in text citation for a book report

How To Do In-Text Citations in MLA Format: A Quick Guide for Students

An in-text citation is a reference to information originating from another source. In-text citations must be used when you summarize, quote, paraphrase or refer to another source within a written document, such as academic literature. 

In-text citations are essential in academic writing. Without them, how would readers verify the information is reliable and accurate? Trustworthy authors include their sources for verifiable information rather than opinions so readers know where the evidence for claims can be explored further.

The Modern Language Association manages MLA style standards with the purpose to “strengthen the study and teaching of language and literature” and standardize how information sources are credited in scholarly writing. Not only does the MLA recommend proper citation format, but it also suggests proper general formatting, including document spacing, margins and font size.

As you begin authoring scholarly works, you’ll find the need to credit sources. Use this quick guide to learn how to do in-text citations in MLA format.

What is MLA format?

How to do in-text citations in mla, how to do a works cited page in mla, common challenges and solutions, tips for effective in-text citations.

MLA citation style is a system for crediting sources in scholarly writing and has been widely used in classrooms, journals and the press since 1931. What began with a three-page style sheet for the MLA’s scholarly journal became a uniform writing style preferred by academics and the editorial media everywhere.

Since its inception, the in-text citation style has changed from a recommended combination of footnotes and in-text citations in MLA format. The 1951 style guide suggested : “If the reference is brief, insert it, within parentheses, in the text itself . . . ; if it is lengthy, put it in a [foot]note.” As technology and society changed, so did the MLA style. In 1995, the document added recommendations for citing CD-ROMs and online databases. In 2016, the MLA published one of the most modern versions of the MLA Handbook , wherein in-text citations in MLA style should now be written according to a template of core elements.

The modern-day components of an in-text citation in MLA format, as of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook , include:

• Author’s name
• Page numbers (if applicable)

These short in-text citations serve as references to a Works Cited list, which should follow a written piece of work and list all sources used in detail.

Authors who correctly use in-text citations in MLA style will prove their credibility, integrity and responsibility to share accurate and reliable information and simultaneously protect themselves from stealing sources and ideas from other writers, also known as plagiarism. Plagiarism is a severe offense , and many institutions have strict rules against the practice .

Now that you understand the importance of citations let’s review how to use in-text citations in MLA style. When referring to another author’s work in your own written text, you must use parenthetical citations, including the source in parentheses within the sentence that refers to the work. 

If a source does not have page numbers, use another numbering system, such as chapters, sections, scenes or articles that are explicitly numbered. If there are no numbered divisions within the work, simply cite the author’s name.

The basic format for in-text citations in MLA writings is as follows:

• The pail of water was at the top of the hill, which Jack and Jill decided to climb (Mother Goose 1) .

If including a direct quote from a source, enclose the entire quote within quotation marks to avoid confusing the reader. The in-text citation should fall outside the quotation marks at the end of the sentence before the sentence’s period. Paraphrased information does not need quotation marks but does need proper in-text citation.

It should be noted that any information included in your in-text citations must refer to the source information on the Works Cited page listed at the end of your document.

If you’re wondering how to list the references on the Works Cited page, the format varies depending on the type, such as a book or a website.

How to cite a book in MLA

• Author last name, first name. Title. Publisher, year.

How to cite an article in MLA

• Author last name, first name. “Article title.” Publication, volume/issue, publication month. Year, page numbers. Database, reference URL.

How to cite a website in MLA

• Author last name, first name. “Title.” Publication, publication month. Year, web page URL.

While constructing your paper, you may encounter a few citation challenges, such as a source with multiple authors or no known author. Though this can be confusing, this is how to use in-text citations in MLA style for challenging situations.

How to cite multiple authors in MLA

To write an in-text citation in MLA format for a source with multiple authors , simply list each author’s last name before the page number. Sources with more than two authors should cite the first author, followed by “et al.” For example:

• 2 authors: (Hall and Oates 1)
• 3+ authors: (Hall et al. 1)

How to cite sources with no author in MLA

Sources with no author must match the first listed element within its Works Cited entry. For example:

• In-text citation: (Baa, Baa, Black Sheep 0:15)
• Works Cited entry: “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.” Spotify . https://open.spotify.com/track/1Zpe8ef70Wx20Bu2mLdXc1?si=7TlgCyj1SYmP6K-uy4isuQ

How to cite indirect or secondary sources in MLA

A secondary source is a publication that provides second-hand information from other researchers. You may use secondary sources in your research, though it’s best practice to search for the primary source that supplied the first-hand information, so cite it directly.

If you don’t have access to the original source, include the original author and the author of the secondary source , with the abbreviation “qtd. in” indicating where you accessed the secondary quote. “Qtd. in” stands for “quoted in.” For example:

• (qtd. in Baa, Baa, Black Sheep 0:15)

Using et al. in MLA citations

As described above, et al. is used instead of listing all names of three or more authors, editors or contributors within your citations. It can also cite collections of essays, stories or poems with three or more contributors. When using et al., you should always use the last name of the first writer listed on the source. For example:

• (Earth et al. “September” 0:15)
• Contributors: Earth, Wind and Fire

The most crucial part of in-text citations in MLA style is to keep a consistent and accurate format within the entire body of work. Always use the same punctuation within the in-text citations and the same formatting for sources of the same type. Ensure that double-checking citations is part of your overall proofreading process. All citations, like the written work, should be precise and error-free.

Various tools exist to help you collect and manage your sources and citations. Popular tools include Zotero , EndNote and RefWorks . These tools can create citations for you and keep track of your research documents so you can reference them again if needed. It’s wise to track your sources as they’re included in your writing rather than compiling and citing them when finished.

More resources for writing in MLA format

For the most up-to-date in-text citation information, refer to the MLA Handbook , which can be found online, in bookstores and libraries. The most recent edition of the MLA Handbook is the 9th edition, published in spring 2021.

The MLA also operates the MLA Handbook Plus , a subscription-based digital platform that offers all of the content included in the print edition, plus annual updates and valuable resources, and can be accessed anywhere, whether you’re traveling, at home or in the classroom.

The MLA Style Center offers free online sources on the official MLA style, including templates, questions and answers and advice.

Furman University offers trained consultants for students on campus to provide one-on-one or small-group assistance for writing projects at the Writing & Media Lab (WML). You can make an appointment with a WML Consultant or stop by the James B. Duke Library in the Center for Academic Success (room 002) for on-demand help (subject to scheduling).

The Writing & Media Lab can help with many tasks related to student writing and multimedia projects, including:

• Brainstorming a paper or project
• Outlining your ideas
• Reading through your writing
• Creating a presentation or poster
• Helping you practice your presentation
• Planning a video or podcast
• Revising, proofreading, or editing

Mastering the art of in-text citations in MLA format will ensure that you, as an academic author, will portray yourself as a serious, responsible and factual writer who uses accurate and reliable sources.

The perspectives and thoughts shared in the Furman Blog belong solely to the author and may not align with the official stance or policies of Furman University. All referenced sources were accurate as of the date of publication.

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In-Text Citations: An Overview

In-text citations are brief, unobtrusive references that direct readers to the works-cited-list entries for the sources you consulted and, where relevant, to the location in the source being cited.

An in-text citation begins with the shortest piece of information that di­rects your reader to the entry in the works-cited list. Thus, it begins with what ever comes first in the entry: the author’s name or the title (or descrip­tion) of the work. The citation can appear in your prose or in parentheses.

Citation in prose  Naomi Baron broke new ground on the subject. Parenthetical citation At least one researcher has broken new ground on the subject (Baron). Work cited Baron, Naomi S. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media.” PMLA , vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193–200. 

When relevant, an in-text citation also has a second component: if a specific part of a work is quoted or paraphrased and the work includes a page number, line number, time stamp, or other way to point readers to the place in the work where the information can be found, that location marker must be included in parentheses.

Parenthetical citation According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (194).

The author or title can also appear alongside the page number or other loca­tion marker in parentheses.

Parenthetical citation Reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (Baron 194).

All in-text references should be concise. Avoid, for instance, providing the author’s name or title of a work in both your prose and parentheses.

Citation (incorrect) According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (Baron 194). Citation (correct) According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (194).

For more on what to include in an in-text citation and how to style it, see sections 6.3–6.30 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook ).

55 Comments

Brandi unruh 10 april 2021 at 11:04 am.

Hello! I am a high school English teacher trying to answer a question that came up during our research unit. I can’t seem to find a definitive answer online. When using a shortened title in an in-text citation, does an ellipsis need to be included? For example, if the title was “The Problem of Poverty in America: A Historical and Cultural Analysis”, would the in-text citation be (“The Problem of Poverty in America...”) or (“The Problem of Poverty in America”)? Thank you for your time and expertise!

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Laura Kiernan 12 April 2021 AT 11:04 AM

No, an ellipsis would not be used in an in-text citation. We provide extensive guidance on shortening titles in 6.10 of the new ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

angel 10 May 2021 AT 02:05 PM

hii How to write an in text citation of an entry from encyclopedia which has an editor but no separate authors for each entry ?

William Feeler 11 May 2021 AT 01:05 PM

I see no mention of paragraph numbers for unpaginated prose or sections/lines for drama. are these practices gone?

Laura Kiernan 18 May 2021 AT 01:05 PM

This post provides a general overview of our approach to in-text citations. The complete guidelines appear in sections 6.1–6.30 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Vonceil Park 11 May 2021 AT 01:05 PM

Dear MLA Staff, A professor at my College demands students to provide paragraph number in the in-text citation for online articles that have no page number nor paragraph number. Do we just count the paragraph number and put them in the parenthesis, for example: (para. 3)?

Laura Kiernan 18 May 2021 AT 12:05 PM

Thank you for your question. Your approach to modifying our style in accordance with your professor's instructions works, but we would suggest confirming that styling with your professor.

Arathi Babu 17 May 2021 AT 08:05 AM

How to write an in text citation of an unsigned entry from a reference work?

Laura Kiernan 08 June 2021 AT 11:06 AM

If the entry was in a print work, the in-text citation would include the entry’s title or a shortened version of the entry’s title and the page number of the quotation. If the entry was in a reference work without page numbers, the in-text citation should just contain the title or shortened title of the entry.

Sethu 17 May 2021 AT 02:05 PM

For example: Can I give an in-text citation like the following: Shakespeare, in his work Hamlet, quotes: "To be or not to be" (7).

For citing commonly studied verse works, see 6.22 in the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Trinity Klein 21 May 2021 AT 11:05 AM

Can you please help with proper in-text citation placement for an embedded quotation? Does the citation come immediately after the quotation or at the very end of the sentence? For example, is this correct: He asks her to take him home “in the voice of a child afraid of the dark” which comes as a shock to Scout because he has so long held a bold and rebellious reputation (372). Or should the (372) come immediately after ...dark"...? Thank you!

