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Always provide an in-text citation for any material that is not originally yours; if you learned information from a book, website, article, etc., cite that source in the sentence in which you discuss that information.
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List the author's last name and the year the item was published when referring to the source material. You can include it in the sentence: "Smith (2014) discussed writing strategies..." or at the end of the sentence in parentheses: "...recommended writing strategies (Smith, 2014)."
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If you are quoting directly from a source, also include the page number: "...the research paper does not have to be boring" (Smith, 2014, p. 10).
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If your source does not have an author, use the title in place of the author name for your in-text citation: (Writing Strategies," 2012).
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If you mention two or more sources in the same sentence, include a citation for both of them; alphabetize by the first author's last names: (Smith, 2014; Zabala & Crane, 2010).
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When citing an interview, email, or other direct communication with a source, include their name, that it was personal communication, and the date of the conversation: "Zabala also discussed her personal struggles (personal communication, December 10, 2015)."
Additional strategies for in-text citations are available on the Purdue OWL website.