Writing research papers summaries or citing sources, a lot of people tend to think of using the APA format citation. What you may not know is that there is also the MLA format for texts. There is of course a huge difference between these two citations. Here are some below.
Just like an APA in text citation an MLA in text citation or MLA citation is referred to as where the source can be found in the text of the research paper, a short essay, or essay writing. This gives the reader the information they need in order to understand where the quote, the idea or the paraphrased thought originated. Text citations have the author’s name and the location together.
When you are writing your research paper summary or doing an essay writing about a story, you know for a fact that when you quote something, you need to state the source of the quotation. By doing this, you need to follow the outline format of MLA in text citation.
Whether you are quoting or paraphrasing a sentence taken from an article or a story, you still need to cite the source. You can cite your sources in different ways, but the common one is using parenthetical citation. Add the author and the year the book is published. Use parenthesis.
Another way to do an in text citing is to write the last names of the author’s, their first names, the book you have quoted from, and the year. Author’s names are in alphabetical order and are separated with a comma.
You cannot use two different outline formats when doing your citations. Stick to the one you have already chosen and use that in the entire research paper summary or your essay. Avoid making your readers confused with the format of your text citations.
Do go over the entire in text citations you have made to make sure that you have done the right format and the right text citations. Following the strict format for MLA papers is necessary. It also helps to make sure that the information is in the correct format.
The two most common types of MLA in text citation formats are parenthetical citations and narrative citations. In many cases when it comes to in text citations, the most commonly used and preferred in text citation format is the parenthetical citation. Due to the fact that it does not need a lot of information to make the citations. All you need is to place in parenthesis the author’s names, the location, the book’s name, and the year of publication for the book. All of which are placed in parenthesis. So it is also easier for your readers to see the citations and look for the paraphrased idea themselves.
This type of in text citations will depend on the one writing the citations. For narrative citations, it may be a bit tricky since the citations are going to be a part of the sentence that is being written down. It can only be seen when the author and the year is placed with parenthesis next to it. Which in many cases is what people use. However, if you prefer something less complicated, the parenthetical citation is a match.
This is an example of what a narrative citation will look like in a sentence. According to Williams, many animals prefer to be “solitary creatures than be with a pack” (10), but to some wildlife researchers do not agree to this statement. The parenthesis and the quotation shows the narrative citation part of the sentence. While a parenthetic citation would look like this: Many animals prefer “being solitary creatures than to be with a pack.” (Williams 10), but to some wildlife researchers do not agree to this statement. The main difference is that the name of the author is placed with the page it is being quoted.
Citing your sources is necessary when you are quoting or paraphrasing an article, a quote, or information that helps your essays or research. It is simply to give credit to the author and to explain to your readers where you have gotten the information.