different ways to cite a source in an essay

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MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics

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Guidelines for referring to the works of others in your text using MLA style are covered throughout the  MLA Handbook  and in chapter 7 of the  MLA Style Manual . Both books provide extensive examples, so it's a good idea to consult them if you want to become even more familiar with MLA guidelines or if you have a particular reference question.

Basic in-text citation rules

In MLA Style, referring to the works of others in your text is done using parenthetical citations . This method involves providing relevant source information in parentheses whenever a sentence uses a quotation or paraphrase. Usually, the simplest way to do this is to put all of the source information in parentheses at the end of the sentence (i.e., just before the period). However, as the examples below will illustrate, there are situations where it makes sense to put the parenthetical elsewhere in the sentence, or even to leave information out.

General Guidelines

• The source information required in a parenthetical citation depends (1) upon the source medium (e.g. print, web, DVD) and (2) upon the source’s entry on the Works Cited page.
• Any source information that you provide in-text must correspond to the source information on the Works Cited page. More specifically, whatever signal word or phrase you provide to your readers in the text must be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of the corresponding entry on the Works Cited page.

In-text citations: Author-page style

MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:

Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:

Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads . Oxford UP, 1967.

In-text citations for print sources with known author

For print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase (usually the author’s last name) and a page number. If you provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical citation.

These examples must correspond to an entry that begins with Burke, which will be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of an entry on the Works Cited page:

Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method . University of California Press, 1966.

In-text citations for print sources by a corporate author

When a source has a corporate author, it is acceptable to use the name of the corporation followed by the page number for the in-text citation. You should also use abbreviations (e.g., nat'l for national) where appropriate, so as to avoid interrupting the flow of reading with overly long parenthetical citations.

In-text citations for sources with non-standard labeling systems

If a source uses a labeling or numbering system other than page numbers, such as a script or poetry, precede the citation with said label. When citing a poem, for instance, the parenthetical would begin with the word “line”, and then the line number or range. For example, the examination of William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” would be cited as such:

The speaker makes an ardent call for the exploration of the connection between the violence of nature and the divinity of creation. “In what distant deeps or skies. / Burnt the fire of thine eyes," they ask in reference to the tiger as they attempt to reconcile their intimidation with their relationship to creationism (lines 5-6).

Longer labels, such as chapters (ch.) and scenes (sc.), should be abbreviated.

In-text citations for print sources with no known author

When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name, following these guidelines.

Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (such as an article) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire Web sites) and provide a page number if it is available.

Titles longer than a standard noun phrase should be shortened into a noun phrase by excluding articles. For example, To the Lighthouse would be shortened to Lighthouse .

If the title cannot be easily shortened into a noun phrase, the title should be cut after the first clause, phrase, or punctuation:

In this example, since the reader does not know the author of the article, an abbreviated title appears in the parenthetical citation, and the full title of the article appears first at the left-hand margin of its respective entry on the Works Cited page. Thus, the writer includes the title in quotation marks as the signal phrase in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader directly to the source on the Works Cited page. The Works Cited entry appears as follows:

"The Impact of Global Warming in North America." Global Warming: Early Signs . 1999. www.climatehotmap.org/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2009.

If the title of the work begins with a quotation mark, such as a title that refers to another work, that quote or quoted title can be used as the shortened title. The single quotation marks must be included in the parenthetical, rather than the double quotation.

Parenthetical citations and Works Cited pages, used in conjunction, allow readers to know which sources you consulted in writing your essay, so that they can either verify your interpretation of the sources or use them in their own scholarly work.

Author-page citation for classic and literary works with multiple editions

Page numbers are always required, but additional citation information can help literary scholars, who may have a different edition of a classic work, like Marx and Engels's  The Communist Manifesto . In such cases, give the page number of your edition (making sure the edition is listed in your Works Cited page, of course) followed by a semicolon, and then the appropriate abbreviations for volume (vol.), book (bk.), part (pt.), chapter (ch.), section (sec.), or paragraph (par.). For example:

Author-page citation for works in an anthology, periodical, or collection

When you cite a work that appears inside a larger source (for instance, an article in a periodical or an essay in a collection), cite the author of the  internal source (i.e., the article or essay). For example, to cite Albert Einstein's article "A Brief Outline of the Theory of Relativity," which was published in  Nature  in 1921, you might write something like this:

See also our page on documenting periodicals in the Works Cited .

Citing authors with same last names

Sometimes more information is necessary to identify the source from which a quotation is taken. For instance, if two or more authors have the same last name, provide both authors' first initials (or even the authors' full name if different authors share initials) in your citation. For example:

Citing a work by multiple authors

For a source with two authors, list the authors’ last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation:

Corresponding Works Cited entry:

Best, David, and Sharon Marcus. “Surface Reading: An Introduction.” Representations , vol. 108, no. 1, Fall 2009, pp. 1-21. JSTOR, doi:10.1525/rep.2009.108.1.1

For a source with three or more authors, list only the first author’s last name, and replace the additional names with et al.

Franck, Caroline, et al. “Agricultural Subsidies and the American Obesity Epidemic.” American Journal of Preventative Medicine , vol. 45, no. 3, Sept. 2013, pp. 327-333.

Citing multiple works by the same author

If you cite more than one work by an author, include a shortened title for the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the others. Put short titles of books in italics and short titles of articles in quotation marks.

Citing two articles by the same author :

Citing two books by the same author :

Additionally, if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence, format your citation with the author's name followed by a comma, followed by a shortened title of the work, and, when appropriate, the page number(s):

Citing multivolume works

If you cite from different volumes of a multivolume work, always include the volume number followed by a colon. Put a space after the colon, then provide the page number(s). (If you only cite from one volume, provide only the page number in parentheses.)

Citing the Bible

In your first parenthetical citation, you want to make clear which Bible you're using (and underline or italicize the title), as each version varies in its translation, followed by book (do not italicize or underline), chapter, and verse. For example:

If future references employ the same edition of the Bible you’re using, list only the book, chapter, and verse in the parenthetical citation:

John of Patmos echoes this passage when describing his vision (Rev. 4.6-8).

Citing indirect sources

Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited within another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example:

Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an indirect source.

Citing transcripts, plays, or screenplays

Sources that take the form of a dialogue involving two or more participants have special guidelines for their quotation and citation. Each line of dialogue should begin with the speaker's name written in all capitals and indented half an inch. A period follows the name (e.g., JAMES.) . After the period, write the dialogue. Each successive line after the first should receive an additional indentation. When another person begins speaking, start a new line with that person's name indented only half an inch. Repeat this pattern each time the speaker changes. You can include stage directions in the quote if they appear in the original source.

Conclude with a parenthetical that explains where to find the excerpt in the source. Usually, the author and title of the source can be given in a signal phrase before quoting the excerpt, so the concluding parenthetical will often just contain location information like page numbers or act/scene indicators.

Here is an example from O'Neill's  The Iceman Cometh.

WILLIE. (Pleadingly) Give me a drink, Rocky. Harry said it was all right. God, I need a drink.

ROCKY. Den grab it. It's right under your nose.

WILLIE. (Avidly) Thanks. (He takes the bottle with both twitching hands and tilts it to his lips and gulps down the whiskey in big swallows.) (1.1)

Citing non-print or sources from the Internet

With more and more scholarly work published on the Internet, you may have to cite sources you found in digital environments. While many sources on the Internet should not be used for scholarly work (reference the OWL's  Evaluating Sources of Information  resource), some Web sources are perfectly acceptable for research. When creating in-text citations for electronic, film, or Internet sources, remember that your citation must reference the source on your Works Cited page.

Sometimes writers are confused with how to craft parenthetical citations for electronic sources because of the absence of page numbers. However, these sorts of entries often do not require a page number in the parenthetical citation. For electronic and Internet sources, follow the following guidelines:

• Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name).
• Do not provide paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your Web browser’s print preview function.
• Unless you must list the Web site name in the signal phrase in order to get the reader to the appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like  CNN.com  or  Forbes.com,  as opposed to writing out http://www.cnn.com or http://www.forbes.com.

Miscellaneous non-print sources

Two types of non-print sources you may encounter are films and lectures/presentations:

In the two examples above “Herzog” (a film’s director) and “Yates” (a presentor) lead the reader to the first item in each citation’s respective entry on the Works Cited page:

Herzog, Werner, dir. Fitzcarraldo . Perf. Klaus Kinski. Filmverlag der Autoren, 1982.

Yates, Jane. "Invention in Rhetoric and Composition." Gaps Addressed: Future Work in Rhetoric and Composition, CCCC, Palmer House Hilton, 2002. Address.

Electronic sources

Electronic sources may include web pages and online news or magazine articles:

In the first example (an online magazine article), the writer has chosen not to include the author name in-text; however, two entries from the same author appear in the Works Cited. Thus, the writer includes both the author’s last name and the article title in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader to the appropriate entry on the Works Cited page (see below).

In the second example (a web page), a parenthetical citation is not necessary because the page does not list an author, and the title of the article, “MLA Formatting and Style Guide,” is used as a signal phrase within the sentence. If the title of the article was not named in the sentence, an abbreviated version would appear in a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. Both corresponding Works Cited entries are as follows:

Taylor, Rumsey. "Fitzcarraldo." Slant , 13 Jun. 2003, www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/fitzcarraldo/. Accessed 29 Sep. 2009. 

"MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL , 2 Aug. 2016, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/. Accessed 2 April 2018.

Multiple citations

To cite multiple sources in the same parenthetical reference, separate the citations by a semi-colon:

Time-based media sources

When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference. For example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).

When a citation is not needed

Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting sources. You do not need to give sources for familiar proverbs, well-known quotations, or common knowledge (For example, it is expected that U.S. citizens know that George Washington was the first President.). Remember that citing sources is a rhetorical task, and, as such, can vary based on your audience. If you’re writing for an expert audience of a scholarly journal, for example, you may need to deal with expectations of what constitutes “common knowledge” that differ from common norms.

Other Sources

The MLA Handbook describes how to cite many different kinds of authors and content creators. However, you may occasionally encounter a source or author category that the handbook does not describe, making the best way to proceed can be unclear.

In these cases, it's typically acceptable to apply the general principles of MLA citation to the new kind of source in a way that's consistent and sensible. A good way to do this is to simply use the standard MLA directions for a type of source that resembles the source you want to cite.

You may also want to investigate whether a third-party organization has provided directions for how to cite this kind of source. For example, Norquest College provides guidelines for citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers⁠ —an author category that does not appear in the MLA Handbook . In cases like this, however, it's a good idea to ask your instructor or supervisor whether using third-party citation guidelines might present problems.

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / How to Cite Sources

How to Cite Sources

Here is a complete list for how to cite sources. Most of these guides present citation guidance and examples in MLA, APA, and Chicago.

If you’re looking for general information on MLA or APA citations , the EasyBib Writing Center was designed for you! It has articles on what’s needed in an MLA in-text citation , how to format an APA paper, what an MLA annotated bibliography is, making an MLA works cited page, and much more!

MLA Format Citation Examples

The Modern Language Association created the MLA Style, currently in its 9th edition, to provide researchers with guidelines for writing and documenting scholarly borrowings.  Most often used in the humanities, MLA style (or MLA format ) has been adopted and used by numerous other disciplines, in multiple parts of the world.

MLA provides standard rules to follow so that most research papers are formatted in a similar manner. This makes it easier for readers to comprehend the information. The MLA in-text citation guidelines, MLA works cited standards, and MLA annotated bibliography instructions provide scholars with the information they need to properly cite sources in their research papers, articles, and assignments.

• Book Chapter
• Conference Paper
• Documentary
• Encyclopedia
• Google Images
• Kindle Book
• Memorial Inscription
• Museum Exhibit
• Painting or Artwork
• PowerPoint Presentation
• Sheet Music
• Thesis or Dissertation
• YouTube Video

APA Format Citation Examples

The American Psychological Association created the APA citation style in 1929 as a way to help psychologists, anthropologists, and even business managers establish one common way to cite sources and present content.

APA is used when citing sources for academic articles such as journals, and is intended to help readers better comprehend content, and to avoid language bias wherever possible. The APA style (or APA format ) is now in its 7th edition, and provides citation style guides for virtually any type of resource.

Chicago Style Citation Examples

The Chicago/Turabian style of citing sources is generally used when citing sources for humanities papers, and is best known for its requirement that writers place bibliographic citations at the bottom of a page (in Chicago-format footnotes ) or at the end of a paper (endnotes).

The Turabian and Chicago citation styles are almost identical, but the Turabian style is geared towards student published papers such as theses and dissertations, while the Chicago style provides guidelines for all types of publications. This is why you’ll commonly see Chicago style and Turabian style presented together. The Chicago Manual of Style is currently in its 17th edition, and Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations is in its 8th edition.

Citing Specific Sources or Events

• Declaration of Independence
• Gettysburg Address
• Martin Luther King Jr. Speech
• President Obama’s Farewell Address
• President Trump’s Inauguration Speech
• White House Press Briefing

Additional FAQs

• Citing Archived Contributors
• Citing a Blog
• Citing a Book Chapter
• Citing a Source in a Foreign Language
• Citing an Image
• Citing a Song
• Citing Special Contributors
• Citing a Translated Article
• Citing a Tweet

6 Interesting Citation Facts

The world of citations may seem cut and dry, but there’s more to them than just specific capitalization rules, MLA in-text citations , and other formatting specifications. Citations have been helping researches document their sources for hundreds of years, and are a great way to learn more about a particular subject area.

Ever wonder what sets all the different styles apart, or how they came to be in the first place? Read on for some interesting facts about citations!

1. There are Over 7,000 Different Citation Styles

You may be familiar with MLA and APA citation styles, but there are actually thousands of citation styles used for all different academic disciplines all across the world. Deciding which one to use can be difficult, so be sure to ask you instructor which one you should be using for your next paper.

2. Some Citation Styles are Named After People

While a majority of citation styles are named for the specific organizations that publish them (i.e. APA is published by the American Psychological Association, and MLA format is named for the Modern Language Association), some are actually named after individuals. The most well-known example of this is perhaps Turabian style, named for Kate L. Turabian, an American educator and writer. She developed this style as a condensed version of the Chicago Manual of Style in order to present a more concise set of rules to students.

3. There are Some Really Specific and Uniquely Named Citation Styles

How specific can citation styles get? The answer is very. For example, the “Flavour and Fragrance Journal” style is based on a bimonthly, peer-reviewed scientific journal published since 1985 by John Wiley & Sons. It publishes original research articles, reviews and special reports on all aspects of flavor and fragrance. Another example is “Nordic Pulp and Paper Research,” a style used by an international scientific magazine covering science and technology for the areas of wood or bio-mass constituents.

4. More citations were created on  EasyBib.com  in the first quarter of 2018 than there are people in California.

The US Census Bureau estimates that approximately 39.5 million people live in the state of California. Meanwhile, about 43 million citations were made on EasyBib from January to March of 2018. That’s a lot of citations.

5. “Citations” is a Word With a Long History

The word “citations” can be traced back literally thousands of years to the Latin word “citare” meaning “to summon, urge, call; put in sudden motion, call forward; rouse, excite.” The word then took on its more modern meaning and relevance to writing papers in the 1600s, where it became known as the “act of citing or quoting a passage from a book, etc.”

