Good News: In-Text Is Easy
Creating In-Text Citations
The in-text citation is a brief reference within your text that indicates the source you consulted. It should properly attribute any ideas, paraphrases, or direct quotations to your source, and should direct readers to the entry in the list of works cited. For the most part, an in-text citation is the author’s name and page number (or just the page number, if the author is named in the sentence) put in parentheses:
or
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, like so (00:02:15-00:02:35).
Again, the goal is to attribute your source and provide your reader with a reference without interrupting your text. Your readers should be able to follow the flow of your argument without becoming distracted by extra information.
In-Text Citations Are Easy
Credit
Examples on this page are from: Utica College
Examples
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Author's Name in Text (Paraphrase): |
Posnock is quick to point out that Walter Pater believes in the autonomy of the self (181). |
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Author's Name In Reference (Paraphrase): |
Pater believes in the autonomy of the self (Posnock 181). |
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Author's Name In Text (Quote): |
Posnock is quick to point out that Walter Pater believes in the autonomy of the self, the “individual in isolation” (181). |
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Author's Name In Reference (Quote): |
Pater believes in the autonomy of the self, the "individual in isolation" (Posnock 181). |
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Author's Name In Text, citing within a sentence |
Just as Pater critiques contemporary life by saying, “To regard all things and principles of things as inconstant modes or fashions has more and more become the tendency of modern thought." (153), so, too, does Shakespeare in the play Hamlet. Note: Place page numbers at natural pauses, usually at the end of the sentence. However, place the cite directly after a quote if (as here) another idea is introduced. |
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Author's Name In Reference, with only part of the sentence referencing the author's ideas. |
Milly must squeeze in ". . . as many pulsations as possible into a given time" (Pater 153). |
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A Quote longer than 4 lines. (This example with author's name in text) |
In his letter to Gosse, Henry James addresses and imagines Pater’s continuing potency throughout time:
Thus James continues to play with notions of temporality. Note: Double-space and indent quotes longer than 4 lines, do not use quotation marks. Include the page number and author (if needed) in parentheses at the end. |
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When 2 or more works by an author are included in Works Cited |
Mead puts forth a more permeable social self unlike James's more or less rigid "concrete particular I's and you's" (Principles 226). Mead suggests a more pervious social self compared to the seemingly rigid "concrete particular I's and you's" (James,Methods 141). Note: Include a partial title so that the reader knows which one is referred to on the Works Cited page. |
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When a work is listed by title in Works Cited |
They aimed to prove the "essential goodness of humanity" ("Transcendentalism" 46). |
