how to cite article in essay

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In-Text Citations: The Basics

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Note:  This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style  can be found here .

Reference citations in text are covered on pages 261-268 of the Publication Manual. What follows are some general guidelines for referring to the works of others in your essay.

Note:  On pages 117-118, the Publication Manual suggests that authors of research papers should use the past tense or present perfect tense for signal phrases that occur in the literature review and procedure descriptions (for example, Jones (1998)  found  or Jones (1998)  has found ...). Contexts other than traditionally-structured research writing may permit the simple present tense (for example, Jones (1998)  finds ).

APA Citation Basics

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, like, for example, (Jones, 1998). One complete reference for each source should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

If you are referring to an idea from another work but  NOT  directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference.

On the other hand, if you are directly quoting or borrowing from another work, you should include the page number at the end of the parenthetical citation. Use the abbreviation “p.” (for one page) or “pp.” (for multiple pages) before listing the page number(s). Use an en dash for page ranges. For example, you might write (Jones, 1998, p. 199) or (Jones, 1998, pp. 199–201). This information is reiterated below.

Regardless of how they are referenced, all sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

In-text citation capitalization, quotes, and italics/underlining

• Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones.
• If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters long or greater within the title of a source:  Permanence and Change . Exceptions apply to short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs:  Writing New Media ,  There Is Nothing Left to Lose .

( Note:  in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized:  Writing new media .)

• When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word:  Natural-Born Cyborgs .
• Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: "Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of Hitchcock's  Vertigo ."
• If the title of the work is italicized in your reference list, italicize it and use title case capitalization in the text:  The Closing of the American Mind ;  The Wizard of Oz ;  Friends .
• If the title of the work is not italicized in your reference list, use double quotation marks and title case capitalization (even though the reference list uses sentence case): "Multimedia Narration: Constructing Possible Worlds;" "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry."

Short quotations

If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and page number for the reference (preceded by "p." for a single page and “pp.” for a span of multiple pages, with the page numbers separated by an en dash).

You can introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.

If you do not include the author’s name in the text of the sentence, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation.

Long quotations

Place direct quotations that are 40 words or longer in a free-standing block of typewritten lines and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout, but do not add an extra blank line before or after it. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.

Because block quotation formatting is difficult for us to replicate in the OWL's content management system, we have simply provided a screenshot of a generic example below.

Formatting example for block quotations in APA 7 style.

Quotations from sources without pages

Direct quotations from sources that do not contain pages should not reference a page number. Instead, you may reference another logical identifying element: a paragraph, a chapter number, a section number, a table number, or something else. Older works (like religious texts) can also incorporate special location identifiers like verse numbers. In short: pick a substitute for page numbers that makes sense for your source.

Summary or paraphrase

If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference and may omit the page numbers. APA guidelines, however, do encourage including a page range for a summary or paraphrase when it will help the reader find the information in a longer work. 

A Guide to In-Text Citations: APA, MLA, and Chicago

Remembering to cite your sources can be hard, but don’t forget you also have to format them according to the style guide you’re using. MLA, APA, and Chicago all have different methods for in-text citations, so you may have to change your style from paper to paper. It can be a lot to keep track of.

In this guide, we explain how to do in-text citations for MLA, APA, and Chicago, as well as discuss the difference between parenthetical and narrative citations, the two types of in-text citations. But first, let’s take a closer look at what an in-text citation is and when you need it.

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What is an in-text citation?

An in-text citation is a source citation in academic writing that is placed directly in the body text, typically at the end of the related sentence, clause, or phrase. This is an alternative style to footnotes , which cite sources at the bottom of a page, or endnotes , which cite sources at the end of a section, chapter, or entire work.

In-text citations give basic source information like the author, page number, or publication year, but not details like the publisher. The complete details for a source instead go in the full citation in the bibliography at the end of the work.

Exactly which information is required for in-text citations varies whether you’re using APA , MLA , or Chicago style . However, if you’re confused about how to write your in-text citations, you can use Grammarly auto-citations or enter your source in our free citation generator to create citations for you.

