in text citation for websites

In-Text Citations: An Overview

In-text citations are brief, unobtrusive references that direct readers to the works-cited-list entries for the sources you consulted and, where relevant, to the location in the source being cited.

An in-text citation begins with the shortest piece of information that di­rects your reader to the entry in the works-cited list. Thus, it begins with what ever comes first in the entry: the author’s name or the title (or descrip­tion) of the work. The citation can appear in your prose or in parentheses.

Citation in prose  Naomi Baron broke new ground on the subject. Parenthetical citation At least one researcher has broken new ground on the subject (Baron). Work cited Baron, Naomi S. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media.” PMLA , vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193–200. 

When relevant, an in-text citation also has a second component: if a specific part of a work is quoted or paraphrased and the work includes a page number, line number, time stamp, or other way to point readers to the place in the work where the information can be found, that location marker must be included in parentheses.

Parenthetical citation According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (194).

The author or title can also appear alongside the page number or other loca­tion marker in parentheses.

Parenthetical citation Reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (Baron 194).

All in-text references should be concise. Avoid, for instance, providing the author’s name or title of a work in both your prose and parentheses.

Citation (incorrect) According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (Baron 194). Citation (correct) According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (194).

For more on what to include in an in-text citation and how to style it, see sections 6.3–6.30 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook ).

56 Comments

Brandi unruh 10 april 2021 at 11:04 am.

Hello! I am a high school English teacher trying to answer a question that came up during our research unit. I can’t seem to find a definitive answer online. When using a shortened title in an in-text citation, does an ellipsis need to be included? For example, if the title was “The Problem of Poverty in America: A Historical and Cultural Analysis”, would the in-text citation be (“The Problem of Poverty in America...”) or (“The Problem of Poverty in America”)? Thank you for your time and expertise!

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Laura Kiernan 12 April 2021 AT 11:04 AM

No, an ellipsis would not be used in an in-text citation. We provide extensive guidance on shortening titles in 6.10 of the new ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

angel 10 May 2021 AT 02:05 PM

hii How to write an in text citation of an entry from encyclopedia which has an editor but no separate authors for each entry ?

William Feeler 11 May 2021 AT 01:05 PM

I see no mention of paragraph numbers for unpaginated prose or sections/lines for drama. are these practices gone?

Laura Kiernan 18 May 2021 AT 01:05 PM

This post provides a general overview of our approach to in-text citations. The complete guidelines appear in sections 6.1–6.30 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Vonceil Park 11 May 2021 AT 01:05 PM

Dear MLA Staff, A professor at my College demands students to provide paragraph number in the in-text citation for online articles that have no page number nor paragraph number. Do we just count the paragraph number and put them in the parenthesis, for example: (para. 3)?

Laura Kiernan 18 May 2021 AT 12:05 PM

Thank you for your question. Your approach to modifying our style in accordance with your professor's instructions works, but we would suggest confirming that styling with your professor.

Arathi Babu 17 May 2021 AT 08:05 AM

How to write an in text citation of an unsigned entry from a reference work?

Laura Kiernan 08 June 2021 AT 11:06 AM

If the entry was in a print work, the in-text citation would include the entry’s title or a shortened version of the entry’s title and the page number of the quotation. If the entry was in a reference work without page numbers, the in-text citation should just contain the title or shortened title of the entry.

Sethu 17 May 2021 AT 02:05 PM

For example: Can I give an in-text citation like the following: Shakespeare, in his work Hamlet, quotes: "To be or not to be" (7).

For citing commonly studied verse works, see 6.22 in the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Trinity Klein 21 May 2021 AT 11:05 AM

Can you please help with proper in-text citation placement for an embedded quotation? Does the citation come immediately after the quotation or at the very end of the sentence? For example, is this correct: He asks her to take him home “in the voice of a child afraid of the dark” which comes as a shock to Scout because he has so long held a bold and rebellious reputation (372). Or should the (372) come immediately after ...dark"...? Thank you!

For more information about the placement of a parenthetical citations, see 6.43 in the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Karima 30 May 2021 AT 05:05 PM

Dear MLA staff, 1) In case i am quoting from multiple sources by the same author, am i required to introduce again the source i am quoting from in the beginning of my sentence? (Quotes are used in multiple paragraphs)

For guidance on citing multiple sources by the same author, see 6.8 in the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Yves 23 June 2021 AT 06:06 PM

Hello, is there a specific rule about how to format a range of page numbers in the parenthetical citation? For example, could (Eden 44-45) be written as (Eden 44-5), or is only one example correct?

Laura Kiernan 24 September 2021 AT 02:09 PM

For information about styling number ranges, see section 2.139 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Faliravo 11 August 2021 AT 05:08 AM

Good morning MLA team, My professor insists that I include the year of publication for in-text citations. Is it going to be okay if I insert the year between the author and the page number?

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Laura Kiernan 24 September 2021 AT 01:09 PM

Your approach to modifying our style in accordance with your professor’s instructions works, but we would suggest confirming that styling with your professor.

Pauline 14 September 2021 AT 11:09 PM

How do I cite an entire work. For example, if I want to say Toni Morrison's the "Bluest Eye" has been used as a textbook for many English literature classes, I suppose I shouldn't put any page number in the parenthetical citation. But I can't find any MLA references on this.

See section 4.14 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

myron glassenberg 04 February 2022 AT 01:02 PM

if source is the whole book, how do I cite in text and in works cited pages. e.g. freud (no page number) Freud , ( 1892) The Pleasure Principle.

Rita Rozzi 20 September 2023 AT 07:09 PM

There is no section 4.14 in the ninth edition. Do you have any updated information? Thank you.

Laura Kiernan 21 September 2023 AT 03:09 PM

Section 4.14, which is titled "Passing Mentions," can be found in chapter 4 of the ninth edition of the handbook.

Lauren McFall 13 October 2021 AT 02:10 PM

Students often refer to the same source consecutively across more than one sentence. I'm having a hard time finding information about the preferred approach according to the MLA. As a parallel, APA makes a specific recommendation - "cite the source in the first sentence in which it is relevant and do not repeat the citation in subsequent sentences as long as the source remains clear and unchanged" https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/appropriate-citation

Laura Kiernan 20 October 2021 AT 04:10 PM

See 6.45 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Ruth Schafer 01 December 2022 AT 07:12 PM

6.45 out of the MLA Handbook's ninth edition does not provide an example of how to cite a multi-sentence paraphrase when using an unpaginated source. Can you give an example of how to cite a multi-sentence paraphrase where the source does not have published page numbering?

Should I introduce the source in my prose and then again at the end of the multi-sentence paraphrase in parentheses when I have finished citing the paraphrase? Example: John Smith from Smith Architecture explains that crawl space foundations are...blah blah blah. These foundations are most commonly used in midwestern constructions where the frost line is...blah, blah, blah. Keep writing the paraphrase and then at the end of the final sentence instead of a page citation write the author's last name (Smith). This way if you switch to a different source, at least the reader knows that you have finished with the Smith source and have moved on to your own commentary or another source's information. Usually, I'd use a page citation at the end of the paraphrase, but when dealing with a source that does not have page numbering, I'm unsure what to do.

Lizzie 18 October 2021 AT 10:10 PM

If I only use textual evidence from the novel I'm examining, do I need to include the authors name with each in text citation? There are no other works cited, so it seems redundant/clutter-y to me

Kayden 29 October 2021 AT 05:10 PM

If I'm trying to cite multiple paragraphs from the same source would it be correct to say (par. 3 and 13) or should it be (par. 3, 13) and is it different if they are next to each other too like (par. 6-7) or (par. 6 and 7).

Laura Kiernan 04 November 2021 AT 11:11 AM

See sections 6.18–6.20 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Rachel 17 November 2021 AT 01:11 PM

When citing from an online source without pagination, if you include the author's name in the introduction to the quote, do you need to include anything in parentheses like the article title?

Laura Kiernan 22 November 2021 AT 12:11 PM

See section 6.26 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

July 25 November 2021 AT 05:11 PM

When quoting an online source (e.g. a website), do I have to indicate the fact that it's an online source in the in-text-citations as in (Name [online]) or is the author's name enough?

Thank you in advance for your answer.

Laura Kiernan 29 November 2021 AT 10:11 AM

According to MLA style, an in-text citation for an online work should not note that the work is online.

Pinkie 19 March 2022 AT 08:03 PM

If I'm writing a response paper, and I need to summarize the whole article to introduce it, then should I use in-text citation?

Laura Kiernan 25 March 2022 AT 01:03 PM

For guidance on paraphrasing, see sections 4.5–4.8 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Kay 09 April 2022 AT 06:04 PM

Hi, am I supposed to include the DOI when one is available in the citation? If I cite the print version of a journal article that has a DOI, still include the DOI in the citation? Thank you!

Laura Kiernan 11 April 2022 AT 11:04 AM

Thank you for your questions. For guidance on including a DOI in your works-cited-list entry, see sections 5.84 and 5.93 in the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Mike 16 April 2022 AT 05:04 PM

Website in-text Citation...

When I'm writing an in-text citation for a website, I'm seeing all manner of different things to include. Do I need to add the author name and year of publishing for the article?\ Do I just need the website name? I'm not really understanding what I need to add or obtain for such a citation within the text I'm writing.

I'm writing a book on my life, and I'm quoting a particular webpage to show one particular angle of an argument I'm making, and, of course, it's not common knowledge, so I want to make sure that I follow all the rules for this kind of thing, so I don't get in trouble with the author(s) of the sources I have quoted from...

Laura Kiernan 18 April 2022 AT 02:04 PM

Thank you for your questions about MLA style. For guidance on in-text citations for web pages, see section 6.26 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Cynthia 21 May 2022 AT 10:05 PM

When you're doing an In-text citations do you put the quotations over the chapter title and then quotations over what you get from the text or do you italicize the title?

Laura Kiernan 25 May 2022 AT 03:05 PM

Thank you for your question. For guidance on how to style chapter titles, see 2.109 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Napatsi 15 August 2022 AT 07:08 PM

I'm trying to find how to put in the in-text citation for a UN declaration article but can only find the "Resolutions of International Governing Bodies" on page 446 of the 9th edition but not how to out it in without an author.

Kim 27 September 2022 AT 12:09 PM

I'm quoting a passage from an unpublished manuscript, and it is not the only work I'm citing by the author, but the only one without a year. So using "Smith 1995, 82" is not possible. What would an in-text citation for this case look like?

Jen 17 November 2022 AT 08:11 PM

How do I cite a news cast for in-text citation like ABC News?

Samantha 04 December 2022 AT 05:12 PM

Hi, For MLA format, should a quote where you need to de-capitalize the first letter be written as "you want" or "(y)ou want". Thanks!

Laura Kiernan 07 December 2022 AT 01:12 PM

Thank you for your question. For guidance on how to indicate that you have lowercased the first letter of a quotation, see 6.56 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Maria Albeti 07 February 2023 AT 01:02 PM

Stewart, David W. Focus groups. In: Frey, B.B. (ed.) The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation, vol. 2, pp. 687–692. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications 2018 In this case, how is the correct form to write, because the article is IN the the book?

Eros Karadzhov 15 February 2023 AT 02:02 PM

If we have a sentence that is a statement, but at the end we quote a question, which punctuation mark do we keep, the question mark or the period; maybe both? Example: (1) The author ends his poem with the following question on purpose: "Or does it explode?" (Hughes 11). (2) The author ends his poem with the following question on purpose: "Or does it explode" (Hughes 11)?

Which would be correct, or maybe both are wrong?

Thank you in advance!

Laura Kiernan 16 February 2023 AT 03:02 PM

Thank you for your question. For guidance on quotations ending in a question mark, see section 6.53 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

Anonymous 08 March 2023 AT 05:03 PM

What about online articles with no known author or multiple authors? What should the in-text citation look like?

Maria 25 March 2023 AT 04:03 PM

Please settle a dispute with my colleagues. I encourage composition students to avoid listing the title of journal articles within the essay unless it is especially relevant because it clutters their arguments. I came to this conclusion from my interpretation of this statement from MLA: "All in-text references should be concise. Avoid, for instance, providing the author’s name or title of a work in both your prose and parentheses." Could someone please provide an answer or further clarification?

