Parenthetical citations refer the reader
to the list of works cited.
• After you use someone else’s words, facts, or ideas in your
paper, you need to insert a parenthetical reference to acknowledge where you
found your information.
• A parenthetical reference is brief and usually consists of the author’s
last name and the page number where the information was found.
• Generally the name of the book or magazine, the publisher, the date
of publication, and other important information should not be given in a parenthetical
citation but should be given in a list of works cited.
Example: "All
mice are psychopathic killers" (Grinch 67).
The parenthetical citation, "(Grinch 67)" tells the reader of your
paper that "all mice are psychopathic killers" is the thought of
an author named Grinch and that this information can be found on page 67 of
his or her book or magazine article. For further information, the reader of
your paper would have to look up the last name Grinch on your works cited
list at the end of your paper.
How to Punctuate Parenthetical Citations...
• Put the opening parenthesis just
one space after the quote or information cited.
• Except for closing quotation marks, there should be no punctuation
marks between the material cited and the opening parenthesis.
• Put periods, commas, and semicolons after the closing parenthesis.
How to Use Parenthetical Citations...
Author’s name not given in text:
If you are citing the source of material
you have just introduced in the text of your paper without using the author’s
last name, give the author’s last name and the page number where the
information was found within the parentheses.
Example: One
dancer says that "dance is the fulfillment of all hidden wishes"
(Sultari 45).
Author’s name just given in text:
If you use the author’s name in the
text of your paper to introduce the material cited, give only the page number
in parentheses.
Example: Dancer
Larissa Sultari says that "dance is the fulfillment of all hidden wishes"
(45).
Citing more than one work by the same author:
If you cite more than one work by the same
author and the author’s name is given in the text of your paper, give
a short title and the page number in parentheses.
Example: Researcher
Alan Gobble states that Americans are eating more and more bagels (Bagel Boom
111), but he also notes that "the greatest number of household injuires
are caused from slicing bagels" (Kitchen Catastrophes 13).
Note: If the author’s name is not
used in the text of your paper, give the author’s name, then a comma,
then a short title, and then the page number, i.e. (Gobble, Bagel Boom 111).