For more information about the placement of a parenthetical citations, see 6.43 in the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Karima 30 May 2021 AT 05:05 PM

Dear MLA staff, 1) In case i am quoting from multiple sources by the same author, am i required to introduce again the source i am quoting from in the beginning of my sentence? (Quotes are used in multiple paragraphs)

For guidance on citing multiple sources by the same author, see 6.8 in the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Yves 23 June 2021 AT 06:06 PM

Hello, is there a specific rule about how to format a range of page numbers in the parenthetical citation? For example, could (Eden 44-45) be written as (Eden 44-5), or is only one example correct?

Laura Kiernan 24 September 2021 AT 02:09 PM

For information about styling number ranges, see section 2.139 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Faliravo 11 August 2021 AT 05:08 AM

Good morning MLA team, My professor insists that I include the year of publication for in-text citations. Is it going to be okay if I insert the year between the author and the page number?

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Laura Kiernan 24 September 2021 AT 01:09 PM

Your approach to modifying our style in accordance with your professor’s instructions works, but we would suggest confirming that styling with your professor.

Pauline 14 September 2021 AT 11:09 PM

How do I cite an entire work. For example, if I want to say Toni Morrison's the "Bluest Eye" has been used as a textbook for many English literature classes, I suppose I shouldn't put any page number in the parenthetical citation. But I can't find any MLA references on this.

See section 4.14 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

myron glassenberg 04 February 2022 AT 01:02 PM

if source is the whole book, how do I cite in text and in works cited pages. e.g. freud (no page number) Freud , ( 1892) The Pleasure Principle.

Rita Rozzi 20 September 2023 AT 07:09 PM

There is no section 4.14 in the ninth edition. Do you have any updated information? Thank you.

Laura Kiernan 21 September 2023 AT 03:09 PM

Section 4.14, which is titled "Passing Mentions," can be found in chapter 4 of the ninth edition of the handbook.

Lauren McFall 13 October 2021 AT 02:10 PM

Students often refer to the same source consecutively across more than one sentence. I'm having a hard time finding information about the preferred approach according to the MLA. As a parallel, APA makes a specific recommendation - "cite the source in the first sentence in which it is relevant and do not repeat the citation in subsequent sentences as long as the source remains clear and unchanged" https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/appropriate-citation

Laura Kiernan 20 October 2021 AT 04:10 PM

See 6.45 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Ruth Schafer 01 December 2022 AT 07:12 PM

6.45 out of the MLA Handbook's ninth edition does not provide an example of how to cite a multi-sentence paraphrase when using an unpaginated source. Can you give an example of how to cite a multi-sentence paraphrase where the source does not have published page numbering?

Should I introduce the source in my prose and then again at the end of the multi-sentence paraphrase in parentheses when I have finished citing the paraphrase? Example: John Smith from Smith Architecture explains that crawl space foundations are...blah blah blah. These foundations are most commonly used in midwestern constructions where the frost line is...blah, blah, blah. Keep writing the paraphrase and then at the end of the final sentence instead of a page citation write the author's last name (Smith). This way if you switch to a different source, at least the reader knows that you have finished with the Smith source and have moved on to your own commentary or another source's information. Usually, I'd use a page citation at the end of the paraphrase, but when dealing with a source that does not have page numbering, I'm unsure what to do.

Lizzie 18 October 2021 AT 10:10 PM

If I only use textual evidence from the novel I'm examining, do I need to include the authors name with each in text citation? There are no other works cited, so it seems redundant/clutter-y to me

Kayden 29 October 2021 AT 05:10 PM

If I'm trying to cite multiple paragraphs from the same source would it be correct to say (par. 3 and 13) or should it be (par. 3, 13) and is it different if they are next to each other too like (par. 6-7) or (par. 6 and 7).

Laura Kiernan 04 November 2021 AT 11:11 AM

See sections 6.18–6.20 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Rachel 17 November 2021 AT 01:11 PM

When citing from an online source without pagination, if you include the author's name in the introduction to the quote, do you need to include anything in parentheses like the article title?

Laura Kiernan 22 November 2021 AT 12:11 PM

See section 6.26 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

July 25 November 2021 AT 05:11 PM

When quoting an online source (e.g. a website), do I have to indicate the fact that it's an online source in the in-text-citations as in (Name [online]) or is the author's name enough?

Thank you in advance for your answer.

Laura Kiernan 29 November 2021 AT 10:11 AM

According to MLA style, an in-text citation for an online work should not note that the work is online.

Pinkie 19 March 2022 AT 08:03 PM

If I'm writing a response paper, and I need to summarize the whole article to introduce it, then should I use in-text citation?

Laura Kiernan 25 March 2022 AT 01:03 PM

For guidance on paraphrasing, see sections 4.5–4.8 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Kay 09 April 2022 AT 06:04 PM

Hi, am I supposed to include the DOI when one is available in the citation? If I cite the print version of a journal article that has a DOI, still include the DOI in the citation? Thank you!

Laura Kiernan 11 April 2022 AT 11:04 AM

Thank you for your questions. For guidance on including a DOI in your works-cited-list entry, see sections 5.84 and 5.93 in the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Mike 16 April 2022 AT 05:04 PM

Website in-text Citation...

When I'm writing an in-text citation for a website, I'm seeing all manner of different things to include. Do I need to add the author name and year of publishing for the article?\ Do I just need the website name? I'm not really understanding what I need to add or obtain for such a citation within the text I'm writing.

I'm writing a book on my life, and I'm quoting a particular webpage to show one particular angle of an argument I'm making, and, of course, it's not common knowledge, so I want to make sure that I follow all the rules for this kind of thing, so I don't get in trouble with the author(s) of the sources I have quoted from...

Laura Kiernan 18 April 2022 AT 02:04 PM

Thank you for your questions about MLA style. For guidance on in-text citations for web pages, see section 6.26 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Cynthia 21 May 2022 AT 10:05 PM

When you're doing an In-text citations do you put the quotations over the chapter title and then quotations over what you get from the text or do you italicize the title?

Laura Kiernan 25 May 2022 AT 03:05 PM

Thank you for your question. For guidance on how to style chapter titles, see 2.109 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Napatsi 15 August 2022 AT 07:08 PM

I'm trying to find how to put in the in-text citation for a UN declaration article but can only find the "Resolutions of International Governing Bodies" on page 446 of the 9th edition but not how to out it in without an author.

Kim 27 September 2022 AT 12:09 PM

I'm quoting a passage from an unpublished manuscript, and it is not the only work I'm citing by the author, but the only one without a year. So using "Smith 1995, 82" is not possible. What would an in-text citation for this case look like?

Jen 17 November 2022 AT 08:11 PM

How do I cite a news cast for in-text citation like ABC News?

Samantha 04 December 2022 AT 05:12 PM

Hi, For MLA format, should a quote where you need to de-capitalize the first letter be written as "you want" or "(y)ou want". Thanks!

Laura Kiernan 07 December 2022 AT 01:12 PM

Thank you for your question. For guidance on how to indicate that you have lowercased the first letter of a quotation, see 6.56 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Maria Albeti 07 February 2023 AT 01:02 PM

Stewart, David W. Focus groups. In: Frey, B.B. (ed.) The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation, vol. 2, pp. 687–692. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications 2018 In this case, how is the correct form to write, because the article is IN the the book?

Eros Karadzhov 15 February 2023 AT 02:02 PM

If we have a sentence that is a statement, but at the end we quote a question, which punctuation mark do we keep, the question mark or the period; maybe both? Example: (1) The author ends his poem with the following question on purpose: "Or does it explode?" (Hughes 11). (2) The author ends his poem with the following question on purpose: "Or does it explode" (Hughes 11)?

Which would be correct, or maybe both are wrong?

Thank you in advance!

Laura Kiernan 16 February 2023 AT 03:02 PM

Thank you for your question. For guidance on quotations ending in a question mark, see section 6.53 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Anonymous 08 March 2023 AT 05:03 PM

What about online articles with no known author or multiple authors? What should the in-text citation look like?

Maria 25 March 2023 AT 04:03 PM

Please settle a dispute with my colleagues. I encourage composition students to avoid listing the title of journal articles within the essay unless it is especially relevant because it clutters their arguments. I came to this conclusion from my interpretation of this statement from MLA: "All in-text references should be concise. Avoid, for instance, providing the author’s name or title of a work in both your prose and parentheses." Could someone please provide an answer or further clarification?

Erika Suffern 30 March 2023 AT 04:03 PM

You are right to identify a principle of concision in our guidelines. That said, it is not wrong to mention a title in prose, but it should be done, as you note, when relevant–not as a de rigeur practice or for “filler.” As Eric Hayot notes in The Elements of Academic Style: Writing for the Humanities (Columbia UP, 2014), “giving the title” in prose “suggests fuller forthcoming treatment” (159). Another reason for including the title in prose might be to call attention to something about it. Many writers who do mention a title in prose fear having an incomplete citation and are tempted also to include the title in a parenthetical reference, which is unnecessary.

Jay 29 April 2023 AT 12:04 AM

How do I in-text cite a direct quote from the introduction of an ebook with no page numbers? Would I write (Author "Introduction") or just write (Author)?

Kiara 11 February 2024 AT 03:02 PM

Hello! I am a university student who is currently creating works cited entries and in-text citations for a reflection essay. How do I properly cite professor and peer comments?

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Mla quick citation guide.

• In-text Citation
• Citing Generative AI
• Citing Web Pages and Social Media
• Citing Articles
• Citing Books
• Other formats
• MLA Style Quiz

Using In-text Citation

Include an in-text citation when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list.

MLA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the page number from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken, for example: (Smith 163). If the source does not use page numbers, do not include a number in the parenthetical citation: (Smith).

For more information on in-text citation, see the MLA Style Center .

Example paragraph with in-text citation

A few researchers in the linguistics field have developed training programs designed to improve native speakers' ability to understand accented speech (Derwing et al. 246; Thomas 15). Their training techniques are based on the research described above indicating that comprehension improves with exposure to non-native speech. Derwing and others conducted their training with students preparing to be social workers, but note that other professionals who work with non-native speakers could benefit from a similar program (258).

Works Cited List

Derwing, Tracey M., et al. "Teaching Native Speakers to Listen to Foreign-accented Speech." Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, vol. 23, no. 4, 2002, pp. 245-259.

Thomas, Holly K.  Training Strategies for Improving Listeners' Comprehension of Foreign-accented Speech. University of Colorado, Boulder, 2004.

Citing Web Pages In Text

Cite web pages in text as you would any other source, using the author if known. If the author is not known, use the title as the in-text citation.

Your in-text citation should lead your reader to the corresponding entry in the reference list. Below are examples of using in-text citation with web pages.

Entire website with author: In-text citation Parents play an important role in helping children learn techniques for coping with bullying (Kraizer).

Works cited entry Kraizer, Sherryll. Safe Child. Coalition for Children, 2011, www.safechild.org.

