35 Placing Your Citations
Where do I place citations in my writing?
Placing the citations
It is very important that you clearly distinguish your own ideas from those of others by putting your citations in the appropriate places. The two most common ways to put your citation are:
- right after the borrowed information
- APA uses in-text citations and the author/date information in parentheses:
Example:
There is also the argument that ….. (Mitchell, 1996)
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- MLA uses in-text citations and the author/page information in parentheses:
Example:
There is also the argument that …… (Mitchell 225)
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- Chicago uses footnotes indicated by a superscript number like this1. The footnote contains the full citation information.
Example:
There is also the argument that …….1
- using the author information in an introductory phrase
- APA
Example: Mitchell (1996)argues…
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- MLA
Example: Mitchell states …….. (225).
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- Chicago
Example: Mitchell suggests ……..1
Can you show me an example?
Have a look at the following paragraphs in the three different citation styles. The student’s own ideas are shown in purple, the borrowed ideas are in green, and the citations are in red. The first two citations follow the borrowed idea, while the third citation uses the author information in an introductory phrase.