6. Citation Styles are Always Changing

The concept of citations always stays the same. It is a means of preventing plagiarism and demonstrating where you relied on outside sources. The specific style rules, however, can and do change regularly. For example, in 2018 alone, 46 new citation styles were introduced , and 106 updates were made to exiting styles. At EasyBib, we are always on the lookout for ways to improve our styles and opportunities to add new ones to our list.

Why Citations Matter

Here are the ways accurate citations can help your students achieve academic success, and how you can answer the dreaded question, “why should I cite my sources?”

They Give Credit to the Right People

Citing their sources makes sure that the reader can differentiate the student’s original thoughts from those of other researchers. Not only does this make sure that the sources they use receive proper credit for their work, it ensures that the student receives deserved recognition for their unique contributions to the topic. Whether the student is citing in MLA format , APA format , or any other style, citations serve as a natural way to place a student’s work in the broader context of the subject area, and serve as an easy way to gauge their commitment to the project.

They Provide Hard Evidence of Ideas

Having many citations from a wide variety of sources related to their idea means that the student is working on a well-researched and respected subject. Citing sources that back up their claim creates room for fact-checking and further research . And, if they can cite a few sources that have the converse opinion or idea, and then demonstrate to the reader why they believe that that viewpoint is wrong by again citing credible sources, the student is well on their way to winning over the reader and cementing their point of view.

They Promote Originality and Prevent Plagiarism

The point of research projects is not to regurgitate information that can already be found elsewhere. We have Google for that! What the student’s project should aim to do is promote an original idea or a spin on an existing idea, and use reliable sources to promote that idea. Copying or directly referencing a source without proper citation can lead to not only a poor grade, but accusations of academic dishonesty. By citing their sources regularly and accurately, students can easily avoid the trap of plagiarism , and promote further research on their topic.

They Create Better Researchers

By researching sources to back up and promote their ideas, students are becoming better researchers without even knowing it! Each time a new source is read or researched, the student is becoming more engaged with the project and is developing a deeper understanding of the subject area. Proper citations demonstrate a breadth of the student’s reading and dedication to the project itself. By creating citations, students are compelled to make connections between their sources and discern research patterns. Each time they complete this process, they are helping themselves become better researchers and writers overall.

When is the Right Time to Start Making Citations?

Make in-text/parenthetical citations as you need them.

As you are writing your paper, be sure to include references within the text that correspond with references in a works cited or bibliography. These are usually called in-text citations or parenthetical citations in MLA and APA formats. The most effective time to complete these is directly after you have made your reference to another source. For instance, after writing the line from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities : “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…,” you would include a citation like this (depending on your chosen citation style):

(Dickens 11).

This signals to the reader that you have referenced an outside source. What’s great about this system is that the in-text citations serve as a natural list for all of the citations you have made in your paper, which will make completing the works cited page a whole lot easier. After you are done writing, all that will be left for you to do is scan your paper for these references, and then build a works cited page that includes a citation for each one.

Need help creating an MLA works cited page ? Try the MLA format generator on EasyBib.com! We also have a guide on how to format an APA reference page .

2. Understand the General Formatting Rules of Your Citation Style Before You Start Writing

While reading up on paper formatting may not sound exciting, being aware of how your paper should look early on in the paper writing process is super important. Citation styles can dictate more than just the appearance of the citations themselves, but rather can impact the layout of your paper as a whole, with specific guidelines concerning margin width, title treatment, and even font size and spacing. Knowing how to organize your paper before you start writing will ensure that you do not receive a low grade for something as trivial as forgetting a hanging indent.

Don’t know where to start? Here’s a formatting guide on APA format .

3. Double-check All of Your Outside Sources for Relevance and Trustworthiness First

Collecting outside sources that support your research and specific topic is a critical step in writing an effective paper. But before you run to the library and grab the first 20 books you can lay your hands on, keep in mind that selecting a source to include in your paper should not be taken lightly. Before you proceed with using it to backup your ideas, run a quick Internet search for it and see if other scholars in your field have written about it as well. Check to see if there are book reviews about it or peer accolades. If you spot something that seems off to you, you may want to consider leaving it out of your work. Doing this before your start making citations can save you a ton of time in the long run.

Finished with your paper? It may be time to run it through a grammar and plagiarism checker , like the one offered by EasyBib Plus. If you’re just looking to brush up on the basics, our grammar guides  are ready anytime you are.

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APA (7th Edition) Referencing Guide

• Information for EndNote Users
• Authors - Numbers, Rules and Formatting

Everything must match!

Types of citations, in-text citations, quoting, summarising and paraphrasing, example text with in-text referencing, slightly tricky in-text citations, organisation as an author, secondary citation (works referred to in other works), what do i do if there are no page numbers.

• Reference List
• Books & eBooks
• Book chapters
• Journal Articles
• Conference Papers
• Newspaper Articles
• Web Pages & Documents
• Specialised Health Databases
• Using Visual Works in Assignments & Class Presentations
• Using Visual Works in Theses and Publications
• Using Tables in Assignments & Class Presentations
• Custom Textbooks & Books of Readings
• ABS AND AIHW
• Videos (YouTube), Podcasts & Webinars
• Blog Posts and Social Media
• First Nations Works
• Dictionary and Encyclopedia Entries
• Personal Communication
• Theses and Dissertations
• Film / TV / DVD
• Miscellaneous (Generic Reference)
• AI software
• APA Format for Assignments
• What If...?
• Other Guides
• EscAPA7de - the APA escape room
• One Minute Video Series (APA)

There are two basic ways to cite someone's work in text.

In narrative citations , the authors are part of the sentence - you are referring to them by name. For example:

Becker (2013) defined gamification as giving the mechanics of principles of a game to other activities.

Cho and Castañeda (2019) noted that game-like activities are frequently used in language classes that adopt mobile and computer technologies.

In parenthetical citations , the authors are not mentioned in the sentence, just the content of their work. Place the citation at the end of the sentence or clause where you have used their information. The author's names are placed in the brackets (parentheses) with the rest of the citation details:

Gamification involves giving the mechanics or principles of a game to another activity (Becker, 2013).

Increasingly, game-like activities are frequently used in language classes that adopt mobile and computer technologies (Cho & Castañeda, 2019).

Using references in text

For APA, you use the authors' surnames only and the year in text. If you are using a direct quote, you will also need to use a page number.

Narrative citations:

If an in-text citation has the authors' names as part of the sentence (that is, outside of brackets) place the year and page numbers in brackets immediately after the name, and use 'and' between the authors' names:  Jones and Smith (2020, p. 29)

Parenthetical citations:

If an in-text citation has the authors' names in brackets use "&" between the authors' names :  (Jones & Smith, 2020, p. 29).

Note: Some lecturers want page numbers for all citations, while some only want page numbers with direct quotes. Check with your lecturer to see what you need to do for your assignment. If the direct quote starts on one page and finishes on another, include the page range (Jones & Smith, 2020, pp. 29-30).

1 author

Smith (2020) found that "the mice disappeared within minutes" (p. 29).

The author stated "the mice disappeared within minutes" (Smith, 2020, p. 29).

Jones and Smith (2020) found that "the mice disappeared within minutes" (p. 29).

The authors stated "the mice disappeared within minutes" (Jones & Smith, 2020, p. 29).

For 3 or more authors , use the first author and "et al." for all in-text citations

Green et al.'s (2019) findings indicated that the intervention was not based on evidence from clinical trials.

It appears the intervention was not based on evidence from clinical trials (Green et al., 2019).

If you cite more than one work in the same set of brackets in text , your citations will go in the same order in which they will appear in your reference list (i.e. alphabetical order, then oldest to newest for works by the same author) and be separated by a semi-colon. E.g.:

• (Corbin, 2015; James & Waterson, 2017; Smith et al., 2016).
• (Corbin, 2015; 2018)
• (Queensland Health, 2017a; 2017b)
• Use only the   surnames   of your authors   in text   (e.g., Smith & Brown, 2014) - however, if you have two authors with the same surname who have published in the same year, then you will need to use their initials to distinguish between the two of them (e.g., K. Smith, 2014; N. Smith, 2014).   Otherwise, do not use initials in text .

If your author isn't an "author".

Whoever is in the "author" position of the refence in the references list is treated like an author in text. So, for example, if you had an edited book and the editors of the book were in the "author" position at the beginning of the reference, you would treat them exactly the same way as you would an author - do not include any other information. The same applies for works where the "author" is an illustrator, producer, composer, etc.

• Summarising
• Paraphrasing

It is always a good idea to keep direct quotes to a minimum. Quoting doesn't showcase your writing ability - all it shows is that you can read (plus, lecturers hate reading assignments with a lot of quotes).

You should only use direct quotes if the exact wording is important , otherwise it is better to paraphrase.

If you feel a direct quote is appropriate, try to keep only the most important part of the quote and avoid letting it take up the entire sentence - always start or end the sentence with your own words to tie the quote back into your assignment. Long quotes (more than 40 words) are called "block quotes" and are rarely used in most subject areas (they mostly belong in Literature, History or similar subjects). Each referencing style has rules for setting out a block quote. Check with your style guide .

It has been observed that "pink fairy armadillos seem to be extremely susceptible to stress" (Superina, 2011, p. 6).

NB! Most referencing styles will require a page number to tell readers where to find the original quote.

It is a type of paraphrasing, and you will be using this frequently in your assignments, but note that summarising another person's work or argument isn't showing how you make connections or understand implications. This is preferred to quoting, but where possible try to go beyond simply summarising another person's information without "adding value".

And, remember, the words must be your own words . If you use the exact wording from the original at any time, those words must be treated as a direct quote.

All information must be cited, even if it is in your own words.

Superina (2011) observed a captive pink fairy armadillo, and noticed any variation in its environment could cause great stress.

NB! Some lecturers and citation styles want page numbers for everything you cite, others only want page numbers for direct quotes. Check with your lecturer.

Paraphrasing often involves commenting about the information at the same time, and this is where you can really show your understanding of the topic. You should try to do this within every paragraph in the body of your assignment.

When paraphrasing, it is important to remember that using a thesaurus to change every other word isn't really paraphrasing. It's patchwriting , and it's a kind of plagiarism (as you are not creating original work).

Use your own voice! You sound like you when you write - you have a distinctive style that is all your own, and when your "tone" suddenly changes for a section of your assignment, it looks highly suspicious. Your lecturer starts to wonder if you really wrote that part yourself. Make sure you have genuinely thought about how *you* would write this information, and that the paraphrasing really is in your own words.

Always cite your sources! Even if you have drawn from three different papers to write this one sentence, which is completely in your own words, you still have to cite your sources for that sentence (oh, and excellent work, by the way).

Captive pink fairy armadillos do not respond well to changes in their environment and can be easily stressed (Superina, 2011).

NB! Some lecturers and citation styles want page numbers for all citations, others only want them for direct quotes. Check with your lecturer.

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When you have multiple authors with the same surname who published in the same year:

If your authors have different initials, then include the initials:

As A. Smith (2016) noted...

...which was confirmed by J.G. Smith's (2016) study.

(A. Smith, 2016; J. G. Smith, 2016).

If your authors have the same initials, then include the name:

As Adam Smith noted...

...which was confirmed by Amy Smith's (2016) study.

(Adam Smith, 2016; Amy Smith, 2016).

Note: In your reference list, you would include the author's first name in [square brackets] after their initials:

Smith, A. [Adam]. (2016)...

Smith, A. [Amy]. (2016)...

When you have multiple works by the same author in the same year:

In your reference list, you will have arranged the works alphabetically by title (see the page on Reference Lists for more information). This decides which reference is "a", "b", "c", and so on. You cite them in text accordingly:

Asthma is the most common disease affecting the Queensland population (Queensland Health, 2017b). However, many people do not know how to manage their asthma symptoms (Queensland Health, 2017a).

When you have multiple works by the same author in different years:

Asthma is the most common disease affecting the Queensland population (Queensland Health, 2017, 2018). 

When you do not have an author, and your reference list entry begins with the title:

Use the title in place of the author's name, and place it in "quotation marks" if it is the title of an article or book chapter, or in italics if the title would go in italics in your reference list:

During the 2017 presidential inauguration, there were some moments of awkwardness ("Mrs. Obama Says ‘Lovely Frame’", 2018).

Note: You do not need to use the entire title, but a reasonable portion so that it does not end too abruptly - "Mrs. Obama Says" would be too abrupt, but the full title "Mrs. Obama Says 'Lovely Frame' in Box During Awkward Handoff" is unecessarily long. You should also use title case for titles when referring to them in the text of your work.

If there are no page numbers, you can include any of the following in the in-text citation:

• "On Australia Day 1938 William Cooper ... joined forces with Jack Patten and William Ferguson ... to hold a Day of Mourning to draw attention to the losses suffered by Aboriginal people at the hands of the whiteman" (National Museum of Australia, n.d., para. 4).
• "in 1957 news of a report by the Western Australian government provided the catalyst for a reform movement" (National Museum of Australia, n.d., The catalyst for change section, para. 1)
• "By the end of this year of intense activity over 100,000 signatures had been collected" (National Museum of Australia, n.d., "petition gathering", para. 1).

When you are citing a classical work, like the Bible or the Quran:

References to works of scripture or other classical works are treated differently to regular citations. See the APA Blog's entry for more details:

Happy Holiday Citing: Citation of Classical Works . (Please note, this document is from the 6th edition of APA).

In text citation:

If the name of the organisation first appears in a narrative citation, include the abbreviation before the year in brackets, separated with a comma. Use the official acronym/abreviation if you can find it. Otherwise check with your lecturer for permission to create your own acronyms.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2013) shows that...

The Queensland Department of Education (DoE, 2020) encourages students to... (please note, Queensland isn't part of the department's name, it is used in the sentence to provide clarity)

If the name of the organisation first appears in a citation in brackets, include the abbreviation in square brackets.

(Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2013)

(Department of Education [DoE], 2020)

In the second and subsequent citations, only include the abbreviation or acronym

ABS  (2013) found that ...

DoE (2020) instructs teachers to...

This is disputed ( ABS , 2013).

Resources are designed to support "emotional learning pedagogy" (DoE, 2020)

In the reference list:

Use the full name of the organisation in the reference list.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2017).  Australia's welfare 2017 . https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/australias-welfare-2017/contents/table-of-contents

Department of Education. (2020, April 22). Respectful relationships education program . Queensland Government. https://education.qld.gov.au/curriculum/stages-of-schooling/respectful-relationships

Academically, it is better to find the original source and reference that.

If you do have to quote a secondary source:

• In the text you must cite the original author of the quote and the year the original quote was written as well as the source you read it in. If you do not know the year the original citation was written, omit the year.
• In the reference list you only list the source that you actually read.

Wembley (1997, as cited in Olsen, 1999) argues that impending fuel shortages ...

Wembley claimed that "fuel shortages are likely" (1997, as cited in Olsen, 1999, pp. 10-12).

Some have noted that fuel shortages are probable in the future (Wembley, 1997, as cited in Olsen, 1999).

Olsen, M. (1999).  My career.  Gallimard.

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Quick Guide to APA Citations

☑ include both parts of the apa citation:.

In-text citations (placed in your paper wherever you are quoting or paraphrasing a source) Reference list citations (placed at the end of your paper in an alphabetized reference list)  

☑ If you quote OR paraphrase a source, you must cite it.