Web page with no author: In-text citation The term Nittany Lion was coined by Penn State football player Joe Mason in 1904 ("All Things Nittany").

Works cited entry "All Things Nittany." About Penn State. Penn State University, 2006, www.psu.edu/ur/about/nittanymascot.html.

General Guidelines

In MLA style the author's name can be included either in the narrative text of your paper, or in parentheses following the reference to the source.

Author's name part of narrative:

Gass and Varonis found that the most important element in comprehending non-native speech is familiarity with the topic (163).

Author's name in parentheses:

One study found that the most important element in comprehending non-native speech is familiarity with the topic (Gass and Varonis 163).

Group as author: (American Psychological Association 123)

Multiple works: (separate each work with semi-colons)

Research shows that listening to a particular accent improves comprehension of accented speech in general (Gass and Varonis 143; Thomas 24).

Direct quote:

One study found that “the listener's familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (Gass and Varonis 85).

Gass and Varonis found that “the listener’s familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (85).

Note: For quotations that are more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, display quotations as an indented block of text (one inch from left margin) and omit quotation marks. Place your parenthetical citation at the end of the block of text, after the final punctuation mark.

In addition to awareness-raising, practicing listening to accented speech has been shown to improve listening comprehension. This article recommends developing listening training programs for library faculty and staff, based on research from the linguistics and language teaching fields. Even brief exposure to accented speech can help listeners improve their comprehension, thereby improving the level of service to international patrons. (O'Malley 19)

Works by Multiple Authors

When citing works by multiple authors, always spell out the word "and." When a source has three or more authors, only the first one shown in the source is normally given followed by et al.

One author: (Field 399)

Works Cited entry: Field, John. "Intelligibility and the Listener: The Role of Lexical Stress." TESOL Quarterly , vol. 39, no. 3, 2005, pp. 399-423.

Two authors: (Gass and Varonis 67)

Works Cited entry: Gass, Susan, and Evangeline M. Varonis. "The Effect of Familiarity on the Comprehensibility of Nonnative Speech." Language Learning , vol. 34, no. 1, 1984, pp. 65-89.

Three or more authors: (Munro et al. 70)

Works Cited entry: Munro, Murray J., et al. "Salient Accents, Covert Attitudes: Consciousness-raising for Pre-service Second Language Teachers." Prospect , vol. 21, no. 1, 2006, pp. 67-79.

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MLA Citation Style

• The MLA Handbook
• Additional Resources

What is a Citation?

In-text citations.

• Works Cited Page
• Plagiarism This link opens in a new window
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A citation gives credit to the source where you found the information you use to support your argument or analysis. That way, people can check the information you used to double-check your resources or to use for their own research.

Citations are composed of these parts of a resource: Author, Title, Publication Information, and Date. The elements of a citation can vary from format to format and how the resource was accessed.

In your paper, you will add a brief citation that will lead to a page of the resources you used at the end of your paper where the full citation goes into more detail. That way, your paper flows and can be easily verified.

Nowadays, most library databases have a "cite" function that will generate a full citation in the style you need. You can use that as a starting point and re-format or correct it as you need. 

Other resources don't generate a citation, but they have the information for you to create one, you simply need to look through the resource. 

An in-text citation is a part of the full citation that is at the end of your work that guides the reader to the specific source you used. Where the full citation is of the whole resource, an in-text citation will be part of the full citation (either author or title) and maybe a specific section such as specific pages.

There are two ways to have an in-text citation in a paper: parenthetical and narrative.

A parenthetical is the citation at the end of the sentence in parenthesis (). 

A narrative citation has the information written into the sentence.

Sometimes you might do a combination of the two — it depends on your writing style, the resource, and your professor. 

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MLA Citation Guide (9th edition) : In-Text Citations

• Getting Started
• How do I Cite?
• In-Text Citations
• Works Cited and Sample Papers
• Additional Resources

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In-Text Citation Basics

An in-text citation usually contains the author's name (or other first element in the entry in the works cited list) and a page number. 

A  parenthetical citation  that directly follows a quotation is placed after the closing quotation mark. No punctuation is used between the author's name (or the title) and a page number.

In-Text Citation Examples

The author's name can appear in the text itself or before the page number in the parenthesis:

Cox names five strategies to implement Diversity Management in companies (50).

“It's silly not to hope. It's a sin he thought” (Hemingway 96).

Here are some additional examples of in-text citations:

Smith argues that  Jane Eyre  is a "feminist  Künstlerroman " that narrativizes a woman's struggle to write herself into being (86).

Jane Eyre  is a "feminist  Künstlerroman " that narrativizes a woman's struggle to write herself into being (Smith 86).

Parenthetical Citations

What is a Parenthetical Citation?   This article defines parenthetical citations and offers tips for getting them right.

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APA (7th Edition) Referencing Guide

• Information for EndNote Users
• Authors - Numbers, Rules and Formatting

Everything must match!

Types of citations, in-text citations, quoting, summarising and paraphrasing, example text with in-text referencing, slightly tricky in-text citations, organisation as an author, secondary citation (works referred to in other works), what do i do if there are no page numbers.

• Reference List
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There are two basic ways to cite someone's work in text.

In narrative citations , the authors are part of the sentence - you are referring to them by name. For example:

Becker (2013) defined gamification as giving the mechanics of principles of a game to other activities.

Cho and Castañeda (2019) noted that game-like activities are frequently used in language classes that adopt mobile and computer technologies.

In parenthetical citations , the authors are not mentioned in the sentence, just the content of their work. Place the citation at the end of the sentence or clause where you have used their information. The author's names are placed in the brackets (parentheses) with the rest of the citation details:

Gamification involves giving the mechanics or principles of a game to another activity (Becker, 2013).

Increasingly, game-like activities are frequently used in language classes that adopt mobile and computer technologies (Cho & Castañeda, 2019).

Using references in text

For APA, you use the authors' surnames only and the year in text. If you are using a direct quote, you will also need to use a page number.

Narrative citations:

If an in-text citation has the authors' names as part of the sentence (that is, outside of brackets) place the year and page numbers in brackets immediately after the name, and use 'and' between the authors' names:  Jones and Smith (2020, p. 29)

Parenthetical citations:

If an in-text citation has the authors' names in brackets use "&" between the authors' names :  (Jones & Smith, 2020, p. 29).

Note: Some lecturers want page numbers for all citations, while some only want page numbers with direct quotes. Check with your lecturer to see what you need to do for your assignment. If the direct quote starts on one page and finishes on another, include the page range (Jones & Smith, 2020, pp. 29-30).

1 author

Smith (2020) found that "the mice disappeared within minutes" (p. 29).

The author stated "the mice disappeared within minutes" (Smith, 2020, p. 29).

Jones and Smith (2020) found that "the mice disappeared within minutes" (p. 29).

The authors stated "the mice disappeared within minutes" (Jones & Smith, 2020, p. 29).

For 3 or more authors , use the first author and "et al." for all in-text citations

Green et al.'s (2019) findings indicated that the intervention was not based on evidence from clinical trials.

It appears the intervention was not based on evidence from clinical trials (Green et al., 2019).

If you cite more than one work in the same set of brackets in text , your citations will go in the same order in which they will appear in your reference list (i.e. alphabetical order, then oldest to newest for works by the same author) and be separated by a semi-colon. E.g.:

• (Corbin, 2015; James & Waterson, 2017; Smith et al., 2016).
• (Corbin, 2015; 2018)
• (Queensland Health, 2017a; 2017b)
• Use only the   surnames   of your authors   in text   (e.g., Smith & Brown, 2014) - however, if you have two authors with the same surname who have published in the same year, then you will need to use their initials to distinguish between the two of them (e.g., K. Smith, 2014; N. Smith, 2014).   Otherwise, do not use initials in text .

If your author isn't an "author".

Whoever is in the "author" position of the refence in the references list is treated like an author in text. So, for example, if you had an edited book and the editors of the book were in the "author" position at the beginning of the reference, you would treat them exactly the same way as you would an author - do not include any other information. The same applies for works where the "author" is an illustrator, producer, composer, etc.

• Summarising
• Paraphrasing

It is always a good idea to keep direct quotes to a minimum. Quoting doesn't showcase your writing ability - all it shows is that you can read (plus, lecturers hate reading assignments with a lot of quotes).

You should only use direct quotes if the exact wording is important , otherwise it is better to paraphrase.

If you feel a direct quote is appropriate, try to keep only the most important part of the quote and avoid letting it take up the entire sentence - always start or end the sentence with your own words to tie the quote back into your assignment. Long quotes (more than 40 words) are called "block quotes" and are rarely used in most subject areas (they mostly belong in Literature, History or similar subjects). Each referencing style has rules for setting out a block quote. Check with your style guide .

It has been observed that "pink fairy armadillos seem to be extremely susceptible to stress" (Superina, 2011, p. 6).

NB! Most referencing styles will require a page number to tell readers where to find the original quote.

It is a type of paraphrasing, and you will be using this frequently in your assignments, but note that summarising another person's work or argument isn't showing how you make connections or understand implications. This is preferred to quoting, but where possible try to go beyond simply summarising another person's information without "adding value".

And, remember, the words must be your own words . If you use the exact wording from the original at any time, those words must be treated as a direct quote.

All information must be cited, even if it is in your own words.

Superina (2011) observed a captive pink fairy armadillo, and noticed any variation in its environment could cause great stress.

NB! Some lecturers and citation styles want page numbers for everything you cite, others only want page numbers for direct quotes. Check with your lecturer.

Paraphrasing often involves commenting about the information at the same time, and this is where you can really show your understanding of the topic. You should try to do this within every paragraph in the body of your assignment.

When paraphrasing, it is important to remember that using a thesaurus to change every other word isn't really paraphrasing. It's patchwriting , and it's a kind of plagiarism (as you are not creating original work).

Use your own voice! You sound like you when you write - you have a distinctive style that is all your own, and when your "tone" suddenly changes for a section of your assignment, it looks highly suspicious. Your lecturer starts to wonder if you really wrote that part yourself. Make sure you have genuinely thought about how *you* would write this information, and that the paraphrasing really is in your own words.

Always cite your sources! Even if you have drawn from three different papers to write this one sentence, which is completely in your own words, you still have to cite your sources for that sentence (oh, and excellent work, by the way).

Captive pink fairy armadillos do not respond well to changes in their environment and can be easily stressed (Superina, 2011).

NB! Some lecturers and citation styles want page numbers for all citations, others only want them for direct quotes. Check with your lecturer.

This example paragraph contains mouse-over text. Run your mouse over the paragraph to see notes on formatting.

Excerpt from "The Big Fake Essay"

You can read the entire Big Fake Essay on the Writing Guide. It includes more details about academic writing and the formatting of essays.

• The Big Fake Essay
• Academic Writing Workshop

When you have multiple authors with the same surname who published in the same year:

If your authors have different initials, then include the initials:

As A. Smith (2016) noted...

