HOW TO DO IN-TEXT CITATION
An in-text citation is a reference to the last name of the author and the page number(s) where the information is located. Refer to the author in the body of the text or through parenthetical citation in the sentence or paragraph. The citation then must be followed by the page number, without the use of “p.,” “pp.,” or the word “page,” in parentheses.
CITING SOURCES: BOOKS
A Book by One Author
This documentation can be presented in the body of the text by use of the author’s name prior to the citation in the sentence or paragraph.
Graham Greene attempts to establish both setting and mood early in the novel when he points out “A few vultures looked down from the roof” (7).
Note: Use the full name for the first mention of the author in the text. Thereafter, use the author’s last name only.
If the author is not mentioned prior to the citation, the author’s last name and the page number are both included in parentheses following the citation. No comma is used to separate the name from the page number.
Both setting and mood are established in the novel through the use of both natural and man made surroundings: “A few vultures looked down from the roof” (Greene 7).
Note: In either approach, if the quotation ends the sentence, close the quotation marks before the parenthesis and place the sentence period after the parentheses.
A Book by Two or More Authors
For a work of two or three authors, refer to all names either in the text or in parenthesis.
(Hare, Moran, and Koepke 226-228).
For a work with four or more authors, use the first mentioned author’s last name followed by “et al.”
(Bellah et al. 196-99).
Two or More Books by the Same Author
When referring to more than one work by a given author within the same paper there are two possibilities. Include a reference to both author and title in the body of the text.
Graham Greene describes the passage of time in The Heart of the Matter as “the unreality of a country one is leaving for ever” (208).
If the author and work are not named in the text, include the author’s last name, followed by a comma, an abbreviated form of the title and the page number in parenthesis following the citation.
The description of time as “the unreality of a country one is leaving forever,” suggests the intrusion of the ordinary into Scobie’s personal world (Greene, The Heart of the Matter 208).
Books by Authors with the Same Last Name
Cite the author’s last name and the title of the source in the sentence and then add the page numbers in a parenthetical reference.
Toffler argues in The Third Wave that society has gone through two eras of growth (agricultural and industrial) and is now entering another: the information age (26).
A Book with No Author Listed
Use the title of the work in the place of the author’s name. Cite the complete title if citing the source in the text of the paper.
According to The Far East and Australasia 1991, the Buddhist calendar has been the official calendar in Sri Lanka since 1996 (38).
A Specific Work in an Anthology or Reference Book
When referring to a work found in an anthology, cite the name of the author rather than the name of the editor of the anthology. Use the page number on which the work is found.
“A rider of birches” is a positive boyhood experience deftly relayed in the poem “Birches” (Frost 124).
Special Note: A Literary Work
Literary works-novels, plays, poems- are available in many editions, therefore information should be provided in addition to page numbers so readers using different editions can locate the passage cited. After the page number, add a semicolon and other appropriate information, using lowercase abbreviations such as pt., sec. ch.
Although Flaubert sees Madame Bovary for what she is-a silly romantic woman-he insists that “none of us can ever express the exact measure of his needs or his thoughts or his sorrows” (216: pt. 2. ch.12).
A Multi Volume Work
Cite the volume number, followed by a colon and the page number in the parenthetical citation.
Barr and Feigenbaum note that “the concept of translation from one language to another by machine is older than the computer itself” (1: 233).
A Government Publication
Include the information in the sentence, particularly if several corporate or government reports appear in one text.
AT&T’s Annual Report for 2001 announced that the corporation had reached a turning point in its history (3).
More than One Work in a Single Parenthetical Reference
If two or more works need to be in a single parenthetical reference, document each reference according to the normal pattern, but separate each citation with a semicolon.
(Oleson 59;Trimble 85; Hylton 63).
