...for academic summaries, analyses and reader responses.

If the name(s) of the author(s) are known:

Preferred:

·  Jane Smith’s article, “History of the Dog” is about how dogs first became domesticated.

or

• Smith’s “History of the Dog” describes [or argues, or narrates or explains] how dogs first became domesticated. 

Important:

• Never write “In Jane Smith’s article, ‘History of the Dog’ describes how dogs first became domesticated.”  That is bad English!  “In Jane Smith’s article, ‘History of the Dog,’ it describes how dogs first became domesticated” is not as bad, but is still incorrect for college writing since whatever “it” refers to is not entirely clear.

• Never use the author’s first name alone, e.g., “Jane’s article…,”  unless you are a personal friend of the author.

• To avoid the most common errors, never begin your first sentence with "In..."

-------------------------------------------------------

For articles with no author’s name given:

· The article “The History of the Dog” is about how dogs first became domesticated. Or, ”History of the Dog” tells how dogs first became domesticated.

Notes:

Be sure your first sentence is correct English!  Do not use the title and author of the article you are reading as the title of your paper!  Do not write “the author says” or “the article says.”  Authors normally write, not say text.  And articles or books never “say” or “tell” anything at all--only people say, tell or write things.

 O.W. 6/08 rev 1/18