Steps to Citing
Two-Steps
There are two steps to citing your sources:
Step 1: Citing your sources within your paper: Giving credit within a research paper
through footnotes or parenthetical citations (also commonly called in-text citations).
Step 2: Preparing a list of sources you consulted: Giving credit at the end of a
research paper in the bibliography, also called Works Cited or References list.
Common Citation Styles
MLA: literature, arts, humanities
APA: psychology, education, social sciences
The MLA Two-Step
Step 1: To do in-text citations for MLA, simply place a (parenthetical) or footnote
reference after every statement that cites one of your sources. For instance, if you
were to write:
The struggle of love versus religious duty is apparent throughout the novel and
hinted at when Jane refers to her faith (an by extension her god) as “so ruthless a
judge” (Bronte 357).
Step 2: Complement that in-text citation with the full record at the end of your
paper:
Works Cited
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Avenal Books, 1986. Print.
No Author? No Page #? Paraphrasing? MLA
There are always exceptions.
No author?
First few words of the title:
Scientists in Oceanside discovered that blue whales prefer cold water ("New Ocean
Discoveries" 39).
No page #?
Author's last name:
Steps to Citing
Blue whales also exhibit sonar capabilities like dolphins and use echolocation to find
food (Gonzalez).
The Process
Steps to Citing Video Transcript:
There are two steps involved in citing your sources: in text or parenthetical citations
and a bibliography list that’s better known as Works Cited for MLA and Reference for
APA. Since there are more than one citation style (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc…), we’ll just
concentrate on the Modern Language Association or MLA.
An in-text citation occurs when you provide credit to a source within your paper.
In this example, a student took a direct quotation from a book and added it to her
essay. She provides proper credit by citing the author and the page number where
those words exist. This in-text citation gives partial credit to the overall source. Note
that because the credit exists within the text, this first part of the citation process is
known as “in-text” citing.
Creating an in-text citation is relatively easy. You need the author’s name and page
number enclosed in parenthesis.
There are variations to this format since not all sources have an author or page
number (especially web-based ones). Consult the MLA handbook for these variations
or ask a librarian.
It is important to keep in mind that in-text citations do not exist alone. In other words,
you cannot just leave an in-text citation in your paper without referencing the
complete bibliographic citation, which usually can be found at the end of the paper in
the Works Cited or Reference page.
The complete bibliographic citation provides the rest of the information for that intext source. Besides showing the author’s name, the complete citation displays the title
of the work, the publisher, and the year of publication. Again, there are minor
variation differences between the two main citations styles (MLA and APA), but for the
most part, both styles include these basic features.
Also, the complete bibliographic citation allows your readers the opportunity to find
the source for their use. Some use it as a means to check your research.
Lastly, providing this complete information helps you avoid plagiarism since you are
properly giving credit to the source of information.
If you need help, feel free to contact a librarian.
Steps to Citing
The APA Tango
To do in-text citations for APA, simply place a (parenthetical) reference after every
statement that cites one of your sources. For instance, if you were to write:
The struggle of love versus religious duty is apparent throughout the novel and
hinted at when Jane refers to her faith (an by extension her god) as “so ruthless a
judge” (Bronte, 1986, p. 357).
Complement that in-text citation with the full record at the end of your paper:
References
Bronte, C. (1986). Jane Eyre. New York, NY: Avenal Books.
No Author? No Page #? Paraphrasing? APA
There are always exceptions:
No Author? No Page #? Direct Quote.
Scientists in Oceanside discovered that "blue whales prefer colder water" and
migrate according to the cold water jet stream ("New Ocean Discoveries," 2009).
Paraphrasing?
According to one researcher, students learn best when they are actively engaged
(Gonzalez, 2012).
[page number for a paraphrase is optional]
APA Practice
What info goes into the parenthetical or in-text citation?
Jeremy Wang noted in his findings that community college students "are more
successful when they take a research class at the beginning of their college
career" ( _________ ).




2010, p.38 since the author's name is already mentioned in the sentence
Wang, 2010, p.38
p. 38
Nothing needed.