Erika Suffern 30 March 2023 AT 04:03 PM

You are right to identify a principle of concision in our guidelines. That said, it is not wrong to mention a title in prose, but it should be done, as you note, when relevant–not as a de rigeur practice or for “filler.” As Eric Hayot notes in The Elements of Academic Style: Writing for the Humanities (Columbia UP, 2014), “giving the title” in prose “suggests fuller forthcoming treatment” (159). Another reason for including the title in prose might be to call attention to something about it. Many writers who do mention a title in prose fear having an incomplete citation and are tempted also to include the title in a parenthetical reference, which is unnecessary.

Jay 29 April 2023 AT 12:04 AM

How do I in-text cite a direct quote from the introduction of an ebook with no page numbers? Would I write (Author "Introduction") or just write (Author)?

Kiara 11 February 2024 AT 03:02 PM

Hello! I am a university student who is currently creating works cited entries and in-text citations for a reflection essay. How do I properly cite professor and peer comments?

Therese Willis 30 July 2024 AT 10:07 PM

What is the proper way to write MLA in-text citattion from a website for this: According to an article titled “Caitlin Clark: Changing the Game” (McCord, 2024), Clark put women’s basketball on the map and taught millions what it meant to love the sport. She has shown off her iconic logo shot and her ability to control the court when needed, all while maintaining a professional image.

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• Harvard In-Text Citation | A Complete Guide & Examples

Harvard In-Text Citation | A Complete Guide & Examples

Published on 30 April 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 5 May 2022.

An in-text citation should appear wherever you quote or paraphrase a source in your writing, pointing your reader to the full reference .

In Harvard style , citations appear in brackets in the text. An in-text citation consists of the last name of the author,  the year of publication, and a page number if relevant.

Up to three authors are included in Harvard in-text citations. If there are four or more authors, the citation is shortened with et al .

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Table of contents

Including page numbers in citations, where to place harvard in-text citations, citing sources with missing information, frequently asked questions about harvard in-text citations.

When you quote directly from a source or paraphrase a specific passage, your in-text citation must include a page number to specify where the relevant passage is located.

Use ‘p.’ for a single page and ‘pp.’ for a page range:

• Meanwhile, another commentator asserts that the economy is ‘on the downturn’ (Singh, 2015, p. 13 ).
• Wilson (2015, pp. 12–14 ) makes an argument for the efficacy of the technique.

If you are summarising the general argument of a source or paraphrasing ideas that recur throughout the text, no page number is needed.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

When incorporating citations into your text, you can either name the author directly in the text or only include the author’s name in brackets.

Naming the author in the text

When you name the author in the sentence itself, the year and (if relevant) page number are typically given in brackets straight after the name:

Naming the author directly in your sentence is the best approach when you want to critique or comment on the source.

Naming the author in brackets

When you  you haven’t mentioned the author’s name in your sentence, include it inside the brackets. The citation is generally placed after the relevant quote or paraphrase, or at the end of the sentence, before the full stop:

Multiple citations can be included in one place, listed in order of publication year and separated by semicolons:

This type of citation is useful when you want to support a claim or summarise the overall findings of sources.

Common mistakes with in-text citations

In-text citations in brackets should not appear as the subject of your sentences. Anything that’s essential to the meaning of a sentence should be written outside the brackets:

• (Smith, 2019) argues that…
• Smith (2019) argues that…

Similarly, don’t repeat the author’s name in the bracketed citation and in the sentence itself:

• As Caulfield (Caulfield, 2020) writes…
• As Caulfield (2020) writes…

Sometimes you won’t have access to all the source information you need for an in-text citation. Here’s what to do if you’re missing the publication date, author’s name, or page numbers for a source.

If a source doesn’t list a clear publication date, as is sometimes the case with online sources or historical documents, replace the date with the words ‘no date’:

When it’s not clear who the author of a source is, you’ll sometimes be able to substitute a corporate author – the group or organisation responsible for the publication:

When there’s no corporate author to cite, you can use the title of the source in place of the author’s name:

No page numbers

If you quote from a source without page numbers, such as a website, you can just omit this information if it’s a short text – it should be easy enough to find the quote without it.

If you quote from a longer source without page numbers, it’s best to find an alternate location marker, such as a paragraph number or subheading, and include that:

A Harvard in-text citation should appear in brackets every time you quote, paraphrase, or refer to information from a source.

The citation can appear immediately after the quotation or paraphrase, or at the end of the sentence. If you’re quoting, place the citation outside of the quotation marks but before any other punctuation like a comma or full stop.

In Harvard referencing, up to three author names are included in an in-text citation or reference list entry. When there are four or more authors, include only the first, followed by ‘ et al. ’

In Harvard style , when you quote directly from a source that includes page numbers, your in-text citation must include a page number. For example: (Smith, 2014, p. 33).

You can also include page numbers to point the reader towards a passage that you paraphrased . If you refer to the general ideas or findings of the source as a whole, you don’t need to include a page number.

When you want to use a quote but can’t access the original source, you can cite it indirectly. In the in-text citation , first mention the source you want to refer to, and then the source in which you found it. For example:

It’s advisable to avoid indirect citations wherever possible, because they suggest you don’t have full knowledge of the sources you’re citing. Only use an indirect citation if you can’t reasonably gain access to the original source.

In Harvard style referencing , to distinguish between two sources by the same author that were published in the same year, you add a different letter after the year for each source:

• (Smith, 2019a)
• (Smith, 2019b)

Add ‘a’ to the first one you cite, ‘b’ to the second, and so on. Do the same in your bibliography or reference list .

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Caulfield, J. (2022, May 05). Harvard In-Text Citation | A Complete Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/harvard-in-text-citation/

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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / APA Format / APA In-text Citations

APA In-Text Citations

Welcome to our guide on in-text citations! If you’re looking to learn the ins and outs of APA style in-text citations and how to do in-text citations APA, we’ve got you covered in this thorough guide.

The information below follows the 7th edition of the  Publication manual of the American Psychological Association .

Here’s a run through of everything this page includes:

• APA Style overview
• In-text citations and why we use them
• Two types of APA in-text citations
• Corresponding entry in reference list
• In-text citations for direct quotes

Paraphrasing in APA

• In-text citations for sources with one author
• In-text citations for sources with multiple authors
• In-text citations for sources with no author or date
• Additional in-text citation examples

If you’re simply looking for a quick guide, check out our APA parenthetical citation guide, which serves as a lite-version of this page.

Let’s get started!

What is APA?

This is a term that you might hear your teacher, professor, or librarian throw around a lot. This abbreviation stands for

P sychological

A ssociation

This association is kind of a big deal. They do a lot of things related to psychology, but they’re also famous for creating one of the most popular citation styles, APA format . There are other big names on campus, such as MLA format , and Chicago, but this particular style is commonly used by individuals who are writing a science-related paper.

Even if your paper doesn’t necessarily fall into a “science” category, many educators ask their students to cite in this style since it’s so commonly used.

If you’re trying to find information about other commonly used styles, there are more styles on EasyBib.com.

What is an APA In-text Citation?

In plain and simple terms, APA in-text citations are found in the text of a project. Get it? In text. The purpose of an in-text citation in APA is to show the reader, while they’re reading your work, that a piece of information in your project was found elsewhere. They’re placed IN the wording or body of a project, not on the last page; the last page has full references. To learn more about those types of references, check out APA citation .

We’ve all heard about the word plagiarism , and you already know what it means. Simply put, including APA in-text citations are one way to prevent plagiarism.

Here’s what’s included in an APA 7th edition in-text citation:

• Last name(s) of the author(s) or Group name
• Year the source was published
• Page number (if available)

Depending on the number of authors and the source type, some in-text citations look different than others. Read on to learn how to structure an in-text citation for APA. In fact, if you’re looking for an easy route, EasyBib.com has an in-text citation APA generator, which does the work for you. Use our automatic generator to create your full references, and you’ll see an option on the final screen to format your APA in-text citations. An APA in-text citation generator and full reference generator all in one. What could beat that?

Why do we use in-text citations?

When you do a research project, you’re probably going to include facts from websites, databases, books, and other sources. When you add those facts into your project, you must show where those facts came from. It’s the responsible thing to do. It prevents plagiarism. You always give credit to the original author. It’s kind of like thanking them for their contribution to your paper.

Here’s the neat thing about in-text citations. Since they’re IN your project, readers get a quick idea as to where the information you included came from. In-text citations APA are not long and lengthy, like the full references on the APA reference page  or APA bibliography . In-text citations are cute, little, and give us the perfect amount of information we need to understand where a fact came from. If you want to get the full information about the source, then you can flip to the back page of the paper, where the full reference is listed. The in-text citation APA style provides us with a tidbit of information. Just enough to glance at it and keep on going with reading the paper.

To recap, in-text citations are great because:

• They credit the original author of a work or information
• They let readers quickly see where the information is coming from
• Including helps make you an ethical writer

If you’re looking to learn more about footnotes in Chicago format , MLA in-text & parenthetical citations , or want to learn how to cite websites in MLA , EasyBib.com has the information you need to be a citing superstar.

Types of APA In-text Citations

Just like there are two days in the weekend, two types of peanut butter (creamy and nutty), and two types of foods we crave (salty and sweet), there are (you guessed it) two types of in-text citations.

The in-text citation APA option you include in your paper depends on how you craft your sentences.

Narrative In-Text APA Citations:

In-text citation APA format, in narrative form, is one that shows the author’s name in the sentence itself.

Narrative In-text APA Citation Example:

Tyson, Strauss, and Gott (2016) encourage the use of simplified terms when it comes to discussing and defining the universe. For example, a small white star is simply called a white dwarf. Keep it short and sweet because the universe is confusing enough (p. 22).

Parenthetical Citations:

This is a type of APA in-text citation where the author’s name(s) are in parentheses, usually at the end of the fact or quote.

Parenthetical Citation Example

Use simplified terms when discussing and defining the universe. For example, a small white star is simply called a white dwarf. Keep it short and sweet because the universe is confusing enough (Tyson, Strauss, & Gott, 2016, p. 22).

As you can see, the type of APA in-text citation you include, whether it’s a narrative one or one in parentheses, depends on how you decide to structure your sentences. It doesn’t matter if you use all narrative, all parentheses, or a mix of both.

What is important is that you’re a responsible researcher and you properly cite your sources!

Remember, most facts, quotes, stats, and copied and pasted information NEED an APA in-text citation next to it.

What’s the only type of information you don’t need to create an in-text citation APA for? Anything that’s common knowledge. For example, paper is made from trees. You and most people already knew that. That’s an example of common knowledge. It’s a piece of information that everyone already knows.

Now, before you simply include the author’s name(s), the date, and the page number in your project and think you’ve covered all your bases, you’re not quite done yet. In-text citations APA are only part of the puzzle.

The other piece of the puzzle is found on the last page of the project: the reference page. That’s where all of the full references are found in their entirety. In-text citations only include the author’s name, year published, and the page number.

The reference page, on the other hand, includes the title of each source, the publishers, the website addresses, and other information. Continue reading to learn why in-text citations and references on the reference page are the perfect match.

Before we continue, MLA works cited pages are very similar to the ones in this style. EasyBib.com has resources for many styles, to help you learn the ins and outs of referencing your work. We even have full pages on grammar topics too, to keep your paper in tip-top shape. Brush up on your noun , conjunction , and interjection skills with our easy-to-follow, comprehensive guides.

Corresponding entry in APA reference list

Would you ever put on one shoe and walk around without the other? Of course not. The same goes with in-text citations and full references. You must include both in your paper. Where there’s one there has to be the other.

Each and every in-text citation APA must have a matching full reference on the reference page (American Psychological Association, p. 262 ).

If you’re wondering why, it’s to allow the reader to get that sneak peek about the source while reading your paper (the APA in-text citation), and then learn all about it on the final page (the reference page). If the reader wants to get their hands on a copy of the sources you used, all of the information they need can be found on the reference page.

Remember those APA style in-text citation examples found above? Let’s take a peek at them again.

Here’s the one with the authors’ names in parentheses: Use simplified terms when discussing and defining the universe. For example, a small white star is simply called a white dwarf. Keep it short and sweet because the universe is confusing enough (deGrasse, Strauss, & Gott, 2016, p. 22).

Here’s the full reference, which would be found on the final page of the project:

Tyson, N. D., Strauss, M. A., and Gott, J. R. (2016). Welcome to the universe: An astrophysical tour. Princeton University Press.

