In-text citations, also known as parenthetical citations, give credit to the original source within the written text. Parenthetical citations must match a source listed in the "Works Cited" page at the end of the document. The citation within parentheses includes identifying information such as the author's last name, page number or year of publication. For example, a citation with a single author includes the last name and page number as "(Smith 32)," while a citation with up to three authors uses all the last names such as "(Smith, Johnson, and Briggs 44)." Citations with more than three authors can use a single last name and "et al." such as "(Smith et al. 92)."
A book citation in a Works Cited page includes the author's first and last name, title, publication information and type of publication, separated by periods. The title is written in italics and the author's last name appears before the first name. For example, "The Giver" by Lois Lowry would be cited as "Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Bantam Books, 1993. Print." Books without an author begin with the title. If citing multiple works by the same author, the author name of the subsequent citations are replaced by "---." and the citations are organized alphabetically by the title of the book.
Periodical citations, similar to book citations, use the author name, title of the article, title of the publication, date of publication, page number and type of publication. The article title is listed in quotations, while the periodical title is listed in italics. The date of publication uses a "Day Month Year" format but may omit the day or month depending on the type of publication. For example, an article from Time magazine would be cited as "Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-71. Print." Smaller publications like local newspapers are cited using square-brackets and the location after the periodical title, such as "The Smart Shopper [Portland, ME]."
Periodical citations, similar to book citations, use the author name, title of the article, title of the publication, date of publication, page number and type of publication. The article title is listed in quotations, while the periodical title is listed in italics. The date of publication uses a "Day Month Year" format but may omit the day or month depending on the type of publication. For example, an article from Time magazine would be cited as "Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-71. Print." Smaller publications like local newspapers are cited using square-brackets and the location after the periodical title, such as "The Smart Shopper [Portland, ME]."