One author

More than one author

Unknown author

Two or more works by the same author

Two or more authors with the same last name

Corporation, organization, or government agency as author

Literary work (novel, play, poem)

Work in an anthology

Religious work

Multivolume work (one volume, more than one volume)

Indirect citation (quotation from a secondary source)

Entire work

Work without page numbers or a one-page work (with/without other section numbers)

Work in a time-based medium

Two or more works cited in the same parentheses

In-Text-Citation Models

One author When citing most works with a single author, include the author’s name (usually the last name is enough*) and the page number on which the cited material appears.

(For a works-cited entry for “Birthing,” click here.)

More than one author To cite a source by two authors, include both authors’ last names. To cite a source with three or more authors, provide just the first author’s name followed by et al. (“and others” in Latin, not italicized).

Unknown author If the author’s name is unknown, use a shortened version of the title, beginning with the word by which the title is alphabetized in the works-cited list. Use the first noun and any modifiers. (In this example, the full title is “Plastic Is Found in the Sargasso Sea; Pieces of Apparent Refuse Cover Wide Atlantic Region.”)

Two or more works by the same author If you cite more than one work by the same author, include a shortened version of the title.

Two or more authors with the same last name When citing works by authors with the same last name, include each author’s first name in the signal phrase or first initial in the parenthetical citation.

Corporation, organization, or government agency as author In a signal phrase, use the full name of the corporation, organization, or government agency. In a parenthetical citation, use the full name if it is brief or a shortened version if it is long.

Literary work (novel, play, poem) Provide information that will help readers find the passage you are citing no matter what edition of the novel, play, or poem they are using. In a signal phrase, spell out titles; in a parenthetical citation, abbreviate famous works. For a novel or other prose work, provide the part or chapter number as well as the page numbers from the edition you used.

For a play in verse, use act, scene, and line numbers instead of page numbers.

For a poem, indicate the line numbers and stanzas or sections (if they are numbered) instead of page numbers.

If the source gives only line numbers, use the term lines in your first citation and use only the numbers in subsequent citations.

Work in an anthology Use the name of the author of the work, not the editor of the anthology, in your in-text citation.

Religious work In your first citation, include the element that begins your entry in the works-cited list, such as the edition name of the religious work you are citing, and include the book or section name (using standard abbreviations in parenthetical citations) and any chapter or verse numbers.

Multivolume work (one volume, more than one volume) If you cite only one volume of a multivolume work, treat the in-text citation as you would any other work, but include the volume number in the works-cited entry.

When you use two or more volumes of a multivolume work, include the volume number and the page number(s) in your in-text citation.

Indirect citation (quotation from a secondary source) If possible, locate the original source and cite that. If not possible, name the original source but also include the secondary source in which you found the material you are citing, plus the abbreviation qtd. in. Include the secondary source in your list of works cited.

Entire work Include the reference in the text without any page numbers or parentheses.

Work without page numbers or a one-page work (with/without other section numbers) If a work (such as a Web page) has no page numbers or is only one page long, omit the page number. If it uses screen numbers or paragraph numbers, insert a comma after the author’s name, an identifying term (such as screen) or abbreviation (par. or pars.), and the number.

Work in a time-based medium To cite a specific portion of a video or audio recording, include a time or range of times, as provided by your media player. Cite hours, minutes, and seconds, placing colons between them.

Two or more works cited in the same parentheses If you cite two or more sources for a piece of information, include them in alphabetical order in the same parentheses, separated by semicolons.