Download How In-Text Citations Work

How In-Text Citations Work
In-text citations work hand-in-hand with your citations on your works cited page. You can think of them
like a map that has a legend or key. The marks on the map are simply shortcuts or clues. To know what
they mean, we must look at the legend or key.
In citation, the legend or key is the Works Cited page. Putting the whole citation in the essay every time
you used information from a source would be bulky and make it hard to read your essay, so the in-text
citations help us give readers that clue or key so that they know which source listed on our Works Cited
page the information we’ve just presented came from. Sometimes these are called parenthetical
citations as they are always enclosed in parenthesis.
When you use information from a source you let readers know where it came from in two ways. One is
with your words by using signal phrases. Things like “according to,” “states,” “acknowledges,” or
“points out” are some signal phrases we use to do this. The other thing we use is the in-text citation. It
gives some extra information about where our information came from.
We always have to give at least two levels of information. What information we give depends on the
medium of the source. Basically, you will deal with print and web sources most often. For other
sources, consult your MLA handbook or a good style and grammar handbook.
Print Sources and pdf Files
With print sources, we always have to let readers know the author’s name (or the name of the
organization or the title for a source with no listed author), and the page number on which we found the
information. Now, if we’ve said the author’s name in our sentence or section, there’s no need to repeat
it in the in-text citation, so all we’ll need is the page number. Here are some examples. Notice the use
of the signal phrases and in-text citations.
This is a signal
phrase. Since
we’ve already
given the
author’s name
in our sentence,
there’s no need
to put it in the
in-text citation.
Sinclair Lewis begins his novel Elmer Gantry with a description of his title character that
immediately creates an image of Elmer’s character: “Elmer Gantry was drunk. He was
eloquently drunk, lovingly and pugnaciously drunk” (1).
These two bits of information
allow our readers to go to the
Works Cited page, find the
work by Sinclair Lewis, see which
version, edition, or printing it
is, and if they choose, go find
that book and the quote on
the specific page.
Here’s our in-text citation. If readers
want to go and read the information
we’ve used in our papers to see what
they think about it, this gives them the
information they need to find it in the
book.
*Notice that the period comes after
the citation. If you use a long quote,
the rule is different.
Here’s another example of a way to do an in-text citation for a book or pdf.
The novel Elmer Gantry begins with a vibrant description of the character: “Elmer Gantry was
drunk. He was eloquently drunk, lovingly and pugnaciously drunk” (Sinclair 1).
So
Here we need both the author’s last name and the page number,
since we didn’t mention his name in the sentence or section.
Works Cited entry:
Lewis, Sinclair. Elmer Gantry. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1929. Print.
So, if you mention the author’s name in the sentence or section, only use the page number in your
citation.
If you do not mention the author’s name in the sentence or section, put it in the in-text citation. If
you’re in doubt, have someone else read it. Can your reader tell you where you got the information? If
not, make sure to get that information in there!
Web and HTML Sources
If you get your information off of a webpage, you do not use page numbers. Think of it this way, when
you read a webpage it is only one page. You may scroll and scroll and scroll, but it’s one page. If you
print it out it may be many pages long, but on the web, it’s just one page. So, we don’t have page
numbers to give with web sources. Instead we use the title, or a short version of the title. Remember,
we don’t want to distract readers from our points with huge in-text citations.
So, here are examples in-text citations with online sources.
Here, because I did not give the author’s name in my sentence, I use that in the in-text citation.
In “The Cask of Amontillado” Fortunato, we are told “in the matter of old wines. . .was sincere”
(Poe).
Works Cited entry:
Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Poe Museum. The Museum of Edgar Allen Poe.
n.d. Web. 19 Jul. 2008.
In this next example, I give the author’s name in my sentence, but not the title of the work, so I use that
in the in-text citation.
In one of Edgar Allen Poe’s most well-loved works, one of the characters is a great lover of fine
wines (“The Cask”).
Works Cited entry:
Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Poe Museum. The Museum of Edgar Allen Poe.
n.d. Web. 19 Jul. 2008.
Some online sources will not have an author listed. If that is the case, use a short version of the title:
Sadly, Poe was thrown out of West Point and shortly after that he went back to Baltimore,
where “[o]ne of Poe’s cousins robbed him in the night, but another relative, Poe’s aunt Maria
Clemm, became a new mother to him and welcomed him into her home” (“Poe’s Life”).
Works Cited entry:
“Poe’s Life: Who is Edgar Allen Poe?” Poe Museum. The Museum of Edgar Allen Poe. n.d. Web.
19 Jul. 2008.
If you have no author, and you give the title of the work in your signal phrase, then give the website, or
a short version of it in the in-text citation.
According to the article “Poe’s Life: Who is Edgar Allen Poe?” Poe was thrown out of West Point
and shortly after that he went back to Baltimore where “[o]ne of Poe’s cousins robbed him in
the night, but another relative, Poe’s aunt Maria Clemm, became a new mother to him and
welcomed him into her home” (Poe Museum).
Works Cited entry:
“Poe’s Life: Who is Edgar Allen Poe?” Poe Museum. The Museum of Edgar Allen Poe. n.d. Web.
19 Jul. 2010.
So, remember when you use a direct quote or a paraphrase, you need to use an in-text citation. Make
sure you always cite statistics. In the in-text citation you usually use the first thing that appears in the
citation on your Works Cited page—either the author’s last name or a shortened version of the title—
and, if it’s a print source or .pdf file, the page number. All web/html samples below are based on the
citation at the bottom of the page.
In your sentence or section
(signal phrase) you. . .
Print source or .pdf
Electronic source:
Web/HTML
Give the author’s name,
Use only the page number:
(#)
In one of his more famous stories, Poe
writes about a character who is
“nervous --very, very dreadfully
nervous”
Give the author’s name and the title of
the work
In one of his more famous stories, Poe
writes about a character who is
“nervous --very, very dreadfully
nervous” (498).
Use only the page number:
(#)
In one of his more famous stories,
Poe writes about a character who is
“nervous --very, very dreadfully
nervous” (“Tell-Tale Heart”).
Do nothing.
In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe’s narrator
begins by revealing that “*t+he disease
had sharpened [his] senses --not
destroyed --not dulled them.”
In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe’s narrator
begins by revealing that “*t+he disease
had sharpened [his] senses --not
destroyed --not dulled them” (498).
In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe’s
narrator begins by revealing that
“*t+he disease had sharpened [his]
senses --not destroyed --not dulled
them.”
Give the author’s last name:
(Lname)
If no author: Use Website name.
Use only the title of the work
In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator is
disturbed by the old man’s eye.
Give NEITHER the author’s name or the
title of the work
Use only the page number:
(Lname #)
In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator is
disturbed by the old man’s eye (Poe
498).
Use the author’s last name and the
page number:
(Lname #)
Use a short version of the title:
(“Short Article/page Title”) or
(Short Title/Website Name)
In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator
is disturbed by the old man’s eye
(Poe Museum).
Give the author’s last name:
(Lname)
If no author: (“Short Title”) or (Short
Title)
"’Villains!’ I shrieked, ‘dissemble no
"’Villains!’ I shrieked, ‘dissemble no
"’Villains!’ I shrieked, ‘dissemble no
more!’” said the narrator.
more!’” said the narrator (Poe 498).
more!’” said the narrator (Poe).
Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Poe Museum. Poe Museum. n.d. Web. 19 Jul. 2011.