Parenthetical vs. narrative citations

There are two types of in-text citations: parenthetical citations and narrative citations.

Parenthetical citations contain only enough information to identify the source, such as the author’s name, placed within parentheses (like this). Interested readers can then find the full citations in the bibliography if they’re interested in tracking down the source.

The character describes his own sacrifices as “a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done” (Dickens, 1859, p. 330).

Narrative citations are when the source details are mentioned directly in the body text. However, any information not included in the text must still be included in a parenthetical citation, so narrative citations and parenthetical citations are often used together.

As Charles Dickens wrote in his 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities , “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done” (p. 330).

When is an in-text citation required?

Generally speaking, a source citation is required in academic writing anytime an idea is presented that is not the author’s own. You can use a single in-text citation for long blocks of text like paragraphs, as long as all the information comes from the same source and location (i.e., the same page number or page range).

In-text citations are specifically required for papers written in the APA and MLA formats. If you’re using Chicago, you have a choice between in-text citations, footnotes, or endnotes, although the author still must use one of those to cite their sources.

How to do in-text citations: APA format

An APA in-text citation is written in the author-date style , which includes up to two authors’ last names and the year of publication. If the citation refers to a specific passage, like a direct quote, also include the location, such as a page number or time stamp, with the correct abbreviation ( p. for page , pp. for pages , and paras. for paragraphs ). Separate information with commas.

(Last Name, Year)

(Last Name, Year, p. #)

Example of an in-text citation: APA format

… or to put it another way, “unless we recognize our cognitive limitations, we will be enslaved by them” (Aronson, 1972, p. 161).

… or as Elliot Aronson wrote, “unless we recognize our cognitive limitations, we will be enslaved by them” (1972, p. 161).

How to do in-text citations: MLA format

While an APA in-text citation uses the year of publication, an MLA in-text citation requires only the author’s last name as well as a page number (if available). No commas are needed to separate the information, nor are abbreviations required for words like page .

(Last Name)

(Last Name #)

Example of an in-text citation: MLA format

. . . To summarize, “in every philosophy there is a point where the philosopher’s ‘conviction’ steps onto the stage” (Nietzsche 9).

. . . As Nietzsche summarized, “in every philosophy there is a point where the philosopher’s ‘conviction’ steps onto the stage” (9).

How to do in-text citations: Chicago format

Remember that in the Chicago format, in-text citations are optional—unlike in APA and MLA, where they are required. If you choose to use in-text citations instead of footnotes or endnotes, Chicago in-text citations follow an author-date system with the year of publication, just like citations in APA do. Also, like APA, Chicago in-text citations only use page numbers for direct quotes.

However, Chicago’s author-date format follows a couple of different rules. First, no abbreviations are needed for words like pages . Second, commas are used only to separate the year from page numbers but not to separate the author from the year.

Note that for personal communications, like an in-person interview or citing AI in Chicago , you also include the day and month of the conversation.

(Last Name Year)

(Last Name Year, #)

Example of an in-text citation: Chicago format

. . . Paranoia was common with the Turkish emirs, because “rare indeed was the emir who died in bed” (Maalouf 1984, 22).

. . . Paranoia was common with the Turkish emirs, because as Maalouf puts it, “rare indeed was the emir who died in bed” (1984, 22).

In-text citation FAQs

An in-text citation is a source citation in academic writing that is placed directly in the body text, typically at the end of the related sentence, clause, or phrase. This is an alternative style to footnotes or endnotes.

In-text citations are required when writing papers in either the APA or MLA formats, although they are optional for the Chicago format. Generally for all formats, a citation is required every time you present an idea that is not your own in a formal piece of writing.

How does a parenthetical citation differ from a narrative citation?

Parenthetical citations place the source’s information within parentheses, while narrative citations credit the source directly in the body text as part of the narrative. Any information not mentioned in the narrative citation, such as a page number or year of publication, must still be written in a parenthetical citation.