Notice that in the above in-text citation APA example, the full title of the book, the place the book was published, and the publisher are displayed. If the reader wants to locate the book themselves, all of the information they need is found in the full reference.

One other important thing we’d like to point out is that the same information from the in-text citation APA (Tyson, Strauss, & Gott) matches the first part of the full reference. This is done to allow the reader to easily find the full reference on the final page.

Remember, always include both in-text citations AND full references in your projects.

In the body of projects, in-text citations APA serve an important purpose. They give the reader a snippet of understanding as to the origin of  information. It’s just enough information to allow the reader to continue reading the paper in a natural and fluid manner, without having to trip over long, clunky references. If the reader wants to get a detailed understanding of a source, they can flip to the back page, the reference page, to scope out all of the nitty gritty details.

In the next two sections of this page, we’re going to switch gears and share how to properly format direct quotes and paraphrases.

If you’re looking for specific source types, check out APA citation website and APA book citation . These two resources will explain how to format those specific types of references. If you’re stuck and not sure how to start, check out Chapter 10 of the  Publication manual for some sample citations.

Direct Quotes in APA

As Drake states in his lyrics, “We don’t like to do too much explaining,” so we’re going to keep this one short and to the point.

“Direct quotes” are a fancy term used for any text that has been copied and pasted into your paper. That Drake quote above is a direct quote.

Direct quotes are any words or sentences copied and pasted into your project, but they don’t necessarily have to be a person’s quote. Anytime you copy and paste text into your assignment, you must include an APA in-text citation next to it. This shows the reader that:

• The information came from another source
• You’re being a responsible researcher and clearly documenting the outside source.

Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when it comes to direct quotes:

• Direct quotes are a solid way to show evidence and prove your point, but use them sparingly. Your paper shouldn’t be riddled with copied and pasted text.
• Put quotation marks around the copied and pasted information. (The exception are APA block quotes , which are direct quotes longer than 40 words and are formatted differently.)
• Always include the page number for direct quotes, if one is available. When formatting APA page numbers for an in-text citation, include p. before the number. Use pp. for a page range.

To create a narrative APA in-text citation, include the author’s last name in the sentence like this:

• As Drake (2013) once said “We don’t like to do too much explaining.”
• In the above APA in-text citation example, the Drake quote was taken from the song, “Started From the Bottom,” in 2013. The title of the source would be included in the reference page.

Or, you include the author’s name in parentheses:

• “We don’t like to do too much explaining” (Drake, 2013).

If you are looking for more examples, go to page 272 of the American Psychological Association’s official Publication manual .

We said above that your entire paper shouldn’t have direct quotes everywhere. So, another way to include information from a source is by adding a paraphrase . Simply put, a paraphrase is restated information, but formed using your own words and writing style

APA paraphrases still need an in-text citation since the information was obtained elsewhere. Check out this quote from the song, “For Time,” by Drake:

“I like it when money makes a difference, but don’t make you different.”

To include it in your paper, without using the exact quote, make a paraphrase. Here’s one that would work:

Money has the ability to benefit things in your life, but it’s truly great when it doesn’t cause the person to act differently or change who they are (Drake, 2013).

The above APA in-text citation example is one with Drake’s name in parentheses. If you’d like to include the author’s name narratively, here’s an option:

In Drake’s (2013) lyrics, he shares that money has the ability to benefit things in your life. It’s truly great when it doesn’t cause the person to act differently or change who they are.

It is recommended to include page numbers for paraphrased material, but isn’t required.

Here’s more on paraphrases and direct quotes.

Organizing APA In-text Citations

Ready to learn how to structure your in-text citations? The next section dives deep into developing them and answers “How to do in-text citations APA.” Keep in mind that how each one is formed depends on the number of authors and other factors. All the examples below follow rules laid out in Chapter 8 of the Publication manual.

Even though the structure varies, most in-text citations APA are placed in this manner for narrative in-text citations:

Author’s Last Name (Year) “Quote or Paraphrase” (p. number).

For ones in parentheses, most are placed in this manner:

“Quote” or Paraphrase (Author’s Last Name, Year, p. number).

Notice that whether you choose to include a narrative in-text citation APA or one in parentheses, the author names and the year published are always together. They’re pretty much holding hands. Cute, huh?

Read on to learn the ins and outs of structuring various in-text citations.

Don’t forget, EasyBib.com has an in-text citation APA generator. Wondering what it’s all about? Here’s a quick explanation: We work for you so citing is easy for you. Yep, you read that correctly.

Our tools structure your in-text citations the way they’re supposed to be structured. Use our automatic generator to create your full references, and on the final screen you’ll see the option to create your in-text citations. An APA in-text citation generator that’s easy as pie!

Something else we do for you? We have a plagiarism checker that scans your paper for any instances of accidental copying. We also have tons of grammar pages to keep your page in check. Check out our adverb , preposition , and verb pages.

APA In-Text Citations for Sources with One Author

If your source has one author.

If your source has one author, lucky you! Your in-text citation is pretty simple to structure.

Narrative In-text APA Citation:

Author’s Last Name (Year published) are found in the sentence with a “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

Parenthetical APA Citation:

“Direct quote” or Paraphrase (Author’s Last Name, Year published, p. number).

Citing multiple sources by the same author in the same year

You may have a bunch of case studies, articles, or books that you’re referencing, all by the same author. Let’s say you’re analyzing two works by Sigmund Freud, Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious and also Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria , both of which were published in 1905. Placing (Freud, 1905) in the text would be confusing for the reader. How would the reader determine which source you’re referencing?

If this is the situation you’re in, there’s a pretty simple fix.

Place a lowercase a next to the year in the first source (Freud, 1905a). Place a lowercase b next to the second source (Freud, 1905b). Include those same lowercase letters in the full references on the reference page, like so:

Freud, S. (1905a). Fragment of an analysis of a case of hysteria . https://staferla.free.fr/Freud/Freud%20complete%20Works.pdf

Freud, S. (1905b). Jokes and their relation to the unconscious . https://staferla.free.fr/Freud/Freud%20complete%20Works.pdf

But there’s a catch. When you do this et al. can’t stand for only one author. After all it literally means “and others.” If you have two sources that are identical except for the last author, then you have to write out all the names every time. For example:

Gunderman, Slack, Rausch, and Smith (2017)

Gunderman, Slack, Rausch, and Johnston (2017)

These references are completely the same except for the very last name so you’d have to write all 4 names every time.

If your source has multiple works by the same author

What if you had 2 sources with the same author(s) and same publication year? Lucky for us the solution here is a lot simpler. Just a letter to the publication year!

Gunderman, Slack, and Rausch (2017)

Gunderman, Slack, and Rausch (2017a)

Gunderman, Slack, and Rausch (2017b)

Just remember to also follow this format in your works cited page even if there is an exact publication date available. See page 267 of your Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020) for a further breakdown.

Need to create an APA in-text citation for a source without an author? How about an APA in-text citation for multiple authors? Continue reading to see the other ways to structure an APA style in-text citation.

APA In-Text Citations for Sources with Multiple Authors

Apa in-text citation for sources with two authors.

If your source has two authors, place them in the order they appear on the source. Do not place them in alphabetical order.

Use the word “and” in between the authors’ names.

1st Author’s Last Name and 2nd Author’s Last Name (Year published) are found somewhere in the sentence with a “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

If you choose to include both authors’ names in parentheses, use an ampersand in between their names.

“Here is the direct quote” or Here is the paraphrase (1st Author’s Last Name & 2nd Author’s Last name, Year, p. number).

APA in-text citation for sources three or more authors

Only include the first author’s last name and then add ‘et al.’ Et al. is a fancy way of saying “and others” in Latin.

1st Author’s Last Name et al. (Year published) are found somewhere in the sentence with a “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

“Here is the direct quote” or Paraphrase (1st Author’s Last Name et al., Year published, p. number).

If you have author of multiple works (with multiple authors)

Now here is where things can get a tad bit tricky. Sometimes authors with multiple works can cause some confusion in your citations. Generally when that happens you can tell the difference by the publication year, but when you can’t, that’s when you have to list as many authors as necessary to clear up the confusion.

Say you had the two sources below:

Gunderman, Slack, Rausch, and Maule (2017)

Gunderman, Byrnes, Oxner, Wigginton, and Draeger (2017)

Normally, they’d be written as:

Gunderman et al. (2017)

If you reduced both sources to Gunderman et al. (2017) you wouldn’t be able to tell which source you’re talking about. Instead cite it this way:

Gunderman, Slack, Rausch et al. (2017)

Gunderman, Byrnes, Oxner et al. (2017)

If you’re looking for more information on structuring journal articles, check out our APA journal page.

If you’re looking for a simple solution to referencing multiple authors, EasyBib.com creates in-text citations APA for you! Whether you need to create a reference for one or two authors, or an APA in-text citation for multiple authors, we’ve got you covered!

APA In-text citation no author or date

It’s common to come across sources without any authors. Movies, brochures, website pages often do not have a visible author’s name.

Citing a source with no author

If you find that the source you’re attempting to reference does not have an author, use the first few words from the reference list entry in the APA in-text citation with no author. Most often, it’s the title of the source.

Place the source name in quotation marks if the source is a:

• website page

Simply italicize the source name if the source is a:

• Or the full reference starts with italicized information

Remember, you do not have to use the entire title in your in-text citation APA no author. You can use only the first few words from the reference list.

“First few words of the webpage, article, or chapter Title” (Year) along with the “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number). OR First few words of book, newspaper, report, or brochure (Year) along with the “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

“Here is the direct quote” or paraphrase (“Web page, Article, or Chapter Title,” Year, p. number). OR “Here is the direct quote” or paraphrase ( Book, Newspaper, Report, or Brochure Title , Year, p. number).

Citing source with no date

No date? No problem! An APA in-text citation no date situation is easier to solve than you think. Only include the author’s name and the page number.

APA in-text citation no date example:

(Foster, p. 35).

Additional APA In-Text Citation Examples

Source by a group, organization, company, or government agency.

There are two types of groups: Ones that are abbreviated often and ones that are not abbreviated.

For example, think about these two citation style types: APA and Chicago. One is abbreviated (for the American Psychological Association) and the other is usually written as is (Chicago style).

Abbreviated groups

If the company is often abbreviated, in the first mention in text, display the full name and the abbreviation. In the second and any other subsequent mentions, only use the abbreviation.

1st mention:

Full Company’s Name (Abbreviation, Year) with the “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

2nd mention:

Company Abbrev. (Year) “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

“Direct quote” or paraphrase (Full Company’s Name [Abbreviation], Year, p. number).

“Direct quote” or paraphrase (Abbreviation, Year, p. number).

Non-abbreviated groups

Always include the full group, company, or organization’s name in each and every mention in text.

Full Name of Group (Year) with the “direct quote” or paraphrase (p. number).

“Direct quote” or paraphrase (Full Name of Group, Year, p. number).

Citing sources with different authors with the same last name

We’re not quite sure how the author of The Baby-Sitters Club (Ann M. Martin) could be used in a paper that’s also referencing the author of Game of Thrones (George R. R. Martin), but hey, it could happen! It’s a Martin party! It’s important to show the reader the difference between the two individuals to prevent any confusion. To differentiate between the two authors in the text, include their first initials.

Example of in-text citation APA:

“Here’s a quote” (A. Martin, Year, p. 6). G. Martin (Year) also states “this direct quote” (p. 45).

As always, keep the author names and the dates directly next to each other. They love being together and it’s a best practice.

Citing multiple sources in the same in-text citation

List sources alphabetically and separate with a semicolon.

Be sure to list authors alphabetically.

Johnson (2019), Smith and Adams (2015), and Washington (2017), examined…

“Direct quote” or Paraphrase (Author 1 Last Name, Year published, p. number if needed; Author 2 Last Name, Year published, p. number if needed)

Parenthetical Citation Examples:

(Johnson et al., 2019; Smith & Adams, 2015; Washington, 2017)

(Honda, 2006, p. 107; Sato, 1980)

If you want to emphasize a source because it is particularly important or relevant, add “see also” before the source’s citation. Think of “see also” as synonymous with “for more information see…”

(Johnson et al., 2019; see also Smith & Adams, 2015; Washington, 2017).

Citing a source within a source

Did you stumble upon the perfect quote that’s quoted in another source? It happens all of the time and it can be a little tricky to figure out how to quote a quote.

