Skip to Main Content
Help

Cambridge LibGuides

Find out more about our library services, facilities and resources

Education Library: Referencing Guide 6th edition: How to Write In-text Citations

In-text citations

The way in which in-text citations are displayed will vary depending on the structure of the sentence, the number of sources you wish to cite and the number of authors.  See the box on the right for specific examples.

Remember that if you are using a direct quote you will also need to provide a page number (see guidance in the Direct Quotes & Paraphrasing section).

Examples of in-text citations

Both name and year are given in brackets:

The academic library is described as having a vital role in the community (Garofalo, 2013)

With a quote:

"The academic library is described as having a vital role in the community" (Garofalo, 2013, p.3)

Only the year of publication is given in brackets:

Garofalo (2013) describes the role played by the academic library within the community

With a quote:

Garofalo (2013) states that "The academic library is described as having a vital role in the community" (p.3)

Citation information is not added in brackets:

In 2013, Garofalo described the role played by the academic library within the community

With a quote:

In their 2013 work Garofalo states that "The academic library is described as having a vital role in the community" (p.3)

These are distinguished by adding lower case letters (a,b,c, etc.) after the date and within the brackets:

Garofalo (2013a, 2013b) discussed the subject…

** If you are adding citations from the same author and year, the letters after the date will determine the order in your list of reference list e.g. ‘Garofalo (2013a)’ would be listed before ‘Garofalo (2013b)’. **

 

2 authors

The surnames of both authors should be given every time the reference occurs in the text:

Brundrett and Rhodes (2011) have proposed that…
The academic library has an important role (Brundrett & Rhodes, 2011)

3-5 authors

When a source has 3, 4 or 5 authors, cite all authors the first time:

The academic library has an important role (Green, Preston, & Janmaat, 2006)

For subsequent citations of the same source, use the name of the first author followed by et al. (not italicised and with a full stop):

The academic library has an important role (Green et al., 2006)

6 or more authors

Use the first author followed by 'et al.', for all instances:

The academic library has an important role (Gray et al., 2006)

** For material written by 2-7 authors, include all surnames in the reference list. For 8 or more, see guidance for Journal Articles by Multiple Authors.**

Citations are listed in alphabetical order (as they would be in the reference list):

The academic library has an important role (Green, 2006;  Jones, 2001; Turner, 2011)

If citing 2 works by the same author, write the author once and the dates in chronological order (earliest first):

(Garofalo, 2009, 2013)


If citing 2 works by the same author published in the same year, use lower case a,b,c etc after the date:

(Garofalo, 2013a & 2013b)

For a dictionary or encyclopaedia, if the co-operative work of many authors, none of whom are a main editor, the title of the work may be used instead:

“A quotation from the text would be inserted here.” (Philips Encyclopaedia 2008, p.11).

The first time you refer to an organisation, write the name in full and include the abbreviated form in brackets, thereafter using the abbreviation:

In-Text citations

First instance: Assessment Reform Group (ARG) states that … (2013, p.2)
Second instance: (ARG, 2013)

Reference list

Use the full name in your reference list

Readily recognisable bodies within the field of education

As a rule of good practice you would always spell out abbreviations the first time however if you are using readily recognisable abbreviations within the field of education, you can use the abbreviated forms (making sure to include them in your list of abbreviations and use in the Reference list). For example: OFSTED

You may wish to check with your supervisor about this if you are unsure

If you refer to a source more than once in a paragraph (and have not mentioned any other source in between), then you need to include the author, date (and page numbers if you are using as quote) in the first instance however subsequently you do not need to repeat this information in full as giving the year (or the page numbers if a quote) will suffice. However if you feel that there is any confusion or ambiguity as to the source, cite in full 

Please see examples below.

For example if you have already stated the author and the date in a paragraph (and have not mentioned any other source in between) then any further paraphrasing would just need the date in Round brackets and any quotes would just need the page number in brackets.

If in doubt and you think there could be confusion as to the source repeat the citation informaton in full.
Quotes:
If you are including quotes you will need to include the page number in round brackets but you do not need to repeat the author and year.
Paraphrasing:
If you are making reference to the same source but not using direct quotes then you will need to mention the author, either in the body of the text or in round brackets.
 

Essential Rules

There must be no doubt or confusion as to which parts of your work are your own original work and which have been taken from someone else. If you use sources from someone else, whether they be text or illustrations or any other media then these must be referenced indicating the source of the material following the guidance in this Referencing guide:

  • Provide an in-text citation
  • Provide an entry in your reference list at the end of your work
  • Provide full details, including page numbers for direct quotes

In rare occasions you may use a passing reference to a source in text (for example stating your favourite book title as a child), in such cases no reference list entry is needed (making sure that you have not quoted or paraphrased from the source in any way, referred to any aspect of it specifically, or used it to advance an idea). If in doubt it is best to include an in-text citation and entry in the reference list
​​

© Cambridge University Libraries | Accessibility | Privacy policy | Log into LibApps