...which was confirmed by J.G. Smith's (2016) study.

(A. Smith, 2016; J. G. Smith, 2016).

If your authors have the same initials, then include the name:

As Adam Smith noted...

...which was confirmed by Amy Smith's (2016) study.

(Adam Smith, 2016; Amy Smith, 2016).

Note: In your reference list, you would include the author's first name in [square brackets] after their initials:

Smith, A. [Adam]. (2016)...

Smith, A. [Amy]. (2016)...

When you have multiple works by the same author in the same year:

In your reference list, you will have arranged the works alphabetically by title (see the page on Reference Lists for more information). This decides which reference is "a", "b", "c", and so on. You cite them in text accordingly:

Asthma is the most common disease affecting the Queensland population (Queensland Health, 2017b). However, many people do not know how to manage their asthma symptoms (Queensland Health, 2017a).

When you have multiple works by the same author in different years:

Asthma is the most common disease affecting the Queensland population (Queensland Health, 2017, 2018). 

When you do not have an author, and your reference list entry begins with the title:

Use the title in place of the author's name, and place it in "quotation marks" if it is the title of an article or book chapter, or in italics if the title would go in italics in your reference list:

During the 2017 presidential inauguration, there were some moments of awkwardness ("Mrs. Obama Says ‘Lovely Frame’", 2018).

Note: You do not need to use the entire title, but a reasonable portion so that it does not end too abruptly - "Mrs. Obama Says" would be too abrupt, but the full title "Mrs. Obama Says 'Lovely Frame' in Box During Awkward Handoff" is unecessarily long. You should also use title case for titles when referring to them in the text of your work.

If there are no page numbers, you can include any of the following in the in-text citation:

• "On Australia Day 1938 William Cooper ... joined forces with Jack Patten and William Ferguson ... to hold a Day of Mourning to draw attention to the losses suffered by Aboriginal people at the hands of the whiteman" (National Museum of Australia, n.d., para. 4).
• "in 1957 news of a report by the Western Australian government provided the catalyst for a reform movement" (National Museum of Australia, n.d., The catalyst for change section, para. 1)
• "By the end of this year of intense activity over 100,000 signatures had been collected" (National Museum of Australia, n.d., "petition gathering", para. 1).

When you are citing a classical work, like the Bible or the Quran:

References to works of scripture or other classical works are treated differently to regular citations. See the APA Blog's entry for more details:

Happy Holiday Citing: Citation of Classical Works . (Please note, this document is from the 6th edition of APA).

In text citation:

If the name of the organisation first appears in a narrative citation, include the abbreviation before the year in brackets, separated with a comma. Use the official acronym/abreviation if you can find it. Otherwise check with your lecturer for permission to create your own acronyms.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2013) shows that...

The Queensland Department of Education (DoE, 2020) encourages students to... (please note, Queensland isn't part of the department's name, it is used in the sentence to provide clarity)

If the name of the organisation first appears in a citation in brackets, include the abbreviation in square brackets.

(Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2013)

(Department of Education [DoE], 2020)

In the second and subsequent citations, only include the abbreviation or acronym

ABS  (2013) found that ...

DoE (2020) instructs teachers to...

This is disputed ( ABS , 2013).

Resources are designed to support "emotional learning pedagogy" (DoE, 2020)

In the reference list:

Use the full name of the organisation in the reference list.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2017).  Australia's welfare 2017 . https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/australias-welfare-2017/contents/table-of-contents

Department of Education. (2020, April 22). Respectful relationships education program . Queensland Government. https://education.qld.gov.au/curriculum/stages-of-schooling/respectful-relationships

Academically, it is better to find the original source and reference that.

If you do have to quote a secondary source:

• In the text you must cite the original author of the quote and the year the original quote was written as well as the source you read it in. If you do not know the year the original citation was written, omit the year.
• In the reference list you only list the source that you actually read.

Wembley (1997, as cited in Olsen, 1999) argues that impending fuel shortages ...

Wembley claimed that "fuel shortages are likely" (1997, as cited in Olsen, 1999, pp. 10-12).

Some have noted that fuel shortages are probable in the future (Wembley, 1997, as cited in Olsen, 1999).

Olsen, M. (1999).  My career.  Gallimard.

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Referencing at Birmingham Newman

• Introduction to Newman Harvard referencing

Using Newman Harvard referencing in your work

Presenting your in-text citations, in-text citation examples, further help.

• Last reviewed
• Reference lists: guide and examples
• Zotero reference management
• Help with other referencing styles

Your tutors will be expecting to see in-text citations and full references in your assignments. Don’t forget, every in-text citation must also be fully referenced in your reference list at the end of your assignment.

In-text citations follow the same rules for virtually all sources that you will use. They will usually have 3 parts:

• The family names of the author/s OR the name of the organisation responsible for the source
• The year the source was published
• The page number where idea you are citing can be found

The name of the author/s or the organisation responsible for a source is usually:

• on the title page of a book or report
• on the first page of a chapter or section of an edited book
• under the title or headline of a news article or blog post
• the name of the organisation whose website you are taking the information from

Put in-text citations into round brackets, with each part separated by a comma:

This was also found to be the case in an earlier study (Guina, 2016, p.239).

If you refer to an author directly in your assignment, only the year and the page number need to be inside the brackets. However, all 3 parts of the in-text citation must be next to each other in the text.

This was also commented on in a study by Guina (2016, p.239).

Sometimes you don’t need to put in the page numbers, for example, if you’re summarising the whole of a source.

Similar phenomena have been observed in other studies (Guina, 2016).

Put in-text citations right next to the point in your writing that the source is referred to, whether it’s a quotation, paraphrase or a summary. The author's name, date and page numbers (if relevant) should always be together in the text, even if not all of this information is inside the brackets.

Example of a badly-formatted citation

Guina notes how the subject's defence mechanisms for low-self esteem have become problematic in adulthood (2016, p.239).

This is incorrect because the author's name, Guina, has been separated from the year of publication and page number of the source the student has paraphrased.

Instead, you should write either:

Guina (2016, p.239) notes how the subject's defence mechanisms for low-self esteem have become problematic in adulthood.

Guina notes how the subject's defence mechanisms for low-self esteem have become problematic in adulthood (Guina, 2016, p.239) .

In both of these examples, the citation text has been kept together.

It is a matter of personal style which you should use. Some people prefer the second example because they feel that the citation in the first example interrupts their sentence and makes it harder to read. In reality, you will probably use both types of citation at different points in your work.

A single source

In the following examples, an article by Spink and Jansen, published in 2004, is being cited:

The amount of research about information-seeking behaviour on the Internet that is coming from non-English-speaking countries is increasing (Spink and Jansen, 2004, p.28).

Spink and Jansen (2004, p.28) note that the amount of research about information-seeking behaviour…

When you’re using in-text citations, proof-read your work carefully: it’s important that your work makes sense in terms of punctuation and grammar when you ignore the information in the brackets of your in-text citations.

Example of a badly written citation

In a study (Spink and Jansen, 2004, p.28) note that the amount of research…

This doesn’t make sense if you take out the bracketed in-text citation. Instead you could write:

In a study, Spink and Jansen (2004, p.28) note that the amount of research…

More than one source at the same time

When you’re summarising, you may refer to the same idea from more than one source. When you do this, you can list those sources together in your in-text citation.

List the sources in order of the dates that they were published, starting with the earliest. Separate each citation with a semi-colon (;).

(Smith, 1999; Jackson and Williams, 2004; Singh, 2015)

If there is more than one source published in the same year, then list the sources from that year alphabetically by the first author’s last name.

(Smith, 1999; Andrews and Mellors, 2004; Jackson and Williams, 2004; Singh, 2015)

Two (or more) sources from the same year by the same author or group of authors

If an author or organisation you’re referring to has published two or more things in the same year, add a letter after the year to distinguish the two sources from each other.

Sharing information is ‘essential for effective safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people’ (Department for Education, 2018a, p. 3) and everyone has a role to play in identifying any concerns and taking action to report them (Department for Education, 2018b, p. 10).

When you do this, you must also put the letter after the year in your reference list. This way, the reader of your work knows which source your citation is referring to.

Department for Education (2018a) Information sharing. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/721581/Information_sharing_advice_practitioners_safeguarding_services.pdf (Accessed: 24 May 2019)

Department for Education (2018b) Working together to safeguard children. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/779401/Working_Together_to_Safeguard-Children.pdf (Accessed: 24 May 2019)

Two (or more) sources by different authors with the same last name, but published in the same year

To cite two or more sources that were published in the same year, but by authors who have the same surname, put the initials of the author in your in-text citation as well.

Historically, there has been a “lack of consensus” about these issues (Smith, A., 1999), but this has not necessarily prevented research from taking place (Smith, M., 1999).

You do not need to use initials if the years that the documents were published are different, or if one or both of the authors is part of a larger group.

Historically, there has been a “lack of consensus” about these issues (Smith, 1999), and some research has shown a huge divergence in results (Smith and Patel, 1999).

The key thing to remember is that it must be easy for someone reading your research to correctly match every in-text citation to the right source in your reference list.

Sources with more than one author or editor

Many students worry about citing sources that have more than one author because the names use up words from their limited word-count.

If a source has one to three authors, all of them must be written in the in-text citation.

...differences between static and dynamic balance are often more pronounced in adolescence (Hosseini, Norasteh and Nemati, 2019, p.54).

However, if there are more than three authors, you can instead write out only the first author’s name and then use et al. Et al. is a Latin phrase that means ‘and others’. Because it’s not English, you should always write it in italics (slanted text). Always put a full stop after al. as it’s an abbreviation of a longer word.

In this example, a student is using a source written by Tod, Bond, Leonard, Gilsenan and Palfreyman.

Some research suggests that many critical clinical questions get lost or forgotten in the time between practice and reflection (Tod et al., 2006, p.626).

Only use et al. in in-text citations: in your full reference list, you must list all of the authors. Remember that your reference list is not included in your word count, though!

An edited book or anthology where each chapter or section has a different author

Some books, such as anthologies or 'edited collections' have different authors for each section or chapter. The authors of each of these sections may or may not be named as editors or contributors on the title page of the whole book.

Whenever an author or authors are named for a specific section or chapter in a book, you must use these names in your in-text citations.

You are using chapter 3 of the book, Biomechanical movement in sport and exercise science , 2nd edition, edited by Payton and Burton and published in 2018.

Chapter 3 of this book, 'Assessing movement coordination' was written by Peter Lamb and Roger Bartlett. You will use Lamb and Bartlett in the in-text citation:

Understanding coordination patterns can help us to improve performance in exercise (Lamb and Bartlett, 2018, p.23).

When you make your reference list entries for these sources, follow the guidance for 'Chapter or section of an edited book' in the reference lists: guide and examples.

