In-text citations, otherwise known as parenthetical citations, help your reader see which words and ideas are yours and which ones belong to your sources. In-text citations are important, as they establish your credibility as an ethical writer, they give credit where credit is due, and they help readers understand where they need to look in your bibliography if they want to read more from your sources. In-text citations mirror the listings in your bibliography, creating a kind of roadmap for your readers. Just like your bibliography entries, in-text citations must follow proper style guidelines.

MLA

In-text citations in MLA format are pretty straightforward. Simply include the author’s last name and the page number, or the author’s last name and a shortened version of the title of the piece. In the examples below, note that the author’s name is in red, the page number is in blue, and the title is in green.

Source with a page number:

The author encourages us to accept failure as a “way of life” (Halberstam 3).

Source with a page number, when the author’s name is mentioned in the sentence:

Halberstam encourages us to accept failure as  a “way of life” (3).

Source with author but no page number:

One blog even argued that the earth was flat, which emphasizes the need for critical analysis of our online reading (Smith).

Source with no author and no page number:

Another blog stated that eating mangoes is bad for your vision (“Mangoes”).

Other examples can be found in the Purdue OWL’s MLA guide.

APA

In-text citations in APA also follow specific patterns, regardless of what type of source you’re citing. APA in-text citations refer to the author’s name, the year the text was published, and the page number.

Source with an author, year, and page number:

One study showed that people born in March are awesome (Andersen, 2014, p. 47).

Source with author, year, and page number, with author’s name mentioned in the sentence:

Baker’s study depicts puppies from New Jersey as having superior cuteness (2017, p. 62).

Source with author, year, and page number, with author and year mentioned in the sentence:

Cordova (2016) argues that “Kit Kat’s are, by far, the best candy” (p. 14).

Sources with author, page number, but no year:

The article describes one family’s journey to the City of Atlantis (Conroy, n.d., p. 3).

Sources with author, year, but no page number:

In her study, Thompson found that kittens are cute because of survival instincts (2013).

Sources with year, page number, but no author:

The article shows that Fridays are the best day of the week (“Weekdays,” p. 2).

Other examples can be found in the Purdue OWL’s APA style guide, or in entries on the APA Style Blog.