The American Psychological Association recommends locating the original quote, if possible. Instead of relying on secondary sources, take the time to locate the original source to make sure the quote is accurate. Finding and reading through the original source also provides you with further information on your research topic!

If finding the original source isn’t possible, due to out of print titles, web pages taken down, or other factors, then it’s okay to quote the secondary source. In your writing, use the phrase “as cited in Secondary Author’s Last name, Year.”

On the reference page, include the reference for the secondary source.

As cited in Shapiro’s (2019) article, Carranza stated, “Districts 3 and 15 are showing how we can have the important conversations and take bold action on this issue.”

Carranza stated, “Districts 3 and 15 are showing how we can have the important conversations and take bold action on this issue” (as cited in Shapiro, 2019).

On the reference page, Shapiro’s article would be referenced in its entirety.

Citing audiovisual material

APA in-text citations for YouTube videos , songs, podcasts, television shows, and other audiovisual materials look a bit different than other types of sources. They include an extra piece of information: a time stamp.

Bill Nye (2017) shares that the sun is over four-hundred septillion watts (13:15).

The sun is over four-hundred septillion watts (Bill Nye, 2017, 13:15).

If you’re still scratching your head, and feeling the urge to type “how to do in-text citations APA” into Google, click here for a website that we dig.

If you’re looking for a quick fix to developing your references, EasyBib.com has you covered! Our tools can help you create an APA in-text citation multiple authors, one author, no authors, plus more!

Overview of APA Parenthetical Citations for Websites

Here’s a quick overview of how to create an in-text citation for websites. Notice that since these are for online sources, the in-text citation has no page number.

Once again, if grammar isn’t your thing, and you’re looking for help related to specific parts of speech, check out our adjective , pronoun , and determiner pages, among many, many others!

Follow our EasyBib Twitter feed to find more citing tips, fun grammar facts, and the latest product updates.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) https:doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Published May 21, 2019. Updated October 25, 2020.

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau . Michele Kirschenbaum is a school library media specialist and one of the in-house EasyBib librarians. Elise Barbeau is the Citation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing.

APA Formatting Guide

APA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Multiple Authors
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Parenthetical Citations
• Reference Page
• Sample Paper
• APA 7 Updates
• View APA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all APA Examples

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An in-text citation is a shortened version of the source being referred to in the paper. As the name implies, it appears in the text of the paper. A reference list entry, on the other hand, details the complete information of the source being cited and is listed at the end of the paper after the main text. An example of an in-text citation and the corresponding reference list entry for a journal article with one author is listed below for your understanding:

In-text citation template and example:

Only the author name and the publication year are used in in-text citations to direct the reader to the corresponding reference list entry.

Author Surname (Publication Year)

Elden (2003)

Parenthetical

(Author Surname, Publication Year)

(Elden, 2003)

Reference list entry template and example:

Complete information of the reference is used to guide the reader to locate the source for further reference. In the below template, “F” and “M” are first and middle initials, respectively. #–# denotes the page range.

Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Title of the article: Subtitle. Journal Title, Volume (Issue), #–#. DOI

Elden, S. (2003). Plague, panopticon, police. Surveillance & Society, 1 (3), 240–253. https://doi:10.24908/ss.v1i3.3339

When you use APA style, all sources need to have in-text citations. In-text citations direct a reader to the reference entry to get more information on the source being cited in the text. If an in-text citation is not provided, your reader doesn’t know whether there is a source available in the reference list for the idea or topic being discussed in the text. Even if all the basic elements to cite a source are not available, try to provide an in-text citation with the information you do have. For example, if a source does not have an author, use a shortened version of the title in place of the author in your in-text citation. An example is given below for a parenthetical citation.

Author name available:

(Author Surname, Publication Year, p.# for direct quote)

Author name not available:

(“Title of the Work,” Publication Year, p.# for direct quote)

Therefore, in-text citations are essential to guide a reader to locate the corresponding sources in the reference list for the topics discussed in the text.

APA Citation Examples

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APA in-text citations

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Website Book Journal Video

In-text citations are short versions of citations that give a brief indication of the sources used in the paper. They are written in the text and inform the reader that full details are available in the reference list. The information available in the list will help the reader to find and use the sources listed. To write in-text citations, you should know two important components:

Author or organization’s name

Publication date

In-text citations overview

APA uses the author-date system for in-text citations. This means that in-text citations usually include information on the author, then the date published. For example, if Harold King wrote a book in 2021, his in-text citations would look like this:

(King, 2021)

King (2021)

There are two kinds of in-text citations are available in APA style: narrative citations and parenthetical citations. Let’s review them both.

Narrative citation

A narrative citation includes the name of the author or the organization as part of sentence text and includes the year published in parentheses. Here are two examples:

Blanchard (2020) argues that the development of a country depends on the growth of the village in the country.

API (2007) revised the guidelines for oil and natural gas field.

Parenthetical citation

A parenthetical citation includes both the name of the author or the organization and the date of publication inside parentheses. A comma comes between the author and the publication date.

For quotes, parenthetical citations must also include a page number. Use “p.” for a single page and “pp.” for a page range. Here are examples:

With the author

It is argued that the development of a country depends on the growth of the village in the country (Blanchard, 2020).

It is argued that the development of a country depends on the growth of the village in the country (Blanchard, 2020, p. 17).

Organization treated as the author

It was concluded to release the revised guidelines for the oil and natural gas field (AIP, 2007).

In-text citation examples

Narrative: Author Surname (Publication date)

Parenthetical: (Author Surname, Publication date)

Narrative: Coleman (2011)

Parenthetical: (Coleman, 2011)

Two authors

In narrative citations, the word “and” separates the surnames of the two authors. In parenthetical citations, use an ampersand between the two authors.

Narrative: First author Surname and Second author Surname (Publication date)

Parenthetical: (First author Surname & Second author Surname, Publication date)

Narrative: Francis and RIchter (2007)

Parenthetical: (Francis & RIchter, 2007)

Three or more authors

If the number of authors is more than two, use “et al.” in both narrative and parenthetical citations.

Narrative: First author Surname et al. (Publication date)

Parenthetical: (First author Surname et al., Publication date)

Narrative: Rolph et al. (2017)

Parenthetical: (Rolph et al., 2017)

Group author

If a source is by a group author, use the group author name in the author’s name field. Abbreviations are allowed in a group author name. If the group name first occurs in citations, you can still abbreviate it in citations. Note that a narrative citation and a parenthetical citation have different formats in using the abbreviation when included.

If the first occurrence of an abbreviation comes in a narrative citation, include the abbreviation inside the parenthesis before the date. If your abbreviation comes first in a parenthetical citation, add the abbreviation in square brackets after the group author name as shown below:

Narrative: Group author (Abbreviation, Publication date)

Parenthetical: (Group author [Abbreviation], Publication date)

Narrative: Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists (IACP, 2008)

Parenthetical: (Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists [IACP], 2018)

No author/Anonymous author

For a reference with no author, you need to include the title of the paper for the in-text citations. Usually, they appear as parenthetical citations. The title is written in the same way as it is mentioned in the reference list. For example, if the title is written in italics in the list, you need to italicize it in the in-text citation as well. However, if the title is plain in the list, write using title case, meaning that you must capitalize significant words of the title and enclose it in double quotes.

Parenthetical: (“Title of the Work,” Publication date)

Parenthetical: (“Human Behavior,” 2018)

If the author of a work is given as “Anonymous,” use “Anonymous” in place of the author.

Parenthetical: (Anonymous, 2007)

Other citations

Multiple citations in one sentence.

Multiple citations appearing together are arranged alphabetically within the group. Note that alphabetical arrangement is applicable only for in-text citations. The citations are separated by semicolons. Example:

(Anna, 2021; Blume & Alex, 2012; Robert, 2004)

If you include many references contributed by the same group of authors, arrange them chronologically and separate them by commas. The order of chronological citation for the same author group is (1) n.d., (2) citation with a publication date, and (3) in press. “n.d.” refers to “no date.”

(Allen, 2016a, 2016b; Bennet & Bennet, 2012, in press; Peterson, n.d., 2002)

Same surname, same publication date, different initials

You may have to include initials within in-text citations if multiple entries in the reference list have the same surname of the first author and same publication date, but different initials. This will aid the reader to find out the correct source of the citation. A few examples are listed below for your understanding. “F” and “M” are the first initials of the authors.

Narrative: F. Author Surname (Publication date)

Narrative: M. Author Surname (Publication date)

Parenthetical: (F. Author Surname, Publication date)

Parenthetical: (M. Author Surname, Publication date)

Narrative: G. Beauchamp (2013)

Narrative: L. Beauchamp (2013)

Parenthetical: (G. Beauchamp, 2013)

Parenthetical: (L. Beauchamp, 2013)

Same surname, same initials, same publication date

You may have to include a lowercase letter after the date if you have multiple entries in the reference list with the same surname of the first author, same publication date, and same initials. This will help the reader locate the correct source of a citation. This will help the reader to identify the correct source of the citation. A few examples are listed below for your understanding.

Narrative: Author Surname (Publication date followed by a suffix)

Narrative: Author Surname (Publication date followed by a different suffix)

Parenthetical: (Author Surname, Publication date followed by a suffix)

Parenthetical: (Author Surname, Publication date followed by a different suffix)

Narrative: Ikehara (2011a)

Narrative: Ikehara (2011b)

Parenthetical: (Ikehara, 2011a)

Parenthetical: (Ikehara, 2011b)

Translated work

Two dates are used for a translated work: publication date of the original work and the publication date of the translated work. Both dates are added to the in-text citations. Add the publication date of the original work first followed by the date of the translated work. Use a slash as a separator between the dates.

Narrative: Author Surname (Original work’s date/Translated work’s date)

Parenthetical: (Author Surname, Original work’s date/Translated work’s date)

Narrative: Hopkins (1997/1999)

Parenthetical: (Hopkins, 1997/1999)

Personal communication

Works such as telephonic conversation, chat messages, personal interviews, text messages, and emails do not need any source. These are classified under personal communication. It is not possible to get the information again; therefore, they are not included in the reference list. When you want to cite personal communication, use the initials of the authors in the text. Give the exact date of personal communication.

Narrative: Communicator’s name (personal communication, Month Day, Year)

Parenthetical: (Communicator’s name, personal communication, Month Day, Year)

Narrative: T. Kirubakaran (personal communication, May 15, 2005)

Parenthetical: (T. Kirubakaran, personal communication, May 15, 2005)

APA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• Headings & Headers
• In-text Citations
• Reference Page
• Paper Format
• View APA Formatting Guide

Citation Examples

• APA Citation Generator

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Penn State University Libraries

Mla quick citation guide.

• In-text Citation
• Citing Generative AI
• Citing Web Pages and Social Media
• Citing Articles
• Citing Books
• Other formats
• MLA Style Quiz

Using In-text Citation

Include an in-text citation when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list.

MLA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the page number from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken, for example: (Smith 163). If the source does not use page numbers, do not include a number in the parenthetical citation: (Smith).

For more information on in-text citation, see the MLA Style Center .

Example paragraph with in-text citation

A few researchers in the linguistics field have developed training programs designed to improve native speakers' ability to understand accented speech (Derwing et al. 246; Thomas 15). Their training techniques are based on the research described above indicating that comprehension improves with exposure to non-native speech. Derwing and others conducted their training with students preparing to be social workers, but note that other professionals who work with non-native speakers could benefit from a similar program (258).

Works Cited List

Derwing, Tracey M., et al. "Teaching Native Speakers to Listen to Foreign-accented Speech." Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, vol. 23, no. 4, 2002, pp. 245-259.

Thomas, Holly K.  Training Strategies for Improving Listeners' Comprehension of Foreign-accented Speech. University of Colorado, Boulder, 2004.

Citing Web Pages In Text

Cite web pages in text as you would any other source, using the author if known. If the author is not known, use the title as the in-text citation.

Your in-text citation should lead your reader to the corresponding entry in the reference list. Below are examples of using in-text citation with web pages.

Entire website with author: In-text citation Parents play an important role in helping children learn techniques for coping with bullying (Kraizer).

Works cited entry Kraizer, Sherryll. Safe Child. Coalition for Children, 2011, www.safechild.org.

Web page with no author: In-text citation The term Nittany Lion was coined by Penn State football player Joe Mason in 1904 ("All Things Nittany").

