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Essay Writing: In-Text Citations

The Monroe College Guide to Essay Writing presents the information necessary to write effective essays.

Essay Writing Basics Choosing/Narrowing Your Topic Paragraphs and Transitions Sources

Formatting Your References Page In-Text Citations Common Grammatical and Mechanical Errors Plagiarism

Additional Resources Proofread Before You Submit Your Paper Structuring the 5-Paragraph Essay

Using In-text Citations

You must cite all information used in your paper, whenever and
wherever you use it.
When citing sources in the body of your paper, list the author’s last name only (no initials) and the year the
information was published, like this:

(Dodge, 2008).

(Author, Date).

If you use a direct quote, add the page number to your citation, like this: 

(Dodge, 2008, p. 125).

(Author, Date, page number)

 
 In-text Citation Tutorial
 Formatting In-text Citations, Full
Citations, and Block Quotes In APA
7 Style
This presentation will help you
understand when, why, and how to
use in-text citations in your APA
style paper.
Download the In-text Citations
presentation  (above) for an in-
depth look at how to correctly cite
your sources in the text of your
paper.
What is Plagiarism?
Defining and
Understanding Plagiarism
- an important concept in the
research and writing process.
From the Plagiarism.org
Website:
According to the Merriam-
Webster Online Dictionary,
to "plagiarize" means
Cite All Sources Twice: In Text and on Your References Page
 
Examples of in-text citations:
Direct Quote: Dodge (2008) states that "academic success, as measured by GPA,
is largely predicated on the number of hours undergraduates invest in their studies"
(p. 125). 
Paraphrase: Dodge (2008) found that students who study for exams have higher
GPAs.
Summary: Students who study for exams have higher GPAs (Dodge, 2008).
In order to avoid plagiarism (using others' ideas without giving
them credit - not allowed), each source you use in your
paper must be cited in two places: 
in-text and
in the References page.
Bear in mind:
The in-text citation is very simple: (Author, year) - it generally only consists of the
author’s last name, a comma, and the year of publication.
The in-text citation has only the author’s last name - no initials! 
Always include the year of publication.
The in-text citation is used as a signal that you are citing research - using evidence
you’ve found that supports or amplifies a point you wish to make in your paper.
*** IMPORTANT***
The in-text citation points the reader to the full citation on your References page.
For this reason, it is important that the first word of the in-text citation matches the
first word of the full citation on the References page.
 to steal and pass off (the
ideas or words of another)
as one's own
to use (another's
production) without
crediting the source
to commit literary theft
to present as new and
original an idea or product
derived from an existing
source

In other words, plagiarism is an

act of fraud. It involves both
stealing someone else's work and
lying about it afterward.

All of the following are

considered plagiarism:

turning in someone else's

work as your own
copying words or ideas
from someone else without
giving credit
failing to put a quotation in
quotation marks
giving incorrect information
about the source of a
quotation
 
changing words but
copying the sentence
structure of a source
For Long Quotations (Over 40 Words), use
without giving credit Block Quotes:
copying so many words or From the APA Style Blog
ideas from a source that it
Format quotations of 40 words or more as block quotations:

makes up the majority of

 
your work, whether you
give credit or not (see our id="docs-internal-guid-36d1d7ea-7fff-eb8b-bc43-e7a3b9c84f0b">Do

section on "fair use" rules) not use quotation marks to enclose a block quotation.

Start a block quotation on a new line and indent the whole block 0.5 in.
from the left margin.

Double-space the entire block quotation.

Do not add extra space before or after it.

 Links to cite it for you: If there are additional paragraphs within the quotation, indent the first
line of each subsequent paragraph an additional 0.5 in. 

Either (a) cite the source in parentheses after the quotation’s final
CiteFast RECOMMENDED  punctuation or (b) cite the author and year in the narrative before the
CiteFast citation generator quotation and place only the page number in parentheses after the
provides both complete APA quotation’s final punctuation.
Citations and also pre-
Do not add a period after the closing parenthesis in either case.
formatted In-text Citations.

 - KnightCite Citation Service  

Sample Block Quote:
KnightCite is an online citation
generator service provided by
(Left margin)►Researchers have studied how people talk to themselves:
the Hekman Library of Calvin
(Inset Block paragraph)►      Inner speech is a paradoxical phenomenon. It is an
College.
experience that is central to many
- Purdue Owl
people’s everyday lives, and yet it presents considerable
The rules of how to use in-text
challenges to any effort to study it scientifically.

citations and cite anything tricky

for MLA or APA papers.​ Nevertheless, a wide range of methodologies and approaches
have combined to shed light on the

- Scribber APA Citation Generator

subjective experience of inner speech and its cognitive and
- Worldcat (for citing printed books)
neural underpinnings. (Alderson-Day

Find your book and click on the & Fernyhough, 2015, p. 957)
“cite” tool at the top right of the
screen. (Left margin)►Those who wish to study the experience of inner speech are thus
presented with a unique dilemma.

NEW in 7th Edition: According to the APA's most recent

guidelines: 

Works by 3 or more authors should be cited in-text using the

et al. designation:

Number Authors Parenthetical

Narrative

In-text In-text
Citation Citation

1 author Forshee, J. (2015). (Forshee, Forshee

2015) (2015)

2 Forshee, J., & (Forshee & Forshee &

authors Williams P. (2016). Williams, Williams
2016) (2016)
 3 or Forshee, J., Williams, (Forshee et Forshee et
Narrative vs Parenthetical
more P., & Agnelli, A. al., 2017) al. (2017)
Citation
authors (2017).
Narrative vs Parenthetical In-
 
text citations:

A narrative citation gives the

In-Text Citation Quiz
author name as part of
the sentence.

Narrative citation:
According to Hartmann
(2003), although the
movement drew widespread
criticism, it also led to
fundamental reforms in the
organizational structure of
American amateur athletics.

A parenthetical citation gives
the source information first or last,
but not as part of the
narrative flow.

Parenthetical
citation: Although Tommie
Smith and John Carlos paid a
heavy price in the immediate
aftermath of the protests, they
were later vindicated by
society at large (Hartmann,
2003).
 SIgnal Phrase Activity

Paraphrasing Activity from the Excelsior OWL

Paraphrasing Activity
This activity will give you some practice with
paraphrasing, which is an important but
sometimes tricky part of integrating your
sources into your writing.

Start Activity
 Helpful Presentations

Presentation: How to Use the Databases

 Database Search Strategies & 7th Ed. APA Formatting.pd

ld.php

Formatting In-text Citations, Full Citations, and Block Quotes

In APA 7 Style
 Formatting In-text Citations, Full Citations, and Block Quotes In APA 7 Style
This presentation will help you understand when, why, and how to use in-text citations in your APA style paper.

ld.php

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