Find examples and rules for citing texts that fit these categories:
- A Book with One Author: Citing part of a work
- A Book with One Author: Citing an entire work
- The dictionary and thesaurus
- Book of Quotations
- Shakespeare and The Bible
- A Poem on a Website, Originally Found in a Printed Book (like on Bartleby.com)
- A Poem or Article Found on a Website, with no Corresponding Print Source Given.
General Rules for In Text Citations
RULE #1: EVERY TIME YOU USE IDEAS OR INFORMATION FROM EXPERT SOURCES – WHETHER THIS INFORMATION IS DIRECTLY QUOTED, PARAPHRASED, OR SUMMARIZED – YOU MUST INCLUDE A CITATION.
In-text Citations
There are two basic ways to cite in text: within the sentence, or parenthetically at the end of the sentence.
1. Citing your sources within your sentence: use a title and author. Sometimes it is customary to use only an author.
Ex: In the novel Angel of Harlem by Kuwana Halsey, the main character May sets her sights on being a doctor. But as she works hard to follow this dream, she loses touch with her father, and eventually loses her fiancé, leaving her for the most part alone.
2. Citing in parentheses: Use the author’s last name and the page number (if available) of the reference in parentheses. However, at times, either one or both of these is not available. Look at your works cited page. What is listed first – a title or an author? The title of an entry? The first item in the Works Cited entry is what determines the content of the in-text citation. If the work is listed by title, use the title in shortened form. (Preserve italics and/or quotation marks.)
Ex: Success is defined as “the particular fortune (good or bad) befalling anyone in a particular situation” (“Success,” OED, def. 1).
Notes
In-text Citations
There are two basic ways to cite in text: within the sentence, or parenthetically at the end of the sentence.
1. Citing your sources within your sentence: use a title and author. Sometimes it is customary to use only an author.
Ex: In the novel Angel of Harlem by Kuwana Halsey, the main character May sets her sights on being a doctor. But as she works hard to follow this dream, she loses touch with her father, and eventually loses her fiancé, leaving her for the most part alone.
2. Citing in parentheses: Use the author’s last name and the page number (if available) of the reference in parentheses. However, at times, either one or both of these is not available. Look at your works cited page. What is listed first – a title or an author? The title of an entry? The first item in the Works Cited entry is what determines the content of the in-text citation. If the work is listed by title, use the title in shortened form. (Preserve italics and/or quotation marks.)
Ex: Success is defined as “the particular fortune (good or bad) befalling anyone in a particular situation” (“Success,” OED, def. 1).
Notes
- In-text citations act as links between the body of your paper and your Works Cited page. These links tell the reader that certain pieces of information are not your original ideas. They are ideas taken from expert sources.
- Keep the parenthetical citations as brief, and few, as clarity and accuracy permit. Avoid repetition with what is in the text, and work to place in-text citations at a natural pausing place, such as the end of a sentence, so as not to unnecessarily interrupt the flow of your writing.
- Citations for the dictionary, Shakespeare and The Holy Bible are special: these will be explained more fully in this handbook.
- All sources cited in-text in your paper should be listed in the Works Cited section of your paper. There should be no extra sources on your Works Cited page which do not appear in your paper. An exception to this is if you used a source to aid in your understanding of another source, e.g. Sparknotes should be cited if you used it to understand your Shakespeare reference.
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR FOLLOWING THESE NIT-PICKY FORMATTING RULES REGARDING DOCUMENTATION!
1. All punctuation for a sentence or phrase you are citing follows the citation.
YES! : As Bernard Shaw quipped, “All great truths began as blasphemies” (Bartlett 145).
NO! : As Bernard Shaw quipped, “All great truths began as blasphemies.” (Bartlett 145)
2. Obviously, web pages don’t have page numbers, so cite in text or in parentheses by author or title, and omit page numbers.
3. Rules for italicizing and quotation marks carry over inside parentheses! For example, if you have to cite by title in parentheses because you have no author, book titles should be italicized; poems, songs, and article titles should be in quotation marks.
4. If you have to cite in parentheses by title, only use the first 2 or 3 words of a title to keep the citation short.
5. If you have listed the author and text once, and you cite the same person or text directly after, you do not need to repeat the information. Simply cite the page number, or if no page number, the author’s last name or the title of work.
Example: No English dictionary existed at the time Shakespeare wrote his plays (Winchester 80). In fact, Shakespeare iscredited with creating words and phrases in the English vernacular (176).
This tells me this is from the same source, just a different page.
1. All punctuation for a sentence or phrase you are citing follows the citation.
YES! : As Bernard Shaw quipped, “All great truths began as blasphemies” (Bartlett 145).
NO! : As Bernard Shaw quipped, “All great truths began as blasphemies.” (Bartlett 145)
2. Obviously, web pages don’t have page numbers, so cite in text or in parentheses by author or title, and omit page numbers.
3. Rules for italicizing and quotation marks carry over inside parentheses! For example, if you have to cite by title in parentheses because you have no author, book titles should be italicized; poems, songs, and article titles should be in quotation marks.
4. If you have to cite in parentheses by title, only use the first 2 or 3 words of a title to keep the citation short.
5. If you have listed the author and text once, and you cite the same person or text directly after, you do not need to repeat the information. Simply cite the page number, or if no page number, the author’s last name or the title of work.
Example: No English dictionary existed at the time Shakespeare wrote his plays (Winchester 80). In fact, Shakespeare iscredited with creating words and phrases in the English vernacular (176).
This tells me this is from the same source, just a different page.