"Paraphrasing" includes describing someone else's idea in your own words.   A quotation requires a "locator" which is the exact page number or paragraph number of the quote 

☑ Do not include sources in your reference list if you did not use them.

In APA, reference citations are not a list of sources you read! Only include a source in your reference list if you quoted or paraphrased that source with an in-text citation in your paper.

☑ Each in-text citation must match its reference list citation.

The author name and year in the reference list citation and in-text citation must be the same. If you make a correction to the author and/or date in one of your references, you must also edit all of the corresponding in-text citations.

In-Text Citations

Citing paraphrased information:

(Author, Year).

Citing a direct quote:

(Author, Year, p. 3). OR (Author, Year, para. 3).

In-text Citation Examples

Paraphrasing a source with TWO AUTHORS:

(Tindall & Curtis, 2019).

Paraphrasing a source with THREE OR MORE AUTHORS:

(Amida et al., 2021).

Paraphrasing a source authored by a GROUP/ORGANIZATION with NO DATE:

(U.S. Department of Homeland Security, n.d.).

• 2023 In-Text Citation Instructions Help! I need more examples! Check out this PDF for what to do when you have long paraphrases, long quotations, you want to cite a source you found in another source, you have sources with the same author and date, and more!

Reference List Citations

Author. (Date). Title. Source. URL

Reference List Citation Examples

Reference list citation for a journal article with THREE OR MORE AUTHORS:*

Amida, A., Appianing, J., & Marafa, Y. (2022). Testing the predictors of college students' attitudes toward plagiarism. Journal of Academic Ethics, 20 (1), p. 85-99.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-021-09401-9

Reference list citation for an online article/webpage with ONE AUTHOR: 

Bailey, J. (2022, July 6). 5 things new students need to know about plagiarism. Plagiarism Today . https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2022/07/06/5-things-new-students-need-to-know-about-plagiarism/

Reference list citation for a source with a GROUP AUTHOR and NO DATE:

U. S. Department of Homeland Security. (n.d.). What is plagiarism? https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/2014/11/what-plagiarism

*Never use "et al." in a reference citation. Include every author's name, up to 20 authors. For guidance on citing works with more than 20 authors, see the 2023 Reference List Instructions PDF below.

• 2023 APA Reference list instructions Help! I need more examples! Check out this PDF for what to do if there is no author or when there are twenty-one or more authors, how to capitalize the title, when the title has a title in it, and more!
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• Referencing

A Quick Guide to Harvard Referencing | Citation Examples

Published on 14 February 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 15 September 2023.

Referencing is an important part of academic writing. It tells your readers what sources you’ve used and how to find them.

Harvard is the most common referencing style used in UK universities. In Harvard style, the author and year are cited in-text, and full details of the source are given in a reference list .

In-text citation	Referencing is an essential academic skill (Pears and Shields, 2019).
Reference list entry	Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2019) 11th edn. London: MacMillan.

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Table of contents

Harvard in-text citation, creating a harvard reference list, harvard referencing examples, referencing sources with no author or date, frequently asked questions about harvard referencing.

A Harvard in-text citation appears in brackets beside any quotation or paraphrase of a source. It gives the last name of the author(s) and the year of publication, as well as a page number or range locating the passage referenced, if applicable:

Note that ‘p.’ is used for a single page, ‘pp.’ for multiple pages (e.g. ‘pp. 1–5’).

An in-text citation usually appears immediately after the quotation or paraphrase in question. It may also appear at the end of the relevant sentence, as long as it’s clear what it refers to.

When your sentence already mentions the name of the author, it should not be repeated in the citation:

Sources with multiple authors

When you cite a source with up to three authors, cite all authors’ names. For four or more authors, list only the first name, followed by ‘ et al. ’:

Number of authors	In-text citation example
1 author	(Davis, 2019)
2 authors	(Davis and Barrett, 2019)
3 authors	(Davis, Barrett and McLachlan, 2019)
4+ authors	(Davis , 2019)

Sources with no page numbers

Some sources, such as websites , often don’t have page numbers. If the source is a short text, you can simply leave out the page number. With longer sources, you can use an alternate locator such as a subheading or paragraph number if you need to specify where to find the quote:

Multiple citations at the same point

When you need multiple citations to appear at the same point in your text – for example, when you refer to several sources with one phrase – you can present them in the same set of brackets, separated by semicolons. List them in order of publication date:

Multiple sources with the same author and date

If you cite multiple sources by the same author which were published in the same year, it’s important to distinguish between them in your citations. To do this, insert an ‘a’ after the year in the first one you reference, a ‘b’ in the second, and so on:

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

A bibliography or reference list appears at the end of your text. It lists all your sources in alphabetical order by the author’s last name, giving complete information so that the reader can look them up if necessary.

The reference entry starts with the author’s last name followed by initial(s). Only the first word of the title is capitalised (as well as any proper nouns).

Sources with multiple authors in the reference list

As with in-text citations, up to three authors should be listed; when there are four or more, list only the first author followed by ‘ et al. ’:

Number of authors	Reference example
1 author	Davis, V. (2019) …
2 authors	Davis, V. and Barrett, M. (2019) …
3 authors	Davis, V., Barrett, M. and McLachlan, F. (2019) …
4+ authors	Davis, V. (2019) …

Reference list entries vary according to source type, since different information is relevant for different sources. Formats and examples for the most commonly used source types are given below.

• Entire book
• Book chapter
• Translated book
• Edition of a book

Format	Author surname, initial. (Year) . City: Publisher.
Example	Smith, Z. (2017) . London: Penguin.
Notes

Format	Author surname, initial. (Year) ‘Chapter title’, in Editor name (ed(s).) . City: Publisher, page range.
Example	Greenblatt, S. (2010) ‘The traces of Shakespeare’s life’, in De Grazia, M. and Wells, S. (eds.) . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–14.
Notes

Format	Author surname, initial. (Year) . Translated from the [language] by Translator name. City: Publisher.
Example	Tokarczuk, O. (2019) . Translated from the Polish by A. Lloyd-Jones. London: Fitzcarraldo.
Notes

Format	Author surname, initial. (Year) . Edition. City: Publisher.
Example	Danielson, D. (ed.) (1999) . 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Notes

Journal articles

• Print journal
• Online-only journal with DOI
• Online-only journal with no DOI

Format	Author surname, initial. (Year) ‘Article title’, , Volume(Issue), pp. page range.
Example	Thagard, P. (1990) ‘Philosophy and machine learning’, , 20(2), pp. 261–276.
Notes

Format	Author surname, initial. (Year) ‘Article title’, , Volume(Issue), page range. DOI.
Example	Adamson, P. (2019) ‘American history at the foreign office: Exporting the silent epic Western’, , 31(2), pp. 32–59. doi: https://10.2979/filmhistory.31.2.02.
Notes	if available.

Format	Author surname, initial. (Year) ‘Article title’, , Volume(Issue), page range. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Example	Theroux, A. (1990) ‘Henry James’s Boston’, , 20(2), pp. 158–165. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20153016 (Accessed: 13 February 2020).
Notes

• General web page
• Online article or blog
• Social media post

Format	Author surname, initial. (Year) . Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Example	Google (2019) . Available at: https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en-US (Accessed: 27 January 2020).
Notes

Format	Author surname, initial. (Year) ‘Article title’, , Date. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Example	Leafstedt, E. (2020) ‘Russia’s constitutional reform and Putin’s plans for a legacy of stability’, , 29 January. Available at: https://blog.politics.ox.ac.uk/russias-constitutional-reform-and-putins-plans-for-a-legacy-of-stability/ (Accessed: 13 February 2020).
Notes

Format	Author surname, initial. [username] (Year) or text [Website name] Date. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Example	Dorsey, J. [@jack] (2018) We’re committing Twitter to help increase the collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation … [Twitter] 1 March. Available at: https://twitter.com/jack/status/969234275420655616 (Accessed: 13 February 2020).
Notes

Sometimes you won’t have all the information you need for a reference. This section covers what to do when a source lacks a publication date or named author.

No publication date

When a source doesn’t have a clear publication date – for example, a constantly updated reference source like Wikipedia or an obscure historical document which can’t be accurately dated – you can replace it with the words ‘no date’:

In-text citation	(Scribbr, no date)
Reference list entry	Scribbr (no date) . Available at: https://www.scribbr.co.uk/category/thesis-dissertation/ (Accessed: 14 February 2020).

Note that when you do this with an online source, you should still include an access date, as in the example.

When a source lacks a clearly identified author, there’s often an appropriate corporate source – the organisation responsible for the source – whom you can credit as author instead, as in the Google and Wikipedia examples above.

When that’s not the case, you can just replace it with the title of the source in both the in-text citation and the reference list:

In-text citation	(‘Divest’, no date)
Reference list entry	‘Divest’ (no date) Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/divest (Accessed: 27 January 2020).

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Harvard referencing uses an author–date system. Sources are cited by the author’s last name and the publication year in brackets. Each Harvard in-text citation corresponds to an entry in the alphabetised reference list at the end of the paper.

Vancouver referencing uses a numerical system. Sources are cited by a number in parentheses or superscript. Each number corresponds to a full reference at the end of the paper.

	Harvard style	Vancouver style
In-text citation	Each referencing style has different rules (Pears and Shields, 2019).	Each referencing style has different rules (1).
Reference list	Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2019). . 11th edn. London: MacMillan.	1. Pears R, Shields G. Cite them right: The essential referencing guide. 11th ed. London: MacMillan; 2019.

A Harvard in-text citation should appear in brackets every time you quote, paraphrase, or refer to information from a source.

The citation can appear immediately after the quotation or paraphrase, or at the end of the sentence. If you’re quoting, place the citation outside of the quotation marks but before any other punctuation like a comma or full stop.

In Harvard referencing, up to three author names are included in an in-text citation or reference list entry. When there are four or more authors, include only the first, followed by ‘ et al. ’

	In-text citation	Reference list
1 author	(Smith, 2014)	Smith, T. (2014) …
2 authors	(Smith and Jones, 2014)	Smith, T. and Jones, F. (2014) …
3 authors	(Smith, Jones and Davies, 2014)	Smith, T., Jones, F. and Davies, S. (2014) …
4+ authors	(Smith , 2014)	Smith, T. (2014) …

Though the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, there is a difference in meaning:

• A reference list only includes sources cited in the text – every entry corresponds to an in-text citation .
• A bibliography also includes other sources which were consulted during the research but not cited.

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Caulfield, J. (2023, September 15). A Quick Guide to Harvard Referencing | Citation Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 24 June 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/harvard-style/

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• In-Text Citation and Notes

Citing Sources in the Text of your Paper

When writers use an outside source, they must give credit to the original writer or creator of that source. This also allows a reader to easily make note of the source’s bibliographic entry. Just as each style guide has rules for creating a citation in a bibliography at the end of a text, each guide also has certain rules for citing the use of sources within the text of the essay.

The following are basic guidelines for citing sources in the text of your paper when using the MLA, APA, Chicago, ASA, or Turabian style guides. These guidelines may not account for every citation situation. Since citing sources is not a creative enterprise, you should consult the appropriate print version of the style guide when you have questions about citation.

MLA: In-Text Citations

MLA citation style requires that writers cite a source within the text of their essay at the end of the sentence in which the source is used.

General Guidance on in-text citations (or reference to your source) The parenthetical reference should be inserted after the last quotation mark but before the period at the end of the sentence.

General Form: (Author Last Name Page #)

Example: (Smith 42)

If two quotations from different sources are used in the same sentence The in-text citation associated with a particular quote should be placed as close to the quotation as possible without interrupting the flow of the sentence.

Example for two sources in one sentence: According to one researcher, “the design thinking process is not meant to be a formula,” (Spencer 58) whereas others might argue that steps and formulas are in fact important like Walker suggests: “following a specific path towards design success is necessary for achieving outlined goals,” (21).

If a paragraph includes several quotations from a single source A single in-text citation may be placed at the end of the paragraph. Page numbers should be included for each quotation organized by placement in the paragraph. In the following example, the first quotation from Smith appeared on page 43 of the text. The second quotation used in the paragraph came from page 12.

Example: (Smith 43, 12)

If the author is included more than once on the Works Cited page The following form should be used. Note that the format of the title on the Works Cited sheet should be mirrored in the in-text citation.

General Form: (Author Last, “Title Fragment” Page #) or (Author Last,  Title Fragment Page #)

Examples: (Smith, “Who Moved” 42) or (Smith, Big Changes 172)

If you have more than one author:

Two: (Brown and Sullivan 42)

Three: (Brown, Sullivan, and Grayson 158)

Four or more: (Brown, et al. 38)

If there is no author A title fragment should be used to make a connection between the use of the source and the citation for the source on the Works Cited page.

General Form: (“Title Fragment” Page #) or ( Title Fragment  Page #)

Examples: (“Library Links” 13) or ( Building a Bookshelf  42)

For more information related to MLA in-text citations, see the MLA Handbook , 8th ed. (pages 54-58). This title is on reserve at the circulation desk at the front of the library on the 3rd floor near the main entrance.

APA: Parenthetical In-Text Citations

To cite a source in the text of an essay, APA advocates two methods: in-text citations and attribution within the essay’s content. in-text citations should be included immediately after the quotation marks used in direct quotations or immediately after the use of the source, even if this means including the parenthetical reference in the middle of the sentence.

The following is the general form for parenthetical citations in APA style:

In-text citation: (Author Last Name, Year of Publication) Example: (Smith, 1988)

To make the citation of the source less distracting The APA also suggests mentioning the author in the essay’s content so that only the year of publication and page number may be required in the parenthetical reference.

Attribution in text: Author Last Name (Year of Publication) has argued this point. Example: Smith (1988) has argued this point.

Page numbers are not required in APA in-text citations. However, it is highly suggested that these be included. To include references to a specific part of the text, add the page number or chapter number after the year.

Examples: Smith (1988, p. 244) has written that… or Smith (1988, chap. 5) has written that…

When a work has two authors Both names should be cited every time the reference is required. Use an ampersand (&) to separate the names of authors. If a text has been authored by more than five individuals, the full listing of authors is not required in the first reference or any subsequent in-text references.

The first mention of the reference: Johnson, Smith, and Brown (1999) agree that… Subsequent mention: Johnson et al. (1999) agree that…

If a group or corporation is the author The full name of the group or corporation should be included in place of the author’s name. If an organization has a recognizable abbreviation, this may be used in subsequent references.

The first mention of the reference: (American Medical Association, 2002) Subsequent mention: (AMA, 2002)

If no author is given for a specific text Use the first couple of words of the title in place of the author’s last name. Title fragments should be formatted using the same punctuation as titles on the References page.

Examples of attribution in the text:

The recent publication  Plagiarism and You  (2002) offers some explanation…

In “Five Ways to Protect Yourself” (2000) one can find…

Examples of attribution at the end of the sentence: ( Plagiarism and You , 2002) or (“Five Ways to Protect Yourself,” 2000)

When no date is given for the publication of a text (as is the case with many websites) Include the abbreviation “n.d.” (which stands for “no date”) in place of the year of publication.

Example: In the article “Five Ways to Protect Yourself” (n.d.) one can find…

For more information related to in-text citations (or in-text referencing) using the APA format, see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th ed. pages 261-269. A copy of this manual is available on the 3rd floor of the library at the circulation desk.