In the anthology Common people , edited by Kit de Waal, published in 2019, you're quoting a part of Daljit Nagra's reflection 'Steve'. You use Nagra's name in your in-text citation:

"perhaps he was held back by the narratives of entitlement for blue-collar workers constructed by the powers that be..?" (Nagra, 2019, p.79).

Note that it doesn't matter when the section of the anthology you're using was originally written: you always use the year of publication of the anthology in your in-text citation.

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever; / Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness" (Keats, 2012, p.1398).

To make your reference list entry for sources in anthologies, use the guidance for 'Anthologies (collections) of texts' in the reference lists: guide and examples

A law report

Please note: this guidance should be followed by students studying our Law (LL.B.) programme at Birmingham Newman. It is not the same as the style in Cite them right . If you are studying a different programme, your tutors may expect your references to law reports to be presented differently. If you need guidance, please check with your module leader.

Your in-text citations must be set out as follows:

• Name of case (in italics )
• at: [page number] OR [[paragraph reference]] (in [square brackets])

If you are just summarising a case or referencing it in passing, you may not need to put a page or paragraph reference to it.

( R v Ghosh , 1982, at 1055)

( Chalcot Training Ltd v Ralph , 2020, [30])

Be careful when using paragraph references that the number you give is from the case you are reading. On LexisNexis, where quotations are made by the judge from other cases, they often have the paragraph number from the quoted case embedded in them.

Saving words in your in-text citations

Case names can quickly become expensive when it comes to your word count. You can save words by using abbreviated case names, but you must follow these rules :

The first time you cite the case, you should write out the citation in full, e.g:

• ( R v Ghosh , 1982)
• ( Donoghue v Stevenson , 1932)
• ( R (on the application of Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union , 2017)
• ( J Lauritzen AS v Wijsmuller BV (The Super Servant Two) , 1990)

When you cite the case again, you can just use the first party to the case's name on its own (e.g. ( Donoghue , 1932)), unless:

• The first party is R (i.e the Crown, as in most criminal cases) or another government official (e.g. Attorney General or Director of Public Prosecutions). In this case use the name of the second party, e.g. ( Ghosh , 1982)
• The first party is R (on the application of [name]) (i.e. a judicial review case). In this case, use the applicant's name , e.g. ( Miller , 2017)
• The case concerns a ship . In this case, use the name of the ship, e.g ( The Super Servant Two , 1990)

Make sure that the abbreviated name is in italics to signal it is a case, rather than the author of another source's name.

Sources with an organisation as author

If there are no individually named authors, but an organisation or corporation is clearly responsible for the resource, you can use their name instead.

• Organisation name

Always write out the organisation's name in full the first time that you use it. If you want to save words after this by referring to it by its initials instead, add the initials in brackets after this first use.

A report by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) (2017) stated...

Later uses:

...libraries are "eager to work more collaboratively and develop partnerships." (IFLA, 2017).

In your reference list, you should write out the organisation's name in full.

Sources with no page numbers

In most cases, you should pinpoint the location in a document that you are quoting or paraphrasing with a page number or reference point. However, there are exceptions to this. You will not need a page number or reference point if:

• You are summarising a whole document or large proportion of it. or an overarching argument that is providing the structure for what the document is discussing
• The document is one page long, or is a short webpage

If neither of these is true, but there are no page numbers, you can use the following:

Location codes, progress percentages, or section numbers

These are often found in books downloaded to e-readers (such as Amazon Kindles) and in some online e-book readers. They can be used in place of page numbers in in-text citation as long as you use the appropritate reference list guidance to indicate that this is the type of e-book you have used.*

(Austen, 2008, loc 2433)

(Sanghera, 2015, 64%)

(Douglas, 2016, s.5 p.3)

Headings and paragraph numbers

Use these when you are referencing a long online document, such as an online journal article or an e-book, where there are no other page numbers or reference points available. You may need to use both a heading and a paragraph number if the section your quote or paraphrase is from has more than 3 or 4 paragraphs.

(Patel and Amin, 2020, 'Introduction')

(Webster, 2014, para.23)

(Sweeney, 2001, 'Interventions', para.16)

* See the reference lists: guide and examples for "E-book downloaded to an e-reader" or "Book read or downloaded in an accessible format from RNIB Bookshare" for help creating these reference list entries.

Sources with missing details (e.g. no author / editor or no date)

Evaluating sources and then choosing the best ones to help you make your arguments is part of good academic practice.

If a source does not reveal who made it or when it was made, you should carefully think about why this is the case, and decide whether the source is really suitable for use in an academic assignment. If you still decide to include it then use the following guidelines:

No author or editor

Authors and editors can be people or organisations. If neither is given, you can use the source title or URL in your in-text citation instead. You should not use 'Anon' in either your in-text citations or your reference list in Birmingham Newman Harvard.

Using an anonymous source in an in-text citation

A broadside proclaimed it "the greatest number of spectators ever assembled for such an occasion" ( Execution of the Mannings , 1849).

Reference list entry for an anonymous source

Execution of the Mannings (1849) Available at: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:jjohnson:&rft_dat=xri:jjohnson:image:20080125170200kg:1 (Accessed 11 March 2021).

Note how the name of the source has 'jumped' over the date to take the place of the author's name, and matches the in-text citation.

Look carefully for anything that shows when the source was made. On websites, this can be at the very bottom of the page, and on PDFs, you can sometimes find it on the back cover. If there is a copyright statement for the source (e.g. ‘© 2016’), you may use this as the date if no other date is present.

If you still cannot find a date, use the phrase ‘no date’ (without single quotations marks) in both your in-text citation and reference list.

Using 'no date' in an in-text citation

...the remains of a Victorian funicular railway (National Trust, no date).

Reference list entry for a source with no date

National Trust (no date) Chasm explorer. Available at: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/devils-dyke/trails/devils-dyke-histories-and-mysteries-walk (Accessed: 5 September 2019).

People or sources that you need to make anonymous for ethical reasons

For courses involving placements or professional experiences, or if you carry out research in these areas, it’s unethical to name people or organisations directly. You should change the names of people and organisations to code names.

In your research, you used Midtown High School’s Behaviour management policy and Uptown Grammar School’s Pupil code of conduct . In your assignment you might change the name ‘Midtown High School’ to ‘Secondary School A’ and ‘Uptown Grammar School’ to ‘Secondary School B’.

An in-text reference may look like this:

Strategies include working with pupils to create "personalised positive behaviour plans" (Secondary school A, 2015a)...

In an interview, a teacher from Midtown High School says something of interest. You might change the name of the teacher to ‘Teacher A1’ to show that they were from Midtown High School. A teacher from Uptown Grammar School might therefore become ‘Teacher B1’.

Use the code names in all your in-text citations and in your full reference list.

In your reference list entry, you must also remove anything from the publication details that might identify organisations or people – even if this means that you have to leave out parts of the full reference that you would normally include (for example, the URL of the source).

Secondary school A (2017) Behaviour management policy.

Rather than

Secondary school A (2017) Behaviour management policy. Available at http://www.uptown.sch.uk/upload/docs/behaviour-management.pdf (Accessed: 23 May 2019).

Sources that are cited in another source (secondary referencing)

Sometimes, you may want to cite a source that you have not read, but has been summarised, paraphrased or quoted in a source that you’re using.

We call this ‘secondary referencing’.

We recommend that you try to avoid using secondary references: this is because you’re relying on someone else’s interpretation of another person’s idea. The original context of that idea, or the author’s interpretation of it, may not be correct or relevant for your own work. If possible, always read the original work.

In a textbook by Wilson written in 2015, you see a summary of a research project carried out by Khan in 2012. You want to refer to Khan’s work, but you have not read it yourself.

Your in-text citation must include both the name of the author whose ideas you’re using and the year they were published (Khan and 2012), as well as well as the author of the source you have read and its publication year (Wilson and 2015).

Use the phrase ‘cited in’ or ‘quoted in’ depending on how you’re presenting the idea in your work. You must include the dates of both the secondary source and the source you are reading it in.

Several key studies have demonstrated this effect (Khan, 2012, cited in Wilson, 2015).

This effect has been described as “prominent and sustained” over several studies (Khan, 2012, quoted in Wilson, 2015, p.24)

In your reference list, you must only put the full reference for the work you have read (in this example, Wilson). The person reading your assignment will be able to find a full reference to Khan in Wilson’s work.

Multiple pages from the same source, or a quotation that breaks across pages

Each separate quotation or paraphrase that you use should have its own citation. In your work, it is normal to have lots of in-text citations for the same source, each with a different page reference.

When you summarise a source, or a general idea that is discussed in the whole text of a source, you do not need to use page numbers at all. In these cases, the in-text citation will not have a page reference. (Remember that all sources will still need to have a reference list entry!)

Another article explores the theme of childhood in Coleridge's work (Wu, 2012).

There are two instances where you may need to put either a page range or several page numbers in your in-text citation.

When an idea you are paraphrasing is explained in more than one place in the text, or you are connecting two related ideas from the same text into one paraphrase, you can put all of the page numbers you have used and separate them with a semicolon (;) .

Standard Romantic conceptions of free-spiritedness and innocence in childhood lie in stark contrast to the images of new life presented in 'London' (Davies and Patel, 2003, p.23; p.28).

Where an idea you are quoting or paraphrasing breaks across pages (i.e. at the bottom of one and the top of the next), you can use the page range in your in-text citation.

What counts as 'encouragement' and 'prompting' in user testing is a difficult matter to judge (Barnum, 2012, pp.221-222).

You should always use the full page numbers when giving a page range. In the example above, it would have been incorrect to use "pp.221-2".

Your own work from previous assignments or courses

We recommend that you check with your tutor before using any of your previous work as a source for a new assignment. Some programmes or modules have different rules about when it is or is not appropriate to self-reference.

If you want to refer to work that has been marked – whether from your current course or module or not – it is important that you cite this properly in both your in-text citations and in your full reference list.

This is to avoid the trap of ‘self-plagiarism’. When done deliberately, self-plagiarism is an attempt to get ‘double credit’ for submitted work.

To cite yourself, use the same method for in-text citations as for any other source: your own surname and the year.

I reflected on my use of qualitative research methods in my placement portfolio (Satchwell Giles, 2018).

For guidance on how to create your reference list entry, see the guidance on 'Students' own work' in the Reference list: guide and examples.

This guide and referencing examples show you how to reference most of the sources you’re likely to use in your work.

If there isn’t an example that fits what you’re trying to use, try 3 things:

1. Use the book

Our referencing style is based on the principles in Cite them right by Richard Pears and Graham Shields. This book is available from the Library, and we have both print copies that you can borrow as well as an e-book.

CIte them right also contains examples for APA 7th Edition and OSCOLA referencing.

You may find yourself using this book enough over your time with us that it is worth buying your own copy. If you wish to do this, the details are:

Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2022)  Cite them right: the essential referencing guide . 12th edn. London: Bloomsbury Study Skills. ISBN: 9781350933446.

