Let’s say you’re reading a paper for a class. The paper’s title is “Fooing the bar: Baz for the Qux and the Quux” by A. Sheila and S. Bloke and it was published in 1999 in the Journal of Quxian Studies.
Suppose you want to talk about what the authors say in the paper. You do not say:
In the paper “Fooing the bar: Baz for the Qux and the Quux” by A. Sheila and S. Bloke, they introduce the concept of blah blah blah…
(Don’t tell me the title, I can find it in your reference list.)
You certainly don’t say:
A paper by A. Sheila and S. Bloke in the 1999 Journal of Quxian Studies argues that the concept of blah blah blah…
(The paper doesn’t argue, Sheila and Bloke argue. And I can find the name of the Journal in your reference list.)
You do say:
Sheila and Bloke (1999) were the first to introduce the concept of blah blah blah…
And then you give a full and correct reference.