Works cited entry "All Things Nittany." About Penn State. Penn State University, 2006, www.psu.edu/ur/about/nittanymascot.html.

General Guidelines

In MLA style the author's name can be included either in the narrative text of your paper, or in parentheses following the reference to the source.

Author's name part of narrative:

Gass and Varonis found that the most important element in comprehending non-native speech is familiarity with the topic (163).

Author's name in parentheses:

One study found that the most important element in comprehending non-native speech is familiarity with the topic (Gass and Varonis 163).

Group as author: (American Psychological Association 123)

Multiple works: (separate each work with semi-colons)

Research shows that listening to a particular accent improves comprehension of accented speech in general (Gass and Varonis 143; Thomas 24).

Direct quote:

One study found that “the listener's familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (Gass and Varonis 85).

Gass and Varonis found that “the listener’s familiarity with the topic of discourse greatly facilitates the interpretation of the entire message” (85).

Note: For quotations that are more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, display quotations as an indented block of text (one inch from left margin) and omit quotation marks. Place your parenthetical citation at the end of the block of text, after the final punctuation mark.

In addition to awareness-raising, practicing listening to accented speech has been shown to improve listening comprehension. This article recommends developing listening training programs for library faculty and staff, based on research from the linguistics and language teaching fields. Even brief exposure to accented speech can help listeners improve their comprehension, thereby improving the level of service to international patrons. (O'Malley 19)

Works by Multiple Authors

When citing works by multiple authors, always spell out the word "and." When a source has three or more authors, only the first one shown in the source is normally given followed by et al.

One author: (Field 399)

Works Cited entry: Field, John. "Intelligibility and the Listener: The Role of Lexical Stress." TESOL Quarterly , vol. 39, no. 3, 2005, pp. 399-423.

Two authors: (Gass and Varonis 67)

Works Cited entry: Gass, Susan, and Evangeline M. Varonis. "The Effect of Familiarity on the Comprehensibility of Nonnative Speech." Language Learning , vol. 34, no. 1, 1984, pp. 65-89.

Three or more authors: (Munro et al. 70)

Works Cited entry: Munro, Murray J., et al. "Salient Accents, Covert Attitudes: Consciousness-raising for Pre-service Second Language Teachers." Prospect , vol. 21, no. 1, 2006, pp. 67-79.

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In-Text Citations: Author/Authors

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Though the APA's author-date system for citations is fairly straightforward, author categories can vary significantly from the standard "one author, one source" configuration. There are also additional rules for citing authors of indirect sources, electronic sources, and sources without page numbers.

A Work by One Author 

The APA manual recommends the use of the author-date citation structure for in-text citation references. This structure requires that any in-text citation (i.e., within the body of the text) be accompanied by a corresponding reference list entry. In the in-text citation provide the surname of the author but do not include suffixes such as "Jr.". 

Citing Non-Standard Author Categories

A work by two authors.

Name both authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses each time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in parentheses.

A Work by Three or More Authors

List only the first author’s name followed by “et al.” in every citation, even the first, unless doing so would create ambiguity between different sources.

In  et al. , et  should not be followed by a period. Only "al" should be followed by a period.

If you’re citing multiple works with similar groups of authors, and the shortened “et al” citation form of each source would be the same, you’ll need to avoid ambiguity by writing out more names. If you cited works with these authors:

They would be cited in-text as follows to avoid ambiguity:

Since et al. is plural, it should always be a substitute for more than one name. In the case that et al. would stand in for just one author, write the author’s name instead.

Unknown Author

If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks. APA style calls for capitalizing important words in titles when they are written in the text (but not when they are written in reference lists).

Note : In the rare case that "Anonymous" is used for the author, treat it as the author's name (Anonymous, 2001). In the reference list, use the name Anonymous as the author.

Organization as an Author

If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source, just as you would an individual person.

If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, you may include the abbreviation in brackets the first time the source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations. However, if you cite work from multiple organizations whose abbreviations are the same, do not use abbreviations (to avoid ambiguity).

Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses

When your parenthetical citation includes two or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list (viz., alphabetically), separated by a semi-colon.

If you cite multiple works by the same author in the same parenthetical citation, give the author’s name only once and follow with dates. No date citations go first, then years, then in-press citations.

Authors with the Same Last Name

To prevent confusion, use first initials with the last names.

Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year

If you have two sources by the same author in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in the reference list. Use the lower-case letters with the year in the in-text citation.

Introductions, Prefaces, Forewords, and Afterwords

When citing an Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterword in-text, cite the appropriate author and year as usual.

Personal Communication

For interviews, letters, e-mails, and other person-to-person communication, cite the communicator's name, the fact that it was personal communication, and the date of the communication. Do not include personal communication in the reference list.

If using a footnote to reference personal communication, handle citations the same way.

Traditional Knowledge of Indigenous Peoples

When citing information you learned from a conversation with an Indigenous person who was not your research participant, use a variation of the personal communication citation above. Include the person’s full name, nation or Indigenous group, location, and any other relevant details before the “personal communication, date” part of the citation.

Citing Indirect Sources

Generally, writers should endeavor to read primary sources (original sources) and cite those rather than secondary sources (works that report on original sources). Sometimes, however, this is impossible. If you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source in your signal phrase. List the secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the parentheses. If you know the year of the original source, include it in the citation.

Electronic Sources

If possible, cite an electronic document the same as any other document by using the author-date style.

Unknown Author and Unknown Date

If no author or date is given, use the title in your signal phrase or the first word or two of the title in the parentheses and use the abbreviation "n.d." (for "no date").

Sources Without Page Numbers

When an electronic source lacks page numbers, you should try to include information that will help readers find the passage being cited. Use the heading or section name, an abbreviated heading or section name, a paragraph number (para. 1), or a combination of these.

Note:  Never use the page numbers of webpages you print out; different computers print webpages with different pagination. Do not use Kindle location numbers; instead, use the page number (available in many Kindle books) or the method above. 

Other Sources

The  APA Publication Manual  describes how to cite many different kinds of authors and content creators. However, you may occasionally encounter a source or author category that the manual does not describe, making the best way to proceed unclear.

In these cases, it's typically acceptable to apply the general principles of APA citation to the new kind of source in a way that's consistent and sensible. A good way to do this is to simply use the standard APA directions for a type of source that resembles the source you want to cite. For example, a sensible way to cite a virtual reality program would be to mimic the APA's guidelines for computer software.

You may also want to investigate whether a third-party organization has provided directions for how to cite this kind of source.

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• When neither the author nor the page number is mentioned in the body of the sentence, you should include both the author’s last name and the page number in the parenthetical citation.

Colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (Jack 24).

• When the author’s name is mentioned in the sentence, you should include only the page number in your parenthetical citation.

As Anthony Jack argues, colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (24).

• If the source you are writing about does not have page numbers, or if you consulted an e-book version of the source, you should include only the author’s name in the parenthetical citation:

Colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (Jack).

• If you mention the author in the body of the sentence and there is no page number in the source, you should not include a parenthetical citation.

As Anthony Jack argues, colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students.

• If you are referring to an entire work rather than a specific page, you do not need to include a page number.

In The Privileged Poor, Anthony Jack describes many obstacles that low-income students face at selective colleges and universities.

• If you are referring to a source that has no listed author, you should include the title (or a shortened version of the title) in your parenthetical citation.

Harvard College promises “to educate the citizens and citizen-leaders for our society” (“Mission, Vision, & History”).

• If you are referring to a source that has two authors, you should include both authors in your parenthetical citation.

The researchers tested whether an intervention during the first year of college could improve student well-being (Walton and Cohen 1448).

• If you refer to a source that has more than two authors, you should include the first author’s name followed by et al. ( Et al. is an abbreviation for et alia which means “and others” in Latin.) When you use et al. in a citation, you should not put it in italics.

The researchers studied more than 12,000 students who were interested in STEM fields (LaCosse et al. 8).

• If you refer to more than one source by the same author in your paper, you should include the title (or a shortened version of the title) in your parenthetical citation so that readers will know which source to look for in your Works Cited list. If you mention the author’s name in the sentence, you only need to include the title and page number. If you mention the author and title in the sentence, you only need to include the page number.

Colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (Jack, Privileged Poor 24).

According to Anthony Jack, colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students ( Privileged Poor 24).

As Anthony Jack writes in Privileged Poor, colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (24).

• If you want to credit multiple authors for making the same point, you can include them all in one parenthetical citation. 

Students who possess cultural capital, measured by proxies like involvement in literature, art, and classical music, tend to perform better in school (Bourdieu and Passeron; Dumais; Orr).

• If you refer to a source that includes line numbers in the margins, numbered paragraphs, numbered chapters, or numbered sections rather than page numbers, you should include the number in your parenthetical citation, along with “line,” “ch./ chs.,” or “sec./secs.”   You can include stable numbering like chapters even when there are no stable page numbers (as in an e-book). You should separate “line” or other designation from the work’s title or author’s name with a comma.  If the source does not include this type of numbering, you should not include it either.

We learn that when he went to the store to buy clothes for his son, “a frantic inspection of the boys’ department revealed no suits to fit the new-born Button” (Fitzgerald, ch.2).

• If you are citing a play, you should include the act and scene along with line numbers (for verse) or page numbers, followed by act and scene, (for prose).

Guildenstern tells Hamlet that “there has been much throwing about of brains” (Shakespeare, 2.2. 381-382).

Chris is in this mindset when he says, “a couple minutes, and your whole life changes, that’s it. It’s gone” (Nottage, 13; act 1, scene1).

• If you are referring to a video or audio recording that contains time stamps, you should include the time in your parenthetical citation to make it easy for your readers to find the part of the recording that you are citing.

In the Stranger Things official trailer, the audience knows that something unusual is going to happen from the moment the boys get on their bicycles to ride off into the night (0:16).

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About in-text citation, quoting and paraphrasing: what's the difference, in-text citation for two or more authors/editors, faq: how do i cite more than one source in one in-text citation, faq - how do i cite two or more works by the same author with the same year of publication, faq - how do i cite a work quoted in another source.

• References - Citing Websites, Fact Sheets, & Clinical Guidelines

This guide is used/adapted with the permission of Seneca College Libraries. For information please contact [email protected] .

Note: When copying this guide, please retain this box.

In APA, in-text citations are inserted in the body of your research paper to briefly document the source of your information. Brief in-text citations point the reader to more complete information in the reference list at the end of the paper.

• In-text citations include the last name of the author followed by a comma and the publication year enclosed in parentheses: (Smith, 2007).
• If you are quoting directly the page number should be included, if given. If you are paraphrasing the page number is not required.
• If the author's name is not given, then use the first word or words of the title. Follow the same formatting that was used in the title, such as italics: ( Naturopathic , 2007).

Signal Phrase

If you refer to the author's name in a sentence you do not have to include the name again as part of your in-text citation. Instead include the date after the name and the page number (if there is one) at the end of the quotation or paraphrased section. For example:

Hunt (2011) explains that mother-infant attachment has been a leading topic of developmental research since John Bowlby found that "children raised in institutions were deficient in emotional and personality development" (p. 358).

There are two ways to integrate others' research into your assignment: you can paraphrase or you can quote.

Paraphrasing  is used to show that you understand what the author wrote. You must reword the passage, expressing the ideas in your own words, and not just change a few words here and there. Make sure to also include an in-text citation.

Quoting  is copying a selection from someone else's work, phrasing it exactly it was originally written. When quoting place quotation marks (" ") around the selected passage to show where the quote begins and where it ends. Make sure to include an in-text citation.

I f you would like to cite more than one source within the same in-text citation, simply record the in-text citations as normal and separate them with a semi-colon. List the sources alphabetically by author's last name or first word used from the title if no author is given, in the same order they would appear on the References List.

(Bennett, 2015; Smith, 2014). 

( Brock, 2016;  "It Takes Two,"  2015).

When you are citing two different sources that share the same author and year of publication, assign lowercase letters after the year of publication (a, b, c, etc.). Assign these letters according to which title comes first alphabetically. Use these letters in both in-text citations and the Reference list.

Example In-Text :

Paraphrasing content from first source by this author (Daristotle, 2015a). "Now I am quoting from the second source by the same author" (Daristotle, 2015b, p. 50).

Example Reference List entries:

Daristotle, J. (2015a). Name of book used as first source . Toronto, ON: Fancy Publisher.

Daristotle, J. (2015b). Title of book used as second source . Toronto, ON: Very Fancy Publisher.