2. Ask an Academic Service Librarian

You can ask Academic Service Librarians for advice on referencing by:

• using our live online chat service during our advertised chat hours
• emailing [email protected].

3. Ask your Module Leader

If a particular reference is causing you trouble, your Module Leader should be able to tell you how they would like you to present it.

Last reviewed: 9 February 2024

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A publication of the harvard college writing program.

Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

• The Honor Code
• In-Text Citation Examples
• When neither the author nor the page number is mentioned in the body of the sentence, you should include both the author’s last name and the page number in the parenthetical citation.

Colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (Jack 24).

• When the author’s name is mentioned in the sentence, you should include only the page number in your parenthetical citation.

As Anthony Jack argues, colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (24).

• If the source you are writing about does not have page numbers, or if you consulted an e-book version of the source, you should include only the author’s name in the parenthetical citation:

Colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (Jack).

• If you mention the author in the body of the sentence and there is no page number in the source, you should not include a parenthetical citation.

As Anthony Jack argues, colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students.

• If you are referring to an entire work rather than a specific page, you do not need to include a page number.

In The Privileged Poor, Anthony Jack describes many obstacles that low-income students face at selective colleges and universities.

• If you are referring to a source that has no listed author, you should include the title (or a shortened version of the title) in your parenthetical citation.

Harvard College promises “to educate the citizens and citizen-leaders for our society” (“Mission, Vision, & History”).

• If you are referring to a source that has two authors, you should include both authors in your parenthetical citation.

The researchers tested whether an intervention during the first year of college could improve student well-being (Walton and Cohen 1448).

• If you refer to a source that has more than two authors, you should include the first author’s name followed by et al. ( Et al. is an abbreviation for et alia which means “and others” in Latin.) When you use et al. in a citation, you should not put it in italics.

The researchers studied more than 12,000 students who were interested in STEM fields (LaCosse et al. 8).

• If you refer to more than one source by the same author in your paper, you should include the title (or a shortened version of the title) in your parenthetical citation so that readers will know which source to look for in your Works Cited list. If you mention the author’s name in the sentence, you only need to include the title and page number. If you mention the author and title in the sentence, you only need to include the page number.

Colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (Jack, Privileged Poor 24).

According to Anthony Jack, colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students ( Privileged Poor 24).

As Anthony Jack writes in Privileged Poor, colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (24).

• If you want to credit multiple authors for making the same point, you can include them all in one parenthetical citation. 

Students who possess cultural capital, measured by proxies like involvement in literature, art, and classical music, tend to perform better in school (Bourdieu and Passeron; Dumais; Orr).

• If you refer to a source that includes line numbers in the margins, numbered paragraphs, numbered chapters, or numbered sections rather than page numbers, you should include the number in your parenthetical citation, along with “line,” “ch./ chs.,” or “sec./secs.”   You can include stable numbering like chapters even when there are no stable page numbers (as in an e-book). You should separate “line” or other designation from the work’s title or author’s name with a comma.  If the source does not include this type of numbering, you should not include it either.

We learn that when he went to the store to buy clothes for his son, “a frantic inspection of the boys’ department revealed no suits to fit the new-born Button” (Fitzgerald, ch.2).

• If you are citing a play, you should include the act and scene along with line numbers (for verse) or page numbers, followed by act and scene, (for prose).

Guildenstern tells Hamlet that “there has been much throwing about of brains” (Shakespeare, 2.2. 381-382).

Chris is in this mindset when he says, “a couple minutes, and your whole life changes, that’s it. It’s gone” (Nottage, 13; act 1, scene1).

• If you are referring to a video or audio recording that contains time stamps, you should include the time in your parenthetical citation to make it easy for your readers to find the part of the recording that you are citing.

In the Stranger Things official trailer, the audience knows that something unusual is going to happen from the moment the boys get on their bicycles to ride off into the night (0:16).

• Citation Management Tools
• In-Text Citations
• Works Cited Format
• Examples of Commonly Cited Sources
• Frequently Asked Questions about Citing Sources in MLA Format
• Sample Works Cited List

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• Harvard In-Text Citation | A Complete Guide & Examples

Harvard In-Text Citation | A Complete Guide & Examples

Published on 30 April 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 5 May 2022.

An in-text citation should appear wherever you quote or paraphrase a source in your writing, pointing your reader to the full reference .

In Harvard style , citations appear in brackets in the text. An in-text citation consists of the last name of the author,  the year of publication, and a page number if relevant.

Up to three authors are included in Harvard in-text citations. If there are four or more authors, the citation is shortened with et al .

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Table of contents

Including page numbers in citations, where to place harvard in-text citations, citing sources with missing information, frequently asked questions about harvard in-text citations.

When you quote directly from a source or paraphrase a specific passage, your in-text citation must include a page number to specify where the relevant passage is located.

Use ‘p.’ for a single page and ‘pp.’ for a page range:

• Meanwhile, another commentator asserts that the economy is ‘on the downturn’ (Singh, 2015, p. 13 ).
• Wilson (2015, pp. 12–14 ) makes an argument for the efficacy of the technique.

If you are summarising the general argument of a source or paraphrasing ideas that recur throughout the text, no page number is needed.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

When incorporating citations into your text, you can either name the author directly in the text or only include the author’s name in brackets.

Naming the author in the text

When you name the author in the sentence itself, the year and (if relevant) page number are typically given in brackets straight after the name:

Naming the author directly in your sentence is the best approach when you want to critique or comment on the source.

Naming the author in brackets

When you  you haven’t mentioned the author’s name in your sentence, include it inside the brackets. The citation is generally placed after the relevant quote or paraphrase, or at the end of the sentence, before the full stop:

Multiple citations can be included in one place, listed in order of publication year and separated by semicolons:

This type of citation is useful when you want to support a claim or summarise the overall findings of sources.

Common mistakes with in-text citations

In-text citations in brackets should not appear as the subject of your sentences. Anything that’s essential to the meaning of a sentence should be written outside the brackets:

• (Smith, 2019) argues that…
• Smith (2019) argues that…

Similarly, don’t repeat the author’s name in the bracketed citation and in the sentence itself:

• As Caulfield (Caulfield, 2020) writes…
• As Caulfield (2020) writes…

Sometimes you won’t have access to all the source information you need for an in-text citation. Here’s what to do if you’re missing the publication date, author’s name, or page numbers for a source.

If a source doesn’t list a clear publication date, as is sometimes the case with online sources or historical documents, replace the date with the words ‘no date’:

When it’s not clear who the author of a source is, you’ll sometimes be able to substitute a corporate author – the group or organisation responsible for the publication:

When there’s no corporate author to cite, you can use the title of the source in place of the author’s name:

No page numbers

If you quote from a source without page numbers, such as a website, you can just omit this information if it’s a short text – it should be easy enough to find the quote without it.

If you quote from a longer source without page numbers, it’s best to find an alternate location marker, such as a paragraph number or subheading, and include that:

A Harvard in-text citation should appear in brackets every time you quote, paraphrase, or refer to information from a source.

The citation can appear immediately after the quotation or paraphrase, or at the end of the sentence. If you’re quoting, place the citation outside of the quotation marks but before any other punctuation like a comma or full stop.

In Harvard referencing, up to three author names are included in an in-text citation or reference list entry. When there are four or more authors, include only the first, followed by ‘ et al. ’

In Harvard style , when you quote directly from a source that includes page numbers, your in-text citation must include a page number. For example: (Smith, 2014, p. 33).

You can also include page numbers to point the reader towards a passage that you paraphrased . If you refer to the general ideas or findings of the source as a whole, you don’t need to include a page number.

When you want to use a quote but can’t access the original source, you can cite it indirectly. In the in-text citation , first mention the source you want to refer to, and then the source in which you found it. For example:

It’s advisable to avoid indirect citations wherever possible, because they suggest you don’t have full knowledge of the sources you’re citing. Only use an indirect citation if you can’t reasonably gain access to the original source.

In Harvard style referencing , to distinguish between two sources by the same author that were published in the same year, you add a different letter after the year for each source:

• (Smith, 2019a)
• (Smith, 2019b)

Add ‘a’ to the first one you cite, ‘b’ to the second, and so on. Do the same in your bibliography or reference list .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2022, May 05). Harvard In-Text Citation | A Complete Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 15 April 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/harvard-in-text-citation/

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Citation Styles Guide: In-text citation

• In-text citations
• Works cited - page formatting and creating an entry
• Works cited - examples
• Annotated bibliographies
• Tables, figures and musical illustrations
• In-text citation
• List of references - general formatting
• List of references - examples
• Tables and figures
• Footnotes and endnotes
• Bibliographies
• Tables and Figures

In-text citation basics: Paraphrasing, summarizing, or direct quotations

Whether you directly quote, paraphrase, or summarize an idea, fact or argument that is not your own, you must include an in-text citation.

All in-text citations must have a corresponding entry on the References list, except for personal communications (personal letters, e-mails, in-person interviews, etc. . .), which only need to be cited in text.

Here are some basic rules for citing sources in-text:

Paraphrasing or summarizing

Whenever paraphrasing or summarizing a source, include the surname of the author(s), a comma, and the year of publication in parentheses at the end of the sentence. The period in the sentence goes after the citation. APA calls this a "parenthetical citation."

example: By linking his work to the memory of the martyred president, Whitman was able to salvage his respectability (Ryan, 2011).

If you name the author in your sentence, place the year of publication in parentheses immediately after the name. APA calls this a "narrative citation."

example: According to Ryan (2011), by linking his work to the memory of the martyred president, Whitman was able salvage his respectability.

APA does not require you to include page numbers when paraphrasing or summarizing. However, this may be required by your teacher, or you may want to include them if you want your reader to be able to find the specific portion of the source that you are paraphrasing. In those cases, include the page number(s) in the parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. Precede the page numbers with "p." for a single page, or "pp." for multiple pages. Put an "en" dash "-" between ranges of numbers, providing only the first and last page in the range. Put commas between discontinuous page numbers (e.g. if you paraphrased content from page 5 and page 8 of a source in a single sentence).

example: By linking his work to the memory of the martyred president, Whitman was able to salvage his respectability (Ryan, 2011, pp. 61-62).

If using a narrative citation, place the page number(s) separately in parentheses at the end of the sentence.

example: According to Ryan (2011), by linking his work to the memory of the martyred president, Whitman was able to salvage his respectability (pp. 61-62).

A direct quotation

If you use a direct quotation from a source, include the author's surname, the year of publication, and the page number(s) in parentheses immediately after the quotation. Precede the page numbers with "p." for a single page, or "pp." for multiple pages. Put an "en" dash "-" between ranges of numbers, providing only the first and last page in the range. Put commas between discontinuous page numbers (e.g. if you quoted content from page 5 and page 8 of a source in a single quotation). APA calls this a "parenthetical citation."

example: While it was asserted that "many parents today believe that they have so many demands on their time that they simply do not have the time to monitor everything their children are doing" (Becker-Olsen & Norberg, 2010, p. 91), there was little evidence of this presented in the study itself.

