Creating In-Text Citations

Choose Your Own Adventure in Learning About In-Text Citations

For the rest of this page, you only really need to choose one of three options below to learn about creating in-text citations in a style that suits you best:

1. Option 1: Watch a more in-depth 17-minute video tutorial introducing in-text citations and then use the printable in-text citations worksheet. 

2. Option 2: Watch a shorter 9 minute tutorial introducing in-text citations and then use the printable in-text citations worksheet.

3. Option 3: Skip the videos, and read through the rest of the page for an introduction to in-text citations -this is the most thorough version.

Once you have worked through Options 1, 2 or 3, you will generally only need to use this printable in-text citations worksheet; of course, you can refer back to this page if you need a more thorough explanation or examples. 

Option 1: In-Depth Video Tutorial (17 minutes)

The video below is a 17 minute summary of this webpage. 

Option 2: Shorter Video Tutorial (9 minutes)

The video below is a 9 minute summary of this webpage. 

Option 3: Read to Learn About In-Text Citations

Quotes and Paraphrasing 

When you undertake a research task, such as an essay question, you will normally read related research by experts in the field of knowledge; this includes books, websites, videos and podcasts etc. Good research helps you develop arguments that are well informed. In research circles, the process of referring to the knowledge produced by experts and building on that is referred to as "standing on the shoulders of giants". 

You can visualise this as yourself literally standing on the shoulders of experts and gaining in your academic 'stature' because you are lifted up by the good research you build upon. Naturally, the better the expert and the better their research you refer to, the 'taller' your work grows. 

When you write an essay (or any research task) and you build your arguments by referring to experts in the field, you must acknowledge any ideas from other people that you include in your work; this is done in the form of an in-text citation. You need to do this if it is a direct quote or if you have paraphrased (put in your own words) someone else's work. 

Quotations / Quotes

A quote is when you directly copy three or more words from an author and place them within quotation marks to indicate that they are someone else's exact words. This is necessary whether you are quoting from an essay, book, video, podcast, song etc. A quotation can be presented in different ways; note in the following examples where the author's name is, the year of publication and the page number:

• Wealthy landowners rarely sought consensus as demonstrated in the following, "A lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of a sheep" (Lannister, 1940, p. 21).

or

• Lannister (1941) was a wealthy landowner who demonstrated his lack of interest in gaining consensus by stating "A lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of a sheep" (p. 21). 

or

• In 1940 Lannister stated, "A lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of a sheep" (p. 21) demonstrating how wealthy landowners rarely sought consensus. 

Block Quotes

If a direct quote is up to 40 words long, it should appear within a normal paragraph, within quotation marks, and with an in-text citation. If a quote is more than 40 words long, it should begin on a new line, indented as a block, do not use quotation marks, and add a citation. Here is an example in red:

In-text citations are important in academic writing, drawing the parallel between the author’s work and the sources which support it: 

The function of any citation-signaller is to alert the reader to some kind of association between the citing text and the cited text. Citation-signallers may additionally, by using page references or chapter numbers, single out a particular part of the text as especially relevant. (Langham, 2005, p. 361) 

Tip 1: to 'indent' a paragraph like this one above, depending on which software you are using, highlight the paragraph and press the indent button. You can search online for tips specific to your software.

Tip 2: Try to rarely use block quotes, it is best to paraphrase (put into your own words), this helps you fit the ideas into the context of your paper and writing style. Good reasons to use direct quotations include:

• copying an exact definition

• the author's writing is memorable or succinct

• you want to respond to the exact wording (Quotations, 2022).  

Paraphrasing 

Paraphrasing is when you present the ideas of others, in your own words. The in-text citation includes the author and year of publication. An in-text citation can be presented in different ways: 

• Wealthy landowners often made decisions with no regard for other people's opinions as they saw themselves as lions and everyone else as sheep, or followers (Lannister, 1940, p.21).

or

• Lannister (1940, p. 21) had little regard for taking into consideration other people's opinions when making decisions, he saw himself as a lion and considered others mere sheep or followers. 

or

• In 1940 Lannister (p.21) showed little regard for other people's opinions when he referred to himself as a lion who would not listen to other people's opinions as he considered them equivalent to sheep. 

Paraphrasing is a skill that you can develop. Paraphrasing is more than changing one or two words here and there. The video below is a good guide to paraphrasing:

Advanced Paraphrasing

Academic writing, as opposed to literary writing, often involves paraphrasing other people's ideas as you weave together ideas to build an argument. If you would like to develop your paraphrasing to a higher level, click on the following link: https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/quotingsources/.

Variations for Citations

Different Sources

The examples above all use "p." for the page number. Below are examples of other source types including page number, page range, paragraph number, section number, table or figure number, or chapter number:

(Lannister, 1940, p. 21)  -a single page

(Lannister, 1940, pp. 21-24)  -a page range

(Lannister, 1940, para. 2)  -a paragraph / eg. a webpage

(Lannister, 1940, Table 2)  -a table

(Lannister, 1940, Chapter 2)  - eg. paraphrasing a whole chapter 

Name Variations

Two authors: (Bourne & Jones, 2015)

• The above intext citation was based on the reference: Bourne, D., & Jones, S,. 2015. A grasshoppers house. Penguin. 

More than two authors: (Bourne et al., 2015)

• The above intext citation was based on the reference: Bourne, D., Chang, W., & Jones, S,. 2015. A grasshoppers house. Penguin. 

No author: if there are no authors identified, you use the book or article title plus the year. Generally, for the in-text citation, shorten the title to the first 3-4 words: (Me and my shadow, 2016)

• The above in-text citation was based on the reference: Me and My Shadow. (2016). Tactical Technology Collective. Retrieved 26 April from https://myshadow.org/

Organisation or Corporate Author: If the name of the author or authors is not identified in your information source and the publisher is either a corporation or an organisation, then use their name. Do not create your own abbreviations for company names, only use abbreviations if they are how the company or organisation refer to themselves: (UNESCO, 2019) 

• The above in-text citation was based on the reference: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2019). Paris outcome statement. Retrieved 26 April from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000369510  

Secondary Citations

Academic content such as books and journal articles will often contain a lot of citations. When you are reading a book, and the book contains a quote from another source, it is called a secondary quotation. If you can, go to the original source and cite that. If you can't obtain the original source, you need to acknowledge both authors in your in-text citation. In your reference list, you should cite the original source where possible. Here are examples:

• "We are part of the land, it is part of us" (Philippe, 2008, as cited in Maldonado et al., 2013, p. 610). 

or

• Philippe (2008, as cited in Maldonado et al., 2013) states "we are part of the land, it is part of us" (p. 610). 

No Date

If you cannot find the date a work is published, use "n.d." for 'no date'. Use this for both the in-text citation and the reference list: (Bourne, n.d.)

• The above intext citation was based on the reference: Bourne, D., n.d.. A grasshoppers house. Penguin. 

SHHS In-Text Citations Guide for Years 7-12 (printable)

Below is a guide for creating in-text citations for Years 7-12 or click here to download.