Chicago: Notes Style

In Chicago’s Documentation Style 1, also known as notes form, the use of research sources is indicated in the text with a numerical subscript that corresponds to an entry at the end of the paper. These are called endnotes. Although footnotes (or notes at the bottom of the page) are sometimes required, endnotes have become the predominant form of notes citations.

When using endnotes to indicate the use of research sources, writers must also include a bibliography at the end of the essay. The note and the bibliographic entry include almost identical information but in a different format.

As the formats for notes are contingent on the format of the source for which the note is written, examples of note formats are included with the bibliographic examples available through the  Citing Sources  link. The B: entry would be included in the Bibliography at the end of the paper, while the N: entry gives examples to be used in footnotes or endnotes.

For further information on note format or other issues related to citing sources using the Chicago style, see  The Chicago Manual of Style , 16th ed.

Chicago: Author/Date Style

Documentation 2, also called the Author-Date style, requires the use of parenthetical references in the text of the essay as well as a list of References.

Parenthetical references should be placed at the end of the sentence, before the period, when a resource has been used. If the sentence is either long enough or complex enough so that the cited portion of the sentence is not obvious, the parenthetical reference may instead be inserted immediately after the use of information from the source. Page numbers should be included whenever possible.

General Form:  (Author Last Name Year of Publication, Page #)

Example:  (Smith 1992, 142)

The following examples illustrate parenthetical reference formats for works with more than one author.

(Smith and Johnson 1998, 14)

(Smith, Johnson, and White 2001, 42)

(Smith et al. 1998, 203)

(National Alliance for Social Consideration 1932, 11)

When organizations or corporate authors are the author of a text, the name of the organization may be shortened to its most basic title. Abbreviations for the organization are not encouraged.

In the Chicago style, daily newspapers are rarely included in a list of References. Instead, attribution may be given to information from a daily newspaper in a parenthetical reference.

General Form:  ( Newspaper Name , Day Month Year of Publication, Section and Page #)

Examples:  ( San Antonio Express-News , 2 June 2005, B2)

( New York Times , 2 June 2005, A2)

( Durant Daily Democrat , 2 June 2005, 3)

The Chicago style guide does not offer examples for creating parenthetical references when there is no given author. Standard practice has been to include the title of the work in place of the author. The title should be formatted in the same manner as the formatting in the References list entry.

( Plagiarism and You  2002, 142)

(“Five Ways to Protect Yourself” 2000, 33)

Electronic sources commonly lack a date of publication, as do other sources. When there is no date of publication listed for a source, include the abbreviation “n.d.” in place of the date.

(Statistics for Water Rights n.d.)

For further information on citing sources using the Chicago style, see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed.

If the author’s name is mentioned in the text, use a parenthetical reference to show the year of publication at the end of the sentence.

…Welch contends that this is not the case (1991).

If the author’s name is not mentioned in the text, it should be included with the year of publication within parentheses.

…but it has been argued that this was not the case (Welch 1991).

Page numbers should be included within parentheses after the year of publication. These are separated by a colon and no spaces.

…but it has been argued that this was not the case (Welch 1991:136).

The following forms should be used for multiple authors:

A recent study confirmed her belief (Johnson and Smith 1995:34).

This was reinforced by recent research on the topic (Johnson, Smith, and Marcus 1999)

If a text has more than three authors, the term “et al.” with no additional punctuation marks may be used after the first author listed in the publication credits.

This was not accurate according to a recent study (Johnson et al. 2003).

If multiple sources are cited for the same statement, the author and publication year should be distinguished from other texts with a colon. Cited texts should be arranged by author name or by date; arrangement should be consistent throughout the paper.

Some studies have refuted these arguments (Benson 1993; Nguyen 1999; Brown and Goggans 2000).

For additional information on in-text citation using the ASA style, see the  American Sociological Association Style Guide , Third ed., pp. 45-47.

In the Turabian citation style, writers may use one of two forms in citing their resources: endnotes or author/date parenthetical references. Writers using the Turabian style may use the Chicago formats for both endnotes as references and for parenthetical references. Refer to Kate L. Turabian’s  A Manual for Writers , 7th ed., pp. 143-145 (notes style) and pp. 217-220 (author-date style) for more information.

Citation Sources

• MLA Style, 9th ed.
• APA Style, 7th ed.
• Chicago (Notes-Bibliography Style), 17th ed.
• Chicago (Author-Date Style), 17th ed.
•      See also the online version of the  Chicago Manual of Style
• Turabian (Notes-Bibliography Style), 9th ed.
• Turabian (Author-Date Style), 9th ed.
• ASA Style, 6th ed.

Citing Sources in the Text of a Paper

Including a list of Works Cited at the end of an essay is not enough. Learn how to cite the use of a source in the text of your paper.

Using Information from Sources in the Text of a Paper

Review five different methods for including the words of another writer or information from a research resource into the text of your paper.

Citing Creative Commons Materials

Find models and suggestions for citing Creative Commons images, video clips, music, or other materials.

Suggested Readings on Academic Integrity

Find books, articles and websites which deal with academic integrity issues.

Creating an Annotated Bibliography

Learn how to create an annotated bibliography for a class assignment or for your own use as a researcher and writer.

Learn more about Zotero – a citation management tool to help you keep track of and organize various references for papers and projects.

Avoiding Plagiarism

See Trinity University’s definitions of plagiarism and consider how to avoid these situations.

Detecting Plagiarized Material

Information and links for faculty members and others to use in detecting plagiarized materials.

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How to Cite Sources

Last Updated: July 11, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Diane Stubbs and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD . Diane Stubbs is a Secondary English Teacher with over 22 years of experience teaching all high school grade levels and AP courses. She specializes in secondary education, classroom management, and educational technology. Diane earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Delaware and a Master of Education from Wesley College. There are 12 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,663,255 times.

When you paraphrase or quote information from another source in a research paper, essay, or other written work, cite the original source of the information. Otherwise, your readers believe you are trying to pass this information off as your original thought. Proper citation adds credibility to your work and provides evidence to support any arguments you make. Your citations also give your readers the opportunity to further explore the topic of your work on their own. [1] X Research source

Citation Help

Gathering Information about Your Sources

• Generally, you'll have full citations listed at the end of your paper. The citation list may be called a reference list, bibliography, or Works Cited, depending on the type of citation style you're using.
• Within the body of your paper, use in-text citations to signal that the material preceding the citation is not your original work. The in-text citation allows your reader to find the full citation at the end of your paper. In-text citations may use the in-line parenthetical, footnote, or endnote style.

Tip: Save time and reduce the risk of error by making a photo or screenshot of the title page or top of the article that clearly shows the author and title.

• For a print source, find the publication information on the back of the title page. Look for the copyright information. In print magazines and journals, this information typically appears on the same page as the table of contents, or on the page that lists the periodical's staff.
• For articles online, use the date that appears on the article itself – not the copyright date for the website. To identify the publisher of the website, look for an "about" page. You may also be able to find this information at the bottom of the homepage.
• If you're citing an article that appears in a magazine or journal, write down the pages on which the article appears.

• If you accessed a scholarly article from an online database , it may have a digital object identifier (DOI). Use this number instead of a URL.

Tip: Double-check your online sources the day before you turn your paper in. That way if anything has moved or changed, you can make sure you have the most up-to-date information. Use that date as your date of access in your citations.

Placing In-Text Citations

Note: For some citation styles that use footnotes or endnotes, the superscript number appears immediately after the paraphrased or quoted material, rather than at the end of the sentence. Consult the guide for the citation style you're using to make sure.

• If you include the author's name in your text, put the year in parentheses immediately after their name. For example: Allison (1987) demonstrated that leaving the ground in sod increases the organic matter of the soil by 15 percent in 10 years.
• If you're quoting the source directly, include the page number in your in-text parenthetical citation. For example: Allison (1987) asserted that "leaving the ground in sod increases the organic matter of the soil by 15 percent in 10 years" (p. 45).

Example: Leaving the ground in sod increases the organic matter of the soil by 15 percent in 10 years (Allison, 1987).

• Generally, you'll separate the elements of the citation with commas rather than periods. Publication information typically is set off in parentheses. The only period in a Chicago-style footnote occurs at the very end. For example: Kent Portney, Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003).

Example: Leaving the ground in sod increases the organic matter of the soil by 15 percent in 10 years. 1

• If the source you're citing doesn't have an author, use a shortened version of the title instead. Use enough of the title that your reader could easily find the full reference entry in your Works Cited. Put the title in quotation marks. For example, if you were creating a parenthetical citation for a source called "Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously," and it didn't have an author, you might use: ("Sustainable Cities" 57).

Example: Leaving the ground in sod increases the organic matter of the soil by 15 percent in 10 years (Alison 45).

Writing a Reference Entry

• The most common format for author's names is to place the last name first, followed by a comma, then the first name. Typically you will close this portion of the reference entry with a period. For example: Hawking, Stephen.
• For some citation styles, such as APA style, only include the author's first initial in your reference entry, rather than their full first name. For example: Hawking, S. W.
• If you're citing a work with three or more authors in MLA or APA, or one with more than 10 authors in Chicago style, you'll need to cite with cite with "et al." instead of listing all authors.

• For example: Hawking, S. W. (1998).
• For some sources, such as magazines and newspapers, you need a more specific date. Type the year first, followed by a comma. Then type the month and day the article was published. For example: Hawking, S. W. (2005, July).

• Journal article example: Hawking, Stephen. "Information Loss in Black Holes." Physical Review , July 2005.
• Most citation styles require titles in title-case, meaning that all nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adverbs are capitalized. For example: Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time .
• APA style uses sentence-case for titles, capitalizing only the first word and any proper pronouns. For example: Hawking, S. W. (1998). A brief history of time.

• APA example: Hawking, S. W. (1998). A brief history of time. New York: Bantam.
• For print sources, most styles call for the city and state where the source was published (or city and country, for sources published outside the U.S.) to be listed first. The location is typically followed by a colon, after which the name of the publisher is listed. For example: Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time . New York: Bantam, 1998.
• For most citation styles, the year the source was published follows the name of the publisher. Typically only the year is needed, although for periodical publications, such as newspapers or magazines, you may need a more specific date.
• The year of publication typically is the copyright year. However, for online sources, look for a date the specific article was published rather than using the copyright year of the website as a whole.

• Many scholarly articles are available through online databases. If you accessed an article through one of these databases, you'll typically provide the article's unique digital object identification (DOI) number, rather than a URL. For some citation styles, you must also include the name of the database in your reference entry.

Example: Clark, Stuart. "A Brief History of Stephen Hawking: A Legacy of Paradox." New Scientist , 21 March 2018. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23731700-100-a-brief-history-of-stephen-hawking-a-legacy-of-paradox/. Accessed 2 October 2018.

Community Q&A

• Format your reference list following the guidelines for the citation style you're using. For most citation styles, references are listed in alphabetical order by the last name of the author. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Commonly known facts don't require a citation. However, observations, conclusions, opinions, and the like all require attribution. If you aren't sure, you may be able to get help from your instructor or supervisor. When in doubt, provide a citation. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Even letters need to be cited if they're used in your research and writing. Check out How to Cite Letters if you're using letters in your work. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Failure to cite sources properly could lead to charges of plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious issue that can have dire consequences in academic and professional settings. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/choosingsources/chapter/why-cite/
• ↑ https://libguides.brown.edu/citations/styles
• ↑ https://libguides.mit.edu/citing
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_page_books.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html
• ↑ https://guides.rasmussen.edu/apa/intext
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html
• ↑ https://politics.ucsc.edu/undergraduate/chicago%20style%20guide.pdf
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_text_citations_the_basics.html
• ↑ https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/apa/references/examples
• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/basic-principles/author-date
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/conducting_research/internet_references/urls_vs_dois.html

About This Article

To cite sources, first determine whether you’re using in-text, MLA, Chicago, APA, or Turabian citation, since each style has different rules. Then, while you’re writing your paper, be sure to put an appropriate reference next to each cited statement. If you're using MLA, for example, write the author's name and the page number being cited. When it’s time to write your bibliography, alphabetize all of your references or works cited, then format your document based on whichever style you’re using. To learn more about citing books, newspapers, and online magazines, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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– 15 min read

A detailed guide to citing sources in MLA and APA

Jessica Malnik

Whether you are writing a blog post, a research paper, or creating a new webpage, if you want to avoid plagiarism or worse, then you need to cite your sources. 

Fortunately, you have a lot of options. 

From MLA to the APA format, there are multiple styles to choose from and plenty of resources out there to help you get your citations just right. 

There’s a lot of information out there, so we’ve compiled this guide to help you understand how citing your sources works, the different styles with examples, and a breakdown of the tools you can use to generate citations and bibliographies, including:

What does citing sources mean?

When you cite sources in your work, you’re essentially telling the reader that the cited words or ideas came from someone else. 

Without correctly citing your sources, you run the risk of falsely misrepresenting the work as yours, otherwise known as plagiarism. 

Plagiarism is unethical and can cause many problems for the person stealing another’s work. In some cases, it can also be an illegal practice. 

For instance, if you were to omit a citation for a source that’s protected by intellectual copyright, then you could face legal consequences.

Fortunately, you can easily avoid plagiarism by giving your sources the credit that they’re due. But avoiding plagiarism isn’t the only reason to cite your sources. Including citations demonstrates to your audience that your work is credible because you’ve done your research. It can also direct your readers to sources that could be beneficial to them. Additionally, if the reader questions the validity of the cited material, they can check the information themselves.

There are quite a few different types of material that you can cite. Most people make the mistake of thinking only books should be cited, but that’s just one of many. Here are several of the most common types of materials that can be cited:

• Print books, newspapers, trade publications, and journal articles.
• Digital or electronic articles, blog posts, articles from databases, websites, social media posts, source code, emails, whitepapers, and ebooks.
• Interview, conversations, lectures, and academic presentations.
• Charts, tables, architectural plans, images, tables, artwork, or illustrations.
• Podcasts, speeches, vlogs, and television.
• Census data, government data, survey data, statistics, and geospatial data.

Following your chosen citation style guidelines, whenever you cite a source, you’ll be expected to share information about the source, such as the original author name, date of publication, name of the publication, book title, edition number, issue numbers, etc. 

Often, you’ll have an abbreviated citation within the text followed by a full list of source information at the end that can be referenced by the reader. 

Depending on the source, the available information that you could include and the way you set up your citations will vary. This is why it’s so important that you follow the citation format you use.

In the next section, we’ll cover some of the different citation methods that can be used to credit your sources, including three of the most common styles: MLA, APA, and Chicago style.

3 ways to cite a source

You’ll need to use different citation methods based on the type of writing you’re working on. There are many different styles to choose from, but in academics, the field you’re studying or working in will often dictate the citation style you’ll need to follow.

The way you cite your source, meaning the type of citation style you use, will determine what information is important to include as well as punctuation, the order of details, and other formatting nuances.

Here are three of the most common citation styles used to cite sources:

1. American Psychological Association (APA) Citation Style

The APA style is often used by students, researchers, and academics in the social sciences fields. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s exclusive to this field. APA is one of the most popular citation styles and is open for any writer to use. The most recent edition of the APA Manual was published in 2019 as the 7th edition. This is the edition that this summary will follow. 