If you name the author(s) in your sentence prior to the quote, place the year in parentheses immediately after the author(s) name(s). Place the page number(s) in parentheses immediately after the quotation, following the rules for page numbers stated above.

example: While Becker-Olsen and Norberg (2010) noted that "many parents today believe that they have so many demands on their time that they simply do not have the time to monitor everything their children are doing" (p. 91), there was little evidence of this presented in the study itself.

If a quotation appears at the end of a sentence and ends with a period or comma, omit the period or comma from the quotation and place the period after the in-text citation. If the quotation ends with an exclamation point (!) or question mark (?), include them in the quotation, but also place a period after the in-text citation.

Multiple citations for the same source

In APA, include a complete citation every time your paraphrase, summarize or quote from a source, even if you are repeating the citation. Do not use "Ibid." when citing multiple times from the same source in a row. You may, however, omit the year of publication from citations when citing the same source multiple times in the same paragraph. If you start a new paragraph and continue to cite from the same source, you must include the year in the first citation for that source in the new paragraph.

Personal communications

Any work that cannot be recovered by your readers is cited in your text only as a personal communication . This can include emails, text messages, online chats or direct messages, personal interviews (not published and not a participant in your research), telephone conversations, live speeches (no recording available), unrecorded classroom lectures (if lecture notes or PowerPoint slides were not distributed), memos, letters (unpublished), and messages from non-archived discussion groups or bulletin boards.

Only use a personal communication citation when the non-retrievable source is the only source of the information you wish to cite. If it is possible to recover the information elsewhere, cite the recoverable source instead. For example, if you learn about research done on a topic through a telephone conversation, you should track down the research, read it, and cite the research itself. Only cite the conversation itself if it contained new information that cannot be found anywhere else.

example: (M. Flanagan, personal communication, December 16, 2019)

If using a narrative citation, place "personal communication" in the parentheses immediately after the author's name, before the date.

example: M. Flanagan (personal communication, December 16, 2019)

Unless your teacher instructs you to do otherwise, do not include the personal communication in your List of References, as the information you provide will not help your reader retrieve the source.

In-text citation: Variations in authors (multiple authors, group authors, and unknown/unidentified authors)

The following are variations that you will use in your in-text citations to account for sources with multiple authors, group authors, and no known author or anonymous author.

A work with two authors

If the work you are citing has two authors, list the surnames of both authors in the citation. Separate last names with a comma. Place an ampersand (&) before the second author's surname when using a parenthetical citation. You may use "and" between the two surnames for a narrative citation.

example: The study of Hemingway's work became increasingly interesting to women scholars in the 1970s (Broer & Holland, 2002).

In a narrative citation, name both authors, then place the year of publication after the second author's name.

example: Broer and Holland (2002) assert that the study of Hemingway's work became increasingly interesting to women scholars in the 1970s.

A work with three or more authors

If the work has three or more authors, use only the first author's last name, followed by "et al."

example: An aggressive, appropriate, and compassionate care strategy may help reduce suffering and other adverse effects of delirium in older patients (Balas et al., 2012).

In a narrative citation, only list the first author in the sentence, followed by "et al." Then place the year of publication in parentheses after the "et al."

example: Balas et al. (2012) found that an aggressive, appropriate, and compassionate care strategy may help reduce suffering and other adverse effects of delirium in older patients.

The only exception to this rule is if using "et al." will cause ambiguity between sources. For example, if you were using two sources published in the same year that had the same first author, but different second, third, etc. . . authors, you would want to include as many author's names as are necessary to differentiate between the sources.

(Kapoor, Bloom, Montez, et al., 2017) not (Kapoor et al., 2017) (Kapoor, Bloom, Zucker, et al., 2017) not (Kapoor et al., 2017)

Two or more works by the same author

If you happen to be citing two works by the same author, the inclusion of the year in the in-text citation is sufficient for differentiating one work from the other in your text.

example:  Neil Postman is known for his work as a media theorist and cultural critic, particularly his theory about television as a form of mass addiction (Postman, 1985). Later, he would expand his groundbreaking theory on television to incorporate how society treats technology as a whole, seeking "its authorisation in technology, find[ing] its satisfactions in technology, and tak[ing] its orders from technology" (Postman, 1993, p. 71).

In a case where you are using two or more works by the same author that were published in the same year, add a lowercase letter to the end of the year, starting with "a," according to the order in which the works appear in your List of References. In other words, it would be "2000a" for the first work from 2000, then "2000b" for the second work from 2000 by the same author. Only add the letter in cases where you have multiple works by the same author from the same year.

A work with group authors

If a work has a group author (e.g. an association, working group, etc. . .) instead of an individual author, or a combination of group or individual authors, list the group as the author in the in-text citation. You can sometimes abbreviate the name, if the abbreviation is well-known (e.g. "American Psychological Association" as "APA"). Do not create your own abbreviation for the group.

In a parenthetical citation, place the abbreviation in square brackets [ ]. 

example: (American Psychological Association [APA], 2017)

In a narrative citation, place the abbreviation in parentheses, before the year.

example: The American Psychological Association (APA, 2017) states that. . .

After you list the abbreviation in the first citation, you can use the abbreviation in all citations that follow without having to include the full name.

A work with no identified author(s)

When the author(s) is not identified anywhere in your source, include the first few words of the title. Include enough of the title to make it easily identifiable to your reader. Sometimes, you may have to include more than a few words of the title in order to differentiate it from the title of another work that you use. You will have to use your judgment. Place quotation marks around the abbreviated title if it is an article, chapter, or web page. Italicize the title if it is a periodical, book, brochure, or report.

example: "The spill eventually polluted 1,300 miles (2,092 kilometres) of indented shoreline, as well as adjacent waters, as far south as the southern end of Shelikof Strait between Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula" ("Exxon Valdez," 2017).

If you name the title of the work in the sentence, you may place the year in parentheses immediately after the title, just as you would with an author's name.

example : As noted in "Exxon Valdez Oil Spill" (2017), the Valdez was converted to an ore carrier in 2008, and, under the name Oriental Nicety, sold for scrap in 2012.

Note: If the works is explicitly signed as "Anonymous," list "Anonymous" as the author of the work. Do not use the title in place of the author.

In-text citation: Works that do not have or use page numbers

When making a direct quotation from a source that does not include page numbers, or uses an alternative numbering to page numbers, do the following.

For works with canonical numbering (e.g. Book, chapter, verse, act, scene, line, or canto numbers), see In-text citation: Specific rules for Religious works, Classical works, and other works with canonically numbered sections .

A work with no page numbering: Using paragraph numbers

If you are citing a source with no page numbers, headings, or section titles, you should provide a paragraph number. Count paragraphs manually if they are not numbered. Include the abbreviation "para." before the paragraph number.

example: The central Ontario Town of Angus suffered significant damage thanks to a tornado that came through the town on Tuesday, June 18, 2014 (Sieniuc et al., 2014, para. 1).

DO NOT use location numbers from Kindle ebooks and other commercially-available ebook formats. These numbers change depending on screen size and font size, and are unreliable for the purposes of citation.

A work with no page numbering that have headings or section names

Provide the heading or section name to help readers locate the part of the source where you drew you quotation.

example : (Gecht-Silver & Duncombe, 2015, Osteoarthritis section).

Abbreviate the heading or section name in quotation marks to indicate that it is abbreviation if the section name is too long to cite in-text in full. Provide enough of the section name to make it easy to identify and differentiate from other sections in the source.

A work with no page numbers: Using paragraph numbers in addition to heading or section names

It is possible to provide a paragraph number in addition to a heading or section name if you wish to be more specific. When counting paragraphs, count from 1 with the first paragraph of the section where you are citing. If the source provides you with paragraph numbers, provide them.

example: (DeAngelis, 2018, Musical Forays section, para. 4)

Audiovisual works: Time stamps

Audiovisual sources such as films, podcasts, audiobooks and songs will usually have an option to pick a specific time in the source. This specific time is called a "time stamp." When quoting or otherwise referencing something from a specific point in a time stamped audiovisual source, it is important to include the timestamp. Include the time for the beginning of the quotation, and include the hour, minute, and second, separate by colons. If the source is less than an hour long, or if the quotation takes place within the first hour of the source, omit the hour.

Note: If a timestamp is not available in the source that you used, do not try to estimate the time.

example: To which Batman responds "Batman's life lesson number two: vigilantes don't have bedtimes" (Lord, Miller, Lin, Lee, & McKay, 2017, 48:44-45).

In-text citation: Variations in publication dates (translated, reprinted, republished, and reissued works)

When referencing translated, reprinted, republished, or reissued works, include both the year of publication of the original work and the year of publication of the translation, reprint, republication, or reissue. Separate the years with a slash, with the earlier year first.

example: (Thuy 2009/2012)

If you name the author in your sentence, place the years in parentheses immediately after the name as a narrative citation.

example: Thuy (2009/2012)

In-text citation: Specific rules for Religious works, Classical works, and other works with canonically numbered sections (e.g. Shakespeare)

Religious works.

Religious works, such at the Bible, Quran, Torah, or the Bhagavad Gita, are usually treated as having no known author. Instead, name the book in italics , then list the chapter, verse, or line (as available), separated by colons. For the year, list the original publication date of the version or translation you are using, if possible, then the publication date of the copy you are using. Do not use the standard abbreviations for the books of the Bible (e.g. 1 Peter, not 1 Pet.)

example: "Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but one who rejects a rebuke goes astray" ( Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version , 1989/2007, Proverbs 10:17).

Classical works

Classical Greek and Roman works will normally included standardized book and line numbers. Use these instead of page number when citing the work. Separate the book and line numbers (as available) with colons. For the year, since the original publication date of the text is only approximately known, include "ca." (the abbreviation for "circa," which means "approximately") before the year. Use "BCE" ("Before Common Era") with the year number to indicate a work written prior to the first year of the current calendar. Also include the publication date of the version which you are citing.

example: As Odysseus states "Of all that breathes and crawls across the earth, / our mother earth breeds nothing feebler than a man" (Homer, ca. 750 BCE/1996, 19:150-151).

Shakespeare, and other canonically numbered plays

Classic plays such as the works of Shakespeare will normally include standardized Act, Scene, and Line numbers. Use these instead of page numbers when citing the play. Separate Act, Scene, and Line with periods. For the year, list the original publication date of the version or translation you are using, if possible, then the publication date of the copy you are using. Do not use standard abbreviations for the titles of Shakespearean plays (e.g.  Macbeth , not Mac.).

example: As the second witch says in the opening line's of Macbeth "When the hurly-burly's done, / When the battle's lost and won" (Shakespeare, 1623/1997, 1.1.3-4).

