How to Write a Citation in an Essay

Essays often require you to quote directly from sources, paraphrase information or summarize arguments and opinions that are not your own. In each of these situations, you should use in-text citations. When writing a citation in an essay, you need the author's name or the name of the work you're citing. Your professor or the person asking you to write the essay may have a specific format that she prefers you use for citations. If not, there is a standard format you can use in your paper.

Instructions

    • 1

      Type the quote, paraphrased information or summarized information in the essay.

    • 2

      Type the last name of the author of the work you're citing. If there are two authors, type both names separated by "and." If there are more than two authors, type the first two authors separated by commas and then et al. For example, "Smith, Johnson, et al."

    • 3

      Add a comma after the last name listed or after et al.

    • 4

      Type the source's page number or numbers where you found the information after the comma.

    • 5

      Surround the entire citation with parentheses.

    • 6

      Place a period after the parentheses. Your final citation should look something like: "(Smith and Johnson, 18-21)."

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