Parenthetical Citations in APA, MLA, and Chicago: Format and Examples
What is a Parenthetical Citation?
Parenthetical citations are used in academic writing to cite sources that were referred to during research. It uses parentheses to provide information such as the author’s name, publication date/year, and page number details of the source.
Parenthetical vs. Narrative Citations
In-text citations can be narrative or parenthetical.
- In parenthetical citations, all details of the source are placed within parentheses.
Example: The findings confirmed the presence of antibodies in the system after 2 weeks of vaccination (Watson, 1993).
- In narrative citations, the author’s name is incorporated as part of the sentence and the publication year is mentioned in parentheses.
Example: Watson (1993) reported that antibodies were found in the system after 2 weeks of vaccination.
Parenthetical Citation Format with Examples
Different style guides provide specific instructions on how parenthetical citations should be used in research papers. Here is a short guide for your reference.
Parenthetical Citations in APA
APA style uses the author-date citation system, wherein the author’s name and publication year are both written within parentheses in the text when citing the corresponding works from the reference list. If specific pages of the work need to be cited, write “p.” before a single page number and “pp.” to indicate the page range.
Examples:
- (Wade, 2010, p. 38)
- (Miller & Crabb, 2013, pp. 34–40)
Note that the format varies depending on the number of authors.
One author: Mention the author’s surname and the publication year separated by a comma.
Two authors: Surnames of both authors should be written separated by ampersand (&). This is followed by a comma and the publication year.
Three or more authors: Mention the first author’s surname followed by “et al.” and the publication year.
| Number of authors | Parenthetical citation | Narrative citation |
| One author | (Davis, 1960) | Davis (1960) |
| Two authors | (Davis & McCormick, 1960) | Davis and McCormick (1960) |
| Three or more authors | (Davis et al., 1960) | Davis et al. (1960) |
Parenthetical Citations in MLA
In MLA style, the in-text citations are written in the author-page format. This means that instead of the publication year, the page number or page range is mentioned after the author’s name in parentheses.
One author: The author’s name is written first, followed by the page number. No comma is added in between.
Two authors: Surnames of the two authors must be written separated by “and,” followed by the page number or page range.
Three or more authors: Write the surname of the first author followed by “et al.” and the page range details.
Examples
| Number of authors | Parenthetical citation | Narrative citation |
| One author | (Miles 10) | Miles (10) |
| Two authors | (Connor and Yang 39–45) | Connor and Yang (39–45) |
| Three or more authors | (Patel et al. 56–59) | Patel et al. (56–59) |
There may be cases where a source mentioned under the Works Cited list does not have author or the page range details. (e.g., company reports or online articles). In such cases, the in-text citation must be the same as the first element in the entry of the Works Cited list.
Example
Works Cited entry: NIST Chemistry Webbook, 2005. https://doi.org/10.18434/T4D303 [Retrieved March 2016].
Citation: (NIST Chemistry Webbook)
Parenthetical Citations in Chicago
The Chicago Manual of Style allows you to follow two citation styles: the author-date system and the notes and bibliography system.
Notes and bibliography system
Here, the citations are written as footnotes or endnotes. But you may use parenthetical citations for explanatory notes. Typically, the first citation of a source is written in full, and the subsequent citations are shortened.
Example: James McCormick, Hydrogen Peroxide Rocket Manual (FMC Corporation, 1965).
Author-date system
This is similar to the APA style citation, except that the author’s surname and publication year are not separated by a comma. Also, the page range is mentioned within parentheses.
Example: (Smith 2020, 22–25)
Here is a table summarizing the format for writing citations in the author-date system for different number of authors.
| Number of authors | Parenthetical citation | Narrative citation |
| One author | (Jang 2010, 346) | Jang (2010) |
| Two to three authors | (Parker, Ann, and Root 2012, 39–45) | Parker, Ann, and Root (2012) |
| Four or more authors | (Taylor et al. 1998, 6) | Taylor et al. (1998) |
Summary
Always consult the latest style guides to know the updated format for writing citations. Here’s a table summarizing the format and examples of parenthetical citations for APA, MLA, and Chicago styles.
| Number of authors | APA Example | MLA Example | Chicago Example |
| One author | (Davis, 1960) | (Miles 10) | (Jang 2010, 346) |
| Two authors | (Davis & McCormick, 1960) | (Connor and Yang 39–45) | (Watson and Gregson 2020, 56) |
| Three or more authors | (Davis et al., 1960) | (Patel et al. 56–59) | Three authors: (Parker, Ann, and Root 2012, 39–45)
Four or more authors: (Taylor et al. 1998, 6) |
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