LibAnswers: Referencing

An in-text citation is the marker used in the text of your work to show that you are quoting, paraphrasing or summarizing someone else's work.  The in-text citation refers to a full bibliographic reference provided in the reference list at the end of your work.  Depending on the referencing system you are using, an in-text citation may look like this:

Jones (2016) has provided evidence that these figures are incorrect.

 It is claimed that “the political market is more complex than just voters” (Lees and Marshment,  2014, p.3).

There is some evidence [1] that these figures are incorrect. However, [2] suggests an alternative theory.

The first two examples are from an author-date style of referencing (e.g. Harvard, APA)

The third example is from a numeric system (e.g. Vancouver, MLA, IEEE).

Make sure that you are using the correct citation format for the system that you are using. For example, Harvard (Cite Them Right) requires you to include the page number/s in the citation if you are directly quoting or summarising the points of an author.

Explanations of the differences between quoting, paraphrasing and summarising can be found within Cite Them Right Online. You will need to login with your single sign-on.