Sometimes an author of a book, article or website will mention another person’s work by using a quotation or paraphrased idea from that source. The work that is mentioned in the article you are reading is called the primary source. The article you are reading is called the secondary source.

For example, suppose you are reading an article by Brown (2014) that cites information from an article by Snow (1982) that you would like to include in your essay. For the reference list, you will only make a citation for the secondary source (Brown). You do not put in a citation for the primary source (Snow) in the reference list. For the in-text citation, you identify the primary source (Snow) and then write "as cited in" the secondary source (Brown). If you know the year of the publication of the primary source, include it in the in-text citation. Otherwise, you can omit it. See below for examples.

Examples of in-text citations:

According to a study by Snow (1982, as cited in Brown, 2014), 75% of students believe that teachers should not assign nightly homework.

Note: If you don't have the publication date of Snow's article, you just omit it like this: According to a study by Snow (as cited in Brown, 2014), 75% of students believe that teachers should not assign nightly homework.

In fact, 75% of students believe that teachers should not assign nightly homework (Snow, 1982, as cited in Brown, 2014).

Snow (1982, as cited in Brown, 2014) concluded that "nightly homework is a great stressor for many students" (p.34).

Example of Reference list citation:

Brown, S. (2014). Trends in homework assignments.  Journal of Secondary Studies ,  12(3) , 29-38. http://doi.org/fsfsbit

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How to cite a website in APA, MLA, or Harvard style

There are many different ways to cite a website, depending on which citation style you need to format it in.

 The easy way to cite a website in any citation style

Use our citation generator below to automatically cite a website in any style, including APA, MLA 7 and 8, and Harvard. Just select the style you need, copy the URL into the search box, and press search. We’ll do the rest.

 The manual way to cite a website

To cite a website by hand just follow the instructions below. For the 3 most popular styles–APA, MLA 8, and Harvard–this is as follows:

 In APA style

You need to locate these details for the website: page or article author, page or article title, website name, published date, access date, page URL (web address) .

• The author can typically be found on the page, but if there isn’t one listed you can use the website name in its place.
• The page title can be found near the top of the page, and you can also find it by hovering your mouse over the browser tab.
• The website name can usually be found in the web address or by looking for a logo or similar at the very top of the page.
• There often isn’t a publish date , but if there is it’ll be very close to the page title.
• The access date is the date you took information from the article (usually today).
• The page URL can be copied straight from the address bar of your browser and will start with either http:// or https://.

Then use this template, replacing the colored placeholders with the information you found on the page:

Author last name , author first name initial . ( published year , published month and day ). Page title . Retrieved accessed month and day , accessed year , from article URL .

The final formatted citation should look like this:

Ingle, S. (2018, February 11). Winter Olympics was hit by cyber-attack, officials confirm. Retrieved July 24, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/feb/11/winter-olympics-was-hit-by-cyber-attack-officials-confirm.

For a more comprehensive guide, including what to do when you can’t find certain details, have a look at our more in-depth guide to citing a website in APA format .

 In MLA 8 style

Here are the specific details you need to find on the page: page or article author, page or article title, website name, published date, access date, page URL (web address) .

Then use this template:

Author last name , author first name . “ Page title .” website name , published date day, month, year , page URL . Accessed accessed date day, month, year .

Ingle, Sean. “Winter Olympics Was Hit by Cyber-Attack, Officials Confirm.” The Guardian , 11 Feb. 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/feb/11/winter-olympics-was-hit-by-cyber-attack-officials-confirm. Accessed 13 July 2018.

For a more comprehensive guide, including what to do when you can’t find certain details, have a look at our more in-depth guide to citing a website in MLA 8 format .

 In Harvard style

First, find these details for the website: page or article author, page or article title, website name, published date, access date, page URL (web address) .

Author last name , author firstname initial ( published date year ). Page title . [online] website name . Available at: page URL [Accessed accessed date day, month, year ].

Ingle, S. (2018). Winter Olympics was hit by cyber-attack, officials confirm . [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/feb/11/winter-olympics-was-hit-by-cyber-attack-officials-confirm [Accessed 13 Jul. 2018].

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

Citing Multiple Works

When citing multiple works parenthetically, place the citations in alphabetical order, separating them with semicolons.

(Adams et al., 2019; Shumway & Shulman, 2015; Westinghouse, 2017)

Arrange two or more works by the same authors by year of publication.

• Place citations with no date first.
• Then, order works with dates in chronological order.
• Place in-press citations last.

Give the authors’ surnames once; for each subsequent work, give only the date.

(Department of Veterans Affairs, n.d., 2017a, 2017b, 2019)

Zhou (n.d., 2000, 2016, in press)

Citing multiple works is covered in Section 8.12 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition

To highlight the work(s) most directly relevant to your point in a given sentence, place those citations first within parentheses in alphabetical order and then insert a semicolon and a phrase, such as “see also,” before the first of the remaining citations, which should also be in alphabetical order. This strategy allows authors to emphasize, for example, the most recent or most important research on a topic, which would not be reflected by alphabetical order alone.

(Sampson & Hughes, 2020; see also Augustine, 2017; Melara et al., 2018; Pérez, 2014)

If multiple sources are cited within the narrative of a sentence, they can appear in any order.

Suliman (2018), Gutiérrez (2012, 2017), and Medina and Reyes (2019) examined . . .

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5 Excerpts From JD Vance’s Emails to a Transgender Classmate

A former Yale Law School classmate shared with The Times about 90 emails and text messages with Mr. Vance. Here are some of the most revealing moments in their correspondence.

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By The New York Times

As Senator JD Vance seeks the vice presidency, a former Yale Law School classmate and friend has shared about 90 of their emails and text messages, mostly from 2014 through 2017, with The New York Times.

The emails add to an existing body of evidence showing how Mr. Vance pivoted from a strong opponent of former President Donald J. Trump to his running mate. They also provide an insight into a cultural willingness by Mr. Vance to accept his classmate, Sofia Nelson, who is transgender.

Nelson, now a public defender in Detroit, said the two were once close friends, but had a falling out in 2021, when Mr. Vance said publicly that he supported an Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Now, Nelson, who opposes the Trump-Vance ticket, hopes the emails will inform the opinion of voters about Mr. Vance.

In response, a spokesman for the Vance campaign said in a statement that it was “unfortunate” for someone to share “decade-old private conversations between friends.”

“Senator Vance values his friendships with individuals across the political spectrum,” the statement said. “He has been open about the fact that some of his views from a decade ago began to change after becoming a dad and starting a family, and he has thoroughly explained why he changed his mind on President Trump. Despite their disagreements, Senator Vance cares for Sofia and wishes Sofia the very best.”

Here are five revealing exchanges in their correspondence:

Oct. 23, 2014

‘I hate the police.’

In October 2014, in the wake of the killing of Michael Brown, a Black 18-year-old, by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., Nelson raised the idea of requiring that police officers wear body cameras.

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WHO Launches First Global Guidelines for Quitting Tobacco

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently introduced its first set of recommendations aimed at helping adults quit tobacco—a “milestone in our global battle against these dangerous products,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, MSc, said in a statement . The guidelines feature 9 strongly recommended methods.

There are 1.25 billion tobacco users around the world, and 60% want to quit, according to the report. Smoking cessation therapies that combine pharmacological and behavioral treatments are the most effective, and countries should make them available to people who want to quit at low or no cost, the WHO recommended.

Evidence-based pharmacological interventions include varenicline, nicotine replacement therapy, bupropion, and cytisine. In addition, trained health care professionals should offer brief counseling sessions—between 30 seconds and 3 minutes—consistently. People who use tobacco should also have access to more intensive behavioral support like group therapy and telephone counseling.

Published Online: August 2, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.13772

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Harris E. WHO Launches First Global Guidelines for Quitting Tobacco. JAMA. Published online August 02, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.13772

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• A complete guide to MLA in-text citations

MLA In-text Citations | A Complete Guide (9th Edition)

Published on July 9, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on March 5, 2024.

An MLA in-text citation provides the author’s last name and a page number in parentheses.

If a source has two authors, name both. If a source has more than two authors, name only the first author, followed by “ et al. ”

If the part you’re citing spans multiple pages, include the full page range. If you want to cite multiple non-consecutive pages at the same time, separate the page numbers with commas.

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Table of contents

Where to include an mla in-text citation, citing sources with no author, citing sources with no page numbers, citing different sources with the same author name, citing sources indirectly, frequently asked questions about mla in-text citations.

Place the parenthetical citation directly after the relevant quote or paraphrase , and before the period or other punctuation mark (except with  block quotes , where the citation comes after the period).

If you have already named the author in the sentence, add only the page number in parentheses. When mentioning a source with three or more authors outside of parentheses, use “and others” or “and colleagues” in place of “et al.”

• MLA is the second most popular citation style (Smith and Morrison 17–19) .
• According to Smith and Morrison , MLA is the second most popular citation style (17–19) .
• APA is by far “the most used citation style in the US” (Moore et al. 74) , but it is less dominant in the UK (Smith 16) .
• Moore and colleagues state that APA is more popular in the US than elsewhere (74) .

Combining citations

If a sentence is supported by more than one source, you can combine the citations in a single set of parentheses. Separate the two sources with a semicolon .

Livestock farming is one of the biggest global contributors to climate change (Garcia 64; Davies 14) .

Consecutive citations of the same source

If you cite the same source repeatedly within a paragraph, you can include the full citation the first time you cite it, then just the page number for subsequent citations.

MLA is the second most popular citation style (Smith and Morrison 17–19) . It is more popular than Chicago style, but less popular than APA (21) .

You can do this as long as it remains clear what source you’re citing. If you cite something else in between or start a new paragraph, reintroduce the full citation again to avoid ambiguity.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

For sources with no named author , the in-text citation must match the first element of the Works Cited entry. This may be the name of an organization, or the title of the source.

If the source title or organization name is longer than four words, shorten it to the first word or phrase in the in-text citation, excluding any articles ( a, an, and the ). The shortened title or organization name should begin with the word the source is alphabetized by in the Works Cited.

Follow the general MLA rules for formatting titles : If the source is a self-contained work (e.g. a whole website or an entire book ), put the title in italics; if the source is contained within a larger whole (e.g. a page on a website or a chapter of a book), put the title in quotation marks.

If a source does not have page numbers but is divided into numbered parts (e.g. chapters, sections, scenes, Bible books and verses, Articles of the Constitution , or timestamps), use these numbers to locate the relevant passage.

If the source does not use any numbering system, include only the author’s name in the in-text citation. Don’t include paragraph numbers unless they are explicitly numbered in the source.

Note that if there are no numbered divisions and you have already named the author in your sentence, then no parenthetical citation is necessary.

If your Works Cited page includes more than one entry under the same last name, you need to distinguish between these sources in your in-text citations.

Multiple sources by the same author

If you cite more than one work by the same author, add a shortened title to signal which source you are referring to.

In this example, the first source is a whole book, so the title appears in italics; the second is an article published in a journal, so the title appears in quotation marks.

Different authors with the same last name

To distinguish between different authors with the same last name, use the authors’ initials (or, if the initials are the same, full first names) in your in-text citations:

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Sometimes you might want to cite something that you found quoted in a secondary source . If possible, always seek out the original source and cite it directly.

If you can’t access the original source, make sure to name both the original author and the author of the source that you accessed . Use the abbreviation “qtd. in” (short for “quoted in”) to indicate where you found the quotation.

In these cases, only the source you accessed directly is included in the Works Cited list.

You must include an MLA in-text citation every time you quote or paraphrase from a source (e.g. a book , movie , website , or article ).

Some source types, such as books and journal articles , may contain footnotes (or endnotes) with additional information. The following rules apply when citing information from a note in an MLA in-text citation :

• To cite information from a single numbered note, write “n” after the page number, and then write the note number, e.g. (Smith 105n2)
• To cite information from multiple numbered notes, write “nn” and include a range, e.g. (Smith 77nn1–2)
• To cite information from an unnumbered note, write “un” after the page number, with a space in between, e.g. (Jones 250 un)

If a source has two authors, name both authors in your MLA in-text citation and Works Cited entry. If there are three or more authors, name only the first author, followed by et al.

If a source has no author, start the MLA Works Cited entry with the source title . Use a shortened version of the title in your MLA in-text citation .

