Academic Integrity Skills
– Quick Guide
When completing assignments it is important to attribute authorship to
the appropriate person, failing to do so could result in an Academic
Offense.
This document will show you how to correctly attribute authorship and document works correctly.
Introduction to Documentation
When you write a research essay or a research report for one of your classes, your professor will ask you
to document your sources. At this point in your college career, you probably have some experience using
one of the two most popular documentation styles: MLA (short for the Modern Languages Association,
commonly used in the humanities) or APA (short for the American Psychological Association, commonly
used in the social sciences and business). By indicating the sources of your information through proper
documentation, you achieve two aims:
• Integrity—You give credit to the other writers and researchers whose ideas, claims, and opinions
you’ve integrated into your argument
• Readability—You create a user-friendly document that guides your readers toward important
research on your topic
In-text Citations
Both MLA and APA documentation styles require two standard types of research documentation: in-text
citations (in the body of the document) and a full list of sources (at the end of the document). In this
module, we’re going to discuss in-text citations. In-text citations appear in the body of a research essay
or report. They provide a kind of quick reference to a research source that you’ve summarized,
paraphrased, or quoted at that point in your document. Like your car’s GPS, they provide directions:
they give readers the necessary information to find the full research source in the list of sources at the
end of the document
In-Text Citation Example
Solomon (2012) explained that
“Being gifted and being
disabled are surprisingly
similar: isolating, mystifying,
petrifying” (p. 405).
Explanation
This example demonstrates a basic in-text citation in APA style. It
includes
• A signal phrase—“Solomon explained” is a signal phrase. Signal
phrases indicate to the reader that the information in a sentence
has been taken from a research source. In APA style, the verbs in
signal phrases are typically written in the past tense.
• A publication date—The publication date of the source is indicated
in parentheses after the author’s name.
• A page number—The page number on which the information
appears in the source is indicated in parentheses: (p. 405)
This example demonstrates a basic in-text citation in MLA style. It
Includes
Kelli Weston argues that in the
2017 film Get Out, director
Jordan Peele “reveals the
emptiness of the post-racial
promise” (39).
• A signal phrase—“Kelly Weston argues” is a signal phrase. Signal
phrases indicate to the reader that the information in a sentence
has been taken from a research source. In MLA style, the verbs in
signal phrases are typically written in the present tense.
• A page number—The page number on which the information
appears in the source is indicated in parentheses: (39). Notice
that the formatting conventions for listing a page number in MLA
style are different from the APA conventions.
Academic Integrity Skills
Although these in-text citations have some small differences, they have two elements in common:
• Signal Phrase—Each in-text citation includes a signal phrase (author name + verb) to introduce
the quotation. Although signal phrases aren’t a required element of in-text citations, they help
you refer clearly and directly to the author of your source material.
• Page Number—Each in-text citation includes the specific page number on which the quotation
appears in the original source.
You probably noticed that the first example also
includes a publication date after the author’s last name.
This is a convention of APA style—but it isn’t required
in MLA-style in-text citations.
Again, the information provided in an in-text citation
both acknowledges the research source and
allows your readers to locate the full source
should they wish to consult it further.
For example, imagine you were reading an essay about
Jordan Peele’s 2017 film Get Out, and you came across
the quotation in Example 2. You might think that
Weston presents a compelling claim, and that you’d like
to read her complete analysis of the film. By using the
information provided in the in-text citation, you could
turn to the full list of sources at the end of the
document to find all of the information necessary to
locate the source for yourself. Here’s what you’d see:
Weston, Kelli. “1 Get Out: Jordan Peele.” Sight &
Sound, vol. 28, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 37–39.
EBSCOhost. Web. 23 July 2019.
It’s not difficult to see the general difference between
the in-text citation and the full source from the list of
works cited. The in-text citation is just a shorthand
version of the full source reference.
Further Reading
This module has introduced you to the basic
principles of in-text citations. In your
research, you may encounter research
material written by more than one author,
research published by an organization (with
no specific author listed), research by two
different authors with the same last name,
and many other variations.
If you are uncertain about how to create an
in-text citation for a specific type of source,
please consult the following links for more
detailed information about APA and MLA
citation styles:
AP A
St y le
• APA In-Text Citations: The Basics
• APA In-Text Citations: Multiple Authors and
Other Types of Sources
M L A St y l e
• MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics
Integrating Quotations and Attributing Authorship
Correctly integrating quotations is an important part of attributing authorship. Below are the four ways to correctly
integrate quotations.
Simple Signal Phrase
Use a simple signal phrase with the author’s name to introduce it. This method will use active voice
and is the easiest way of integrating a quote. You’ll notice that the signal phrase is not a complete
sentence.
According to [ Author ],
[ Author ] suggests,
[ Author ] points out,
[ Author ] states,
[ Author ] explains,
[ Author ] proposes,
[ Author ] argues,
[ Author ] notes,
[ Author ] thinks,
Example: In his article, John Smith states, “If students spent a little time integrating
their quotations, they would create a much more polished assignment.”
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Complete Sentence with Colon
Introduce the quotation with a complete sentence and a colon. In this case, you may not use a
comma to separate the introduction from the quotation; this will cause a comma splice (a boundary
error).
Example: Taylor Swift argues that students should spend more time editing their
assignments: "I got to where I am today by rigorously rewriting my assignments and
spending time on integrating my quotes"
Make the Quotation Part of the Sentence
Make the quotation part of your larger sentence. This is more advanced, but the goal here is to have a
functioning sentence, even if the quotation marks weren’t there. The goal is to punctuate the sentence
as if it were your own.
Example: Grey Oldman argues that people "should spend time integrating their research
-- just as much time as they spend finding it".
Incorporate Short Quotations into Your Sentences
Use short quotations as part of your larger sentence. This is similar to Case #3. Again, punctuate
this as if the quotes were part of your larger sentence. Obviously, include the quotation marks for the
quoted material.
Example: Walter White explains that most students are "unengaged and fearful" when it
comes to quotation integration and suggests that most professors "demand too much from
beginners".