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In-Text Citations

Citing References in Text

In-text citations in Chicago Author/Date usually appear in parenthesis and include only the first two elements of a full reference entry, the author and the publication year, even if the reference includes month and day in the publication date. A page number can be added to the basic in-text citation whenever a specific locator is needed.

This method of citation briefly identifies each source and enables the readers to easily locate it among the entries that are organized in alphabetical order in the reference list.

 

If the name of the author appears as part of the narrative, you only need to cite the publication year in parenthesis immediately after the name of the author:

Daley (2010) explores the possibility that a government might use nuclear weapons...

 

When the name of the author is not part of the narrative, you need to place both author's name and publication year in the parenthetical citation:

...nuclear proliferation must be taken into account (Daley 2010).

Citing Specific Parts of a Source

To cite a specific part of a work, include the page number in the parenthetical reference.

Direct quotations always require reference to the exact page number in which the quotation appears, unless the source does not have page numbers (i.e. web documents). In that case it may be appropriate to cite a chapter or a paragraph number, if available.

 

Daley explores the possibility that a government might justify the of use of nuclear weapons as "a rational policy option" (2010, 97).


"The grand bargain of the treaty was that the many nuclear have-nots agreed to forego nuclear weapons, while the few nuclear haves agreed to get rid of their nuclear weapons" (Daley 2010, 112).
 

Long Quotes

Quoted material of more than a paragraph. even if brief, is best set off as a block quotation. The in-text citation is given in parenthesis at the end of the quotation, after the final punctuation mark of the quoted text.

 


I suggest an alternative identification of the animal effigy. I believe it represents a bison or buffalo, as suggested by its horn, which is on top of its head and curved to the rear. Mammoth tusks, on the other hand, are located below the animal’s trunk and at its mouth and curve upward. Also, the effigy-geoglyph has a humped back typical of bison. Historical accounts and archaeological discoveries have confirmed the presence of bison in the north-east region, which lends weight to my interpretation. (Lenik 2009, 114)

Works without Author

Anonymous works are cited in the text with the first element of the reference list entry, therefore you should use titles in quotations marks for sections of larger works (articles, chapters, etc.) and titles in italics for entire works (books, websites, etc.).

 

 Examples

("A Game of Dare" 2010)

... in the Oxford English Dictionary (1989) ...

Multiple Text References

Two or more references in a single parenthetical citation are separated by semicolons. The order in which they appear depends on what is being cited in the text. If there is no specific order given by the author, the sources may be listed in alphabetical order as they appear in the reference list. 

Arrange multiple works by the same author by increasing year of publication.

 

 Examples

Several studies (Miller 2015; Rosewood and Jones 2009; Smith 2013) ...

Research has been conducted in this field (Smith 2010, 2013, 2014) ...

Secondary Sources

You should always try to avoid using secondary sources (sources that include other references you are interested in) and locating the original source instead. When the original work is not available (i.e. out of print), you give the secondary source in the reference list, whereas in the text you name the original source but give a citation for the secondary one.

The in-text citation includes the words "quoted in."

 

 Examples

According to Smith (quoted in Clark, 2009) ....

.. and the concept of vulnerability (Smith quoted in Clark, 2009)....

 

In both cases the work cited in the reference list is Clark, 2009.

Personal Communications

When you need to refer to private conversations (interviews, phone calls, e-mails, private letters), you only have to cite them in the text and not in the Reference list.

These type of sources are called personal communications and must be described with the name of the person involved and as precise a date as possible.

 

 Example

(S. Dean, e-mail message to author, January 17, 2012) 

Reprint Editions

When citing a reprint of a previously published work, the reference list entry will have both publication years (the first one in parentheses). The parentheses are rendered as square brackets in the In-text citation.

 

 Example

(Harvey [1997] 2011)

Page or Location Numbers in Electronic Formats

For e-books and sources in various electronic formats, pages numbers may vary depending on the application or device used to read them. It is usually enough to provide information about the chapter or section instead of providing the exact page number.

In some cases, it might be necessary to provide the exact location by specifying bot the exact location and the total number of locations.

 

 Example

(Modern Language Association of America, 2016, loc. 998 of 4167)