An in-text citation appears in parentheses within the text of a paper, in order to indicate that a source is being cited. Every in-text citation must correspond to a reference at the end of the paper.
In-text citations include the author's last name and the publication date.
If the author's name is already given in the text of the paper, then it is not given again inside the parentheses.
Example:
Williams (2002) claims that keeping pets is beneficial for seniors.
If the author's name is not in the text of the paper, then it is given inside the parentheses.
Example:
Research suggests that keeping pets is beneficial for seniors (Williams, 2002).
If the citation is for a direct quotation, then the page number is included at the end of the quotation.
Example (with author's name already given in the text):
According to Williams (2008), "keeping companion animals has been shown to have a positive impact on the general well being of older adults" (p. 10).
Example (with author's name not already given in the text):
Research on seniors and pets suggests that that keeping pets has a "positive impact on the general well being of older adults" (Williams, 2008, p. 10).
When the authors' names occur inside of the parentheses, they are connected with the symbol "&”; but when they occur outside of the parentheses, they are connected with the English word “and".
It has been found that sleep is related to academic performance (Gray & Watson, 2002).
Gray and Watson (2002) found that when students had good quality sleep, they performed better academically.
Cite only the last name of the first author followed by "et al." and a year
Example:
Elagra et al. (2016) found that poor sleep quality in dental students related to poor academic performance.
Poor sleep quality in dental students is related to poor academic performance (Elagra et al., 2016).