Yes, you can absolutely cite in the middle of a sentence using the Harvard style, either by integrating the author's name into your sentence (author-prominent) or placing the citation at a natural pause point (information-prominent), with the author's name and year (and page number for quotes) in parentheses to clearly show where borrowed information comes from, enhancing clarity and giving credit.
You may sometimes use the author's name in the text, or just refer to the author in brackets, and citations might appear at the start, middle or end of your sentences.
Note: Usually, your parenthetical citation will go at the end of the sentence, but sometimes it can go in the middle of the sentence if there is a naturally occurring pause and if putting it at the end of the sentence would move it farther away from the documented material.
Citations briefly identify the source of borrowed information, quotes, and figures in the text. The citation must be placed at the beginning, middle or end of the borrowed information. It must be clear what information is borrowed and where it comes from, including page references whenever possible.
Referencing includes both in-text references placed throughout your writing and a reference list at the end of your work which includes every source you have cited listed in alphabetical order. In-text references must be placed within a sentence. That is, they must be placed before the full stop.
If a direct quotation is interrupted mid-sentence, do not capitalize the second part of the quotation. "I didn't see an actual alien being," Mr. Johnson said, "but I sure wish I had." In all the examples above, note how the period or comma punctuation always comes before the final quotation mark.
Long Paraphrases & Paragraphs
When paraphrasing or summarising using one source over several sentences or even a whole paragraph, cite the source in the first sentence. There is no need to cite the work again in this paragraph provided it is clear that this is the only source being paraphrased.
A reference or citation can be positioned at the beginning, middle or end of a sentence.
The in-text citation should occur in the sentence where the cited material has been used: Signal phrase reference (author's name) appears within the sentence with page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence. Full parenthetical reference (author last name and page number) appears at the end of the sentence.
If you are quoting only a fragment of a sentence, do not begin the quotation with a capital. He said that Aretha Franklin is a “powerful and highly acclaimed” R & B singer. If a sentence is interrupted in the middle, do not capitalize the second part.
Using in-text citations
The last name of the author(s) and the year of publication are generally needed. They can appear within a sentence or at the end of a sentence before the full stop eg. .... this week (Brown 2019). A page number is included for a direct quote.
Block Quotes
Block the quote by one-half inch from the left margin. If the paper is double spaced, then the block quote should be double spaced. There are no quotation marks needed for block quotes, and the citation follows the quote, outside of the period.
When a citation or citations relate to a portion of a sentence they should be embedded in the sentence as a citation clause, set off by commas, directly following that portion «e.g.».
In-text citations: Author-page style
The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence.
10 Common Citation Mistakes (and How to Ensure You Avoid Them)
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You Do Not Need to Cite When
You use your own artwork, digital photographs, video, audio, etc. You are using "common knowledge," things like folklore, common sense observations, myths, urban legends, and historical events (but not historical documents)
When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, like, for example, (Jones, 1998).
If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipsis marks.
Use single quotation marks to enclose quotes within another quotation. The reporter told me, "When I interviewed the quarterback, he said they simply 'played a better game. '"
But suppose you place the quotation mid-sentence, forming a syntactical part of the sentence. In that case, it begins with a lowercase letter, even if the original sentence begins with a capitalized letter. The letter opened with, “We regret to inform you your application has been denied.”
Two or three may be preferred for more controversial material or as a way of preventing linkrot for online sources, but more than three should generally be avoided; if four or more are needed, consider bundling (merging) the citations.
For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list. APA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the year of publication, for example: (Field, 2005). For direct quotations, include the page number as well, for example: (Field, 2005, p. 14).
You need to include an in-text citation wherever you quote from, summarise, or paraphrase from a source. An in-text citation consists of the last name of the author(s), the year of publication, and a page or paragraph number if relevant (see the Page numbers section for more information).
Important to remember: You DO NOT need to add an in-text citation after EVERY sentence of your paragraph.