This in-text citation information will get you started, but see our full In-text Citation Guide for more information and additional examples.
Place the author’s last name and page number in parenthesis. If the in-text citation is at the end of a sentence, place the period outside the parenthesis.
Example 1: (Hennessy 81).
Example 2: (Hennessy 81-82).
If a source has no page numbers, omit the page number. Keep in mind, most electronic sources do not include pages.
Example 1: ("Everyday Victims")
Example 2: (Jones)
If the source has no author, your in-text citation will use the title of the source that starts your works cited entry. The title may appear in the sentence itself or, abbreviated, before the page number in parenthesis.
Example 1: (“Noon” 508).
Example 2: (Faulkner’s Novels 25).
Example 3: (“Climate Model Simulations").
If the entry on the Works Cited page begins with the names of two authors, include both last names in the in-text citation, connected by and.
Example: (Dorris and Erdrich 23).
If the source has three or more authors, include the first author’s last name followed by et al.
Example: (Burdick et al. 42).
Place the author’s last name and page number in parenthesis. If the in-text citation is at the end of a sentence, place the period outside the parenthesis.
Example 1: (Hennessy 81).
Example 2: (Hennessy 81-82).
If a source has no page numbers, omit the page number. Keep in mind, most electronic sources do not include pages.
Example 1: ("Everyday Victims")
Example 2: (Jones)
If the source has no author, your in-text citation will use the title of the source that starts your works cited entry. The title may appear in the sentence itself or, abbreviated, before the page number in parenthesis.
Example 1: (“Noon” 508).
Example 2: (Faulkner’s Novels 25).
Example 3: (“Climate Model Simulations").
If the entry on the Works Cited page begins with the names of two authors, include both last names in the in-text citation, connected by and.
Example: (Dorris and Erdrich 23).
If the source has three or more authors, include the first author’s last name followed by et al.
Example: (Burdick et al. 42).
Place the author’s last name and the year in parenthesis. If the in-text citation is at the end of a sentence, place the period outside the parenthesis.
Example 1: Chickens have been known to cross roads (Jordon, 2017).
Example 2: Jordon (2017) discussed how chickens like to cross roads.
If a source has two authors, use an ampersand (&) between the names in the parenthesis. Use "and" when referring to the authors in the text of your paper. Include both names every time you cite the source.
Example 1: The chicken was forced to cross the road (Smith & Jones, 2013).
Example 2: Smith and Jones (2013) also discovered that the chicken crossed the road.
When a source has three or more authors, list the first author followed by et al. (Latin for "and others").
Example 1: The chicken was forced to cross the road (Adams et al., 2009).
Example 2: Adams et al. (2009) discovered who forced the chicken to cross the road.
When a source's author is a company, organization , or other group, the name of that group goes in the author position.
Example 1: The chicken was forced to cross the road (Stanford University, 2020)
Example 2: Stanford University (2020) discovered who forced the chicken to cross the road.
If a source has no author and is listed on the reference page by its title, use the first few words of the title and the year. Put double quotation marks ( " ) around article or chapter titles and italicize periodical and book titles. Unlike the reference page, the main words of the title should be capitalized.
Example of a book without an author given: The chicken made a conscious decision to cross the road (The Big Book of Chickens, 2015).
Example of an article with no author given: The chicken did not want to cross the road ("The Case of the Chicken and the Road," 2016).
When a source does not have a date listed, use n.d. in the in-text citation in place of the date.
Example of an article with no date given: Chickens often cross roads when they are hungry (Johnson et al., n.d.).
Example of an article with no author and no date given: Chickens first began their passage across the road in the late 11th century ("History of the Chicken," n.d.).
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