First, we’ll cover the basics of APA style, starting with how in-text citations are handled. In-text citations for APA are short sentences within the text that are fleshed out in the paper’s reference entry at the end. Whenever you paraphrase or quote someone’s words or ideas, you’ll need to include an in-text citation. You may need to use the same in-text citation multiple times throughout the piece. 

For instance, if you want to include a verbatim quote on the first page of your paper and a paraphrased passage on the second page of your work from the same original source.

This in-text citation will include the following information, if available: last name of the author, year of publication, and a timestamp or page number. 

In-text citations for APA come in two different forms, narrative and parenthetical. 

A parenthetical citation would appear like this (Doe, 2008), while the same source with narrative citation would look like this instead, Doe (2008). Things can get a bit trickier when multiple authors are involved. Remember to watch your punctuation and utilize the ampersand (&) when citing multiple authors.

When including references for your APA style citations, you’ll need to include specific details such as publication date, source title, and author names. 

On the reference page, be sure to only include information about sources that are cited within the copy. This means that you should be paying attention if you’ve removed any sources, so you don’t have a source in the reference section without a representation in the text.

Reference pages for APA must follow these specific guidelines:

• Label your reference section as “References” in bold and centered on the first line of the page.
• Include double spacing within and between sources.
• Use a ½ inch hanging indent.
• Add a page number to the top right corner of the page.
• Utilize legible fonts such as Arial 11.
• Order sources alphabetically by the last name.

Please note that with APA citation style you cannot refer to sources that are inaccessible to the audience. For example, gated online materials, private email chains, or text conversations.

2. Modern Language Association (MLA) Citation Style

Like the APA citation style above, MLA is often used by students, researchers, and professors in the humanities field. Again, these are not required fields for you to use MLA style citations. MLA is just as common as APA, and you’ll often see the two compared to each other. For this section, we’ll focus on the most recent handbook, the 8th edition published in 2016.

For MLA, you’ll use both in-text citations and a list of Works Cited, similar to the reference page for APA. The Works Cited list gives complete details for each source referred to in the paper. In addition to citation and reference guidelines, you’ll want to make sure your entire paper complies with MLA formatting. This includes.

• Use of 1” margins
• MLA heading at the top of the first page
• Double spacing throughout
• Indented paragraphs

The Works Cited page of a paper written in MLA style can also be called a bibliography or reference list. It gives a complete list of detailed sources and includes the following nine elements:

• 3. Container
• 4. Additional contributors
• 7. Publisher
• 8. Publication date
• 9. Location

In-text citations in MLA style work similarly to the in-text citations in APA. They refer to a cited work, and the full source details are listed within the bibliography. 

Often, in-text citations include the author’s last name and a page number in parentheses.

3. Chicago Manual of Style

Chicago style is commonly used in academic settings but varies a bit from the standard MLA or APA practices. 

For instance, Chicago gives the user two options for the style of citation, either notes and bibliography or author-date. Notes and bibliography is the most popular option of the two. With this guideline, citations are found within endnotes, and the full resources are listed in a bibliography at the end. 

For author-date, parenthetical in-text citations are used with a reference list included. The most current edition of The Chicago Manual of Style is the 17th edition, which we’ll be referring to in this section.

Chicago style bibliographies are placed at the end of the paper ahead of the appendix if applicable. Authors are ordered alphabetically in the bibliography by the last name. If the source is two or more lines, a hanging indent must be applied. For sources with multiple authors, you should list up to ten but use an “et al” after the first seven for sources with over ten authors. Though it isn’t required for Chicago style to include a bibliography in your work, it’s highly recommended. If you nix the formal bibliography, you will still need to include cited sources with full details.

Another thing to keep in mind when citing sources through Chicago guidelines is the use of superscript numbers in notes and bibliography style. Superscripts go at the end of a sentence, after the punctuation mark. Keep in mind that most word processing software can automatically link superscripts with your notes.

For author-date style, the citations will appear in parenthesis within the text instead of superscripts. With author-date style, you’ll use a reference list instead of the bibliography mentioned above. It’s similar in style, but it shows up at the end of the text and gives full details for each source.

Though Chicago style is a commonly used citation method, we are not going to dive deeper into it for this article. For this post, we’ll be focusing primarily on MLA and APA. These are two of the most popular citation styles. In the next section, we’ll give examples of how you would cite your sources in each.

Citing sources examples

For this part, we’ll share examples of the same source being cited with MLA and APA to compare the two side by side. Please note that these sources are fictional and meant to be informative only.

Click on each type to view a APA and MLA example :

• MLA: Just an Example Site. www.justanexamplesite.com.
• APA: Just an Example Site. www.justanexamplesite.com.
• MLA: Doe, John, and Jane Doe. “The Art of Creating Examples.” Just An Example Site, 2020, www.justanexamplesite.com.
• APA: Doe, J., & Doe, J. (2020). The Art of Creating Examples. Just An Example Site. www.justanexamplesite.com.
• MLA: Sample, Tom. My Life as a Sample. 2nd ed., ABC Generic Publishing, 2021.
• APA: Sample, T. (2021). My Life as a Sample (2nd ed.). ABC Generic Publishing.
• MLA: Schmoe, Joe, and Jane Smith. “Chapter 8.” The Big Book of Examples, Sample Publishing, 2010, pp. 80–120.
• APA: Schmoe, J., & Smith, J. (2010). Chapter 8. In The Big Book of Examples (pp. 80–120). essay, Sample Publishing.
• MLA: Human, Carol. “Interview with Teresa Person.” 1 Jan. 2021.
• APA: Human, C. (2021, January 1). Interview with Teresa Person. personal.
• MLA: Prof, Jerry. “Sample Lecture.” The Generic Series. University Event, 8 Feb. 2020.
• APA: Prof, J. (2020, February). Sample Lecture. The Generic Series.
• MLA: Writer, Mary. “How to Write an Article.” Writers R Us Magazine, 1 Nov. 2020, pp. 12–14.
• APA: Writer, M. (2020, November 1). How to Write an Article. Writers R Us Magazine, 12–14.
• MLA: McManuscript, Manny. Chicago, 2021.
• APA: McManuscript, M. (2021). My Test Manuscript. ms, Chicago.
• MLA: “Big Company News.” Company XYZ’s Website, 11 Feb. 2021, www.companyxyzwebsite.com. Accessed 12 Feb. 2021.
• APA: Big Company News. (2021, February 11). Company XYZ’s Website. www.companyxyzwebsite.com.
• MLA: Scoop, Chase. “Breaking News Story!” Old-Timey Newspaper, 10 Jan. 2021, pp. 1–1.
• APA: Scoop, C. (2021, January 10). Breaking News Story! Old-Timey Newspaper, pp. 1–1.
• MLA: Blogger, Bitty. “My Inner Monologue.” Little Bitty Sample Blog, 31 Oct. 2019, www.littlebittysampleblog.com. Accessed 2 Dec. 2020.
• MLA in-text citation:(Blogger)
• APA: Blogger, B. (2019, October 31). My Inner Monologue [web log]. www.littlebittysampleblog.com.
• APA in-text citation:(Blogger, 2019)
• MLA: Booker, Donna. The Adventures of Example. Vol. 1, Test Adventures Publishing, 2015.
• MLA in-text citation:(Booker)
• APA: Booker, D. (2015). The Adventures of Example (Vol. 1). Test Adventures Publishing.
• APA in-text citation:(Booker, 2015)

Citation Quiz

Test your knowledge with our citation APA/ MLA quiz:

[quiz-cat id=”11947″]

Best citing sources generator

Fortunately, you’re not on your own when it comes to citing your sources. Citation generators can do the heavy lifting for you. Many of them are free to use. Here are nine of the top citation generators available. 

Our AI writing platform makes it easy to cite your sources correctly – be it through the AP Stylebook Chicago Manual, etc. In addition, you can set rules for tone, grammar, spelling, compliance, plagiarism, among many other things.  

In addition, you can even give writers in-line feedback suggestions as they write. 

Citation Machine

Citation Machine easily converts sources into complete citations, including in-text. The service lets you search for existing sources, such as a website, or manually input your data to create citations. The citing source generator lets you toggle between a large list of citation styles, including the two most recent APA and MLA styles. You can sort your list and export your citations to use as a reference or bibliography. It even features a plagiarism and grammar checker for added functionality.

EasyBib is owned by Chegg just like Citation Machine is. This means that the sites are very similar in design and function. The website is nearly identical. It also lets you utilize a large list of citation styles, exports your lists, and manually input data for the citation generator. Similar to Citation Machine, the site isn’t very intuitive and is bogged down by a heavy amount of banner ads.

Cite This For Me 

Cite This For Me is yet again another Chegg service. However, this site is considerably cleaner than CitationMachine or EasyBib. It also doesn’t have as much functionality as the other two. You can only choose from 7 styles. There’s no option to manually add details. You can only search for existing content and hope the generator can find it.

bibme is another service through Chegg. This one is also ad-heavy and not the easiest to navigate. There appears to be less content than either CitationMachine or EasyBib. This generator allows you to use an auto-fill or manual entry mode. There’s a wide variety of citation styles to choose from as well.

Scribbr has two citation generators, one for MLA and one for APA. Additional tools include citation checker and citation editing, as well as style guide resources. The site is user-friendly and packed with helpful guides and articles. You can even toggle between light and dark mode. Additional tools offered by the company include a plagiarism checker, proofreading, and editing.

Citation Builder by NC State

Citation Builder is a single page on a university website. It’s simple to use and straightforward. You can select 6 different citation styles. Citation Builder doesn’t search for sources, so you’ll need to input all data manually. It’s also worth noting that the tool does not correct capitalization errors.

Unfortunately, you cannot sign up for an account to save or export your lists.

MyBib is a clean, modern citation generator and used as a Chrome extension. With MyBib, users can manually enter their data or have the software auto search for things like ISBNs or website URLs. You can even drag and drop a scholarly PDF to have it cited. You can download a reference list from the dashboard. The added functionality of being able to share your citations with others makes it easy for teams to collaborate.

Plagly ’s citation machine lets you format and generate citations automatically. It includes popular citation styles, but not as many as some of the other citation generators. The best thing about Plagly is that it’s user friendly and easy to navigate. You can organize your work on their site by projects. Additional features like a grammar checker and plagiarism check are also available.

ZoteroBib is a clean, minimalist site that lets you cite anything. It’s a powerful, open-source research tool that includes auto and manual entry options, item editing, autosave, export capabilities, and links to share bibliographies. The tool boasts a crowd-sourced repository of over 9,750 free CSL citation styles. This variety by far surpasses any other citation generator on this list.

Keep in mind that the best way to avoid plagiarism is to cite your sources. With all of the citation generators available as a resource, there’s no excuse to leave citations out of your papers. Experiment with the different citation tools, and you’ll find one that works for you.

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How to Cite Sources in an Essay

By: Henrique Bertulino

Many students struggle with how to properly cite a source in their essays. According to recent studies, teaching students how to perfect this craft can lead to less plagiarism in their academic writing .

What Is a Citation in an Essay?

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There are numerous ways you can cite sources in an essay. Let's dive into how to add citations to an essay, the different citation styles, and when it's appropriate to use each.

A citation in an essay is a reference to the source of information you've used in your essay research . You can write citations either as in-text citations or reference list citations, otherwise known as end-of-paper citations. In-text citations are written within the text of your academic presentation or paper, referring the reader to a fuller notation. On the other hand, reference list citations are provided at the end of the presentation or paper and give all the necessary details about the source of information.

What are citations in an essay, and how should they be used? Citations are primarily used to avoid plagiarism by correctly acknowledging external sources and authors of information you've used in your work. However, there are other reasons citations are necessary for academic writing, such as:

• They help readers get more information about your ideas and find out where they came from
• Citations show the amount of research you've done
• Citations help you avoid taking the rap for someone else's bad ideas. The ideas you present may be a refinement of the original ideas presented by the authors in your sources
• Citing sources strengthens your work since you're lending outside support to your ideas

Using citations in an essay is necessary whenever you directly paraphrase, quote, or summarize the key elements of someone else's idea in your writing.

Thus, it is critical to understand how to properly cite sources in a paper.

Citing in essays gives your readers the information necessary for them to revisit your sources accurately. Some of this information includes:

• The title of the work
• Information about the author
• The date the copy with the information was published
• The name and location of the company that published the copy
• The page numbers of the information you're borrowing

Knowing how to include citations in an essay is important. If you don't know how to do this, you may not be able to gain the attention of your audience by presenting them with facts and figures.

Where do citations go in an essay? Citations are placed in-text or at the end in a reference list.

In-Text Citations For Essay

In-text citations are brief forms of reference that you include in your text's body. These citations give enough information to uniquely identify the source in your reference list. It is difficult to not find an essay with in-text citations since they’re required before you can add a reference list.

You need to understand in-text citations to know how to cite something in a paragraph.

In-text citations typically include:

• The family name of the author(s)
• Year of publication

These guidelines are used for all citations, whether it's referencing a video, journal article, or report.

How to Cite Something in An Essay In-Text

In-text citations are necessary whenever you paraphrase or quote a source in your academic writing. It is therefore important to know how to quote a source in an essay.

Quoting means that you've directly used the author's words in your source. You start and close the quotes with opening and closing quotation marks whenever you're quoting text.

Quotes should always be cited and introduced by a signal phrase. You should also indicate the page number you got the quote from in most cases. A good example is:

The example above 👆 is in APA style.

You can use an ellipsis (…) before the direct quotation to signify some text from the original text has been omitted before the quote.

In-text citations are also necessary when you're paraphrasing . Paraphrasing means using your own words to give information from a source. Providing an in-text citation, in this case, helps avoid the notion that you're taking credit for someone else's work or ideas.

If possible, you can include the page number(s) with in-text citations where you're paraphrasing. An example is:

The Different Systems of In-Text Citations

In-text citations can be written in a variety of forms. The most common ones include:

• Parenthetical citations
• Note citations

Parenthetical in-text citations take the general form of ( author , source information) . The exact details needed within the brackets differ among citation styles.

Generally, the parentheses must be included in the citation when using this form. Parenthetical citations are also known as information-prominent citations. They are used to emphasize the text or information being cited.

Where do you put citations in an essay? Parenthetical citations should immediately follow the information being cited and be included within the sentence's punctuation. Here is an example in APA style 👇:

Where to put citations in an essay? You put the source reference in a footnote or endnote with in-text note citations. Footnotes (notes at the bottom of the page) are sometimes required. However, endnotes have become the predominant form of providing note citations.

How Each Citation Style Uses the Different In-Text Citation Systems

Different citation styles use different systems for in-text citation as follows:

The MLA citation style is used mainly for humanities. It uses the parenthetical in-text citation system in the form of (Author Last Name Page Number) .

The reference must be inserted after the last quotation mark if directly quoted but before the period at the end of the sentence.

An example is:

There are some general rules MLA citation style uses when dealing with parenthetical citations.

👉 1. If there are two quotations from two different sources, the parenthetical reference associated with each should be placed as close as possible to the quotation without interfering with the flow of the sentence.

👉 2. If a paragraph has several quotations from a single source, one parenthetical citation can be placed at the end of the sentence. The page numbers should be included for each quotation, organized in the order the quotations appear in the paragraph, separated by a comma.

The quote on page 13 of the source came first in your text's paragraph, before page 18.