In-text citation: Citing a secondary source (Citing a source that is cited by the source you read)

Whenever possible, always use the original source for any information you use in your essay. However, sometimes it isn't possible to find the original source (e.g. the source is out of print, unavailable through the Library, or not available in a language you can read). In those cases, APA allows you to cite the information from what it calls a secondary source . A secondary source is a book, article, etc, that quotes or references a piece of information, but is not the original source of that information. When citing a secondary source of information, use the following format:

(the name of the author or title if author is unknown, the year of the original source (if available), as cited in the name of the author of the secondary source, year of publication of the secondary source, page numbers)

example: Miriam Makeba was once dubbed the "Star of Venice" ( Drum , 1959, as cited in Feldstein, 2013, p. 56).

In this example, the October 1959 issue of Drum  magazine is the original source of the quote about Miriam Makeba. Since we couldn't find a copy of  Drum , we used a book by Feldstein, which is where we first found the quote.

If the year of the primary source is unknown, leave it out of the in-text citation.

If you name the primary source in the sentence, place the year for the primary source immediately after the author (or title, if the author is unknown). Place "as cited in," followed by the secondary source author(s)' last name, followed by the year of the secondary source, and the page number where the primary source is cited.

example: Drum (1959) once dubbed Miriam Makeba the "Star of Venice" (as cited in Feldstein, 2013, p. 56).

In-text citation : Indigenous Elders or Knowledge Keepers

APA citation only provides guidance for citing Indigenous Elders or Knowledge Keepers as a "personal communication." However, Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers hold a significant role as carriers of knowledge and history for their respective Nations or Communities, they should not be treated in the same fashion as an email or a phone call. Therefore, in the spirit of reconciliation, NorQuest College Library has developed the following template, which Marianopolis College Library recommends for use in your work.

Unlike most personal communications, Indigenous Elders or Knowledge Keepers should be cited both in-text and in your List of References. For List of References formatting, see our examples page .

Note : If you would like to approach an Elder or Knowledge Keeper for teachings, remember to follow protocol or if you are unsure what their protocol is, please ask them ahead of time.

example (Elder/Knowledge Keeper names in your text): Delores Cardinal (2018) described the nature of the....

example (Elder/Knowledge Keeper  not named in your text): The nature of the place was... (Cardinal, 2018).

In-text citations: Index

• In-text citation basics: Paraphrasing, summarizing, or direct quotations Basic formatting for in-text citation.
• In-text citation: Variation in authors (multiple authors, group authors, and unknown/unidentified authors) Outlines how to cite works with multiple authors, group authors, and unknown or unidentified authors.
• In-text citation: Works that do not have or use page numbers Outlines what to do if your source does not have page numbers.
• In-text citation: Variations in publication dates (translated, reprinted, republished, and reissued works) Outlines what to do regarding publication dates for translated, reprinted, republished, or reissued works.
• In-text citation: Specific rules for Religious works, Classical works, and other works with canonically numbered sections (e.g. Shakespeare) Outlines how to cite Religious texts, Classical Greek or Roman texts, or other canonically numbered works, such as Shakespeare.
• In-text citation: Citing a secondary source (citing a source that is cited by the source you read Outlines how to cite a source that is quoted or paraphrased in a source that you are using for your work.
• In-text citation: Indigenous Elders or Knowledge Keepers Outlines how to cite Indigenous Elders or Knowledge Keepers in-text, as developed by NorQuest College Library.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed.

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association: The official guide to APA style , 7th edition, published by the American Psychological Association, is the authoritative guide to APA style. It is designed to be used by anyone that uses APA style in their work, from students to researchers. However, there are specific sections in the guide that detail the streamlined formatting that should be used for student work. Copies of the Publication Manual are available at the Reserve Desk in the Library.

Additional resources for APA style, 7th ed.

• APA Style - American Psychological Association Official Site (Website)
• OWL at Purdue: APA Citation Formatting and Style Guide (Website)
• << Previous: American Psychological Association (APA) - 7th ed.
• Next: List of references - general formatting >>
• Last Updated: Apr 10, 2024 3:39 PM
• URL: https://libguides.marianopolis.edu/citation

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / MLA Format / How to Cite a Report in MLA

How to Cite a Report in MLA

Citing a report.

Report – A document containing the findings of an individual or group. Can include a technical paper, publication, issue brief, or working paper.

Report Citation Structure

Last, First M. Report Title . Publisher, date published, URL (if applicable).

Note: If the author and publisher of the report are the same, start your citation with the title of the report instead. 

First Page of Report

Report Citation Example:

Gorbunova, Yulia and Konstantin Baranov. Laws of Attrition: Crackdown on Russia’s Civil Society After Putin’s Return to the Presidency . Human Rights Watch, 2013.

Report In-text Citation Structure:

(Author Last Name(s) Page #)

Report In-text Citation Example: 

(Gorbunova and Konstantin 4)

MLA Formatting Guide

MLA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Sample Paper
• Works Cited
• MLA 8 Updates
• MLA 9 Updates
• View MLA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all MLA Examples

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To cite a report in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the author or the organization name, title of the report, and publication year. The templates for in-text citations and works-cited-list entries of a report, along with examples, are given below:

Report created and published by the same organization

In-text citation template and example:

Use the organization’s name in both prose and parenthetical citation.

Citation in prose: Pew Research Center

Parenthetical: (Pew Research Center)

Works-cited-list entry template and example:

Title of the Chapter . Organization Name, Publication Date.

Audio and Podcasting Fact Sheet . Pew Research Center, July 2018.

Different authors and publisher

Use the below template when the author and publisher are different. For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues.” In subsequent citations, use only the surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues.” In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the first author followed by “et al.”

Citation in prose:

First instance: Kim Parker and others . . . Or Kim Parker and colleagues

Subsequent occurrences: Parker and others . . . Or Parker and colleagues

Parenthetical:

. . . (Parker et al.)

Surname, First Name, et al. Title of the Report . Organization Name, Publication Date, URL.

Parker, Kim, et al. About Half of Lower-Income Americans Report Household Job or Wage Loss Due to COVID-19 . Pew Research Center, Apr. 2020, www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/ 04 /21/about-half-of-lower-income-americans-report-household-job-or-wage-loss-due-to-covid-19/ .

To cite a government document in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the author or the organization name, title of the document, and publication year. The templates for in-text citations and works-cited-list entries of a government document, along with examples, are given below:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the author in the first occurrence. In subsequent citations, use only the surname. In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the author.

First mention: Ferdinand Hayden . . .

Subsequent occurrences: Hayden . . .

. . . (Hayden)

Surname, First Name. Title of the Government Document . Organization Name, Publication Date.

Hayden, Ferdinand. Preliminary Report of the United States Geological Survey of Montana and Portions of Adjacent Territories . Government Printing Office, 1872.

MLA Citation Examples

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In-Text Citations: Author/Authors

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Though the APA's author-date system for citations is fairly straightforward, author categories can vary significantly from the standard "one author, one source" configuration. There are also additional rules for citing authors of indirect sources, electronic sources, and sources without page numbers.

A Work by One Author 

The APA manual recommends the use of the author-date citation structure for in-text citation references. This structure requires that any in-text citation (i.e., within the body of the text) be accompanied by a corresponding reference list entry. In the in-text citation provide the surname of the author but do not include suffixes such as "Jr.". 

Citing Non-Standard Author Categories

A work by two authors.

Name both authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses each time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in parentheses.

A Work by Three or More Authors

List only the first author’s name followed by “et al.” in every citation, even the first, unless doing so would create ambiguity between different sources.

In  et al. , et  should not be followed by a period. Only "al" should be followed by a period.

If you’re citing multiple works with similar groups of authors, and the shortened “et al” citation form of each source would be the same, you’ll need to avoid ambiguity by writing out more names. If you cited works with these authors:

They would be cited in-text as follows to avoid ambiguity:

Since et al. is plural, it should always be a substitute for more than one name. In the case that et al. would stand in for just one author, write the author’s name instead.

Unknown Author

If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks. APA style calls for capitalizing important words in titles when they are written in the text (but not when they are written in reference lists).

Note : In the rare case that "Anonymous" is used for the author, treat it as the author's name (Anonymous, 2001). In the reference list, use the name Anonymous as the author.

Organization as an Author

If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source, just as you would an individual person.

If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, you may include the abbreviation in brackets the first time the source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations. However, if you cite work from multiple organizations whose abbreviations are the same, do not use abbreviations (to avoid ambiguity).

Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses

When your parenthetical citation includes two or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list (viz., alphabetically), separated by a semi-colon.

If you cite multiple works by the same author in the same parenthetical citation, give the author’s name only once and follow with dates. No date citations go first, then years, then in-press citations.

Authors with the Same Last Name

To prevent confusion, use first initials with the last names.

Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year

If you have two sources by the same author in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in the reference list. Use the lower-case letters with the year in the in-text citation.

Introductions, Prefaces, Forewords, and Afterwords

When citing an Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterword in-text, cite the appropriate author and year as usual.

Personal Communication

For interviews, letters, e-mails, and other person-to-person communication, cite the communicator's name, the fact that it was personal communication, and the date of the communication. Do not include personal communication in the reference list.

If using a footnote to reference personal communication, handle citations the same way.

Traditional Knowledge of Indigenous Peoples

When citing information you learned from a conversation with an Indigenous person who was not your research participant, use a variation of the personal communication citation above. Include the person’s full name, nation or Indigenous group, location, and any other relevant details before the “personal communication, date” part of the citation.

Citing Indirect Sources

Generally, writers should endeavor to read primary sources (original sources) and cite those rather than secondary sources (works that report on original sources). Sometimes, however, this is impossible. If you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source in your signal phrase. List the secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the parentheses. If you know the year of the original source, include it in the citation.

Electronic Sources

If possible, cite an electronic document the same as any other document by using the author-date style.

Unknown Author and Unknown Date

If no author or date is given, use the title in your signal phrase or the first word or two of the title in the parentheses and use the abbreviation "n.d." (for "no date").

Sources Without Page Numbers

When an electronic source lacks page numbers, you should try to include information that will help readers find the passage being cited. Use the heading or section name, an abbreviated heading or section name, a paragraph number (para. 1), or a combination of these.

Note:  Never use the page numbers of webpages you print out; different computers print webpages with different pagination. Do not use Kindle location numbers; instead, use the page number (available in many Kindle books) or the method above. 

Other Sources

The  APA Publication Manual  describes how to cite many different kinds of authors and content creators. However, you may occasionally encounter a source or author category that the manual does not describe, making the best way to proceed unclear.

In these cases, it's typically acceptable to apply the general principles of APA citation to the new kind of source in a way that's consistent and sensible. A good way to do this is to simply use the standard APA directions for a type of source that resembles the source you want to cite. For example, a sensible way to cite a virtual reality program would be to mimic the APA's guidelines for computer software.

You may also want to investigate whether a third-party organization has provided directions for how to cite this kind of source.