If a source has no page numbers, you can use an alternative locator (e.g. a chapter number, or a timestamp for a video or audio source) to identify the relevant passage in your in-text citation. If the source has no numbered divisions, cite only the author’s name (or the title).

If you already named the author or title in your sentence, and there is no locator available, you don’t need a parenthetical citation:

• Rajaram  argues that representations of migration are shaped by “cultural, political, and ideological interests.”
• The homepage of The Correspondent describes it as “a movement for radically different news.”

Yes. MLA style uses title case, which means that all principal words (nouns, pronouns , verbs, adjectives , adverbs , and some conjunctions ) are capitalized.

This applies to titles of sources as well as the title of, and subheadings in, your paper. Use MLA capitalization style even when the original source title uses different capitalization .

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Article Contents

Introduction, materials and methods, data availability, acknowledgements, authors’ roles, conflict of interest.

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Extended versus conventional letrozole regimen in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome undergoing their first ovulation induction cycle: a prospective randomized controlled trial

Xiuxian Zhu and Jingwen Lang authors contributed equally to this work.

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Xiuxian Zhu, Jingwen Lang, Qiaoling Wang, Yonglun Fu, Extended versus conventional letrozole regimen in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome undergoing their first ovulation induction cycle: a prospective randomized controlled trial, Human Reproduction Open , Volume 2024, Issue 3, 2024, hoae046, https://doi.org/10.1093/hropen/hoae046

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Can an extended letrozole (LE) regimen result in a higher ovulatory rate than a conventional regimen in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) undergoing their first ovulation induction cycle?

There was no statistical difference in ovulation rate between patients with PCOS using the extended LE regimen and those using the conventional LE regimen.

LE has become the first-line agent for ovulation induction. However, there is still a proportion of non-responsive cycles in patients with PCOS undergoing ovulation induction therapy with LE alone, and the extended LE regimen has been demonstrated to be a feasible method for inducing ovulation in these non-responders. Nevertheless, whether the extended regimen could be applied to all patients with PCOS as a first choice for the induction of ovulation remains to be explored.

This was a prospective randomized controlled trial that included 148 female patients with PCOS who underwent their first ovulation induction cycle with LE from January 2021 to October 2022.

Participants were randomly assigned to receive an extended (5 mg LE daily for 7 days) or conventional regimen (5 mg LE daily for 5 days) for one treatment cycle. The ovulation rate was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included the clinical pregnancy rate, the number of preovulatory follicles, and the rate of multiple pregnancies.

The ovulation rate among patients receiving an extended LE regimen was slightly higher than the rate with a conventional LE regimen, but the difference did not reach statistical significance in either the intention-to-treat analysis (90.54% [67/74] vs 79.73% [59/74], P  = 0.065; relative risk [95% CI]: 0.881 [0.768–1.009]) or the per-protocol analysis (90.54% [67/74] vs 84.29% [59/70], P  = 0.257; relative risk [95% CI]: 0.931 [0.821–1.055]). The number of preovulatory follicles was nearly identical in the two groups (1.39 ± 0.62 vs 1.37 ± 0.59, P  = 0.956), and no cases of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome were observed. With regards to the endometrial parameters, the mean endometrium thickness was slightly thicker with the conventional LE regimen compared to that with the extended LE regimen, though with no statistical difference (9.27 ± 1.72 mm vs 9.57 ± 2.28 mm, P  = 0.792). In the per-protocol analysis, the rates of clinical pregnancy (20.27% [15/74] vs 14.29% [10/70], P  = 0.343; relative risk [95% CI]: 0.705 [0.34–1.463]) and live birth (13.51% [10/74] vs 11.43% [8/70], P  = 0.705; relative risk [95% CI]: 0.846 [0.354–2.019]) did not differ significantly between treatment groups. Moreover, all conceptions were singletons without neonatal defects.

The major concerns regarding this study are its single-center and open-label nature. Additionally, the limited number of lean patients with PCOS with a mean body mass index of 23–25 kg/m 2 enrolled in our trial also restricted the generalizability of our findings.

A change from the standard strategy of ovulation induction in patients with PCOS is not advisable, because a statistically superior effect of the extended LE regimen over a conventional regimen was not detected. The extended LE regimen could be applied with caution in a specific population who failed to respond to a conventional regimen rather than all the patients with PCOS during ovulation induction. Additional prospective trials with larger sample sizes and different PCOS subgroups are needed to assess the ovulatory effects of various LE treatment durations.

This study was funded by the Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, affiliated with Tongji University School of Medicine (grant numbers: 2023B03 to Y.F., 2023B18 to X.Z., and 2020RC02 to Y.F.). The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2100042082).

13 January 2021.

21 January 2021.

Letrozole has become the most commonly prescribed oral ovulation induction agent for subfertile women who do not ovulate naturally, particularly those with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). However, there is still a proportion of patients with PCOS who fail to respond to conventional letrozole therapy. The extended letrozole regimen has been demonstrated to be a feasible method for inducing ovulation in these ‘non-responders’. Nevertheless, whether this may be applied to all patients with PCOS as the first choice for the induction of ovulation remains to be explored. Thus, we conducted this prospective randomized controlled study to assess whether an extended letrozole regimen is superior to the conventional letrozole regimen in patients with PCOS when undergoing their first ovulation induction cycle. Our data showed that the rate of ovulation among patients receiving an extended letrozole regimen was slightly higher than the rate with a conventional letrozole regimen group, but the difference did not reach statistical significance. In consideration of the potential risk of multi-follicular development with the extended letrozole regimen, which would require more monitoring and higher costs to avoid multiple pregnancies, we conclude that it is not necessary to replace the conventional regimen with an extended letrozole regimen in patients with PCOS during their first ovulation induction cycle.

Ovulatory dysfunction is a major cause of infertility in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) ( Balen et al. , 2016 ; Teede et al. , 2023 ), and letrozole (LE) has become the most commonly prescribed oral ovulation induction agent ( Wang et al. , 2019 ; Pundir et al. , 2021 ; Tsiami et al. , 2021 ; Franik et al. , 2022 ; Liu et al. , 2023 ). However, there is still a proportion of non-responsive cycles in patients with PCOS undergoing ovulation induction therapy with LE alone ( Ramezanzadeh et al. , 2011 ; Legro et al. , 2014 ; Wu et al. , 2016 ; Amer et al. , 2017 ; Mejia et al. , 2019 ; Shi et al. , 2022 ; Dai et al. , 2023 ; Sharma et al. , 2023 ). Exogenous gonadotropin is the most commonly used drug for these non-responders with an increased risk of multiple-follicular development, subsequent cycle cancellation, severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), or multiple pregnancies ( Weiss et al. , 2019 ; Chen et al. , 2023 ; Dai et al. , 2023 ; Xia et al. , 2023 ). Therefore, it is urgent to explore other options for inducing ovulation in those non-responsive patients.

Our team first proposed the method of extending the LE treatment duration step by step to induce follicle growth in patients with PCOS who could not achieve ovulation with the conventional 5-day LE regimen ( Zhu and Fu, 2023 ), referred to as ‘LE resistance’ ( Guo et al. , 2023 ; Neblett et al. , 2023 ). Our data showed that 48 out of 69 patients with LE resistance (69.57%) achieved ovulation with 7 days of treatment of LE 5 mg per day, and a further 16 patients (23.19%) ovulated after receiving another 10 days of treatment ( Zhu and Fu, 2023 ). Since the ovulatory effect of the extended LE regimen was compelling, it was worth asking whether it could be applied to all patients with PCOS as a first choice for inducing ovulation. Thus, we designed this prospective randomized controlled study to assess whether an extended LE regimen is superior to the conventional LE regimen in patients with PCOS undergoing their first ovulation induction cycle.

Ethical approval

The study protocol was approved by the hospital’s Institutional Review Board. The trial was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2100042082). Written informed consent was obtained from every participant before randomization.

Study design and participants

This prospective randomized controlled study was conducted at the Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital from January 2021 to October 2022.

Outpatients with PCOS who underwent their first ovulation induction cycle were screened. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (i) a diagnosis of PCOS based on a modified form of the Rotterdam criteria ( Rotterdam ESHRE/ASRM-Sponsored PCOS Consensus Workshop Group, 2004 ): chronic anovulation or oligomenorrhea, clinical or biochemical signs of hyperandrogenism, and polycystic ovaries on ultrasonography; (ii) aged 20–35 years; and (iii) normal semen analysis of their male partners.

Patients with a previous history of ovulation induction failures or other diseases such as active thyroid disease, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, hyperprolactinemia, androgen-secreting tumors, Cushing’s syndrome, and clinically significant systemic diseases were excluded. In addition, those who had received drugs that interfered with hormone levels in the previous three months were not enrolled in our study.

Interventions

Participants were randomly assigned to receive an extended or conventional LE regimen for one treatment cycle. Specifically, LE 5 mg (Letrozole tablets; Yimeishu ® , Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Taizhou, China) was prescribed orally daily for seven consecutive days in the study group and for five consecutive days in the control group, starting on days 2–4 of the menstrual period or progesterone (P)-induced bleeding. To observe the ovarian response in as much detail as possible, an ultrasound was performed every 2–4 days after the last dose of LE to record the number/size of follicles and endometrial thickness; meanwhile, serum hormone levels were determined with a chemiluminescent method (Abbott Biologicals B.V., Weesp, The Netherlands). The lower limits of sensitivity were as follows: FSH 0.06 IU/l, luteinizing hormone (LH) 0.09 IU/l, estradiol (E 2 ) 10 pg/ml, and P 0.1 ng/ml. The E 2 values were recorded as 5000 pg/ml if it surpassed 5000 pg/ml.

Ovulation was diagnosed by the disappearance of a follicle greater than 14 mm or a serum P level >3 ng/ml followed by pregnancy or menses. If no follicles with a diameter >10 mm were detected, concomitant with E 2 <70 pg/ml and P  < 1.0 ng/ml 14 days after the last dose of LE, dydrogesterone (Duphaston; Abbott Biologicals B.V.) was delivered to induce bleeding.

Couples were advised to engage in regular intercourse every 2–4 days and timed intercourse if an LH surge was detected. Serum hCG levels were tested 2 weeks after ovulation to diagnose conception and an ultrasound was performed 4 weeks to diagnose a clinical pregnancy. Pregnancy and neonatal outcomes were tracked through a review of maternal and infant medical records. A nurse supervised and checked whether participants had complied well with their prescriptions by asking and checking the surplus LE tablets.

Outcome variables

The primary outcome was ovulation rate; secondary outcomes included the clinical pregnancy rate, number of preovulatory follicles (with a diameter larger than 14 mm), and rate of multiple pregnancies (the presence of two or more gestational sacs in the uterine cavity). Other outcomes included the largest follicle diameter, endometrial thickness, time-to-ovulation (the number of days from the first dose of LE to ovulation), mono-follicular rate (cycles with one follicle ≥14 mm per ovulatory cycle), and rates of OHSS, biochemical pregnancy, early miscarriage (loss of pregnancy before 12 weeks of gestation), and live birth (defined as a live baby born after 28 weeks of gestation). Both ectopic pregnancies and the presence of a gestational sac in the uterus, as determined using ultrasonography, were considered clinical pregnancies.

Sample size and randomization

To demonstrate a clinically meaningful difference of 20% between the previously reported ovulation rate of the conventional (∼75%) and extended LE regimen with a two-sided significance level of 0.05 and power of 85%, a sample size of 132 participants (66 per arm) was required (PASS 15.0.5). The sample size was increased to 74 participants per arm to allow for ∼10% dropouts.

The enrolled participants were allocated in a ratio of 1:1 to receive treatment with either the extended or the conventional LE regimen according to a randomization list generated by the trial statistician using Statistical Analysis System (SAS) 9.4. The enrolment order and the treatment code (A or B) were sealed in an opaque envelope with random numbers. Participants and physicians were not blinded to the group assignment. However, the sonographers were blinded to the group assignments in the trial.

Statistical analyses

The intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis included all randomized participants regardless of whether they were lost to follow-up, whereas the per-protocol (PP) analysis included those who completed the allocated treatment and follow-up. Participants who were lost to follow-up were assumed neither to ovulate nor be pregnant in the ITT analysis.

