Q: What is the point of an in-text citation?
A: The goal is to make it clear where the information came from. The reader should be able to use the in-text citation to easily find the corresponding full citation in the works cited section. Then, this full citation should guide the reader back to the original source where the information came from.
Q: When do I cite?
A: You should cite whenever you mention any information that is not common knowledge. Again, the idea is to tell the reader where you found the information.
Q: Do I have to cite every single sentence if it’s all coming from the same source?
A: No, you don’t have to cite every sentence, as long as the reader can figure out exactly which source you are referring to. For example, if you were talking about a single study throughout a paragraph, you wouldn’t need to cite sentences that were clearly about the same source. At the same time, I do suggest that you include a citation for the first sentence and the last sentence that deals with the same source.
Q: What goes inside of a citation?
A: An author’s last name is preferred. Before you decide that a work has no author, really look around for a name, including at the bottom of the page or website. Also, you should include page numbers, if they are available.
If there is one author, the citation looks like this:
Studies have shown that eating crickets can reduce cholesterol levels (Jones 13).
If there are two authors, the citation looks like this:
Studies have shown that eating crickets can reduce cholesterol levels (Jones and Smith 13).
If there are three authors, the citation looks like this
Studies have shown that eating crickets can reduce cholesterol levels (Jones, Smith, and Brown 13).
If there are more than three authors, you should use the phrase, “et al.” (It means “and others”):
Studies have shown that eating crickets can reduce cholesterol levels (Jones et al. 13).
If you want to mention the author or authors in the actual sentence, and there are no page numbers, then you do not need the citation at the end of the sentence. For example:
According to Jones, eating crickets can reduce cholesterol levels.
But here is what it should look like if there are page numbers available:
According to Jones, eating crickets can reduce cholesterol levels (13).
Q: What do I do if I want to talk about a study done by Jones but it’s in an article by Smith?
A: Mention in the sentence that it’s a study by Jones, but then make sure to add the citation:
Jones found in a separate study that eating crickets can reduce cholesterol (Smith 315).
Q: What do I do if I want to include a quote that is being quoted from someone else?
A: This is where you would use the phrase “qtd. in”
The study by Jones concluded, “eating crickets can reduce a person’s cholesterol” (qtd. in Smith 315).
If I didn’t include the “qtd. in” above, then the quote would be attributed to Smith and not Jones:
The study by Jones concluded, “eating crickets can reduce a person’s cholesterol” (Smith 315).
Q: What if it’s from a website?
A: First, check to see if there is an author (check the bottom of the article and page).
Once you are sure there is no author, you should cite the name of the website, but you do not need to include the suffix (.com, .gov, .edu):
According to a web poll, most people prefer the taste of smaller crickets (CricketFacts).
Q: What if it’s from a corporation or government agency?
A: See above. If you want to abbreviate the name of the agency, you should do so first in your actual paper before abbreviating the citation. In the following case, the first “(FDA)” establishes the acronym, but this is not an in-text citation. The second “(FDA)” is an in-text citation:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not currently acknowledge crickets as a food. However, new studies are currently being conducted in order to determine the nutritional value of crickets (FDA).
Q: What if there is no author?
A: If you have searched and still cannot find a person’s name as the author of the source or article, then see if there is a corporation or organization listed as the author, and if you are still sure that there is no author credited, then cite the article name in quotes:
Studies have shown that eating crickets can reduce cholesterol levels (“Cricket News”).
Q: What about the Harvard Health Letter? How do I cite that?
A: If you have an excerpt from the Harvard Health Letter, then you would technically cite it like you would above, but this way doesn’t reflect to the reader that the information came from the Harvard Health Letter, so you may want to include this information in the actual sentence, like this:
According to an article in the Harvard Health Letter, studies have shown that eating crickets can reduce cholesterol levels (“Cricket News”).
Q: Do I really have to include page numbers? What do I do for websites?
A: Yes, you should include page numbers, but only if there are page numbers. If there are no page numbers, like in the case of a website, then you don’t have to include them.
Q: When I look at a PDF file, do I cite the page numbers that appear inside the file (for example, the file could start on page 341), or do I cite the page numbers of the file itself (where the first page is one)?
A: If there are page numbers that appear inside the file, then use those because the source originally appeared in print and the idea is to send the reader back to the original source. If there are no page numbers inside the file, use the PDF file numbers.
Q: What happens if I use more than one page from the same website?
A: You should cite each page separately, like this:
(Collegefinder, “HCC”).
(Collegefinder, “CCBC”).
Each page should also have its own full citation on the works cited page (Tip: just create one citation in EasyBib, and then copy it and fill in the separate page titles into the copies)
Q: What do I do if I have multiple articles by the same author?
A: See above
Q: What if I want to cite two sources in the same sentence?
A: Put both citations within the parenthases, in order, and it should be clear within the sentence:
According to a web poll, most people prefer the taste of smaller crickets, which in a recent study were found to be the best type of cricket to decrease cholesterol levels (CricketFacts; Jones 13).