT need to add an in-text citation after EVERY sentence of your paragraph. 

What do in-text citations look like?

In-text citation styles: , let's look at these examples if they were written in text: .

An example with 1 author:

Parenthetical citation:  Following American Psychological Association (APA) style guidelines will help you to cultivate your own unique academic voice as an expert in your field (Forbes, 2020). 

Narrative citation : Forbes (2020) shared that by following American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines, students would learn to find their own voice as experts in the field of nursing. 

An example with 2 authors: 

Parenthetical citation: Research on the use of progressive muscle relaxation for stress reduction has demonstrated the efficacy of the method (Bennett & Miller, 2019). 

Narrative citation: As shared by Bennett and Miller (2019), research on the use of progressive muscle relaxation for stress reduction has demonstrated the efficacy of the method. 

An example with 3 authors: 

Parenthetical citation: Guided imagery has also been shown to reduce stress, length of hospital stay, and symptoms related to medical and psychological conditions (Jones et al., 2020).

Narrative citation: Jones et al. (2020) shared that guided imagery has also been shown to reduce stress, length of hospital stay, and symptoms related to medical and psychological conditions. 

An example with a group/corporate author: 

Parenthetical citation: Dr. Philip G. Rogers, senior vice president at the American Council on Education, was recently elected as the newest chancellor of the university (East Carolina University, 2020). 

Narrative citation: Recently shared on the East Carolina University (2020) website, Dr. Philip G. Rogers, senior vice president at the American Council on Education, was elected as the newest chancellor. 

Tips on Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is recreating someone else's ideas into your own words & thoughts, without changing the original meaning (gahan, 2020).  .

Here are some best practices when you are paraphrasing: 

• How do I learn to paraphrase? IF you are thoroughly reading and researching articles or book chapters for a paper, you will start to take notes in your own words . Those notes are the beginning of paraphrased information.
• Read the original information, PUT IT AWAY, then rewrite the ideas in your own words . This is hard to do at first, it takes practice, but this is how you start to paraphrase. 
• It's usually better to paraphrase, than to use too many direct quotes. 
• When you start to paraphrase, cite your source. 
• Make sure not to use language that is TOO close to the original, so that you are not committing plagiarism. 
• Use theasaurus.com to help you come up with like/similar phrases if you are struggling. 
• Paraphrasing (vs. using direct quotes) is important because it shows that YOU ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND the information you are reading. 
• Paraphrasing ALLOWS YOUR VOICE to be prevalent in your writing. 
• The best time to use direct quotes is when you need to give an exact definition, provide specific evidence, or if you need to use the original writer's terminology. 
• BEST PRACTICE PER PARAGRAPH: On your 1st paraphrase of a source, CITE IT. There is no need to add another in-text citation until you use a different source, OR, until you use a direct quote. 

References : 

Gahan, C. (2020, October 15). How to paraphrase sources . Scribbr.com .   https://tinyurl.com/y7ssxc6g  

Citing Direct Quotes

When should i use a direct quote in my paper .

Direct quotes should only be used occasionally: 

• When you need to share an exact definition 
• When you want to provide specific evidence or information that cannot be paraphrased
• When you want to use the original writer's terminology

From:  https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/whaddyamean/ 

Definitions of direct quotes: 

• Western Oregon University's APA Guidelines on Direct Quotes This is an excellent quick tutorial on how to format direct quotes in APA 7th edition. Bookmark this page for future reference!

Carrie Forbes, MLS

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APA Guide for Z503

• In-Text Citations
• Reference List

Attribution

Any material, data or words that you have gotten from some other source must be attributed to that source. This is true whether you are quoting the source verbatim, paraphrasing the source, or merely using ideas, theories or models from the source.

There are two parts to an attribution: a citation and a reference. A citation occurs within the text of your paper to alert the reader that you are utilizing material from another source and points to a complete record for the source- a reference - that occurs in the reference list at the end of the paper.

There are a number of ways to cite a work within the text of your paper but in every case, the citation must give the last name(s) of the author(s) and a publication date if these pieces of information are available. If no date is available for a source, the date should be given as "n.d." For works with no author, a work may be credited to an editor. In the absence of either an author or an editor, you should give the first few words of the title of the work in parentheses and a publication date.

You can give the names of the authors in a signal phrase as part of your narrative, followed by the publication year in parentheses:

Verrelli and Tishkoff (2004) note an unusually large amount of genetic variation in a gene known as OPN1LW, which codes for L (red) photoreceptors and is located on the X chromosome.

Alternatively, you can include both pieces of required information in parentheses immediately following the borrowed material:

It has been noted that there is an unusually large amount of genetic variation in a gene known as OPN1LW, which codes for L (red) photoreceptors and is located on the X chromosome (Verrelli & Tishkoff, 2004).

Author, year

Note that no verbiage ever comes between the author's name and the year: If you give an author's name, the very next thing should be a publication date.

Jones concludes that people were more likely to lie "if they believed they, themselves, had been lied to" (1999, p. 23).

Jones (1999) concludes that people were more likely to lie "if they believed they, themselves, had been lied to" (p. 23).

"And" and "&"

Note that if the cited source has more than one author, the "and" should be spelled out if it is part of the narrative and should be an ampersand (&) if the entire citation appears in parentheses, as demonstrated by the Verrelli and Tischkoff (2004) quotes above.

Page numbers for citations

In addition to the author and the year, you must provide a page number with a direct quote. In cases of paraphrasing or reference to broader ideas that do not involve a direct quote, no page number is required but may be included at the author's discretion.

