DOCUMENTATION
In-Text Citations
Writer's goals are always partly persuasive. To be persuasive, writer's support their ideas with ideas and facts obtained from experts in the field. This is, in part, published information. This information provides proof or at least evidence and support for the points made in the text. This page deals with various formatting situations for letting readers know as they read what information is borrowed (quoted, summarized, or paraphrased). This in-text documentation information serves three purposes:
Make In-Text Citations Work for You
1. In 1997, Fred Smith brought the security problem to our attention.
2. In 1997, Fred Smith stated that "Boston will be the next office affected by this virus" (p. 3).
3. Fred Smith, our security contractor, warned large companies about a nasty virus that could penetrate most firewalls (1997, p. 4).
4. Fred Smith's philosophy of ying-yang thinking helps him focus his thinking (1997).
CORRECT. Fred Smith, our security contractor, warned large companies about a nasty virus that could penetrate most firewalls (1997, p. 4) He went on to claim that he had an answer to this problem for a reasonable price (p.6). Smith's ying-yang philosophy of life helps him focus his thinking so that he makes the connections that allow him to write anti-virus code.
Punctuating in-text citations
Personal Communications & Interviews
2. Personal Communication
3. The date of that personal communication
- It points to the reference list entry by using the same first word. That is normally the first author's last name.
- It provides the publication date because the reader will be interested in how current the materials are.
- It provides the location in the resource for the quotation or idea if it was on a single page or in a single paragraph. This is normally a page number. If no page number is available, a paragraph number is used. If a paragraph number is too high (more than six) another scheme such as heading plus paragraph number is used. If the whole source document is being summarized or paraphrased, then location information is meaningless and is not used.
Make In-Text Citations Work for You
- Please note that source material should always be introduced prior to its inclusion. If a page number will not be necessary, an introduction can provide sufficient information for the in-text citation to be only in the sentence with no parenthetical citation. If a page number is necessary, the parenthetical part of the citation may contain only the page number.
1. In 1997, Fred Smith brought the security problem to our attention.
2. In 1997, Fred Smith stated that "Boston will be the next office affected by this virus" (p. 3).
3. Fred Smith, our security contractor, warned large companies about a nasty virus that could penetrate most firewalls (1997, p. 4).
4. Fred Smith's philosophy of ying-yang thinking helps him focus his thinking (1997).
- In each paragraph, when an additional citation is needed, avoid repeating information.
CORRECT. Fred Smith, our security contractor, warned large companies about a nasty virus that could penetrate most firewalls (1997, p. 4) He went on to claim that he had an answer to this problem for a reasonable price (p.6). Smith's ying-yang philosophy of life helps him focus his thinking so that he makes the connections that allow him to write anti-virus code.
Punctuating in-text citations
- When the in-text citation occurs somewhere in the middle of the sentence (xxx), the only punctuation are the parentheses.
- When the in-text citation occurs at the end of the sentence, the period follows the closing parenthesis: (xxx).
- When the in-text citation occurs at the end of a quotation at the end of a sentence, the closing quotation mark indicates where the quotation ends, the in-text citation comes next, and the last item is the closing period: blah blah" (xxx).
- For block quotations (quoting 40+ words), quotation marks are not used. At the end of a block quote, place the period at the end of the last sentence and follow that with the parenthetical information.
Personal Communications & Interviews
- Sometimes interview transcripts are provided in an appendix, and in that case the in-text citation refers to the appendix.
- Mail, email, telephone calls, and personal visits are personal communications. They cannot be "looked up" by a reader. Therefore they are not included in the references list, but they are documented in-text. The personal communication documentation contains three elements:
2. Personal Communication
3. The date of that personal communication
- Like regular in-text citations, some of the elements may be provided in the introduction. In that case you do not need to enclose the information in parenthesis. If any element is not included in the introduction, that element must be included at the end of the sentence and enclosed in parenthesis.
For Discussion
Consider the importance of the reference list pointer. Usually the author's last name, this word must match the first word in the reference list entry. While most undergraduate school papers do not include more than a page of reference entries, graduate and professional writing may include many pages of reference entries. The exact match of the pointer and first word of the reference is vital for the reader seeking the full documentation information. Which audience type(s) would be interested in actually locating source material in your documents?
Copyright 2012
Ida L. Rodgers, See terms on Course Style Guide Home page.
Copyright 2012
Ida L. Rodgers, See terms on Course Style Guide Home page.