Citations in the text

From UVA Writing Center

Identify the author's last name and the page number in parentheses at the end of a sentence. The author must refer to a source that is listed in the Works Cited page. 

Don't put a comma or "p." between the author and page number.  The period comes after the parentheses: (Shakespeare 15).

1. When the Works Cited Page contains only one work by an author you are citing, the in-text citation should include only the author’s last name and the page number:

Some critics see Planet of the Apes as prophetic of the destruction that racial prejudice can cause (McConnell 68).

Note: If you mention the author’s name in your sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical reference.

McConnell sees Planet of the Apes as prophetic of the destruction that racial prejudice
can cause (68).

2. When the Works Cited page contains more than one work by an author you are citing, the in-text citation should either mention the work in the text or include the title (if brief) or a
shortened version of the title within the parenthetical reference:

In Storytelling and Mythmaking, McConnell sees interesting similarities between Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible and Virgil’s Aeneid (78).

McConnell sees interesting similarities between Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible and Virgil’s Aeneid (Storytelling 78).

3. When the Works Cited page includes different authors with the same last name, the in-text citation should include either the author’s complete name in the text or the author’s first initial along with the last name and the page number in the parenthetical reference:

According to Brian McConnell, Gandhi’s teachings have had no significant impact on the development of modern India (268).

Some historians argue that Gandhi’s teachings have not had a significant impact on the development of modern India (B. McConnell 268).

4. When there are two or three authors or editors, the in-text citation should include each last name:

Collective bargaining has increased the faculty’s role in campus decision-making (Mortimer and McConnell 103).

Mortimer and McConnell believe that collective bargaining has helped faculty gain power in the campus decision-making process (103).

5. When there are more than three authors or editors, the in-text citation should include the first author’s last name and either mention “the coauthors” or “coeditors” in the text or follow it with “et al.” (Do not type the quotation marks shown here.) in the parenthetical reference.

6. When the work has no author, then the in-text citation should include the title in the text and the page number in parentheses or a shortened form of the title and the page number in the parentheses:

The introduction of Chinese writing had a significant impact on the development and preservation of ancient Korean mythology (Handbook 282).

According to the Handbook of Korea, Chinese writing played a significant role in the development and preservation of ancient Korean mythology (282).

7. When the work you cite quotes another author, the parenthetical citation should include the abbreviation “qtd. in,” before the author’s name and page number. Note, however, that the
preference is to use original sources if possible: Henry James held Balzac in “great esteem” (qtd. in Edel 242).

8. When the work cited is part of a larger anthology, your parenthetical citation should include the name of the author of the work rather than the editor of the anthology.