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Copy the information below in your paper according to the Guide on the right. Use your own page numbers.

APA In-Text Citation Guide

In-text citations are required when you use someone else's ideas, theories or research in your paper.

Basic in-text citation style

Include the author and date in the in-text citation, either

  • both inside parentheses
    After a rainy spring, the potential for flooding increased (Peters & Woodard, 2010).
  • if author names are in the text just put date in parentheses.
    Peters and Woodard (2010) reported that after a rainy spring the potential for flooding increased.

Inside parenthesis the and in Peters and Woodard is written as an ampersand &. Within the text it is written as the word and, as shown in the above examples.

Direct quotation of sources:

When quoting always provide author, year and specific page citation or paragraph number for nonpaginated material.

If the quotation is less than 40 words incorporate it into the text and enclose the quotation with quotation marks. Cite the source immediately after the close of the quotation marks.

If the authors are named in the text, they do not have to be used in the citation.

In fact, "a neurosis is characterized by anxiety" (Kristen & Warb, 2012, p. 157).

"A neurosis is characterized by anxiety," according to Kristen and Warb's (2012, p. 157) longitudinal study.

If the quotation is over 40 words, you must indent the entire quotation and start the quotation on a new line. No quotation marks are required. Cite the quoted source after the final punctuation mark.

Alberta is occasionally divided into two regions, Northern Alberta and Southern Alberta. The majority of Alberta's population is located in large urban cities, mostly located in the South. Alberta is Canada's most populous province of all three Canadian prairie provinces. Edmonton is the Capital of Alberta. (Herick, 1996, p. 22)

Paraphrasing

APA style encourages the inclusion of page numbers, but it is not mandatory. Include page or paragraph numbers if it will help reader find the information. If the document does not contain page numbers, paragraph numbers may be used.

  • (Reiton, 2003, para. 3)

If neither is available omit page and paragraph numbers. Do not count paragraph numbers.

  • (Reiton, 2003)

When paraphrasing from multiple sources, include all authors name in parentheses in alphabetical order. Separate with semicolons.

  • (Cole, 1996; Manning & Arthur, 2011; Zigmund, 2000)

No authors

Use the title in place of author. Shorten title if needed. Use double quotation marks for title of an article, a chapter, or a web page. Use italics for title of a periodical, a book, a brochure or a report.

  • the observations found ("Arctic Voyage," 2014)
  • the book Vitamin Discoveries (2013)

Two or more authors

Within the text use the word and. If the authors' names are within parentheses use the & symbol.

  • Cole and Dough (1998) argued …
  • …if they were left to their own devices (Cole & Dough, 1998).

Three to five authors

Include all authors' last names the first time the citation is used. If you use the same citation again within the same paragraph, use only the first last name followed by et al. If you used the citation again omit the year.

  • First time: Cole, Dough and Ferris (1998) explained…
  • Second time: Cole et al. (1998) proved …
  • Third time: Cole et al. demonstrated…

Six or more authors

Include first author's name followed by et al.

  • (Wasserstein et al., 2010)

Groups

Spell out the name in full the first time and abbreviate subsequent times only if abbreviation is well known.

  • First time: American Psychological Association (1998) explained…
  • Second time: APA (1998) proved …
MLA Parenthetical Guide

In-Text Citations
Parenthetical Citations

In-text citations are called parenthetical references in MLA. This involves placing information about the source in parentheses after a quote or a paraphrase. The information in the parenthetical references must match the corresponding information in the list of works cited.

The purpose of parenthetical references is to indicate to readers not only what works you used, but what you used from each source and where in the source you found the material. This can be done by inserting a parenthetical reference in your text at the spot where you have used the source's ideas or words.

You should keep parenthetical references as brief and as few as clarity and accuracy permit.

General Guidelines

  • Author's last name followed by the page number referenced in work. These are placed in parentheses at end of sentence before period.
    • The Soviets were surrounded by enemies (Waters 119).
  • If author's name is in text only use the page number, it is not necessary to repeat the author's name.
    • Waters argues that the Soviets were surrounded by enemies (119).

