- When you incorporate any information drawn from a source in your paper, you need to identify the source within your text in one of the following ways:
- Introduce the information with an author tag or signal phrase. Use the full name of the author in the first reference, after which the last name alone is used. Follow the information with the page number in parentheses.
According to Jane Smith the legend of King Arthur evolved over hundreds of years (14). This makes it difficult to distinguish between the historical and mythological aspects of the legend (15).
- Follow the information with the author’s last name and the page number in parentheses: (Smith 148).
- For sources with two authors, include both authors’ names in the citation:
Jane Smith and Edward Jones argue . . . (148).
(Smith and Jones 148).
- For sources with three or more authors, use the last name of the first author listed, followed by the abbreviation et al. (meaning “and others”):
(Smith et al. 148)
- For unsigned sources, use the first piece of information in the Works Cited entry for that source, usually the title; shorten long titles to the first few words:
According to “Latest Developments” . . . (19).
(“Latest Developments” 19).
- For sources without page numbers:
- If paragraph numbers are marked within the source, include them in in-text citations: (Garcia, par. 11)
- For sources that use neither page numbers nor explicit paragraph numbers, other stable numbered divisions may be used (Garcia, ch. 4), but do not apply numbers not included in the source.
