Parenthetical Documentation
What is a Citation?
A citation is a note in your paper that tells the reader where you got your information for that sentence.
Example (citation is in red):
75% of Americans believe that Oswald was not the only person responsible for the shooting of JFK (McLoud 33).
THIS EXAMPLE IS NOT A REAL FACT - DO NOT USE!!!
Citations have two parts: 1.) Source information 2.) Page Number Example: (McLoud 33).
Follow this order when determining what to write in the source part of your citation:
1. If you have an author, use his/her Last Name
Example: (McLoud 33).
2. If no author (or if you have two of the same authors), use the first word of the article title.
Example: ("Lincoln").
3. If no author or article title (or if you have two of the same article titles), use the first word of the book/website title.
Example: (History.com). OR (History.com).
If you there is not a page number (websites), leave it blank.
REMEMBER THE PERIOD GOES AFTER THE CITATION!!!!
Example (citation is in red):
75% of Americans believe that Oswald was not the only person responsible for the shooting of JFK (McLoud 33).
THIS EXAMPLE IS NOT A REAL FACT - DO NOT USE!!!
Citations have two parts: 1.) Source information 2.) Page Number Example: (McLoud 33).
Follow this order when determining what to write in the source part of your citation:
1. If you have an author, use his/her Last Name
Example: (McLoud 33).
2. If no author (or if you have two of the same authors), use the first word of the article title.
Example: ("Lincoln").
3. If no author or article title (or if you have two of the same article titles), use the first word of the book/website title.
Example: (History.com). OR (History.com).
If you there is not a page number (websites), leave it blank.
REMEMBER THE PERIOD GOES AFTER THE CITATION!!!!
To Cite or Not To Cite!
DO NOT CITE:
1. Birth dates or birth locations
2. Historical dates (Black Tuesday, the start of World War II)
3. Common knowledge (the Great Depression took place in the 1930's)
4. Your own ideas.
NEED TO CITE:
1. Statistics ($ amounts, percentages, population counts)
2. Direct quotations (quotes from a book)
3. Ideas loaned from other authors (information gathered from a resource)
DO NOT CITE:
1. Birth dates or birth locations
2. Historical dates (Black Tuesday, the start of World War II)
3. Common knowledge (the Great Depression took place in the 1930's)
4. Your own ideas.
NEED TO CITE:
1. Statistics ($ amounts, percentages, population counts)
2. Direct quotations (quotes from a book)
3. Ideas loaned from other authors (information gathered from a resource)