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In-text citations, style by style
A reference list entry is not what you put in a sentence. The two look nothing alike, and no rule turns one into the other, which is why this is where marks are lost.
The same source, cited in a sentence
One journal article, seven styles, in the two forms every style offers. These come from the same formatter that writes your reference, so they are what the generator will actually give you.
| Style | Parenthetical | Narrative | Quoting a page |
|---|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | (Aspelmeyer, 2009) | Aspelmeyer (2009) | (Aspelmeyer, 2009, p. 11) |
| MLA 9 | (Aspelmeyer) | Aspelmeyer | (Aspelmeyer 11) |
| Harvard | (Aspelmeyer, 2009) | Aspelmeyer (2009) | (Aspelmeyer, 2009, p. 11) |
| Chicago 18 | (Aspelmeyer 2009) | Aspelmeyer (2009) | (Aspelmeyer 2009, 11) |
| IEEE | [1] | [1] | [1, p. 11] |
| Vancouver | (1) | (1) | (1, p. 11) |
| AMA 11 | ¹ | ¹ | ¹(p11) |
In MLA the narrative form leaves nothing in brackets until you quote: you write that Aspelmeyer argues something, then put the page in brackets at the end.
The difference nobody tells you
MLA carries the page. APA carries the year.
They are not the same citation with different brackets. An MLA in-text citation has no year in it at all, because the year lives in the works cited list. An APA one has no page unless you quoted. Copying the shape of one into the other is the single commonest error in a first-year bibliography.
A number is not a citation of the source
IEEE and Vancouver cite the position of the source in your reference list, numbered in the order you first mention each one. Move a paragraph and the numbers change. This is why those two styles number their reference lists and the others alphabetise them.
Chicago has two systems and they share a name
The table above shows Chicago author-date. Notes and bibliography, which is what most history and arts courses use, cites with a numbered footnote carrying the full details the first time and a short form after that. Check which one your brief asks for before you use either.
One author, two authors, three or more
Where the styles agree is that something changes at three. Where they disagree is everything else.
| Style | One author | Two authors | Three or more |
|---|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | (Aspelmeyer, 2009) | (Doe & Roe, 2009) | (Doe et al., 2009) |
| MLA 9 | (Aspelmeyer) | (Doe and Roe) | (Doe et al.) |
| Harvard | (Aspelmeyer, 2009) | (Doe and Roe, 2009) | (Doe et al., 2009) |
| Chicago 18 | (Aspelmeyer 2009) | (Doe and Roe 2009) | (Doe et al. 2009) |
| IEEE | [1] | [1] | [1] |
| Vancouver | (1) | (1) | (1) |
| AMA 11 | ¹ | ¹ | ¹ |
APA joins two authors with an ampersand inside brackets and with the word and in a narrative sentence. The others spell it out in both.
Questions
Do I need a page number?
In MLA, effectively always: the page is the whole point of an MLA citation. In APA and Harvard, only when you quote directly, though adding one for a close paraphrase is never wrong. IEEE and Vancouver take a page only when you are pointing at a specific passage.
What is the difference between the two forms?
Parenthetical keeps the whole citation in brackets at the end of the sentence. Narrative puts the author's name into your own sentence and leaves only the year in brackets. Use narrative when the author matters to the point you are making, and parenthetical when the evidence matters more than who found it.
Why is the IEEE number always 1 here?
Because the number is not a property of the source. It is the position of that source in your reference list, numbered in the order you first cite each one. The generator cannot know your list, so it shows the first position and says so.
What if there is no author?
The first few words of the title take the author's place, punctuated the way the reference list entry punctuates it: quoted for an article or a web page, plain for a book or report.
Does every in-text citation need an entry in the reference list?
Yes, and the other way round: every entry in the list should be cited somewhere in the text. A mismatch between the two is one of the easiest things for a marker to spot, and it is what the reference checker on this site looks for.