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An in-text citation begins with the shortest piece of information that directs your reader to the entry in the works-cited list. Thus, it begins with whatever comes first in the entry: the author's surname or the title (or description) of the work.
The citation can appear incorporated into your writing or in parentheses.
If a specific part of a work is quoted or paraphrased and the work includes a page number, line number, time stamp, or other indicator of the place in the work where the information can be found, that location marker must be included in parentheses.
Joseph Conrad writes of the company manager in Heart of Darkness, "He was obeyed, yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect" (87).
The company manager in Heart of Darkness is described as "...obeyed, yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect" (Conrad 87).
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. 1899. Tribeca Books, 2010.
Do not precede a page number in an in-text citation with p. or pp. If you cite a number other than a page number in an in-text citation, precede it with a label such as chapter or section (often abbreviated in parentheses) or line or lines (do not abbreviate). Otherwise, the reader is to assume that the numeral refers to a page number.
chapter 2 (ch. 2)
line 110 (line 110)
scene 4 (sc. 4)
Do not count unnumbered paragraphs or other parts. When a source has no page numbers or any other kind of part number, no number should be given in an in-text citation.
If the entry in the works-cited list begins with the names of two authors, include both names in your in-text citation. Connect the two surnames with and.
If mentioning the authors for the first time in your prose, include both first names and surnames.
Others, like Jay Lemery and Paul Auerbach, note that doctors have not yet adequately explained the effects climate change will have on human health (4-5). Lemery and Auerbach's book focuses on the human, not the environmental, risks.
Others note that doctors have not yet adequately explained the effects climate change will have on human health (Lemery and Auerbach 4-5).
Lemery, Jay, and Paul Auerbach. Enviromedics: The Impact of Climate Change on Human Health. Rowman and Littlefield, 2017.
If the source has three or more authors, the entry in the works-cited list begins with the first author's name followed by et al. List the surname of the first author and et al. in your in-text citation.
If you refer to the coauthors in your prose, you may list all the names or provide the name of the first collaborator followed by "and others" or "and colleagues."
Raymond Nickerson and colleagues argue that the truth value of statements—their premises and conclusions—is one factor that affects how people are persuaded by arguments (135).
The authors argue that the truth value of statements—their premises and conclusions—is one factor that affects how people are persuaded by arguments (Nickerson et al. 135).
Nickerson, Raymond, S., et al. "Validity and Persuasiveness of Conditional Arguments." The American Journal of Psychology, vol. 132, no. 2, summer 2019, pp. 131-47.
If you borrow from works by more than one author with the same surname (e.g., Jaimie Baron and Naomi Baron), use the first name of each author in prose, even after the first reference to the author.
In the in-text citation, add the author's first initial. If the authors' first names begin with the same initial, use first names in the in-text citation.
Having read Naomi Baron's argument that writing is the "other half" of literacy (194), one might even suggest that reading is never complete without writing.
Reading is "just half of literacy. The other half is writing" (N. Baron 194). One might even suggest that reading is never complete without writing.
Works cited entries:
Baron, Jaimie. Reuse, Misuse, Abuse: The Ethics of Audiovisual Appropriation in the Digital Era. Rutgers UP, 2020.
Baron, Naomi S. "Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media." PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193-200.
If two or more works appear under the same author name or names in the works-cited list, you must add a title to your in-text citation so that your reader knows which work you are citing. You can do this in one of three ways.
Morrison writes, "Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it's gone, but the place—the picture of it—stays" (Beloved 35).
Author's name and title in prose:
As Morrison writes in Beloved, "Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it's gone, but the place—the picture of it—stays" (35).
Author's name and title in in-text citation:
The character Sethe notes, "Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it's gone, but the place—the picture of it—stays" (Morrison, Beloved 35).
If you are citing a single fact or paraphrased idea that is attributable to more than one source, list all sources in the in-text citation. Separate multiple sources with semicolons.
While reading may be the core of literacy, literacy can be complete only when reading is accompanied by writing (Baron 194; Jacobs 55).