HOW to CITE

HOW to CITE

Parenthetical citations:

·  Format: Quotation marks + space + parentheses + period

o  “…opinion” (Smith 89).

·  Inside: Author’s Last name + space + p#

o  (Smith 89).

o  Web addresses, URLs, will not be used in parenthetical citations.

·  Author’s Last Name: If the author’s name does not appear in the preview sentence (see lead-in expressions), place just the last name here.

o  “Article Title”: If the source does not have an author, then use the next item listed on the Works Cited page – the article title, in quotation marks

o  (“Vote for Smith” 89).

o  For longer titles, truncate.

·  Page Numbers: Since readers often like to find the original of a thought or quote, they need to be able to find, easily and quickly, where it is located in the original source document. To accomplish this, we place page numbers in the parenthetical citation to help readers painlessly find the original, without having to read the entire source.

o  Subheadings:

§  If, however, no page numbers appear in or on the original – and this is particularly the case with e-sources such as Web site or database articles – then you cannot rely upon the page numbers supplied by the printers because each printer’s settings are different.

§  Thus, you will use subheadings, used to break up the text of longer articles. As you do with titles, capitalize the main words of the subheading and place quotation marks around it.

§  (Smith “Economy”)

o  Paragraph Numbers:

§  Shorter documents often have paragraph numbers in them, and even if they do not, readers will not mind counting paragraphs because of the brevity of the document.

§  Therefore, if the document lacks page numbers and subheadings, use paragraph numbers in your parenthetical citation. For example:

§  (Smith par.6).

LEAD-IN EXPRESSIONS:

·  Set up (or “lead into”) direct quotes or paraphrases with preview sentences.

·  Why?

·  To answer “So What?!” (author’s credentials = why we should care about his/her opinions)

·  To distinguish, clearly and unequivocally, between your ideas and a source’s.

·  Jayne Smyth, founder of the Ethics in Politics Association and author of the Web article “The Ethical Deportments of the 2008 Presidential Candidates,” asserts, “…” (par.6). She further notes that “…” (par.3). In other words, brief explanation. Thus, warrant statement.