Signal Your
Commentary on Source MaterialUse Parenthetical Citing
Both APA and MLA documentation styles use parenthetical citations.
In MLA style, you will include the author’s name and the page number
of the quoted, paraphrased, or summarized material. In APA style, you will include the author’s name and publication
year in all citations and the page number in directly quoted
material. Our goal here isn’t to explain APA or MLA style fully , but rather
to talk about how parenthetical citations can help signal your commentary.
The Academic Center offers an
APA
Quick Reference Guide and an
MLA
Quick Reference Guide if you’re interested in learning more
about either documentation style.
Directly Quoted Material Example
Signaling your commentary can be easy with directly quoted material.
In both APA and MLA documentation styles, writers must include a page
number with directly quoted material.
Let’s look at an example (MLA style):
Petrarch embarks on a physical journal hoping to gain spiritual insight.
He speaks of the mountain as a “very steep and almost inaccessible
mass of stony soil,” and climbing it is a “most difficult
task” (154). Ultimately, Petrarch is as lost in the temporal
circuitous route as he is in the eternal route to God because he seeks
to bring God closer through the climbing of a mountain, not through
internal reflection. By the end of his journey, his final impression
is that he must seek God through internal reflection, not physical
action.
The quotation marks that must go around directly quoted material
indicate to the reader the source material used here is exactly as
it is written in the source. The page number included in the parenthetical
citation at the end of the sentence indicates that the previous material
came directly from the text on page 154. Even though this writer used
the word “ultimately” to signal that she is beginning
her own commentary, the reader could guess that the information is
the writer’s own thoughts since no other citation is given.
Although parenthetical citations do signal to the reader that the
cited material is over, oftentimes you will want to make a transition
to your commentary. While the parenthetical citation does say to the
reader “hey, I have cited material here,” it doesn’t
offer to the reader a smooth transition from the cited material to
your commentary. The second part of this handout “Make
a Transition” will
provide several strategies for you to try, but let’s take a
moment to look at parenthetical citations within paraphrased or summarized
material.
Paraphrased/Summarized Example
While sometimes it may be most effective to quote material directly,
many times you will want to paraphrase or summarize material. It can
be more difficult to signal paraphrased or summarized material. In
MLA style, writers must include the page number even with paraphrased
or summarized material, but, in APA style, writers only include the
author/year citation. So, it is even more important to signal
that your commentary is beginning since the reader will not have
the quotation marks to signal that the source material is
ending.
Let’s look at an example of a passage:
Women may feel uneasy upon receiving ordinarily positive comments
on their appearance from male coworkers or supervisors. To these women,
the remarks carry an implied meaning: instead of being thought of
as productive employees, they are actually being viewed as just a
pretty part of the atmosphere. Depending on the situation, words or
expressions which appear favorable may actually be unsuitable in a
conversation (Locker, 2003).
---Locker, K. O. (2003). Business and administrative communication (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
Exactly where does the cited information begin and end? As you can
see, it is not entirely clear what information is taken from the source
and what ideas belong to the writer. In the case above, all of the
information had been taken from Locker.
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