Categorical variables were assessed using the chi-squared test or Fisher’s exact test. Student’s t -test was used to assess continuous variables in each normally or near-normally distributed group, and the Mann–Whitney U test was used to assess continuous variables with a non-normal distribution. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 20 for Windows (release 6.0; IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA). All P -values were two-sided, and a P -value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Characteristics of the participants

Figure 1 presents a flowchart of the trial. A total of 197 patients with PCOS were screened and 148 were enrolled in this study. Four patients in the conventional LE regimen group were lost to follow-up after their first visit. The remaining 144 completed the allocated treatments. As shown in Table 1 , the mean maternal age in the extended LE regimen group was higher than that in the conventional LE regimen group. However, the difference was not clinically significant. Other baseline characteristics of the two groups were similar.

Flowchart of the study. ITT, intention-to-treat; PP, per-protocol.

Baseline characteristics of participants.

Data are presented as n, mean ± SD or n (%).

Mann–Whitney U test (for continuous variables).

Fisher’s exact test (for categorical variables).

Pearson chi-square (for categorical variables).

AMH, anti-Müllerian hormone; BMI, body mass index; PCOS, polycystic ovary syndrome.

Cycle characteristics

As shown in Table 2 , the ovulation rate among patients receiving an extended LE regimen was slightly higher than the rate with a conventional LE regimen, but the difference did not reach a statistical significance in either the ITT analysis (90.54% [67/74] vs 79.73% [59/74], P  = 0.065; relative risk [95% CI]: 0.881 [0.768–1.009]) or the PP analysis (90.54% [67/74] vs 84.29% [59/70], P  = 0.257; relative risk [95% CI]: 0.931 [0.821–1.055]).

Reproductive outcomes.

CI, confidence interval; RR, relative risk.

Among patients who ovulated, the mono-follicular and bifollicular rates were comparable between the two groups ( Fig. 2A , Table 3 ). One woman in the study group and three patients in the control group yielded three dominant follicles, while four preovulatory follicles were found in one of the participants receiving the extended LE regimen ( Table 3 ). No significant differences were found between groups when it came to the number of preovulatory follicles, the average largest follicle size, time-to-ovulation, or endometrial thickness ( Table 3 ). The largest follicle diameter documented before ovulation was 30.6 mm among the extended LE regimen recipients and 30.3 mm among the conventional LE regimen recipients ( Fig. 2B ). All patients ovulated spontaneously without triggers, and no cases of OHSS were reported in either group ( Table 3 ). With regards to the endometrial parameters ( Fig. 2C , Table 3 ), the mean endometrium thickness was slightly thicker with the conventional LE regimen compared to the extended LE regimen, though with no statistical difference (9.27 ± 1.72 mm vs 9.57 ± 2.28 mm, P  = 0.792). In addition, only four patients in the extended LE regimen group and three in the conventional LE regimen group showed endometrial thickness <7 mm ( Fig. 2C ). Time-to-ovulation ranged from 9 to 21 days among patients who received the extended LE regimen, similar to that among patients who received the conventional LE regimen (9–22 days) ( Fig. 2D ).

Cycle characteristics. ( A ) The distribution of women in the two groups with follicle diameter >14 mm; ( B ) the largest follicle diameter; ( C ) endometrial thickness; and ( D ) the time of ovulation in ovulatory cycles. Time-to-ovulation refers to the number of days from the first dose of letrozole administration to ovulation. The blue boxes represent the women who underwent the extended letrozole regimen, and the orange boxes represent those who underwent the conventional letrozole regimen.

Cycle characteristics in ovulatory cycles.

OHSS, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.

Hormone profiles during treatment

Figure 3 depicts the dynamic hormone profiles of the ovulatory cycles in all participants. Day 1 represents the day on which LE treatment was initiated. The mean FSH levels were slightly higher in the extended LE regimen than in the conventional LE regimen group throughout the ovulation induction cycle; however, the differences were not statistically significant. No between-group differences were found in the average serum LH levels on Days 7–10 and on the pre-ovulation day. The average E 2 levels on the pre-ovulation day were higher in the conventional LE regimen group than in the extended LE regimen group, although the difference was not statistically significant. The serum P levels of the two groups were similar during treatment.

Hormone profile during treatment. Serum hormone levels during ovarian stimulation in ovulatory cycles in the two letrozole regimens. The red lines represent the extended letrozole regimen group, and the green lines represent the conventional letrozole regimen group. The day of treatment initiation was recorded as Day 1 of each regimen. * P  < 0.05 at the time point. FSH, follicle-stimulating hormone; LH, luteinizing hormone; E 2 , estradiol; P, progesterone.

Reproductive outcomes

In the PP analysis, the rates of clinical pregnancy (20.27% [15/74] vs 14.29% [10/70], P  = 0.343; relative risk [95% CI]: 0.705 [0.34–1.463]) and live birth (13.51% [10/74] vs 11.43% [8/70], P  = 0.705; relative risk [95% CI]: 0.846 [0.354–2.019]) did not differ significantly between the treatment groups ( Table 2 ), and similar outcomes were noted in the ITT analysis. All pregnant patients in our study were diagnosed as having singleton pregnancies. Four miscarriages occurred in the extended LE regimen group and two miscarriages occurred in the conventional LE regimen group. One patient in each group experienced preterm delivery at 33–34 weeks with good neonatal outcomes. Additionally, no early neonatal death or congenital birth defects were detected.

This is the first prospective randomized controlled trial to illustrate the ovarian response, hormone profile, and pregnancy outcomes of patients with PCOS using an extended LE regimen compared with a conventional LE regimen. Our results showed that the rate of ovulation among patients receiving an extended LE regimen was slightly higher than the rate with a conventional LE regimen group. However, this difference did not reach statistical significance. Our findings suggest that it is not necessary to replace the conventional LE regimen with an extended LE regimen in patients with PCOS during their first ovulation induction cycle.

The major concern with regard to extending LE duration was multi-follicular growth. Fouda and Sayed (2011) first documented the use of an extended LE regimen. That study enrolled 106 normal-ovulatory patients treated with LE 2.5 mg per day from cycle days 1 to 9 and revealed a clinical pregnancy rate of 18.96% (40/211) and a multiple pregnancy rate of 4/40 (10%) in those patients ( Fouda and Sayed, 2011 ). Although no cases of OHSS were reported and all the multiple pregnancies were twins, the average number of follicles >18 mm on the day of hCG administration reached 2.24 ± 0.80 after 9 days of LE treatment ( Fouda and Sayed, 2011 ). In our trial, the LE treatment duration was prolonged to 7 instead of 10 days. Although the average number of preovulatory follicles was comparable between treatment groups, one woman using the extended LE regimen yielded four dominant follicles but failed to conceive in this cycle. The most ideal case during ovulation induction therapy would be mono-follicular development and subsequent mono-ovulation and singleton pregnancy ( Balen et al. , 2016 ; Birch Petersen et al. , 2016 ; Teede et al. , 2023 ). Although all the conceptions were singletons without neonatal anomalies in our trial, the potential risk of multi-follicular development and multiple pregnancies that would require more monitoring and result in higher costs by applying the extended LE regimen could not be ignored. Therefore, we do not advise to use the extended LE regimen for standard ovulation induction in women with PCOS. Nevertheless, it could be applied as a feasible alternative in a specific population with PCOS who fail to respond to a conventional LE regimen.

Applying an exogenous hCG to trigger ovulation is a popular practice prior to intercourse or intrauterine insemination in women with ovulatory dysfunction ( Palatnik et al. , 2012 ; Hancock et al. , 2021 ; Chen et al. , 2023 ; Dai et al. , 2023 ). However, the optimal follicular diameters to apply trigger drugs remain a controversy. Palatnik et al. observed a higher pregnancy rate when the leading follicles were triggered at a size of 23–28 mm during intrauterine insemination cycles with LE ( Palatnik et al. , 2012 ), while Hancock et al. identified hCG administration at a lead follicle size of 21.1–22.0 mm was associated with higher pregnancy rates in patients with ovulatory dysfunction or unexplained infertility during intrauterine insemination treatments ( Hancock et al. , 2021 ). From our perspective, it is preferable that dominant follicles rupture spontaneously without the application of exogenous trigger drugs. As a type of aromatase inhibitor, LE could promote FSH production and follicular growth by inhibiting estrogen biosynthesis ( Wang et al. , 2019 ; Pundir et al. , 2021 ; Tsiami et al. , 2021 ; Franik et al. , 2022 ; Liu et al. , 2023 ). Owing to the short half-life of LE (∼45 h), serum E 2 values could rapidly rise after the cessation of LE treatment, and then evoke substantial LH secretion and subsequent ovulation ( Rose and Brown, 2020 ; Yang et al. , 2021 ). All the participants with dominant follicles achieved spontaneous ovulation without exogenous trigger drugs in our trial. The strategy of waiting for the spontaneous LH surge ensured that there was sufficient time for estrogen biosynthesis and endometrial development. As a result, the mean endometrial thickness before ovulation was comparable between the treatment groups, which was in consistent with previous studies using the extended regimens (7–10 days) ( Fouda and Sayed, 2011 ; Zhu and Fu, 2023 ). In other words, a duration-dependent reduction in endometrial thickness was not observed in our trial. Furthermore, the clinical pregnancy rate and the live birth rate in patients using the extended LE regimen were similar to those in patients with the conventional LE regimen. Therefore, it is not necessary to worry about the reduced endometrial thickness during ovulation induction cycles with the extended LE regimen.

One of the main limitations is that the sample size of our trial was rather small. In addition, one should be cautious when interpreting our findings as the patients enrolled in the present study were lean patients with PCOS with a mean BMI of 23–25 kg/m 2 , and the incidence of patients with LE resistance (∼15%) was less than that reported in most prior articles ( Ramezanzadeh et al. , 2011 ; Legro et al. , 2014 ; Wu et al. , 2016 ; Amer et al. , 2017 ; Mejia et al. , 2019 ; Shi et al. , 2022 ; Dai et al. , 2023 ; Sharma et al. , 2023 ), limiting the applicability of our results in obese patients. Nevertheless, we believe that our cohort was a good representation of the Chinese PCOS community as the mean BMI was 22.2 ± 4.2 kg/m 2 and the prevalence of patients with a BMI≥23 kg/m 2 was 34.09% (284/833) based on a large community study of Han Chinese patients ( Li et al. , 2013 ). Moreover, it may be argued that the definition of PCOS adopted in our trial was outdated because the threshold for polycystic ovary morphology was having more than 20 antral follicles in at least one ovary, according to the recent guidelines published in 2023. However, the Rotterdam criteria remain the most universally accepted diagnostic criteria for PCOS in practice. Besides, there were very few participants with clinical or biochemical hyperandrogenism enrolled in our trial, thus further studies with different PCOS subtypes in a larger population are needed to validate our findings. Additionally, the primary outcome in the present trial was ovulation rate. We acknowledge that the rates of clinical pregnancy or live birth would have been a more suitable parameter for comparing the ovulatory effects during ovulation induction treatments. Nevertheless, the formation of dominant follicles is the first and core step of successful ovulation induction. It may be more meaningful to evaluate the pregnancy rate and delivery rate on the premise of differences in ovulation rate. Another concern was that the treatment allocation was not blinded to the participants and investigators. The combined assessment of ultrasound and serum hormone levels ensured the objectivity and accuracy of the data relevant to ovulation, which may reduce any bias from an open-label design. Finally, cumulative ovulation rates and pregnancy outcomes were not available as only one ovulation induction cycle was incorporated into our study. Additional studies could be conducted to obtain cumulative outcomes in patients with PCOS using an extended LE regimen and provide detailed records relevant to side effects and follow-up of newborns ( Legro et al. , 2020 ).

Our data supported the use of a conventional LE regimen in patients with PCOS undergoing their first ovulation induction cycle because a statistically superior effect of the extended LE regimen over a conventional regimen was not detected. Additional prospective trials with larger sample sizes and different subgroups of PCOS are needed to assess the ovulatory effects of different LE treatment durations.

The data underlying this article will be shared on reasonable requests made to the corresponding author.

The authors thank the staff of the Department of Assisted Reproduction in Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital for their cooperation and support.

Y.F. conceptualized the study. X.Z. and J.L. collected the data and performed the statistical analysis. X.Z. wrote the manuscript. Y.F. and Q.W. revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to the critical revision and approved the final version to be published.

Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, affiliated with Tongji University School of Medicine (2023B03 to Y.F., 2023B18 to X.Z., and 2020RC02 to Y.F.).

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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