In-text citations are brief, unobtrusive references that direct readers to the works-cited-list entries for the sources you consulted and, where relevant, to the location in the source being cited. An in-text citation begins with the shortest piece of information that directs your reader to the entry in the works-cited list. Thus, it begins with whatever comes first in the entry: the author's name or the title (or description) of the work. The citation can appear in your prose or in parentheses. When relevant, an in-text citation also has a second component: if a specific part of a work is quoted or paraphrased and the work includes a page number, line number, time stamp, or other indicator of the place in the work where the information can be found, that location marker must be included in parentheses.
All in-text references should be concise. Avoid, for instance, providing the author's name or title of a work in both your prose and parentheses.
According to Naomi Baron, reading is "just half of literacy. The other half is writing" (194).
Reading at Risk notes that despite an apparent decline in reading during the same period, "the number of people doing creative writing--of any genre, not exclusively literary works--increased substantially between 1982 and 2002" (3).
In parenthetical citations, use only the part of an author's name--usually the surname only--necessary to find the entry in the list of works cited. Use shortened titles in parenthetical citations.
In prose In parenthetical citations In works-cited list
Reading at Risk Reading Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America
For concision, do not precede a page number in a parenthetical citation with p. or pp., as you do in the list of works cited (where such abbreviations lend clarity). If you cite a number other than a page number in a parenthetical citation, precede it with a label such as chapter or section (often abbreviated in parentheses) or line or lines (do not abbreviate). Otherwise, your reader is to assume that the numeral refers to a page number.
In prose In parenthetical citations
chapter 2 (ch. 2)
line 110 (line 110)
scene 4 (sc. 4)
Coauthors
If an entry in the works-cited list begins with the names of two authors, include both names in your citation. If you are mentioning the authors for the first time in your prose, include both first names and surnames. In a parenthetical citations connect the two surnames with and.
Citation in prose
Others, like Jay Lemery and Paul Auerbach, note that doctors have not yet adequately explained the effects climate change will have on human health (4-5). Lemery and Auerbach's book on the human, not the environment, risks.
Parenthetical citation (surnames only)
Others note that doctors have not yet adequately explained the effects climate change will have no human health (Lemery and Auerbach 4-5).
Corporate authors
If the source has three or more authors, the entry in the works-cited list begins with the first author's name followed by et al. If your refer to the coauthors in your prose rather than in a parenthetical citation, you may list all the names or provide the name of the first collaborator followed by "and others" or "and colleagues." In a parenthetical citation, list the surname of the first author and et al.
Citation in prose
Raymond Nickerson and colleagues argue that the truth value of statements--their premises and conclusions--is one factor that affects how people are persuaded by arguments (135).
Parenthetical citation
The authors argue that the truth value of statements--their premises and conclusions--is one factor that affects how people are persuaded by arguments (Nickerson et al. 135).
For concision, when a corporate author (i.e., an organization) is named in a parenthetical citation, shorten the name to the shortest noun phrase. For example, the American Historical Association consists entirely of a noun phrase (a noun, association, preceded by two modifiers [American and Historical]) and would not be shortened. By contrast, the Modern Language Association of America can be shortened to its initial noun phrase, Modern Language Association. If possible, five the first noun and any preceding adjectives, while excluding any initial article: a, an, the.
Citation in prose
According to a study by the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society, the "speed of warming is more than ten times that at the end of an ice age, the fastest known natural sustained change on a global scale" (9).
Parenthetical citation
According to one study of climate change, the "speed of warming is more than ten times that at the end of an ice age, the fastest known natural sustained change on a global scale" (National Academy 9).
Two authors with the same surname
If you borrow from works by more than one author with the same surname (e.g., Jaimie Baron and Naomi Baron), use the first name of each author in prose, even after the first reference to the author, to eliminate ambiguity. In parenthetical citation, add the author's first initial.
Citation in prose
Having read Naomi Baron's argument that writing is the "other half" of literacy (194), one might even suggest that reading is never complete without writing.
Parenthetical citation
Reading is "just half of literacy. The other half is writing" (N. Baron 194). One might even suggest that reading is never complete without writing.
If the authors' first names begin with the same initial, use the first names in parenthetical citations.
Parenthetical citation
As one scholar notes, reading is "just half of literacy. The other half is writing" (Naomi Baron 194). Scientists must be able to successfully communicate why their research matters--and not just with one another. A recent study argues that the way scientists have been trained to communicate "leaves policymakers out of the loop" (Nancy Baron 90). Training scientists to write for a general audience is therefore just as important as promoting science literacy among our political leaders.
Two or more works by the same author or authors
If two or more works appear under the same author name or names in the works-cited list, you must add a title to your in-text citation so that your reader knows which work you are citing. You may do this in one of three ways.
Author's name in prose and title in parenthetical citation
Morrison writes, "Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it's gone, but the place--the picture of it--stays" (Beloved 35).
