After you've created your list of cited works, you need to insert a brief reference to them in your text. This is called "in-text citation".
A typical in-text citation is made up of the element that comes first in the works-cited list entry, which is usually the author's name, and a page number.
If you mention the author's name in your text, you only need to place the page number in parentheses following your quote.
If you do NOT mention the author's name in your text, include both it and the page number in the parenthetical reference.
Sample Text
Nash and Fennell extensively explore the historical significance of the differences (34). Nash, who has lived in both countries, continues to claim that "New Zealand, simply because of it's dominance in rugby, is better than Australia" (Nash and Fennell 35). However, their on-going debate continues.
OR
Experts explore the historical significance of the differences (Nash and Fennell 34). Nash, who has lived in both countries, continues to claim that "New Zealand, simply because of it's dominance in rugby, is better than Australia" (35). However, their on-going debate continues.
Work Cited
Nash, Phillip, and Dan Fennell. "Which is Better? Australia or New Zealand?" Down Under Today, vol. 2, no. 4, 2016, pp. 22-34.
If there is no author, use a word or two from the title for the in-text citation.
Sample Text
The region has "more readily accessible data regarding concussions and preventive measures" ("Soccer Coaching Tips"). Despite an apparent decline in concussions, "the number of people with them as increased substantially between 1999 and 2005" (Concussion 4).
Work Cited
Concussion Risks: A Survey of Sports Related Head Injuries. National Sports Association, July 2011. Research Division Report 24.
"Soccer Coaching Tips." Soccer, Soccer, Soccer, 2016, http://www.soccersoccersoccer.com/tips/rw.html.
Some online sources like web pages or e-books do not have page numbers in which case you would not add that information to your in-text citation.
If your source has paragraph numbers rather than page numbers, use those preceded by the label par. or pars. You can also indicate numbered sections (sec. or secs.) or chapters (ch. or chs.).
Sample Text
The region has "more readily accessible data regarding concussions and preventive measures" ("Soccer Coaching Tips"). There is little evidence for the claim, however, that "injuries are the direct result of direct contact" (Smith, par. 4).
Work Cited
"Soccer Coaching Tips." Soccer, Soccer, Soccer, 2016, http://www.soccersoccersoccer.com/tips/rw.html.
Smith, , Naomi. "Redefining Injuries: The Causes and the Effects." Sports Medicine Archive, Sports Research Institute, http://www.sri.org/archives/index.html#article09..
If you cite two authors with the same last name, add the author's first initial:
(P. Nash 195)
(R. Nash 24)
If their initials are the same, use the full first name:
(Dan Fennell 26)
(Diane Fennell 72)
If you cite more then one work by the same author, include a short form of the work's title.
(Smith, "Redefining Injuries" 136)
(Smith, Injury Handbook 24)
If you use information from a source more than once within the same paragraph (and no other sources), you can give a single parenthetical reference after the last use.
Sample Text
Spielberg's movies tend to inspire nostalgia and while he himself claims to "use nostalgia to escape", he says today's younger generation are not nostalgic in the same way. There could be many causes for this. Spielberg partially blames social media when he says "social media may be the beta blocker to nostalgia" (Zacharek 44, 45).
Work Cited
Zacharek, Stephanie. "A New Reality Reveals Something Classic." Time, 9 April 2018, pp 44-45.