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.
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)."
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).
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).
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).
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.