👉 3. You should use the general form of (Author Last, "Title Fragment" Page Number) or (Author Last, Title Fragment Page Number) if the author cited appears multiple times on the Work Cited page. You should mirror the title used in the Works Cited page in the parenthetical reference. Thus, if it is underlined on that page, it should also be underlined in the parenthetical citation.

Examples include :

👉 4. For texts with more than one author, you should use the following format for MLA parenthetical in-text citations.

Two authors:

Three authors:

More than three authors:

👉 5. If there's no author, you can use a title fragment instead to connect the use of the source and the citation of the source on the Works Cited Page. This takes the general format of ("Title Fragment" Page Number) or ( Title Fragment Page Number)

The APA citation style is used in education , psychology , and social sciences . It uses parenthetical in-text citations in the format (Author Last Name, Year of Publication) :

If you opt not to use parenthetical in-text citations in APA style, you can instead include the author and date of the work you wish to cite in the body of your writing. There are two ways you can do this. Essay citations examples:

Example one:

Example two:

This form of in-text citation is also known as author-prominent citation. That's because narrative citations emphasize the author of the work you've sourced your information from.

Narrative citations introduce variety into your writing and sound more natural in an oral presentation. However, it requires more skill to use.

Page numbers and chapters are not required in APA-style parenthetic citations. However, it is strongly recommended that you use them for the reader to have an easier time locating the information in the source document.

You can add page numbers or chapters after the year of publication. For instance:

There are a few rules governing parenthetical citations and narrative citations in APA style. These include:

👉 1. If the work you're citing has one or two authors , separate them by an ampersand in a parenthetical citation or use the word "and" in a narrative citation. All authors must be consistently mentioned in all in-text citations. An example:

Parenthetical citation :

Narrative citation :

👉 2. If your source has three or more authors , give only the first author's family name followed by "et al." after fully listing the authors in the first mention of the reference. Example:

First citation:

Subsequent citation:

👉 3. If the author is a group, company, or organization, use the full name in the first mention of the reference and then a recognizable abbreviation afterward. Example:

First parenthetical citation:

👉 4. If the source text has no author, use the first couple of words of the title in place of the author's last name. The title fragment should be in the same format and punctuation as the title on the References page.

A recent publication of Academia for the Masses (2002) states…

In "Bridging the Wealth Gap" (2019), we can see…

Chicago B citation style, used in sciences , social sciences , and humanities , uses parenthetical in-text citations in the format (Author Last Name Year of Publication, Page Number) . However, Chicago A, used in histories and humanities , uses notes citations.

With Chicago Documentation Style 1, the research sources are indicated in the text with a numerical subscript corresponding to an entry at the end of the paper. These are endnotes. In some cases, footnotes are required and allowed for referencing in-text citations.

When using endnotes for note citations, you must include a bibliography at the end of the essay. The note and bibliographic entry contain almost identical information, albeit in a different format.

The parenthetic citation used in Chicago B shares some rules with the APA format save for a few differences:

👉 1. The name may be shortened to its most basic title when the authors are a corporation or organization. However, abbreviations are not encouraged.

👉 2. Daily newspapers are rarely included in the list of References. Instead, attribution is purely given in a parenthetical citation. The general format used is: (Newspaper Name, Day Month Year of Publication, Section and Page Number) .

For example:

👉 3. Chicago Style does not specify any format when the source text has no author. However, the standard practice is to use the work's title in place of the author. The title should be in the same format as the Reference list entry.

👉 4. If the source has no publication date, as is the case with electronic sources, write "n.d." in place.

In ASA citation style, the following rules for parenthetical citation apply:

👉 1. If the author's name is used in the text, you must use parenthetical references to show the year of publication. You put this reference at the end of the sentence.

👉 2. If the author's name is not provided in the text, it should be included with the year of publication in the parenthetical reference.

👉 3. You should include page numbers in the parentheses after the year of publication, separated by a colon, with no spaces.

👉 4. In the case where there are multiple authors, the following formats should be used:

Two or three authors:

A recent study confirms this hypothesis (Will and Mary 2013).

The data from recent statistics tell a different story (Marquez, Amani, and Marcus 2021).

You should use the term et al. with no additional punctuation marks after the first author has been listed in the publication credits. For example:

👉 5. If multiple sources are cited for the same statement, the author and publication year should be distinguished from other texts using a semi-colon. The cited texts should be arranged by date or author name. This arrangement should be consistent throughout the paper.

The Turabian citation style supports two forms of writing in-text citations. These are author/date parenthetical citations or endnotes.

You may use the Chicago Style formats for endnotes and parenthetical references.

Reference List Citations

A reference list contains a list of all the sources you refer to in your writing. Typically, the reference list is provided at the end of the essay. It is included to allow the reader of an essay or piece of academic writing to find the sources for the text.

A reference list also gives credit to the authors you may have consulted for their ideas.

There are different ways you can write reference list citations based on the citation style.

Generally, all styles dictate that the reference list appears at the end of the written essay or paper. Every source you cite in your paper or essay must also appear in the references list. Inversely, each entry in your reference list must be cited in the paper.

Your references should also appear on a new page separate from the rest of the academic writing.

When writing a reference list in APA style, you need to pay close attention to punctuation, italics, indentation, and capitalization.

Other requirements, such as line spacing, vary. It's best to contact your lecturer or check your unit/assignment guide for the exact requirements.

Also, most sources follow a straightforward rule. However, sources from academic journals carry a special weight which subjects them to special rules.

The page must be labeled " References " in bold and centered at the top of the page. There should be no underlines or quotation marks on the title.

The text should also be double-spaced, just like the rest of the essay.

• You should indent all lines after the first line of each entry by one-and-a-half inches from the left margin.
• All authors' names must be inverted. That means the last names should come first.
• The authors' first and middle names should be written as initials. For instance, an author named Mary Smith Parker would be referenced as "Parker M. S."
• Have the first and middle names of all authors in a particular work, adding up to and including 20 authors, initialed. Separate the initials of each author from the next in the list using a comma. Use an ampersand (&) before the last author's name. If there are more than 20 authors, use an ellipsis after the 19th author's name, then add the final author's name without an ampersand.
• The reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author for each source.
• List the sources in chronological order from the earliest to the latest for multiple sources written by the same author or authors listed in the same order.
• For books, chapters, articles, reports, web pages, or other sources, only capitalize the first letter of the first word in the title and subtitle, the first word after a dash or colon in the title, and proper nouns. Note, however, that the titles of academic journals use special rules.
• Italicize the title of longer works. These may be edited collections, books, names of newspapers, among others.
• For shorter works such as essays in edited collections or chapters in a book, do not italicize, put quotes around the title, or underline.

A few citations in an essay examples include (General APA reference list formatting):

• Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2010). Publication manual of the American Labor Foundation (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Branson, R., & Emily, L. C. (2001). Flight Simulation Instruction and Airline Safety Tutoring . Boston, Massachusetts: International School of Flight.

In MLA8 citation style, the reference list is titled " Works-Cited List " It contains the author's name, source title, publication date, and extra information that may vary depending on the source type.

The general rules for all Works-Cited Lists include:

• It must begin on a new page at the end of the document
• The list should be ordered alphabetically by the first author's name or title if the author is unknown. The articles "a," "an," and "the" should be ignored when alphabetizing.
• All entries must be double-spaced
• The second and subsequent lines must be indented half an inch from the margin.
• If there are multiple works by the same author, the first reference must contain the full name. However, subsequent references should have the author name replaced by "--- "

Here's an example:

• Mitchell, Michael B. A Guide to City Travel . 2nd ed, East Bay Publisher, 2019.

With ASA citation style, the reference list is written in a section titled REFERENCES . The following rules apply.

• All references should be double spaced and use a hanging indent
• All titles must use the title case
• Only the first word in hyphenated compound words should be capitalized unless the second word is an adjective or proper noun.
• All references should be listed alphabetically by the first author's last name.
• Include the first name of all authors instead of initials unless the author used them in the original publication
• List all authors. It is unacceptable to use et al. unless a committee authored the work
• For repeated editors or authors, include the full name in all references
• For sources listed from the same author, arrange them in chronological order from the earliest to the latest
• If an author appears in single-authored references and as the first author in a multi-authored source, list the single-authored references first.
• If the same author appears as the first author in multiple references, arrange them alphabetically by the second author's last name.
• If there are multiple works by the same author from the same year, add a letter to the year, such as (1998a, 1998b, 1998c), then list the references alphabetically by title.

Here's one example:

• Mark, Ted Martin, ed. 1989. Natural Degradation in the Amazon . Vol. 1, The History of the Amazon . Game Park, CA: Sage.

The Chicago citation style follows the following rules for writing reference lists:

• Write the reference list on a new page at the end of the document. Title it " Reference List " at the top
• There must be two blank lines between the first entry and the title
• Entries must appear to flush left. The right margin should be left rugged
• Each entry should have half-an-inch hanging indents
• Each entry should be single-spaced with a blank line between the entries
• If there are multiple works by the same author(s), replace the names with a 3-em dash for all entries after the first.
• Use letters to separate works from the same author(s) published in the same year.
• Martin Luther, Jan. 1994. Paving Equality . New York: Vintage.

Turabian citation style uses the same rules as Chicago Style for reference lists, just like in-text citations.

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You should generally follow the same pattern for citing written sources when citing online ones. Therefore, you should provide the name of the author, year, page title, name of the sponsor site (if available), day month year of access, and the URL.

The title of the work or the first word or two of the title in the parenthesis of your in-text citation should be used if your source does not have an author.

Citing a source in your essay can be accomplished through a variety of methods, the most popular of which are direct quotation, paraphrasing, and summarizing.

For website citations, you typically need to include the author's name, the title of the page, the name of the website, the publication date, and the website URL without the protocol "http(s)://."

With APA in-text citation, you cite two sources in one parenthesis by ordering the citations alphabetically in the same order they appear in the reference list. This rule also applies to citations shortened to et. al.

To cite anonymous sources in APA, write "Anonymous" in place of the author's name if the source uses the term. However, cite the source by its title instead if the author's name is missing and not replaced by "Anonymous" in the source.

In MLA, you cite different sources with the same author by only providing the author's name in the first entry. Subsequent entries will have three hyphens in place of the name. In APA, if the sources are from the same year, you can add a lowercase letter to the publication year and order them alphabetically.

Et al. means "and others." It is a Latin phrase used to shorten the list of author names in in-text citations to make it simpler and shorter to repeat references.

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Citing Specific Parts of a Source

When citing a work in the text, it is helpful to be specific about what part of the work contains the relevant information. Cite specific parts of a source—for example, page ranges, tables, or figures—in the text in APA Style by adding information about the part to a standard in-text citation and writing a standard reference list entry. It is possible to cite a specific part of a source whether you are paraphrasing or directly quoting .

Do not cite a specific part of a source in the reference list. Instead, cite the work that readers would retrieve to find the part. For example, if you cite data from a table in a government report, the government report is the source, and the table is the part. Write a reference list entry for the government report source; then, in the text, write a standard in-text citation for the report (which means providing the government author and year of publication) and add location information for the table to the in-text citation (e.g., provide the table number or a page number for the table).

The following table provides some of the most common examples of parts of a source, including page ranges, chapters of authored books, tables and figures, and video time stamps for audiovisual media such as YouTube videos or films. There are many other possibilities—customize the wording to the work you are citing.

Part	Example
Page	(Stoddard et al., 2020, p. 47)
Page range	(World Health Organization, 2019, pp. 202–205)
Chapter	(Merenda, 2018, Chapter 14)
Paragraph	(Liu et al., 2020, para. 3)
Paragraph range	(Bassie & Meagher, 2020, paras. 4–5)
Footnote	(Garcia et al., 2020, Footnote 2)
Table	(National Institute of Mental Health, 2019, Table 3)
Figure	(Lazer, 2020, Figure 4)
Time stamp in an audiovisual work	(Patel & Gupta, 2019, 1:09:19)
Chapter and verse in a religious work	( , 1962/2015, Exodus 1:1–6:1)
Content ID or page ID from an academic research database	(Svendsen & Løber, 2020, c373)

Citing specific parts of a source is covered in Section 8.13 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition

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Three Common Ways to Cite your Sources

(referring to APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7) published in Oct. 2019)

Where it's usually used: Social Sciences; Business; Nursing

In text citation : Author's last name + the year of publication (for direct citation also include the page number after the year)

• 2 authors: Name 1 & Name 2, year (names in the order they appear)
• 3+ authors: Name 1 et al., year
• If you are citing multiple sources with similar names, list out the names instead of using “et al.” to avoid ambiguity
• Organization: List the full name the first time but you may include a bracket of abbreviation which you can use from the second one
• Ex: First citation: (Simple Studies [SS], 2020)

Second citation: (SS, 2020)

• 2+ publications in one parenthesis: connect the two using semicolon, alphabetically
• Authors with same last names: use first initial followed by last names
• No date: “n.d.” in place of dates

Reference section : Must be in alphabetical order for the last names of the authors; hanging indents (0.5 in)

(referring to 8th edition of the MLA manual)

Where it's usually used : Language arts, cultural studies, and other humanities disciplines

In text citation : (author page#)

• If the author’s name is clear in the sentence, you only need the page# in parenthesis
• No known author: title in quotation marks and page# if available
• For longer title, italicize it
• Authors with same last names: include initials of each author to avoid ambiguity
• 2 authors: (Name 1 and name 2 page#)
• 3+ authors: (name 1 et al. page#)

Work cited section : Hanging indents (0.5 in) , don't include titles (Dr., Sir, etc.) or degrees (PhD, MA, etc.)

Where it's used : Medical research

In text citation : Use superscript Arabic numerals to cite material, like this: 1,2,3,4,5…

• Place the number right after the fact

Reference list : full citation after each number (in order they appear)

• 2+ author: Name 1 and Name 2
• 3+ author: Name 1 et al.

*Make sure to check with your instructor for more direction. Different instructors have different requirements, especially the AMA since it is not specific on formats to use.

Tip: Use websites that generate citations (both in text and for sources) to make this process easier. There are many chrome extensions such as “ MyBib: Free Citation Generator ”.

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APA 7th Edition Citation Examples

• Volume and Issue Numbers
• Page Numbers
• Undated Sources
• Citing a Source Within a Source

Citing a Source within a Source

• In-Text Citations
• Academic Journals
• Encyclopedia Articles
• Book, Film, and Product Reviews
• Online Classroom Materials
• Conference Papers
• Technical + Research Reports
• Court Decisions
• Treaties and Other International Agreements
• Federal Regulations: I. The Code of Federal Regulations
• Federal Regulations: II. The Federal Register
• Executive Orders
• Charter of the United Nations
• Federal Statutes
• Dissertations and Theses
• Interviews, E-mail Messages + Other Personal Communications
• Social Media
• Business Sources
• PowerPoints
• AI: ChatGPT, etc.

Scenario: You read a 2007 article by Linhares and Brum that cites an earlier article, by Klein. You want to cite Klein's article, but you have not read Klein's article itself.

Reference list citation

Linhares, A., & Brum, P. (2007). Understanding our understanding of strategic scenarios: What role do chunks play? Cognitive Science , 31 (6), 989-1007. https://doi.org/10.1080/03640210701703725

Your Reference list will contain the article you read, by Linhares and Brum. Your Reference list will NOT contain a citation for Klein's article.

In-text citation

Klein's study (as cited in Linhares & Brum, 2007) found that...

