Parenthetical Citations

Special Cases

No Author Listed

Give the first important word of the title. Underline, italicize or quote the title as appropriate. Note that it cannot be a word (such as the name of your topic) common to other titles on your Works Cited page; the reader has to be able to recognize your reference. Use several words if necessary.

The number of single-parent households is declining (“Modern Family” A17).

A quotation that your source has quoted

Identify in your sentence who actually said it or wrote it. Then in your citation use the phrase qtd. in.

Scott Merchant has recorded the deep dives of the leatherback turtle, and

Gives it “a tentative 400-foot lead” over the diving record of the sperm

Whale (qtd. in “Whale News” 14).

Mary Stone and Virginia Wilson say low self-esteem makes a

woman “terrified of getting too close” (qtd. in Marjorim 259).

A magazine or newspaper article

Give the author if listed; if not, then give a brief form of the title of the article; add the page number. Do not give the title of the magazine or newspaper.

One approach is to analyze the Psalms for the richness of their poetic

Imagery (“Following Biblical Language” 842).

A work that has two or three authors

Give all the last names, joined by and.

“A B-type star is an object exhibiting neutral helium lines in its spectrum,

but no ionized helium lines” (Jones and Smith 136).

Synthesized marijuana is used to treat asthma and to control nausea during

Chemotherapy (Carey, Borden, and Miller78).

A work that has four or more authors.

Give the last name of the first author only, plus et al. (“and others”).

A group of environmental scientists argue that “perpetual Third World

Poverty is a luxury that the prosperous can no longer afford”

(Earnhart et al. 104).

Two or more works by the same author.

Give the author’s name, a brief version of the title, and the page number.

Men and women have different purposes while engaging in conversation

(Thompson, People Don’t Care Anymore 77).