MLA-Style In-Text Citations (The Parenthetical Citation Method)

Hey y’all. First off, please remember that there is NO CLASS THIS WEEK and that Paper 3 final drafts are due next week in class. Sorry for posting this information a few days late, but please be sure to thoroughly read and study this post, and please also be sure to make every effort to correctly cite at least FIVE outside sources (whether directly quoted, paraphrased, or summarized) in your Paper 3 final drafts. Since this is a mostly informal assignment, the real challenge will be incorporating your sources without any awkwardness or other hiccups. Use transitional signal phrases that are appropriate for the tone of your paper, and puh-lease try NOT to simply plop your outside sources into your paper without any transitions whatsoever (a very common mistake). Of course, we’re not really supposed to study this material in 121, and so I won’t be grading you too harshly on it, but I do think it’s very important that you at least review this material before jumping into 122. Finally, and this is contrary to what I’ve told some of you in separate email discussions, please review the MLA in-text (or parenthetical) citation method guidelines in your Writing @ RRCC text as well, and then use the Writing @ RRCC text to formulate a Works Cited page, to be submitted on a separate, labeled page at the end of your final draft. All the various formats are in the text, so please review it carefully before emailing me at davidthorn@comcast.net should you have any questions.

MLA-style In-text Citations 

Writers use in-text citations, also called parenthetical citations, to give credit to other writers for borrowed words and/or ideas. Generally referred to as parenthetical documentation, there are several important rules you must observe when using this system:

1. To integrate your sources, use direct quotes, paraphrases, or summaries. Direct quotes are self-explanatory, but they should be used only in certain situations (more on that below). When you paraphrase, you rewrite a chunk of information in your own words, but you cover the same material in the original chunk; you don’t cut anything. Summarizing, on the other hand, reduces large chunks of information, sometimes as large as books, into relatively few statements of original composition. Like paraphrases, summaries should be written in your own words, only they are much, much shorter than the originals.

2. Favor paraphrases and summaries over direct quotes. A good researcher wants to highlight his or her own ideas and writing. Direct quotes in an academic research paper, therefore, should be used only in certain situations:

• When the language is especially vivid or expressive.
• When exact wording is needed for technically accuracy.
• When it is important to let the debaters of an issue express their points in their own words.
• When words of an important authority lend weight to an argument.
• When the language of a source is the topic of your discussion (as in a textual analysis).

3. When integrating your sources, use signal phrases, with correct grammar, to alert your reader that you are transitioning from your own ideas or writing and into the ideas or writing of another writer. Understand that parenthetical documentation functions as a system. Effective signal phrases open the system; in-text citations close it down. This is important, again, because a good writer wants to highlight his or her own ideas and writing. No one wants to read a paper of words and ideas just strung together from other writers. It is very important to know, however, that signal phrases are not always necessary and that they can be repetitive if not carefully crafted.

4. Place in-text citations at the end of your quote, paraphrase, or summary, but before the period that ends the last sentence. There is only one exception to this rule, the block form. If you directly quote a passage of five lines or more, indent the material, single space it (your choice), leave off the quotation marks, and put the parenthetical citation after the period ending the last sentence.

Examples:   

Direct quote: According to Joe Montclair, a researcher at the FBI, “Shady foreign intelligence is less important than secure domestic security” (21).

Direct quote, block format: According to Joe Montclair, a researcher at the FBI:

Shady foreign intelligence is less important than secure domestic security. Enemies abroad are not as dangerous as enemies within our own borders. While surveillance of enemies abroad should continue, I argue that the security of our borders should be a priority in the next Congress. The US government needs to invest in technology that can identify and track hazardous materials near our borders. We also need to develop technology to identify and track hazardous people. (21)                

Paraphrase: According to Joe Montclair, a researcher at the FBI, spending on domestic security is more important than investing in unreliable foreign intelligence. He believes that surveillance of enemies abroad should continue but also that security at our borders should be prioritized, especially in the technology we use to track hazardous materials and people (21).

Summary: Joe Montclair argues in his recent book that maintaining domestic security is the most important job of the US government (21-37).

As with most research, there are countless variables that may confound the simplicity of the above examples. What happens, for example, if the source you’re citing doesn’t have page numbers? What do you put in the parentheses? Or what happens if you want to quote information from a source that’s quoting information from a third source? Below are some additional rules you should know about MLA-style in-text citations.

• List the title of the work (or the web address) in the parenthetical citation if no page numbers are available.
• Essay and article titles receive quotation marks.
• Books, films, albums, and magazine titles should be underlined or italicized.
• Whatever information you provide in an in-text citation, it must be sufficient enough to direct your reader to your Works Cited page where he can see the proper Works Cited entry for the source.
• Refrain from repeating an author’s name or a source’s title too often. Use a good mix of pronouns, etc., to avoid repetition. For example, after you’ve introduced Joe Montclair for the first time, you do not have to repeat his credentials. Refer to him simply as Montclair. If you do not use his name in your signal phrase at all, be sure to include it in the in-text citation, like this: According to expert testimony at the FBI, there are no known nuclear threats within US borders (Montclair 29).  

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Research is often difficult because there are so many variables that may arise depending on the type of information with which you’re dealing. Many more variables are covered in Part VI of Writing @ RRCC, pp. 299-353. You MUST consult this resource to get your research in perfect order (and also if you want to know how to do a quote within a quote). Research is the backbone of academics. There are many standards to which we must conform, but conform we must, especially if we intend to avoid plagiarism. Don’t forget that you can also walk in to the Writing Center with your draft and ask a tutor to check your in-text citations and review, with you, your works cited entries. This is a good idea, but don’t wait until the day before your draft is due to visit the Writing Center. Finally, if you’ve read this post down to this last sentence, I know you don’t need it, but I’ll say it anyway: good luck!

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