Your in-text citation gives credit to Klein and shows the source in which you found Klein's ideas.

See  Publication Manual , p. 258.

• << Previous: Undated Sources
• Next: In-Text Citations >>
• Last Updated: Mar 18, 2024 12:55 PM
• URL: https://libguides.umgc.edu/apa-examples

APA Citation Guide

APA (American Psychological Association) style is used to cite sources in the field of social sciences. It can be used for research papers in the subjects of social anthropology, sociology, social psychology, political science, and economics.

In this guide, our law essay writing services team will provide you with specific directions on how to organize and properly cite different types of sources in APA format — along with citation examples. This article is a good aid for anyone who wishes to live up to high academic standards, avoid plagiarism, and cite their sources in accordance with the latest APA style rules.

The following guide is based on the most recent 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological association.

APA Referencing Basics: Reference List

A reference list is a list of all the sources one has used in their essay. Everything in other citation styles, such as the bibliography or works cited page, are simply called a reference list in the APA format. In order to make it easier for a reader to navigate your essay and look for cited sources, there are specific rules to follow to organize it:

• First, the reference page is always the last page in your essay. At the top of the page, place the word “References”. Do not make it bold or underline it. All the text on this page should have the same spacing as the rest of your essay.
• In the reference list, the author's last name goes first and then the first name.
• Each source on the reference page must start on a new line. If the source takes up more than one line, all the lines following the first one must be indented one-half inch from the left.
• If there are multiple works by the same author, they should be listed in chronological order, from earliest to latest.
• On the reference page, the sources should be alphabetized according to the last names of the authors (or the first author, if there are multiple authors for one source).
• Always write out every title in full, and make sure to stick to the punctuation and capitalizations used by the author.
• Titles of longer sources, like books and journals, should be italicized.

You might also be interested in discovering ACADEMIC WRITING STYLE GUIDE: HOW TO FORMAT AN APA PAPER

APA Citation Example

Here is an example of APA citation for you:

How to Write an Essay in APA Step-by-Step

Writing an essay in APA (American Psychological Association) style follows a specific format. Here's a step-by-step guide:

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Description
Understand APA Style
Set Up Your Document
Title Page
Abstract (if required)
Introduction
Body
References
Formatting
Proofread
Finalize

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Parenthetical vs. Narrative Citations

Parenthetical and narrative citations are two common ways to cite sources in academic writing, including APA style. Both methods serve the same purpose of attributing information to their source but differ in how they are integrated into the text.

Parenthetical Citations

In parenthetical citations, the citation information is enclosed within parentheses within the body of the text, usually at the end of a sentence or clause. The citation typically includes the author's last name and the publication year, sometimes accompanied by a page number for direct quotations.

"According to Smith (2019), the impact of climate change on biodiversity is profound."

"The impact of climate change on biodiversity is profound (Smith, 2019)."

"Climate change has been shown to have a profound impact on biodiversity (Smith, 2019, p. 35)."

Narrative Citations

In narrative citations, the author's name is integrated into the text itself, followed by the publication year in parentheses. Narrative citations are used when the author's name is mentioned in the sentence, allowing for a smoother integration of the citation within the text.

Smith (2019) argues that the impact of climate change on biodiversity is profound.

In a recent study, Smith (2019) demonstrates the profound impact of climate change on biodiversity.

According to a study by Smith (2019), climate change has a profound impact on biodiversity.

In both cases, the full reference for the cited source would be included in the reference list at the end of the document, following APA formatting guidelines.

The choice between parenthetical and narrative citations often depends on the flow of the sentence and the emphasis you want to place on the cited source. Narrative citations are useful when you want to integrate the citation smoothly into the text, while parenthetical citations are more appropriate for shorter, more concise references.

APA Referencing Basics: In-Text Citation

• Two authors. In order to do the in-text citation, both authors should be named in parentheses after the thought is finished. Instead of using “and”, use an ampersand to combine the two last names. Then, put a coma and include the year of publication.

Example: (Smith & Jones, 2002)

If you choose to use a signal phrase, you should use “and”, and only put the year of publication in parentheses:

Example: According to Smith and Jones (2002), the circumstances of…

• Three, four or five authors. All of the authors should be listed regardless of whether you choose to do an in-text citation or signal phrase while citing your quote or information. List them all except the last one—using commas. The last one should have a comma AND ampersand in front of it, followed by the year:

Example: (Brooks, Jones, Smith, & Orozco, 2009)

In any follow-up citations throughout the text, instead of listing all of the authors, you should simply include the first name followed by “et al.” and the year:

Example: (Brooks et al., 2009)

• Six or more authors. In this case, you should not list all of the authors in the in-text citation. In parentheses, or in a signal phrase, put the last name of the first author and “et al.”, along with the year. This is the correct way to do an in-text citation for a publication with multiple authors:

Examples: Brooks et al. (2009) suggested… (Brooks et al., 2009)

• No authors. If it appears that some of your sources do not have an author, the in-text citation should be done using the name of the publication. In parentheses, you should include the two first words from the name of the publication in quotation marks, followed by the year. The same goes for a signal phrase in-text citation, but without the use of parentheses:

Example: The research was conducted in a suitable environment (“Deduction Methods”, 1996)

• Citing authors with multiple works from the same year. In the rare case you are citing multiple works by the same author, that also have the same publication date, you should use lower-case letters after the year (a, b, c, etc.)—depending on the order the sources are put in the reference list:

Examples: Findings of this research were outstanding (Brooks, 1972a)… The finding of Brooks’ research (1972a)…

• Citing multiple works in one parentheses. If a statement you created was composed out of several different sources, you need to include all of them in the parentheses of your in-text citation. You should list them alphabetically, the same way they are rendered in the reference list:

Example: (Brooks, 1995; Gandhi, 2004)

• Citing a group or organization . If the author of a publication is not a person, but rather an organization or a group, you should include the full name of the organization, along with the year of publication, in the parentheses of your in-text citation:

Examples: The laws followed by Internal Revenue Service (2002)… The laws followed by this organization (IRS, 2002)…

• Citing a secondary source. In order to cite a source that you have found within another source, you should name your source in the signal phrase. Then, mention the secondary source in parentheses, followed by the phrase “as cited”, the year of publication, and the page number:

Example: Brooks suggested that…(as cited in Smith, 2002, p.459)

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APA In-Text Citations with Multiple Authors

When citing sources with multiple authors in APA style, you include all the authors' last names in the in-text citation, regardless of the number of authors. For sources with two authors, use both names joined by an ampersand (&) if within parentheses or "and" if integrated into the text. For sources with three or more authors, include only the first author's last name followed by "et al." (meaning "and others"). If the source has more than one publication in the same year, distinguish them by adding lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.) after the year.

Two Authors:

Parenthetical citation: (Smith & Johnson, 2020)

Narrative citation: Smith and Johnson (2020) argue that...

Three or More Authors: ‍

Parenthetical citation: (Smith et al., 2020)

Narrative citation: According to Smith et al. (2020)...

Multiple Publications in the Same Year:

Parenthetical citation: (Smith, 2020a; Smith, 2020b)

Narrative citation: Smith (2020a) conducted a study on...

How to Cite Different Source Types

In this section you will discover how to cite different printed and digital sources.

Here is an example of citing:

How to Cite a Book in APA Format

• Citing a book in print. Citing a book follows this specific format:

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letters also for subtitles. Location: Publisher.

First, put the last name of the author, followed by a comma, then initial(s). In parentheses, put the year of publication. Next, the title of the book. Italicize the title — although the only capitalized letters are the first letters of the title and subtitle. Then, you should include the location of where the book was published, along with the publisher, separated by a semicolon:

Citation example: Smith, A. J. (2009). Economic in modern life: Guide to success. New York City; Manhattan press.

• Citing an e-book from an e-reader. If your source is a book from an e-reader like a Kindle, the following information has to be included: the author, date of publication in parentheses, title, e-book version, and the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number or place where you downloaded the book. This information is used instead of the information about the publisher.

Citation example: Salinger, J. J. (1897). Glass Family [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

• Citing a book found in a database. If the book you are using in your essay comes from a school library database or and online database, you should cite it in the following format: Last name of the author, initial(s), italicized name of the publication, and “retrieved from”, followed by a link to the website. If the book you are using has to be purchased, it is suggested to put “available from”, rather than “retrieved from”.

Citation example: De Puff, E. W. (n.d.). Indian Lifestyle: Traditions and myths. Retrieved from https://digital.library.sdsu.edu/indians.html

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How to Cite a Journal Article in APA Format

• Citing a journal article in print. For a printed article to be cited, the following format should be used: author with initial(s), date of publication in parentheses, title, title of journal (italicized), volume number (italicized), issue number, and page range:

Citation example: Scraton, J. (1993). The eclipse of understanding. The New Yorker Style, 21(4) , 5-13.

• Citing a journal article found online. According to the APA format guide, if the journal article was found online, the following format should be followed: author with initial(s), date of publication in parentheses, title, title of journal (italicized), volume number (italicized), issue number, page range, and DOI.

A DOI, or Digital Object Identifier, is a tool used in the APA format, instead of a URL. URLs tend to change; therefore, the reader is not always able to retrieve a certain online source. DOIs, on the other hand, have a long-lasting link that is unique to a specific article. If a DOI is unavailable, the use of a URL is permitted.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number (issue number, if available), page range. doi:0000000/000000000000 or https://doi.org/10.0000/0000

Citation example: Brownie, D. (2007). French economics: An annotated bibliography. European Journal of Marketing, 41 , 1245-1283. doi:10.1108/03090560710821161

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How to Reference a Newspaper in APA Format

• Citing a newspaper article in print. According to the APA format guide, an article retrieved from a newspaper in print should be cited as follows: author, year and month of publication, the name of the article, the name of the newspaper (italicized), and pages:

Citation example: Curtis, S. (2005, October 22). Fields grown to thrive. The Country Today , pp. 1A, 2A.

• Citing a newspaper article found online is identical to a printed version, although the home address should be added. APA style format guidelines suggest using the homepage instead of the URL itself:

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper . Retrieved from https://www.homeaddress.com/

Example: Galveston, T. (2008, August 6). Psychology newsletter. The New York Times . Retrieved from https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/

How to Reference a Magazine in APA Format

• Citing a magazine article in print. A magazine article in print is required to have the following structure (according to the APA format guide): author, year and month of publication in parentheses, the name of the article, the name of the magazine (italicized), issue number (italicized), and page range:

Citation example: Henry, W. A., (1990, April). Making the grade in today's schools. Time , 135, 28-31.

• Citing a magazine article found online. For a magazine article found online, you need to have the following components, in accordance with the APA format guide: author, year and month of publication in parentheses, the name of the article, the name of the magazine (italicized), issue number (italicized) and page range, followed by the DOI:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Magazine, issue number , page range. doi:0000000/000000000000 or https://doi.org/10.0000/0000

Citation example: Henry, W. A., (1990, April). Making the grade in today's schools. Time, 135 , 28-31. doi: 10.1108/03090560710821161

How to Cite a Movie/Film in APA Format

• Citing a film / Citing a movie. If a film is one of the sources of your essay, it might be challenging to cite. In order to do so in accordance with the APA format guide, you need to put the following information on the reference page: producer’s name—followed by “producer” in parentheses, director’s name—followed by “director” in parentheses, date of publication in parentheses, title (italicized)-followed by “motion picture” in brackets, country of origin, and finally, studio.

Producer, P. P. (Producer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Date of publication). Title of motion picture [Motion picture]. Country of origin: Studio or distributor.

Citation example: Carroll, G., Giler, D., & Hill, W. (Producers), & Scott, R. (Director). (1979). Alien [Motion Picture]. United States: Twentieth Century Fox.

• Citing a film from YouTube. If you find a YouTube video that looks like a credible academic source, do not hesitate to include it. According to the APA format guide, you should start off with the name of the person who published the video, followed by their nickname or username is brackets, date of publication in parentheses, italicized name of the video and the type of media in brackets, and the URL for it.

Last Name, F.M. [Username]. (Year, Month Date). Title of video [Video File]. Retrieved from URL

Citation example: Apolon, M. [marsolon]. (2011, October 9). The tape 14 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nyGC848/

How to Cite a TV/Radio Broadcast in APA Format

• Citing an episode from TV or a radio show. Citing an episode from a TV or radio show should be done in the following format: writer’s last name and initial(s), followed by (Writer); director’s last name and initial(s), followed by (Director); the year of publication in parentheses; the name of the episode; type of series; producer’s name, followed by (Producer); italicized title; city and state of origin; and studio or distributor’s name:

Writer, W. W. (Writer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Date of publication). Title of episode [Television series episode]. In P. Producer (Producer), Series title . City, state of origin: Studio or distributor.

Citation example: Dick, L. (Writer), & Yaitanes, G. (Director). (2009). Simple explanation [Television series episode]. In P. Attanasio (Executive producer), House, M.D. . Los Angeles, CA: Fox Broadcasting..

How to Cite a Website in APA Format

• Citing a website article with an author. If you find an article online that is not from a newspaper, magazine, or any kind of periodical, the best way to cite it is as follows (according to the APA format guide): author, date of publication in parentheses, title, format description, and “retrieved from” with the URL:

Author, A. A. & Author B. B. (Date of publication). Title of page [Format description when necessary]. Retrieved from https://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Citation example: Eco, U. (2015). How to write a thesis [PDF file]. (Farina C. M. & Farina F., Trans.) Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/How_to_write_a_thesis/.../Umberto+Eco-How+to+Write/

• Citing a website article without an author. If the article does not have an author, cite it with the name of the page, date in parentheses or “n.d” for “no date”, and “retrieved from” with the URL:

Citation example: Spotlight Resources. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/about/information/spotlight_resources.html/

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How to Cite Non-Print Material in APA Format

Citing non-print material in APA format involves providing enough information to locate the source, typically including the author, publication date, title, and retrieval information (such as a URL or DOI). For online sources like websites or online articles, include the author's name (if available), the publication or copyright date, the title of the webpage or article, the website name, and the URL. 

Use "n.d." (no date) if no publication date is available. For online articles with a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), include the DOI instead of the URL. For multimedia sources like videos or podcasts, include the creator's name, the publication or upload date, the title of the material, and any relevant details such as the platform or format. Ensure that URLs are included in the reference list as clickable hyperlinks. For example, a citation for an online article might look like: "Smith, J. (2020). Title of the article. Website Name. Retrieved from https://www.example.com/article."

• Online Article

Citation example: Smith, J. (2020). The impact of climate change on biodiversity. Nature News. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/climate-biodiversity.

• YouTube Video

Citation example: Johnson, A. (2019, June 15). Understanding neural networks [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjuzNuaI0J0.

• Podcast Episode

Citation example: Podcast Host, A. (Host). (2021, September 10). Episode title. Podcast Title. https://www.examplepodcast.com/episode123.

How to Cite a Song in APA Format

To cite a song in APA format, include the songwriter(s) or composer(s), the year the song was released or published, the song title (in italics), and the recording artist(s) or performer(s). Include the album title (in italics) and the record label if the song is part of an album. Mention any relevant details, such as the track number, if available. If you accessed the song online, include the URL or DOI. For example, a citation for a song from an album might look like: "Songwriter, A. (Year). Song title [Recorded by Performer B]. On Album title [Medium]. Record label. (Year of album release)."

