How to Write Better Essays

In-text citing

Like the second form of footnotes, in-text citing uses the Harvard

system, but puts the name of the author, the year of publication, and

the page number in the actual text itself in parentheses, after the

material you’ve borrowed. Then a list of these references appears at

the end of the essay, where the full details of the texts to which these

abbreviations refer, can be found.

On some occasions you may decide that the author ’s name will

appear in the actual text with only the year of publication and the page

number in brackets. The following examples illustrate the various ways

this can be done.

Perhaps artists need to feel politically motivated against oppressive

regimes in order to etch their identity clearly against a social and

political reality they deplore. In the words of Theodore Roethke, ‘In

a dark time, the eye begins to see’ (1966, p. 239).

Perhaps artists need to feel politically motivated against oppressive

regimes in order to etch their identity clearly against a social and

political reality they deplore. After all, ‘In a dark time, the eye begins

to see’ (Roethke, 1966, p. 239).

As Roethke (1966) points out, perhaps artists need to feel politically

motivated against oppressive regimes in order to etch their identity

clearly against a social and political reality they deplore. After all, ‘In

a dark time, the eye begins to see’ (p. 239).

Paraphrasing

When you paraphrase an author ’s words, only the author and the year

need to be included. For example:

Certain diets that reduce the levels of serotonin in the brain appear

to produce higher levels of aggression. Historically, periods of

famine, and carbohydrate and protein malnutrition, have been asso-

ciated with significant increases in crime and violence (Valzelli,

1981).

Valzelli (1981) argues that those diets responsible for reducing the

levels of serotonin in the brain appear to produce higher levels of

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