How to cite in an essay

How to cite in an essay

No matter you are a high school student or a professional writer like one from writemyessay.ca, sometimes you face with a need to cite your sources according to a specific formatting style. MLA and APA are two most commonly used. Citing in essay ensure that writers do not plagiarize the others’ work of others and provides readers with how to find the information used in the essay. Citations similarly to other part of essay writing process is very important part and you should follow the rules precisely.

First of all, be sure what style is correct to your essay. If it is MLA which is the formatting style of the Modern Language Association, follow the further rules. You have to be able to recognize the two main components of citation. While citing an essay, you usually include information in two places: in the body of the essay (in-text citation) and in the Works Cited coming after it. The Works Cited section is a bibliography in other words as you list there all used in the essay sources.

The in-text citation must tell the reader the name of the author whose information you use and a page number which tells where in the source a reader can find this information. The most common structure for an in-text citation looks like this: (Murphy 123). In MLA formatting style in-text citations come at the end of the sentence. Remember, that in most cases the in-text citations begin and end with quotation marks.

Any information that is cited in-text should have a corresponding citation in the Works Cited section. The sources in Works Cited part should be presented in such order: the author of the text, the name of the text, the name of the collection, the collection’s editor, information of the publication, and the page number(s) of the text. For instance, Frisch, Michael H. “The Memory of History.” Presenting the Past Essays on History and the Public. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986. 5. Print.

If APA which is the formatting style for the American Psychological Association is appropriate style for your essay, then you have to follow the further rules. The in-text citation differs from MLA style in which you needed to include only the author’s last name and the page number in-text. In APA you also must add a third element: the year of publishing the text. Whereas in MLA the citation in the text always goes at the end of the sentence, in APA it interrupts the sentence.

Just like MLA’s Works Cited, APA requires the Reference List which is the bibliography of all used in the essay sources. It should provide the reader with such information: the author’s last name, first initial, middle initial, year of text’s publication, and title of chapter in sentence case, title of book in sentence case (page range, location and publisher. For instance: Smith, J.R. (2008). Women’s journey, Gender Issues (pp.101-120). New York, NY: ABP.

Citing the essay is a very complicated process and has a huge variety of the nuances. Here is just a brief explanation of the most common structures of how it should be. Make sure you have enough time after writing the essay for this part and use multiple sources while citing the essay. Do not underestimate the online programs which help to do this, but also do not forget to check a received result.