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CITATIONS: HOME

Help students understand the importance of in-text citations, and how, where and when to use them correctly.

INTRODUCTION

Hello and welcome to Kendall College’s LibGuide for in-text citations. Here, you will become familiar with what is an in-text citation, its parts and how, where and why it needs to be in included in your writing.

If you have questions about the ins and the outs of in-text citations, such as authors and missing information, check the tab above!

IN-TEXT CITATIONS: THE BASICS

IN-TEXT CITATIONS: THE SPECIFICS

ELECTRONIC SOURCE EXAMPLES

KEY: Someone else being quoted Last nameYear of publication

Name with signal phrase:

In an interview about her new book, Duckworth defined grit as “… stamina. But it's not just stamina in your effort. It's also stamina in your direction, stamina in your interests” (as cited in Martin, 2016).

Name in in-text citation:

In a radio interview, host Rachel Martin (2016) asked Angela Duckworth to explain how teachers and parents can develop grit in young children.  

INDIRECT SOURCES

According to Duckworth… (as cited in Martin, 2016).

  1. Always use the person/people being quoted in a signal phrase
  2. Use the phrase as cited in, the author of the source and the year.

PERSONAL COMMUNICATION

(Dangott, personal communication, July 11, 2016)

or

During the interview, H. L. Dangott explained…  (personal communication, July 11, 2016) noted…

  1. To cite personal communication use the communicator’s last name, use the phrase personal communication and spell the complete date (M/D/Y).
  2. DO NOT include this on your references list (this cannot be found by your reader)

ASK THE ASC FOR HELP!

Need Academic Help? Contact the Academic Success Center (ASC)!

ASC CONTACT INFORMATION

THE 411 ON IN-TEXT CITATIONS

In-text citations always:

  • Are enclosed in parenthesis
  • Are at the beginning or the end of the material you quoted or paraphrased
  • Are in the same sentence of the material you quoted or paraphrased
  • Have the author’s last name and year of publication
  • Have a substitute for unknown authors or unknown publication dates

In-text citations can vary when:

  • You cite a printed source, you must include the page (p.) or pages (pp.)
  • You cite an electronic source, you still need to include the publication date
  • A source has multiple authors, and if the last names happen to be the same
  • A Source is created by an organization
  • You use the author’s name with a signal phrase
  • You have two sources in one citation
  • You  are citing tables, charts, graphs, photos and illustrations

Consult The Everyday Writer In-Text Citation Index for more information! 

PRINTED SOURCE EXAMPLE

KEY Last name Year of publication Page number

Name with signal phrase:

In her article about the current state of American society, Solnit (2016) opens her article about isolation by quoting a famous remark where Margaret Thatcher redefines society as a “living tapestry… of people” (p. 4).  

Name in in-text citation:

The latest issue of Harper’s published an article where the author begins by defining society in the words of Margaret Thatcher, as a “living tapestry… of people” (Solnit, 2016, p. 4).

References

Solnit, R. (2016, July). Easy Chair: The Ideology of Isolation. Harper’s, 333 (1994), 4-8.

UNKNOWN DATE

(Tale of Two Cities, n.d.) or

Tale of Two Cities (n.d.) rejected…

Use n.d. to substitute the date of publication.

MULTIPLE WORKS, SAME AUTHOR AND SAME YEAR

(Jones, 2016a) and Jones (2016b)

or

Jones (2016a) provided…

  1. Use a, b, c and so on to differentiate the whole citation in the references page.

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