Research Guides: Cite Your Sources: Cite Sources In-Text

In-Text Quotations

When you quote reference books, articles, lecture notes, or websites in your paper you need to cite the source.
You must cite your source either:

Parenthetically within the text.
- Example: The librarian says "your quote goes here." (page number)
In footnotes at the bottom of the page

In-Text or Parenthetical Citations

Use the author's name in the sentence:

Example: In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the title character says, "The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit" (152).

After the quotation marks, include the author's last name and the page number(s) in parenthesis:

Example: In his dying speech, Hamlet speaks of the "potent poison [that] quite o'er-crows [his] spirit" (Shakespeare 152).

If there is no author's name (such as an informative article on a website), use the title (or a portion of the title) in the parenthetical notation:

Example: ("Impact of Global Warming" 6).

If there are no page numbers, use the author's last name.
If the author's name cannot be found, use the title, in quotation marks.

Websites used in their entirety (with no specific page numbers) should be included in the body of the text:

Example: On the Mount Saint Mary's University website ... or In Forbes.com ...

For direct quotes with the author's name(s) and the year of publication in the sentence, include the page number(s) -- (p.85) -- after the quotation marks:

Example: In their article on learned helplessness, Gotshall and Stefanou (2011) stated that "teachers high in self-efficacy hold similarly high expectations for students despite the fact that some students might have difficulty learning" (p. 85).

For direct quotes with the author's name in the citation, put the author's name(s) in parentheses, followed by the year and page number(s), after the quotation marks:

Example: "Teachers high in self-efficacy hold similarly high expectations for students despite the fact that some students might have difficulty learning" (Gotshall & Stefanou, 2011, p. 85).

If the sentence refers to multiple articles without directly quoting them, separate the articles with a semicolon in the parenthetical reference:

Example: (Gotshall & Stefanou, 2011; Danielson, 2012).

If not directly quoting from the articles, follow the same format as direct quoting, except without the page numbers:

Example: Gotshall and Stefanou (2011) found that ...
Example: (Gotshall & Stefanou, 2011).

Parenthetical citations for books and print journals/magazines:

Single author: (Author's Last name year, page number)
- Example: (Smith 2010, 289)
Two Authors: (Author's Last name and 2nd Author's last name year, page number)
- Example: (Smith and Rogers 2005, 14)
More than two authors: (Author's last name, et al. year, page number)
- Example: (Smith, et al. 2004, 56)

Parenthetical citations for online resources:

For websites: (Full name of person/organization creating the site)
- Example: (Mount Saint Mary's University - Los Angeles)
For online articles: (Author's last name Year)
- Example: (Martin 2013)

In parentheses, include the author's last name, the date of publication, and the page numbers used.

Example: (Gotshall and Stefanou, 2011: 85)

Harvard Library Research Guides | Citation Style Guides
"The Harvard Citation Style, also called the Harvard Referencing System or 'Author-date Referencing' -- The 'Harvard System' is something of a misnomer, as there is no official institutional connection. It's another name for the author/date citation system, the custom of using author and date in parentheses, e.g. (Robbins 1987) to refer readers to the full bibliographic citations in appended bibliographies. Some Harvard faculty were among the first practitioners in the late 19th century, and the name stuck, particularly in England and the Commonwealth countries." -- Harvard Citation Styles Guides

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In-Text Quotations

In-Text or Parenthetical Citations

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