When you use information, provide a quote, or make reference to a source, you need to use an in-text citation at the end of the sentence or paragraph. The in-text citation ‘points’ to the full citation listed in your Works Cited.
In-Text Citation: The in-text citation goes at the end of the sentence (inside the end punctuation) and it generally includes the author’s last name and the page number.
Here’s an essay excerpt that uses a quote from The Lovely Bones and shows a parenthetical reference at the end of the sentence:
Jack Salmon is the parent who turns towards his family for healing. For Jack, in order “to get the blood back in his heart, he needed his child,” and this is why Buckley helps him the most in the wake of Susie’s death (Sebold 68).
Notice that the reference is inside the end punctuation.
The name listed at the beginning of the in-text citation (in this case ‘Sebold’) is what the reader will look for on the Works Cited page at the end of the paper.
If you reference the author’s name in the text of your essay, you only need to provide the page number in your in-text citation. See the difference:
Sebold suggests that family connections play a role in healing, and Jack needed Buckley “to get the blood back in his heart” in the wake of Susie’s death (68).
Your ‘Works Cited’:
Your ‘Works Cited’ page will have more complete information about the source, and it is located at the end of your project on a separate piece of paper. In general, your citations use a similar format.
The full citation for The Lovely Bones would look like this:
Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones. Little, Brown, and Company, 2002.
You can see that this follows a general format for a book:
Author Last Name, First Name or Initial. Title. Publisher, Publication Date.
More Formats
Here is the general format for a website
Author. “Title of Web page, posting or article.” Title of Web Site, Publisher (if applicable), Publication Date, Location (URL). Date of Access.
Note: If you do not see a website author you can use the term ‘editors’ or ‘contributors’ added to the website host. Here are two examples: ‘Wikipedia Contributors’ or ‘PBS Editors’. This will help you alphabetize your Works Cited.
Different resources will have different requirements for their citation, so be sure to check your format is correct.
Sources are listed in alphabetical order according to the author’s last name. Double space your entries and indent subsequent lines for the same entry. If you have trouble formatting entries this way, you can present entries the way you see here:
Works Cited
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1999. Print.
Dallaire, Rome, and Brent Beardsley. Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda. Toronto: Random House Canada, 2003. Print.
Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 2002. Print.
Viner, Katharine. “Above and Beyond.” The Guardian. 24 Aug. 2002,https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/aug/24/fiction.features. 21 May 2015.
More on ‘Works Cited’:
At the end of your essay, you need to provide a list of the resources you used (your ‘citations’) under the heading ‘Works Cited’.
Different resources will have different requirements for their citation, so be sure to check your format is correct.
As you create your ‘Works Cited’ list, remember to list your sources alphabetically and leave a space between each.
General Rules for Citation:
- The list of Works Cited must be on a new page at the end of your essay or paper.
- Entries are arranged alphabetically by the author’s last name or by the title if there is no author
- Titles are italicized (not underlined) and all important words should be capitalized
- Each entry must include the publication medium. Examples include: Print, Web, DVD, and Television.
Looking for More Information?
You can refer to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers in the library, or there are some useful guides online.
UBC has an excellent guide that provides examples of citations for a wide range of sources. It also provides useful examples for parenthetical references and different approaches to in-text citations:
