Parenthetical Citations

1
What are Parenthetical Citations?

• Acknowledging words, facts, or ideas from another
  source.

2
Why do we need parenthetical citations?

• It is important to give credit to the sources you
  use.
• When you copy words and ideas that are not yours
  and use them without giving credit, it is called
  plagiarism.

3
How do I avoid plagiarism?

• You can avoid plagiarism, which is a serious
  offense, by giving credit to your sources. People
  who plagiarize may receive a failing grade or
  even be expelled from school.

4
Doesnt the Works Cited page give credit?

• Yes, the Works Cited page at the end of your
  paper is important in giving credit to the
  sources you used.
• However, it doesnt give your reader information
  on what exactly you used from each source or
  exactly where you found the material. To do
  this, you must cite your sources inside your
  essay.

5
When must you give credit?

• When you quote an authors exact words.
• If you use an authors exact words, you need to
  put them in quotation marks.

6
When must you give credit?

• When you summarize facts and ideas from a
  source.

Summarizing means taking ideas from a larger
passage and condensing them into your own words.
7
When must you give credit?

• When you paraphrase.

If you use the ideas or opinions from someone
else and restate them in your own words, you
still need to cite the source.
8
When do you not have to cite a reference?

• If the information is well known
• If the information can be found in dictionaries
• Statistics and information that can be easily
  found in several sources and are not likely to
  vary from source to source

9
How to cite sources in your paper
Authors last name.
Page number of quoted sentence.

• The most common type of credit (citation) lists
  the authors last name and the page number in
  parentheses.

In 1900, the worst hurricane in the United States
history hit Galveston, Texas. A storm surge
almost two stories high broke over the city,
causing 20- foot floods and more than 8,000
deaths (Skelton 4).
Author is identified in the sentence . . .

• If you have already named the author in the
  sentence, just include the page number in
  parentheses.
•  

so just put the page number where the info is
found inside the ().
In Hurricane Force, Michael Miles explains that
cool air draws heat and moisture from warm bodies
of water to form a storm (22).
10
How to cite sources when some of the information
is missing

• Some sources do not list an author. In those
  cases, use the title of the article or book and
  page number.
•  
• The winds of a hurricane are most violent around
  the eye (Hurricane Season 7).
•  
• Some sources, like websites, do not use page
  numbers. In those cases, list just the authors
  last name.
•  
• Hurricanes in the Indian Ocean are called
  cyclones (Nealy).
•  
• If a source does not list the author or page
  number, use the title.
•  
• In Southeast Asia, they are called typhoons
  (Big Wind).
•  
•  

11
Parenthetical citations should be

• Brief
• Give only enough information to identify the
  source on your Works Cited page

12
Finally . . .
More details to come!
Include a Works Cited page at the end of your
essay. It is the last page, stapled to your
paper.

• A Works Cited page provides the reader with a
  complete list of every source that you make
  reference to in your report. This makes it easy
  for a reader to locate and retrieve any sources
  cited in your paper.

13
Use parenthetical citations when you . . .

• Quote
• Summarize
• Paraphrase