Final answer:
In-text citations are placed immediately after the quoted or paraphrased material, enclosed in parentheses, and are meant to be brief, providing just enough information to guide readers to the corresponding entry on the Works Cited page.
Step-by-step explanation:
Characteristics of in-text citations include: Option 2, which states they are positioned immediately after the information or quotation to be documented; Option 3, indicating they are often enclosed in parentheses; and Option 4, highlighting their brevity. Option 5 and Option 6 do not describe in-text citations, as they refer to the complete information about a source and exact replication of works-cited details, respectively, which are not characteristics of in-text citations. In-text citations typically consist of the author's last name and a page number or a work's title in quotation marks if there's no author, allowing readers to locate the original material in the Works Cited.