Question

which of the following contains the correct punctuation for parenthetical documentation when citing a book?
one method of locating the main idea of a paragraph is to examine the first part of the passage (robinson 14).
one method of locating the main idea of a paragraph is to examine the first part of the passage. (robinson, 14)
one method of locating the main idea of a paragraph is to examine the first part of the passage (robinson, 14).
one method of locating the main idea of a paragraph is to examine the first part of the passage. (robinson 14)

Explanation:

To determine the correct parenthetical documentation for citing a book, we refer to citation rules (e.g., MLA style). In MLA, for a book citation, the parenthetical should be (Author Page), with no comma between the author's last name and the page number, and the period should come after the parenthetical. The orange box has "One method of locating the main idea of a paragraph is to examine the first part of the passage (Robinson 14)", which follows this rule. The blue box has a period before the parenthetical and a comma (incorrect). The green box has a comma (incorrect). The red box has a period before the parenthetical (incorrect).

Answer:

The orange box (One method of locating the main idea of a paragraph is to examine the first part of the passage (Robinson 14))