Authors – Identification of source

  • Group or corporate authors: use full name of group or a shortened form.
    • (Natl. Research Council 15)
  • Do not use abbreviations such as ed. or trans.
  • No author: use a few words of the title.
    • ("The evolving internet")
  • Two authors: Use last name of both, no comma.
    • (Black and Mondoux 123)
  • Three authors:
    • (Eddison, Zhu, and Lalonde)
  • More than three authors: Give all the last names or just the first and "et al. for the rest
    • (Becker et al. 13)
    • (Becker, Lafontaine, Robins, Given, and Rush 13)
  • If your work cited page contains multiple references by the same author, include the author's last name and a full or shortened title of their work and the page number.
    • (Feder, The Birth of a Nation 124)

Location of passage within source

  • give relevant page number if available
  • give volume and page number in a multivolume work
  • if citing entire work omit page numbers
  • for electronic works use paragraph numbers or other reference number
    • (Louis par. 20)
  • film, television, broadcasts cannot be cited by numbers

Placement of parenthetical reference in text

  • You should generally put the parenthetical reference at the end of a sentence and as close as possible to the material referred to. The parenthetical reference goes before the punctuation mark.
    • Cole found that "The bones were very fragile" (33-34).
  • If the quotation is over 4 lines, you must indent the whole quotation and start the quotation on a new line. No quotation marks are required. Notice the placement of the period is before the brackets for long quotations.

    Alberta is occasionally divided into two regions, Northern Alberta and Southern Alberta. The majority of Alberta's population is located in large urban cities, mostly located in the South. Alberta is Canada's most populous Province of all three Canadian prairie provinces. Edmonton is the Capital of Alberta. (Herick 22)

Chicago Footnote Guide
  • In Chicago style, footnotes or endnotes are used to reference pieces of work in the text.
  • To cite from a source a superscript number is placed after a quote or a paraphrase.
  • Citation numbers should appear in sequential order.
  • Each number then corresponds to a citation, a footnote or to an endnote.
  • Endnotes must appear on an endnotes page. The page should be titled Notes (centered at top). This page should appear immediately before the bibliography page.
  • Footnotes must appear at the bottom of the page that they are referred to.  

Example: 
Cole found that "The bones were very fragile" (33-34).1

Each superscript then refers to a numbered citation in the footnotes or endnotes.

Footnotes/endnotes:

The first time the in-text reference is cited you must include, author's first name, author's last name, title, place of publication, publisher name, year and referenced pages. e.g.

1. James Smith, The first and last war, (New York, Hamilton, 2003), 2.

If the citation has already been cited it may be shortened to author's last name, shortened title, and page referenced number. e.g.

2. Smith, The first, 220-221.

If the citation has been referenced immediately prior, the note may be shortened even further to ibid with the page number. e.g.

3. Ibid., 786.

Chicago In-text Citation Guide

For each author-date citation in the text, there must be a corresponding entry in the reference list under the same name and date.

An author-date citation in running text or at the end of a block quotation consists of the last (family) name of the author, followed by the year of publication of the work in question. In this context, author may refer not only to one or more authors or an institution but also to one or more editors, translators, or compilers. No punctuation appears between author and date. Abbreviations such as ed. or trans. are omitted.

(Woodward 1987)

(Schuman and Scott 1987)

When a specific page, section, equation, or other division of the work is cited, it follows the date, preceded by a comma. When a volume as a whole is referred to, without a page number, vol. is used. For volume plus page, only a colon is needed. The n in the Fischer and Siple example below indicates "note" (see 14.164). The last example shows how one might cite a section of a work that contains no page or section numbers or other numerical signposts—the case for some electronic documents (see 15.8).

(Piaget 1980, 74)

(LaFree 2010, 413, 417–18)

(Johnson 1979, sec. 24)

Fowler and Hoyle 1965, eq. 87)

(García 1987, vol. 2)

(García 1987, 2:345)

(Barnes 1998, 2:354–55, 3:29)

(Fischer and Siple 1990, 212n3)

(Hellman 1998, under "The Battleground")

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