Note that the page is indicated by "p." in the case of a single page, and "pp." in the case of multiple pages. It is never "pg" or "pgs."

If you are providing a direct quote from a non-paginated source, you should provide information to help the reader locate the material you are quoting. You may do this by providing a paragraph number in place of a page number or, if applicable, by providing a section name and a paragraph number. If the source is either very short or has no paragraphs or section headings, you may give "n.p." in place of the page number.

As with paraphrased material, the particular way these three pieces of information are given can vary. You may provide the authors name(s) as part of your sentence and follow this with the publication date in parentheses. Then, include the page number in parentheses immediately after the quote:

Lakoff and Johnson (1980) caution that the use of such metaphors, while it may help to elucidate some aspects of the concept being illustrated, "can keep us from focusing on other aspects of the concept that are inconsistent with that metaphor" (p. 10).

If you do not use the author's name in your own prose, you should include a parenthetical citation immediately following the borrowed information that includes the author(s), year and page number(s):

The problem of using metaphors to explain a concept is that they "can keep us from focusing on other aspects of the concept that are inconsistent with that metaphor" (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 10).

Placement of information

The full citation or page number must immediately follow the quoted or cited information, even if the citation then occurs in the middle of a sentence.

If we are kept "from focusing on other aspects of the concept that are inconsistent with that metaphor" (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 10), we may not be able to appropriately understand the idea.

Lakoff and Johnson (1980) observe that if we are kept "from focusing on other aspects of the concept that are inconsistent with that metaphor" (p. 10), we may not be able to appropriately understand the idea.

If we are kept "from focusing on other aspects of the concept that are inconsistent with that metaphor" we may not be able to appropriately understand the idea (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 10).

Lakoff and Johnson (1980) observe that if we are kept "from focusing on other aspects of the concept that are inconsistent with that metaphor," we may not be able to appropriately understand the idea (p. 10).

Humanities-style Narrative Citation

APA is very no-nonsense about citations and this approach may run counter to what you are used to. Give only the required information and give it in the prescribed format.

• Give the name of the article unless its title is particularly relevant or informative (it almost never is).
• Give the first name of the author unless there is possible confusion between authors, in which case you may use first initials to differentiate.
• Give a year outside of parentheses.

In their 2004 article in the American Journal of Human Genetics, titled "Signatures of Selection and Gene Conversion Associated with Human Color Vision Variation," Brian C. Verrelli and Sarah A. Tishkoff note an unusually large amount of genetic variation in a gene known as OPN1LW, which codes for L (red) photoreceptors and is located on the X chromosome.

As you can see, this approach results in a much more concise statement, aligning with APA's rule about economy of expression. If the reader wants to know the title of the article or where it was published, she can look it up in the references list. (That's actually the whole point of the references list; so the reader can get more information about your sources.)

The Once-Per-Paragraph Rule

After the first citation of an article, you may refer to the authors of an article without the publication year within the same paragraph as long as it is not likely to cause confusion for the reader.

Cite the Original Source

It is considered bad form to quote or paraphrase an author quoting or paraphrasing someone else. The responsible thing to do is to locate the original source and read enough of it that you can confidently paraphrase or quote it yourself.

You might access an article or book online, but the database or URL you used to access it is not acceptable as the source in your citation.

Multiple Authors

When a work has two authors, always cite both names every time the reference occurs in text. When a work has three, four, or five authors, cite all authors the first time the reference occurs; in subsequent citations, include only the surname of the first author followed by "et al." (not italicized and with a period after "al") and the year if it is the first citation of the reference within a paragraph:

Gangemi, Catenacci, Ciaramita and Lehmann (2006) completed an additional study ...

(First citation in text.)

Gangemi et al. (2006) sampled ...

(Subsequent first citation per paragraph thereafter.)

Gangemi et al. were not optimisitic, but ...

(Omit year from subsequent citations after first citation within a paragraph.)

When a work has six or more authors, cite only the surname of the first author followed by "et al." and the year, beginning with the first citation.

BUT, in the reference list, you must list the first seven authors. If there are eight or more authors, give the first seven, followed by "et al."

Danko and Pyle (2011) have replicated two earlier studies, with mixed results.

Multiple articles to support one idea

You may reference multiple sources within a single set of parentheses if all of the sources are relevant to the idea at hand. In such a case, order the sources in the same order in which they appear in the reference list (alphabetically), separating them with semicolons:

To further complicate the situation, some researchers have suggested that when these various disciplines speak of color they are, in many cases, actually speaking of different phenomena (Green-Armytage, 2009; Maund, 1995).

Capitalization

When including a quote in the text of your paper, change initial capitals to lowercase and vice versa, as needed, to fit the grammar of the sentence you are creating.

Cowley (1996) suggests that "We're designed to care about looks, even though looks aren't earned and reveal nothing about character" (p. 193).

Cowley (1996) suggests that "we're designed to care about looks, even though looks aren't earned and reveal nothing about character" (p. 193).

"hereditary regularities of mental development ... bias cultural evolution in one direction as opposed to another, and thus connect the genes to culture" (Naour, 2009, p. 25).

"Hereditary regularities of mental development ... bias cultural evolution in one direction as opposed to another, and thus connect the genes to culture" (Naour, 2009, p. 25).

It has been shown that children are more likely to choose toys in gender typical colors (Author & Writer, 2000).

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• Last Updated: Dec 2, 2024 2:11 PM
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