Text citations typically give the last name of
the author or authors and the year of publication within parentheses:
(Smith 1993)
If the quotation or idea you are using comes from a specific page
in your source, you should indicate that:
(Smith 1982, p 73)
If you mention the name of the author in the text, then only the
year belongs in parentheses:
Smith's sequence of studies (1958, 1963a, 1963b, 1967) .
. .
Use the table below to learn more about formatting in-text citations
using the CBE name-year system.
| When
you need to . . . |
Here's
what you do: |
Example |
| Cite
different sources
by the same author from different years |
Place
the years in chronological order. |
Smith's
sequence of studies (1958, 1967) . . . . |
| Cite
different sources by the same author from the same year |
Distinguish
by lower-case letters, with "a" first, "b"
next, and so forth. |
Smith's
sequence of studies (1958, 1963a, 1963b, 1967). . . . |
| Cite
sources by authors
with same last name, same year |
Give each author's initials; order alphabetically. |
The most recent work (Dawson GL 1986; Dawson WM 1986). . . . |
| Cite
a source with two authors |
Give
both names, separated by "and": |
(Dawson
and Briggs 1986) |
| Cite
a source with three or more authors |
Give the
first author's name followed by "and others" and
the year.
If the names of the first author(s) and years
are identical in several references, add enough author names
to eliminate ambiguity. |
(Dawson
and others 1987)
(Smith, Jones, and others 1990) (Smith,
Jones, Thomas, and others 1990) |
| Cite
multiple sources with a single citation |
Sequence
from earliest to latest; sequence those published in same
year alphabetically by author name; separate studies by semicolon. |
A number of
studies (Dawson and Briggs 1974; Dawson and Jones 1974; Smith
AL 1978; Smith GT 1978; Smith and others 1978; Tyndall and others
1978; Zymgomoski 1978; Brown 1980) have established. . . . |
Cite
a source cited by your source
(Secondary citation) |
Secondary
citations refer to material that you have not seen in its
original form but rather have obtained from another document
that cited the original source.
Give the original author's name and year,
followed by "cited in" and the source name and year. |
The original
description (Powell 1858, cited in Forbes 1872). . . . |
Cite
unpublished material
(personal communications, oral presentations) |
Give type
and source in text.
If the text citation of an unpublished source
is in parentheses, make clear that it is not in the reference
list (only works available to readers are in the reference
list). |
In a lecture
at Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison, on April
7, 1995, Smith . . . .
(RS Grant, personal letter to me; unreferenced) |