• Song from an Album

Citation example: McCartney, P. (1970). Let it be [Recorded by The Beatles]. On Let it be [Vinyl record]. Apple Records. (1970).

• Song from an Online Music Service

Citation example: Eilish, B., & O'Connell, F. (2019). Bad guy [Recorded by Billie Eilish]. On When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? [Streaming audio]. Darkroom/Interscope Records. (2019). Retrieved from https://open.spotify.com/track/2Fxmhks0bxGSBdJ92vM42m.

• Song from a Soundtrack

Citation example: Menken, A., & Ashman, H. (1991). Beauty and the Beast [Recorded by Angela Lansbury]. On Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [CD]. Walt Disney Records. (1991).

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What Is APA 7 Citation Style?

When should i include a page number in an apa in-text citation, how do you cite in apa format, how to cite an indirect source in apa style (“as cited in”), is apa the same as harvard.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

Quoting and integrating sources into your paper

In any study of a subject, people engage in a “conversation” of sorts, where they read or listen to others’ ideas, consider them with their own viewpoints, and then develop their own stance. It is important in this “conversation” to acknowledge when we use someone else’s words or ideas. If we didn’t come up with it ourselves, we need to tell our readers who did come up with it.

It is important to draw on the work of experts to formulate your own ideas. Quoting and paraphrasing the work of authors engaged in writing about your topic adds expert support to your argument and thesis statement. You are contributing to a scholarly conversation with scholars who are experts on your topic with your writing. This is the difference between a scholarly research paper and any other paper: you must include your own voice in your analysis and ideas alongside scholars or experts.

All your sources must relate to your thesis, or central argument, whether they are in agreement or not. It is a good idea to address all sides of the argument or thesis to make your stance stronger. There are two main ways to incorporate sources into your research paper.

Quoting is when you use the exact words from a source. You will need to put quotation marks around the words that are not your own and cite where they came from. For example:

“It wasn’t really a tune, but from the first note the beast’s eyes began to droop . . . Slowly the dog’s growls ceased – it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep” (Rowling 275).

Follow these guidelines when opting to cite a passage:

• Choose to quote passages that seem especially well phrased or are unique to the author or subject matter.
• Be selective in your quotations. Avoid over-quoting. You also don’t have to quote an entire passage. Use ellipses (. . .) to indicate omitted words. Check with your professor for their ideal length of quotations – some professors place word limits on how much of a sentence or paragraph you should quote.
• Before or after quoting a passage, include an explanation in which you interpret the significance of the quote for the reader. Avoid “hanging quotes” that have no context or introduction. It is better to err on the side of your reader not understanding your point until you spell it out for them, rather than assume readers will follow your thought process exactly.
• If you are having trouble paraphrasing (putting something into your own words), that may be a sign that you should quote it.
• Shorter quotes are generally incorporated into the flow of a sentence while longer quotes may be set off in “blocks.” Check your citation handbook for quoting guidelines.

Paraphrasing is when you state the ideas from another source in your own words . Even when you use your own words, if the ideas or facts came from another source, you need to cite where they came from. Quotation marks are not used. For example:

With the simple music of the flute, Harry lulled the dog to sleep (Rowling 275).

Follow these guidelines when opting to paraphrase a passage:

• Don’t take a passage and change a word here or there. You must write out the idea in your own words. Simply changing a few words from the original source or restating the information exactly using different words is considered plagiarism .
• Read the passage, reflect upon it, and restate it in a way that is meaningful to you within the context of your paper . You are using this to back up a point you are making, so your paraphrased content should be tailored to that point specifically.
• After reading the passage that you want to paraphrase, look away from it, and imagine explaining the main point to another person.
• After paraphrasing the passage, go back and compare it to the original. Are there any phrases that have come directly from the original source? If so, you should rephrase it or put the original in quotation marks. If you cannot state an idea in your own words, you should use the direct quotation.

A summary is similar to paraphrasing, but used in cases where you are trying to give an overview of many ideas. As in paraphrasing, quotation marks are not used, but a citation is still necessary. For example:

Through a combination of skill and their invisibility cloak, Harry, Ron, and Hermione slipped through Hogwarts to the dog’s room and down through the trapdoor within (Rowling 271-77).

Important guidelines

When integrating a source into your paper, remember to use these three important components:

• Introductory phrase to the source material : mention the author, date, or any other relevant information when introducing a quote or paraphrase.
• Source material : a direct quote, paraphrase, or summary with proper citation.
• Analysis of source material : your response, interpretations, or arguments regarding the source material should introduce or follow it. When incorporating source material into your paper, relate your source and analysis back to your original thesis.

Ideally, papers will contain a good balance of direct quotations, paraphrasing and your own thoughts. Too much reliance on quotations and paraphrasing can make it seem like you are only using the work of others and have no original thoughts on the topic.

Always properly cite an author’s original idea, whether you have directly quoted or paraphrased it. If you have questions about how to cite properly in your chosen citation style, browse these citation guides . You can also review our guide to understanding plagiarism .

University Writing Center

The University of Nevada, Reno Writing Center provides helpful guidance on quoting and paraphrasing and explains how to make sure your paraphrasing does not veer into plagiarism. If you have any questions about quoting or paraphrasing, or need help at any point in the writing process, schedule an appointment with the Writing Center.

Works Cited

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  A.A. Levine Books, 1998.

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• How to Quote | Citing Quotes in APA, MLA & Chicago

How to Quote | Citing Quotes in APA, MLA & Chicago

Published on April 15, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Jack Caulfield. Revised on May 31, 2023.

Quoting means copying a passage of someone else’s words and crediting the source. To quote a source, you must ensure:

• The quoted text is enclosed in quotation marks or formatted as a block quote
• The original author is correctly cited
• The text is identical to the original

The exact format of a quote depends on its length and on which citation style you are using. Quoting and citing correctly is essential to avoid plagiarism which is easy to detect with a good plagiarism checker .

Table of contents

How to cite a quote in apa, mla and chicago, introducing quotes, quotes within quotes, shortening or altering a quote, block quotes, when should i use quotes, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about quoting sources.

Every time you quote, you must cite the source correctly . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style you’re using. Three of the most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

Citing a quote in APA Style

To cite a direct quote in APA , you must include the author’s last name, the year, and a page number, all separated by commas . If the quote appears on a single page, use “p.”; if it spans a page range, use “pp.”

An APA in-text citation can be parenthetical or narrative. In a parenthetical citation , you place all the information in parentheses after the quote. In a narrative citation , you name the author in your sentence (followed by the year), and place the page number after the quote.

Punctuation marks such as periods and commas are placed after the citation, not within the quotation marks .

• Evolution is a gradual process that “can act only by very short and slow steps” (Darwin, 1859, p. 510) .
• Darwin (1859) explains that evolution “can act only by very short and slow steps” (p. 510) .

Complete guide to APA

Citing a quote in mla style.

An MLA in-text citation includes only the author’s last name and a page number. As in APA, it can be parenthetical or narrative, and a period (or other punctuation mark) appears after the citation.

• Evolution is a gradual process that “can act only by very short and slow steps” (Darwin 510) .
• Darwin explains that evolution “can act only by very short and slow steps” (510) .

Complete guide to MLA

Citing a quote in chicago style.

Chicago style uses Chicago footnotes to cite sources. A note, indicated by a superscript number placed directly after the quote, specifies the author, title, and page number—or sometimes fuller information .

Unlike with parenthetical citations, in this style, the period or other punctuation mark should appear within the quotation marks, followed by the footnote number.

, 510.

Complete guide to Chicago style

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The AI-powered Citation Checker helps you avoid common mistakes such as:

• Missing commas and periods
• Incorrect usage of “et al.”
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Make sure you integrate quotes properly into your text by introducing them in your own words, showing the reader why you’re including the quote and providing any context necessary to understand it.  Don’t  present quotations as stand-alone sentences.

There are three main strategies you can use to introduce quotes in a grammatically correct way:

• Add an introductory sentence
• Use an introductory signal phrase
• Integrate the quote into your own sentence

The following examples use APA Style citations, but these strategies can be used in all styles.

Introductory sentence

Introduce the quote with a full sentence ending in a colon . Don’t use a colon if the text before the quote isn’t a full sentence.

If you name the author in your sentence, you may use present-tense verbs , such as “states,” “argues,” “explains,” “writes,” or “reports,” to describe the content of the quote.

• In Denmark, a recent poll shows that: “A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• In Denmark, a recent poll shows that support for the EU has grown since the Brexit vote: “A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• Levring (2018) reports that support for the EU has grown since the Brexit vote: “A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” (p. 3).

Introductory signal phrase

You can also use a signal phrase that mentions the author or source, but doesn’t form a full sentence. In this case, you follow the phrase with a comma instead of a colon.

• According to a recent poll, “A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• As Levring (2018) explains, “A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” (p. 3).

Integrated into your own sentence

To quote a phrase that doesn’t form a full sentence, you can also integrate it as part of your sentence, without any extra punctuation .

• A recent poll suggests that EU membership “would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” in a referendum (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• Levring (2018) reports that EU membership “would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” in a referendum (p. 3).

When you quote text that itself contains another quote, this is called a nested quotation or a quote within a quote. It may occur, for example, when quoting dialogue from a novel.

To distinguish this quote from the surrounding quote, you enclose it in single (instead of double) quotation marks (even if this involves changing the punctuation from the original text). Make sure to close both sets of quotation marks at the appropriate moments.

Note that if you only quote the nested quotation itself, and not the surrounding text, you can just use double quotation marks.

• Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: “ “ Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, ” he told me, “ just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had ” ” (Fitzgerald 1).
• Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: “‘Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had ” (Fitzgerald 1).
• Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: “‘Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had’” (Fitzgerald 1).
• Carraway begins by quoting his father’s invocation to “remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had” (Fitzgerald 1).

Note:  When the quoted text in the source comes from another source, it’s best to just find that original source in order to quote it directly. If you can’t find the original source, you can instead cite it indirectly .

Often, incorporating a quote smoothly into your text requires you to make some changes to the original text. It’s fine to do this, as long as you clearly mark the changes you’ve made to the quote.

Shortening a quote

If some parts of a passage are redundant or irrelevant, you can shorten the quote by removing words, phrases, or sentences and replacing them with an ellipsis (…). Put a space before and after the ellipsis.

Be careful that removing the words doesn’t change the meaning. The ellipsis indicates that some text has been removed, but the shortened quote should still accurately represent the author’s point.

Altering a quote

You can add or replace words in a quote when necessary. This might be because the original text doesn’t fit grammatically with your sentence (e.g., it’s in a different verb tense), or because extra information is needed to clarify the quote’s meaning.

Use brackets to distinguish words that you have added from words that were present in the original text.

The Latin term “ sic ” is used to indicate a (factual or grammatical) mistake in a quotation. It shows the reader that the mistake is from the quoted material, not a typo of your own.

In some cases, it can be useful to italicize part of a quotation to add emphasis, showing the reader that this is the key part to pay attention to. Use the phrase “emphasis added” to show that the italics were not part of the original text.

You usually don’t need to use brackets to indicate minor changes to punctuation or capitalization made to ensure the quote fits the style of your text.

If you quote more than a few lines from a source, you must format it as a block quote . Instead of using quotation marks, you set the quote on a new line and indent it so that it forms a separate block of text.

Block quotes are cited just like regular quotes, except that if the quote ends with a period, the citation appears after the period.

To the end of his days Bilbo could never remember how he found himself outside, without a hat, a walking-stick or any money, or anything that he usually took when he went out; leaving his second breakfast half-finished and quite unwashed-up, pushing his keys into Gandalf’s hands, and running as fast as his furry feet could carry him down the lane, past the great Mill, across The Water, and then on for a mile or more. (16)

Avoid relying too heavily on quotes in academic writing . To integrate a source , it’s often best to paraphrase , which means putting the passage in your own words. This helps you integrate information smoothly and keeps your own voice dominant.

However, there are some situations in which quoting is more appropriate.

When focusing on language

If you want to comment on how the author uses language (for example, in literary analysis ), it’s necessary to quote so that the reader can see the exact passage you are referring to.

When giving evidence

To convince the reader of your argument, interpretation or position on a topic, it’s often helpful to include quotes that support your point. Quotes from primary sources (for example, interview transcripts or historical documents) are especially credible as evidence.

When presenting an author’s position or definition

When you’re referring to secondary sources such as scholarly books and journal articles, try to put others’ ideas in your own words when possible.

But if a passage does a great job at expressing, explaining, or defining something, and it would be very difficult to paraphrase without changing the meaning or losing the weakening the idea’s impact, it’s worth quoting directly.

If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools , citation , and plagiarism , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• ChatGPT vs human editor
• ChatGPT citations
• Is ChatGPT trustworthy?
• Using ChatGPT for your studies
• What is ChatGPT?
• Chicago style
• Paraphrasing
• Critical thinking

 Plagiarism

• Types of plagiarism
• Self-plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Academic integrity
• Consequences of plagiarism
• Common knowledge

A quote is an exact copy of someone else’s words, usually enclosed in quotation marks and credited to the original author or speaker.

In academic writing , there are three main situations where quoting is the best choice:

• To analyze the author’s language (e.g., in a literary analysis essay )
• To give evidence from primary sources
• To accurately present a precise definition or argument

Don’t overuse quotes; your own voice should be dominant. If you just want to provide information from a source, it’s usually better to paraphrase or summarize .

Every time you quote a source , you must include a correctly formatted in-text citation . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style .

For example, a direct quote in APA is cited like this: “This is a quote” (Streefkerk, 2020, p. 5).

Every in-text citation should also correspond to a full reference at the end of your paper.

A block quote is a long quote formatted as a separate “block” of text. Instead of using quotation marks , you place the quote on a new line, and indent the entire quote to mark it apart from your own words.

The rules for when to apply block quote formatting depend on the citation style:

• APA block quotes are 40 words or longer.
• MLA block quotes are more than 4 lines of prose or 3 lines of poetry.
• Chicago block quotes are longer than 100 words.

If you’re quoting from a text that paraphrases or summarizes other sources and cites them in parentheses , APA and Chicago both recommend retaining the citations as part of the quote. However, MLA recommends omitting citations within a quote:

• APA: Smith states that “the literature on this topic (Jones, 2015; Sill, 2019; Paulson, 2020) shows no clear consensus” (Smith, 2019, p. 4).
• MLA: Smith states that “the literature on this topic shows no clear consensus” (Smith, 2019, p. 4).

Footnote or endnote numbers that appear within quoted text should be omitted in all styles.

If you want to cite an indirect source (one you’ve only seen quoted in another source), either locate the original source or use the phrase “as cited in” in your citation.

In scientific subjects, the information itself is more important than how it was expressed, so quoting should generally be kept to a minimum. In the arts and humanities, however, well-chosen quotes are often essential to a good paper.

In social sciences, it varies. If your research is mainly quantitative , you won’t include many quotes, but if it’s more qualitative , you may need to quote from the data you collected .

As a general guideline, quotes should take up no more than 5–10% of your paper. If in doubt, check with your instructor or supervisor how much quoting is appropriate in your field.

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McCombes, S. & Caulfield, J. (2023, May 31). How to Quote | Citing Quotes in APA, MLA & Chicago. Scribbr. Retrieved June 24, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/working-with-sources/how-to-quote/

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