In-Text Citations
Quoting
Citing and referencing are required in academic works, to support credibility, provide evidence and demonstrate scholarship.
For online resources – Consider the format of the source, that is, is it a book, journal article, etc. to determine which reference format to use. Use the webpage format as a last resort.
For UWI theses, the in-text citation and reference style is consistent with APA reference style.
The UWI Theses guide formatting guidelines override APA formatting guidelines where relevant.
Click on the link above to find the relevant section below.
- Usually composed of ‘author’ and ‘date’ e.g., (Walcott, 1987)
- Can be in parenthetical (i.e., in brackets) format e.g., ….(Naipaul, 1975)
OR as part of the text, i.e., narrative format. e.g., … as proposed by Smith (1980)….
Both formats are allowed in a paper.
- When you are paraphrasing, the page numbers do not need to be included in the in-text citation.
- For multiple in-text citations in the parenthetical formal, list references in alphabetical order. [Alphabetical order not needed in narrative form in-text citations]
– e.g., (Brown, 2020; Maraj, 2019; Williams, 2020)
- Same first author with 3 or more authors - in a different order, use as many last names as needed to distinguish between citations,
- e.g., …Smith, Singh, et al. (2020) and Smith, Jones, et al. (2020).
- Same author, same year - a or b is determined by title in the reference list
- e.g., Smith (2009a) and Smith (2009b)
- Authors with the same surname
- e.g., J. D. Smith (1988) and C. H. Smith (2001) verified that...
- Republished work: Freud (1923/1961) or (Freud, 1923/1961).
- For a work with no author, use the complete title or abbreviation of the title in place of the author, capitalizing each correct word and using quotation marks (“Current in the News,” 1980).
- Cites that appear in parenthetical text use commas to set off the date: (see James, 2024, for a general discussion of millennium celebrations) NOT (see James [2024] for a general discussion…).
- For locator information, use APA capitalization - Sparrow (2001, Figure 5), Kitchener (1979, Table 8), Valentino (1999, Note 2), Baron (1980, Appendix c), Crazy (2000, chap.3), Stalin (1999, sec. 4). See Citing specific parts of a source.
- e.g., … showed in the study (Bendz et al., 1990, as cited in Olson et al., 2004).
OR
Bendz et al. (1990, as cited in Olson et al., 2004) showed …
{The item that you used is listed in the references in this case Olson et al.}
- For quotations, must include page nos.
- e.g., (Smith et al., 2015, p. 1054)
{note the full stop after al. and space between p. and the number}
- For a webpage and a direct quote online, cite the paragraph number in the in-text citation
- e.g., (Ministry of Health, 2009, para. 1)
- Block quotations (40 words or more) - do not need quotation marks or italics.
- Start on a new line and indent the block 1 cm (1/2 inch) from the left margin. Cite the source in parentheses after the quotation’s final punctuation or cite the author and year in your sentence before the quotation, concluding with the page number/s.
- e.g., ....... high stakes. (Smith, 2020, p. 10)
Article titles are not usually included in in-text citations. However, if you need to do so (e.g., the article is well-known),
Example:
In their now-infamous article, “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid,” Watson and Crick (1953) described DNA.
