Parenthetical Documentation
Parenthetical documentation is the practice of citing the source in parentheses following the citation or paraphrase. It includes the author's name and the page number. When a reader wants to know more about the source, he turns to the list of Works Cited (similar to a bibliography) at the end of the paper. Like a bibliography, the Works Cited includes the author's full name, the title, date, and other publishing information.
Guidelines for using parenthetical documentation:
1. Use only the author's last name and the page number.
2. If using electronic sources, use only the author’s last name.
3. Do not write the word page or the abbreviation for it.
4. Do not put a comma between the name and the page.
5. If there is no author, use a short version of the title. Underline if it is a book; use quotation marks if it is a short work.
A. Look at the Works Cited entry -- whatever is first is what goes in parenthesis: Last name OR title.
6. If you have used the author's name in the text of your paper, put only the page number inside the parentheses.
7. If you are using two works by the same author, include a brief reference to or shortened form of the title after the author's name.
8. Put the period outside the parenthesis, not inside.
9. Use the same format when you paraphrase information.
10. To avoid interrupting the flow of your writing, place the parenthetical reference where a pause would naturally occur (preferably at the end of a sentence), as near as possible to the material it documents.
11. When the material you are citing has been quoted in the source you are using, handle it
this way:
Others, including David Burnham, author of The Rise of the Computer State, have predicted the loss of personal autonomy as computerized data banks track information about citizens (qtd. in Moskwitz 14).
Readers will know that your "Works Cited" entry will be under Moskwitz.
Some examples of parenthetical documentation from the MLA Handbook follow:
Author's name in text
- Frye has argued this point before (178).
Author's name in reference
- This point has been argued before (Frye 178).
Author's name in text
- It may be true, as Robertson writes, that "in the appreciation of medieval art the attitude of the observer is of primary importance" (136).
Author's name in reference
- It may be true that "in the appreciation of medieval art the attitude of the observer is of primary importance" (Robertson 136).
Authors' names in text
- Others, like Wellek and Warren (310), hold an opposite point of view.
Author's name in reference
- Others hold an opposite point of view (Wellek and Warren 310).
One-page article with no author
- The nine grades of mandarins were "distinguished by the color of the button on the hats of office" ("Mandarin").
Anonymous work
- According to the Handbook of Korea, much Korean sculpture is associated with Buddism (241).
Multi-volume work with author or editor
- In November of 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated (Parker and Nelson II: 262).
Multi-volume work with no author or editor
- In November of 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated (Great Events 3: 262).