In-text Citations
In-text citations are used in the body of a paper to show which sources a student used to support
their argument.
When you use material from a source—whether paraphrasing, summarizing, or directly quoting
—you need to document that source by using an in-text citation which corresponds to a source in
your reference section. All paraphrases, summaries, and quotes must be cited and referenced. If
they are not, then your use of the material is considered plagiarism which, of course, can have
SERIOUS ACADEMIC CONSEQUENCES.
Rules for In-Text Citation
1) In-text citations should include the author’s name, if available, and the year of
publication.
2) Cite the last name of the author first followed by the year of publication. Do this each
time you use any material from that author (in the form of a paraphrase, summary,
direct quote, etc). This citation can be placed at the end of a sentence, or it can be
incorporated into the grammatical structure of the sentence.
Examples:
Thorough research has concluded that working out is a super fun way to spend an
afternoon (Sanders, 2016).
According to researcher Ryan Sanders (2016) working out is a super fun way to
spend an afternoon.
3) For a work by two authors, cite both last names followed by year on every reference.
Examples:
(Sanders & Hoffnung, 2016)
According to Sanders and Hoffnung (2016)...
4) For a work by three to five authors, cite all the last names followed by year on the first
reference, and the first author's last name followed by “et al” and then year on every
subsequent in-text citation.
Examples:
(Sanders, Hoffnung, & Hammond 2016)
(Sanders et al., 2016)
5) For a work by six or more authors, cite the last name of the first author followed by “et
al.” and the year for all your in-text citations.
Examples:
(Sanders et al. 2016)
According to Sanders et al. (2016)...
6) If no author exists for the source, use the first few words of the title for your in-text
citations.
Examples:
Research shows that statistically, he who works out probably has, in fact, being on
a diet (“Diet Daily,” 2016)
7) If the material is a direct quote, the page or paragraph number of the source should
immediately follow.
Examples:
“Welcome to Healthcare IT.” (author , year, page number).
8) Quotations with 40 or more words should be in block format.
A. Do not put a block quote in quotation marks.
B. Start a block quote on a new line.
C. Indent the ENTIRE block 0.5 inches from the left margin (in the same position as
a new paragraph).
D. Additional paragraphs within a block quote should have the first line indented an
additional 0.5 inches.
E. The in-text citation for a block quote is placed outside the final punctuation at the
very end of the quote.
F. Double space, just like the rest of the paper.