Parenthetical Citation in Academic Writing
Many formatting styles use parenthetical citations, including the most widely applied ones, like APA, MLA, and Chicago. You need them to give credit to a source you are using in your academic paper. No matter whether you quote or paraphrase this source, you have to provide the information about the author’s name, the page(s), if there are any, and the date of publication in parentheses.
Such citations are usually located at the end of a passage, sentence, or clause that speaks about the material cited. Format it in correspondence with the main entry in a reference list at the end of your paper.
“The key to leash training a dog is a short tug on his leash” (Cesar 7).
How to Format Parenthetical Citations in MLA
This style requires citations that are usually called author-page. It means that you must include the last name of the source’s author, the number of the page(s), or the range of pages, if available.
There is a lack of diversity among colleges in the Northwest (Lessing 12).
The source may also have two or more authors. You have to use both last names and the word “and” between them if there are two authors. If there are more than two writers for one source, write the first author's name only and then add “et al.”
If you cite the idea that is described on several pages in the source, and they go one after the other, use the range, but if the pages are not consecutive, separate the exact pages by commas.
- One author, one page - (Johnson 145).
- Two authors, several consecutive pages - (Johnson and Blake 145-168).
- Three authors and more and several pages that do not follow each other - (Johnson et al. 145, 154, 168).
How to Use Parentheses for Citation in APA
These in-text citations are also known as author-date. Therefore, the information in parentheses should contain the author’s last anime, the source's release date, and the pages you have retrieved the information from, if any. All these parts of data need commas between them.
There is a lack of diversity among colleges in the northwest (Lessing, 2016, p. 12).
When there are two or more authors of the source, use an ampersand (&) to indicate the last names of these two writers and the last name of the first author and then “et al.” if there are more than two authors.
When you cite the information located on one specific page, place “p.” before the number and “pp.” if you use the range of consecutive pages. If the pages are not consecutive, write their numbers, separated by commas.
- One author, one page - (Smith, 20122, p. 84).
- Two authors, several consecutive pages - (Smith & Drake, 1997, pp. 59-68).
- Three authors and more with the information on several nonconsecutive pages - (Smith et al., 2019, pp. 111, 125, 128).
What is the Difference Between Narrative and Parenthetical Citations in APA?
A clear distinction between narrative and parenthetical citations characterizes the APA style. When you make a narrative citation, place the name of the author at the beginning of your sentence. It introduces the information with the help of a certain signal phrase. You also use the parentheses here, but they are located in separate places - the year is located after the author’s name, and the pages, if available, are at the end of the cited sentence or phrase.
Lessing (2016) argues that there is a lack of diversity among colleges in the Northwest (p. 12).
Peculiarities of Parenthetical Citations in the Chicago Style
The Chicago style has two formats - author-date and notes and bibliography. Author-date citations include the author's last name, the date of the source’s release, and the page range or numbers, if any. You should place a comma after the year. However, you should never use commas after authors’ names in this style.
We will not be able to explain the global arms race to an extra-terrestrial observer (Sagan 1980, 329).
If the source has two or even three authors, use their last names, divided by commas and the word “and.” If there are four and more authors of one source, write the first author’s name and then include “et al.”
If your citation refers to several consecutive pages, cite their numbers with a hyphen to indicate a range. If these pages do not follow each other, use the page numbers divided by commas.
- One author, one page - (Green 2008, 118).
- Two or three authors with a range of consecutive pages - (Green, Holly, and Robinson 2001, 89-105).
- Four and more authors with nonconsecutive pages - (Green et al. 2022, 141, 168).
Final Thoughts
Now you know what parenthetical citation looks like in MLA, APA, and Chicago styles. You need to be careful to use the correct punctuation marks and formats that are specific for each style. Remember the differences between the styles.
The in-text parenthetical citations differ from the narrative ones. You may want to use the introductory words before the quote or paraphrase, so they also need to be formatted properly.
All in all, in-text citations and their correctness are the first things your professor will notice when you submit your work. They need to be accurate and consistent. If you do not cite sources you have taken the ideas from, your work or a part of it will be considered plagiarized. So, watch out!