No matter how you are including information into your writing, you will need to attribute that information to the source that you got it from. You must do this with an in-text citation! An in-text citation comes in two forms and both of these have three parts.
Parts of a Citation:
Types of in-text citation
There are two types of in-text citation, but remember that both need to include all three parts of a citation.
There are Narrative and Parenthetical citations. Narrative in-text citations include some of the information like author name and date in the tag. Remember you need a tag to introduce the in-text citation. Parenthetical in-text citations also has a tag, but only offers general information not specific information in the tag. All necessary information is giving in the ending citation.
Academic Research Uses
Writing Papers and Using Research
When you are doing academic research, you will probably be looking for information for a paper or project that you have been assigned in class. If you pursue graduate work, you might be doing research for independent study. However, whenever you are doing research, you will need to use that research in some way. You will need to explain what research you have found in a paper. You can do this in three ways: by writing a summary, by writing a paraphrase, or by using a direct quotation.
Summary
A summary should be used when you are explaining the content and main points of an entire article. Summaries should be significantly shorter than their original source and may give a short explanation of an article in one or two paragraphs. Summaries should include main points and results, be in your own words, in your own writing style, and include in-text citation information.
Instructional Presentation:
Paraphrase
A paraphrase should be used if you are pulling information from a very specific part of an article. Maybe you are comparing the methods of three research projects. In each article, you are only looking at the section about methods. This is not a long section so your explanation may be the same length or just a little shorter. Paraphrases should include main points and details, be in your own words, in your own writing style (i.e. don't copy the sentence format), and include in-text citation information.
Quotations
A direct quote should be used if you feel the exact wording is very important to your point or your topic. Quotes are used in humanities research much more that in STEM or social science fields. For example, a journalism student will need to use quotes much more often than someone who is explaining a chemical reaction. Quotes should use EXACTLY the same wording (even if there is an error in the original), quotation marks and in-text citation information.
Additional Resources
