PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION

  1. After every quote, paraphrase, or summary, you MUST document the source with a parenthetical.
  2. A parenthetical is made by following the text with a set of parenthesis which contains the source name and page or paragraph number form which the information comes.
  3. Print sources have page numbers, Internet sources have paragraph numbers. (*This is why it is necessary to be able to re-access websites in the future during research, so copy and paste the address in a Word document so you can go to the page again and count paragraphs.)

Example:

  • According to Dr. Jim Smith, “Two out of three high school seniors plan to continue their education” (50).
  • According to CollegeReport.com, “Two out of three high school seniors plan to continue their education” (par. 12).

NOTE:

  • DO NOT PUT pg. before the page number, BUT YOU DO PUT par. before the paragraph number.
  • The end punctuation goes AFTER the parenthetical—NOT at the end of the sentence inside the quotation marks. This is the case with paraphrase and summary as well. The period ALWAYS goes AFTER the parenthetical.
  1. If you mention the author’s name in the text of your sentence, you onlyput the page or paragraph number in the parenthesis. If you do not mention the author, you put the author’s last name in the parenthesis with the page or paragraph number.

Example: “Two out of three high school seniors plan to continue their education” (Smith 50).

For summary include all paragraphs:

One college website reported the results of extensive surveys of high school students, concluding that the majority do indeed plan to continue on to some kind of college after graduating high school (Smith par. 2-15)

  1. Your parenthetical citations should be a direct connection to the works cited page. The reader should be able to look at your sentence or the citation and go to the works cited page to find the information for locating the source.

Example:

“Two out of three high school seniors plan to continue their education” (Smith par. 12).

Works Cited

Smith, Jim. “Study Shows Good Intentions.” CollegeReport.com. 15 Sept. 1998. The Collegiate Group.Web. 20 Sept. 2007.

______

  • Notice that author’s last name in text matches author’s last name on works cited page.
  • Title of article is “Study Shows…”
  • Title of web page is CollegeReport.com
  • Date last updated (usually found at bottom of page) is 15 Sept. 1998
  • Publishing organization is The Collegiate Group
  • I accessed the page on 20 Sept. 2007
  • The web address is NOT typed out, instead the medium is given.

A paper should NEVER have blue or underlined web addresses!!! These are called hyperlinks.

Parenthetical/Internal citations (Citing sources in the text of your paper)

In MLA style, references to sources are placed in the text of the paper to briefly identify sources for readers and enable them to locate the source of the cited information in the Works Cited list. These parenthetical references should be kept as brief and as clear as possible.

  • Give only the information needed to identify a source. Usually the author’s last name and a page reference are all that is needed.
  • Place the parenthetical reference as close as possible to the material being documented and where a pause would naturally occur, preferably at the end of a sentence.
  • Parenthetical material should complement, not repeat, information given in the text. If you include an author’s name in a sentence, you do not need to repeat it in your parenthetical.
  • The parenthetical reference should precede the punctuation mark that concludes the sentence, clause, or phrase that contains the cited material.
  • Electronic and online sources are cited just like print resources in references cited in the text. If an online source lacks numbering, omit numbers from the parenthetical references. If a source includes fixed page numbers or section numbering, such as numbering of paragraphs (pars.), cite the relevant numbers.

Examples:

Author’s name in textDover has expressed this concern (118-21).

Author’s name in referenceThis concern has been expressed (Dover 118-21).

Multiple authors of a workThis hypothesis (Bradley and Rogers 7) suggested this theory (Sumner, Reichl, and Waugh 23).

Two works cited(Burns 54; Thomas 327)

References to volumes and pages(Wilson 2: 1-18)

Interview(Henderson)

In text reference to an entire volume In volume 3, Henderson suggests

Corporate authors(United Nations, Economic Commission for Africa 51-63)

Works with no authoras stated by the presidential commission

When a work has no author, use the work’s(Report 4)

Title or a shortened version of the tile when

citing it in text. (If abbreviating a title, omit

initial articles and begin with the word by

which it is alphabetized in the Works Cited list.)