Citing in-text is a way to acknowledge information that you get from another source whether or not you have used your own words (paraphrasing) or the exact words of the orginal author (quoting). Every source cited in-text must also appear in the reference list. In-text citations include the author (this can a person/people or an organisation) and the date the resource was published and the page number if it a direct quote.
There are two formats for citing in-text.
Parenthetical Citations
The author names do no appear in the sentence rather the details of the citation are contains at the end of the sentence in brackets.
Example: Learning design is one of the key elements for success in setting up online class spaces (Smith, 2022).
Narrative Citations
The authors name appears as part of the sentence followed by the date of publication in parentheses.
Example: According to Smith (2022) learning design is one of the key elements for success in setting up online class spaces
Author Numbers
The table below summarises the most common rules for different types and number of authors.
Paraphrasing means to take another persons ideas and thoughts and rewrite them in your own words, whilst keeping the original meaning. It is the most common form of in-text citation. Paraphrasing demonstrates that you understand the meaning of the original text well enough to express the authors ideas in your own words. When you paraphrase you only need to add the author and date to the in-text citation no page numbers are needed.
(Author, Date)
Quoting a source involves using the exact words as the author you are quoting. All quotes should in “quotation marks” to show the readers which words are not your own. Direct quotes should be used sparingly if possible it is better to paraphrase unless the exact wording is important to express the idea. When you quote you need to include the author, date and page number separated by a comma in the in-text citation.
(Author, Date, p. #)
These are works that you have not read yourself, but which are cited in a source that you have read. Include only the reference you have read in the reference list. Use the phrase “as cited in” to show where you found the resource.
Example
Clinical governance is a comprehensive framework that emphasises using a methodical approach to maintain and improve the quality of healthcare services (Scally & Donaldson, 1998, as cited in Ghavamabad et al., 2021)
Reference List Entry
Ghavamabad, L., Vosoogh-Moghaddam, A., Zaboli, R., & Aarabi, M. (2021). Establishing clinical governance model in primary health care: A systematic review. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 10(1), 338. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_1299_20
Parenthetical Format.
Narrative Format.
Resources without page numbers
Paragraph numbers or section names can be used cite resources such as webpages that do not have page numbers. The abbreviation ‘para.’ is used to for paragraph numbers write the word ‘section’ after the name of the section.
Parenthetical Format
Narrative Format
* Note the use of "&" inside parathathese and "and" outside of parentheses