How to avoid excessive citation

When paraphrasing the same source for multiple sentences in a row in a single paragraph, APA 7 requires that you cite the source in the first paraphrased sentence only. For example:

First mention in a paragraph: According to Jethalal (2022), carbon offsets are a stop-gap method during the search for long-term solutions to climate change.

From there, if you continue paraphrasing the source, you are not required to continually cite it, as long as it is clear that the paraphrase continues. For example, you can use signal phrases to show that your paraphrase is continuing. If you quote the source, be sure to provide a page number or other locator (here, a timestamp).

Subsequent mentions

She notes that behaviour change is important, and carbon offsets are an option until greener technologies emerge.

The interview reveals that critics view offsets as delaying better solutions and giving polluters an easy way out.

However, her argument contends that in the interim, carbon offsets offer “something over nothing” (9:22).

Here is another example of how a paragraph may be organized with signal phrases while using APA’s long paraphrase guidelines:

Yee et al. (2024) studied …

They surveyed …

Participants had to …

The results showed that …

As you can see, by following these guidelines, you do not need to continually include the year after the author’s name, nor do you need to provide a parenthetical citation such as (Jethalal, 2022) at the end of the sentences. Academic writing genres such as annotated bibliographies, reviews, and summaries tend to devote entire paragraphs to one source, and this rule for long paraphrases prevents the clutter of unnecessary citations.

However, you will need to cite the source again if one of the following happens:

1. you cite a different source,
2. you start a new paragraph, or
3. you insert your own analysis.

Also be careful to demonstrate the difference between paraphrases from the source, which should be clearly attributed to the author, and your own thoughts, which should not be attributed to anyone else.

For example:

Differentiating writer’s analysis: For example, consumers, with limited power to influence wider systems, can purchase carbon offsets to reduce the impacts of necessary behaviours, such as the use of natural gas furnaces during sub-zero winters.

Subsequent mentions of the source: However, Jethalal (2022) acknowledges that time is of the essence to develop greener technologies, so how can ordinary citizens contribute?

Interruption by a different source: The title of Greta Thunberg’s (2019) book, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, reminds her audience of the schoolchildren’s strike she initiated in 2018.

Subsequent mentions of Thunberg, without interruption: Meanwhile, Thunberg clearly identifies the greenwashing …

Subsequent mentions of Jethalal after interruption: . . . that Jethalal (2022) only hints at.

Here is the passage as a whole:

According to Jethalal (2022), carbon offsets are a stop-gap method during the search for long-term solutions to climate change. She notes that behaviour change is important, and carbon offsets are an option until greener technologies emerge. The interview reveals that critics view offsets as delaying better solutions and giving polluters an easy way out. However, her argument contends that in the interim, carbon offsets offer “something over nothing” (9:22). For example, consumers, with limited power to influence wider systems, can purchase carbon offsets to reduce the impacts of necessary behaviours, such as the use of natural gas furnaces during sub-zero winters. However, Jethalal (2022) acknowledges that time is of the essence to develop greener technologies, so how can ordinary citizens contribute? The title of Greta Thunberg’s (2019) book, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, reminds her audience of the schoolchildren’s strike she initiated in 2018. Meanwhile, Thunberg clearly identifies the greenwashing that Jethalal (2022) only hints at.

MLA is the style typically used in literary studies, when multiple references to a single literary text are made, often several times in a row. Fortunately, when citing a single source for an entire paragraph, you do not have to re-cite the author’s name. However, a page number is required to demarcate where each quote or paraphrase came from. The first time you mention a text in a paragraph, identify the author:

First mention in a paragraph: Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting is not just a child’s adventure story; it questions the meaning of age and lifespan and teases out tensions between adulthood and childhood.

Subsequent references to the author’s text throughout the paragraph may not require a complete citation, but just the page number:

Subsequent mentions: For example, Mae Tuck’s excitement at her grown children’s return seems like a typical mother’s reaction at first glance (9).

Like APA, if other information interrupts the paraphrasing of that source, such as your own analysis of the text or commentary from a secondary source, the source should be re-cited the next time you mention it.

Interruption by analysis: Interestingly, however, Mae’s reaction is also somewhat childlike.

First mention after interruption: This can be seen in her loud repetition of her initial observation that the boys will soon be home (Babbitt 9).

Here is the passage as a whole:

Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting is not just a child’s adventure story; it questions the meaning of age and lifespan and teases out tensions between adulthood and childhood. For example, Mae Tuck’s excitement at her grown children’s return seems like a typical mother’s reaction at first glance (9). Interestingly, however, Mae’s reaction is also somewhat childlike. This can be seen in her loud repetition of her initial observation that the boys will soon be home (Babbitt 9).

Note that MLA 8 allowed the discussion of a source to cross multiple paragraphs without re-citing. However, the above examples reflect updates made in MLA 9, and now this method is contained to one paragraph only. Therefore, be sure to cite the author again the first time you mention their work in a new paragraph:

First mention in a new paragraph: Mae’s husband Tuck at first displays a tiredness that contrasts with Mae’s enthusiasm (Babbitt 9).

See section 6.45 in the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), available from the AU Library, for more information.

Note: For links in this section, you will need to log in with your AU ID.

Unlike APA and MLA, Chicago does not provide a break from citing every sentence. This is because it is used primarily in fields like History where it is necessary to acknowledge where each piece of information came from as the account of the past is formed. Notes, or footnotes, work well for this task, as only a tiny sub-script number is added to the text when a citation is required. Chicago’s Notes/Bibliography (N/B) method uses notes in this way. For example:

Carbon offsets can be viewed as an effective interim solution, but they are only that—an interim solution.¹

However, Chicago makes citing easier by providing guidelines for shortened citations. The first time you use information from a certain source, provide a complete footnote.

Footnote at first mention: ¹ Suha Jethalal, “Are Carbon Offsets Really Effective?,” interview by Trinh Theresa Do, Disruptors: The 10-Minute Take, RBC, July 19, 2022, audio, 8:42, https://thoughtleadership.rbc.com/the-10-minute-take-are-carbon-offsets-actually-effective/.

Subsequently, when referring to that source, you can use a shortened version consisting of the author’s last name, a shortened title, and the page number:

Footnotes at subsequent mentions: ² Jethalal, “Carbon Offsets,” 6:10.

Or, if you only refer to one source by that author throughout the whole paper, you can leave out the title altogether:

² Jethalal, 6:10.

A different method works well for papers like literary analyses which contain several references to one source. This method may be more commonly used in Chicago’s Author-Date (A/D) method, though it is technically also permitted in N/B. As long as you continue discussing only that source, all that is required is the relevant page number or other locator in parentheses at the end of the sentence. This shows that you are still referring to the most recently cited source, and it also provides the precise place in the source where the idea can be found:

Babbitt’s younger characters show some adult traits.¹

Footnote with first mention: ¹ Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting (Toronto: Scholastic Inc., 1975), 9.

Subsequent mentions: For example, protagonist Winnie is not a credulous child, with no unlikely hopes for the happily-ever-after of fairy tales (42).

Here is the passage as a whole:

Babbitt’s younger characters show some adult traits.¹ For example, Protagonist Winnie is not a credulous child, with no unlikely hopes for the happily-ever-after of fairy tales (42).

However, double-check with your instructor before you use this method with N/B format, as it is only appropriate in certain situations. If your instructor does not want you to use in-text page numbers, you should continue using footnotes. Also avoid using ibid. unless your instructor asks you to, as Chicago’s latest edition prefers the shortened citation over ibid.