Author's name and title in prose
As Morrison writes in Beloved, "Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it's gone, but the place--the picture of it--stays" (35).
Author's name and title in parenthetical citation
The character Sethe notes, "Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it's gone, but the place--the picture of it--stays" (Morrison, Beloved 35).
Use these same techniques when there is more than one work in the works-cited list under a particular author's name followed by et al. Distinguish the sources by indicating a short form of the title.
Citing a work listed by title
When an entry in the works-cited list begins with the title of the work, the title may appear in prose or in parentheses.
Citation in prose
Reading at Risk notes that despite an apparent decline in reading during the same period, "the number of people doing creative writing--of any genre, not exclusively literary works--increased substantially between 1982 and 2002" (3).
Parenthetical citation
Despite an apparent decline in reading during the same period, "the number of people doing creative writing--of any genre, not exclusively literary works--increased substantially between 1982 and 2002" (Reading 3).
Shortening titles of works
For concision, when a title is needed in a parenthetical citation, shorten the title if it is longer than a noun phrase. For example, Faulkner's Southern Novels consists entirely of a noun phrase (a noun, novels, preceded by two modifiers) and would not be shortened. By contrast, Faulkner's Novels of the South can be shortened to its initial noun phrase, Faulkner's Novels. If possible, give the first noun and any preceding adjectives, while excluding any initial article (a, an, the).
Full titles Shortened titles
The Double Vision: Language and Meaning in Religion Double Vision
"Traveling in the Breakdown Lane" "Traveling"
"You Say You Want a Revolution?" "You"
If the title is short, especially if it forms a rhetorical unit, you can five the full title, even if it extends before the noun.
("Is Nothing Sacred?").
If the title does not begin with a noun phrase, stop at the first punctuation mark or at the end of the first phrase or clause.
Full title Shortened titles
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street And to Think
How to Avoid Huge Ships How to Avoid
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish So Long
Titles in quotation marks that start with a title in quotation marks
In parenthetical citations, if you need to shorten a title within quotation marks that beings with a title in quotation marks, use the title within the title as the short form. Retain the single quotation marks within double quotation marks, but omit the initial article.
Citation
Karen Ford argues that Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is "replete with contradictions" ("'Yellow Wallpaper'' 311).
Numbered paragraphs, sections, and lines
If your source uses explicit paragraph numbers rather than page numbers give the relevant number or numbers, preceded by the label par. or pars. Do not, however, apply numbers not indicated by your source. Change the label appropriately if another kind of part is numbered in the source instead of pages, such as sections (sec., secs.), chapters (ch., chs.), or lines (line, lines). If the author's name begins such a citation, place a comma after the name and before the label.
Citation
In sonnet 73, Shakespeare compares the branches of trees in late autumn to "[b]are ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang" (line 4).
E-book
An e-book (that is, a work formatted for reading on an electronic device) may include a numbering system that tells readers their location in the work. Because such numbering usually varies from one device to another, do not use such numbering in a citation unless you know that it appears consistently to other users. If the work is divided into stable numbered sections like chapters, the numbers of those sections may be cited, with a label identifying the type of part that is numbered.
Citation
"What is it about us human beings that we can't let go of lost things?" asks the author (Silko, ch. 2).
Works Cited
Silko, Leslie Marmon. The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir. E-book ed., Viking Books, 2010.
Commonly cited works
Commonly studied literary works are frequently available in more than one edition. When you cite a work available in multiple editions, you can provide information in addition to, or instead of, page numbers so readers can find your references in any edition of the work.
Verse works
Editions of commonly studied poems and verse plays sometimes provide line numbers in the margins. Generally omit page numbers altogether and cite by division (act, scene, canto, book, part) and line, separating the numbers with periods. The example below refers to act 1, scene 5, lines 35-37 of Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
(Hamlet 1.5.35-37).
If you do not mention the author's name, title, or both in your prose and therefore must include such information in the parenthetical citation, separate with a comma the author's name or title from the word designating the division of the work being cited.
(Beowulf, lines 145-46).
(Homer, bk. 18, lines 129-31).
Do not count lines manually if no line numbers are present in the source; doing so would obligate your reader to do the same. Instead, cite page numbers or another explicit division numbering, if available (e.g., canto 12). Short poems in print sources can usually be cited by page number.
Prose work
In a reference to a commonly studied modern prose work, such as a novel or a play in prose, give the page number first, followed by other identifying information, using appropriate abbreviations. Separate the page number from the other information with a semicolon.
(185; ch. 13, sec. 2).
Works without numbered pages or divisions
When a source has no page numbers or any other kind of part number, no number should be given in a parenthetical citation. Do not count unnumbered paragraphs or other parts.
(Pope).
Time stamps
For works in time-based media, such as audio and video recordings, cite the relevant time or time span if it is displayed. Give the numbers of the hours, minutes, and seconds as displayed in your media player, separating the numbers with colons, with no space on either side.
("Buff" 00:03:16-17).