Creating MLA in-text citations
MLA style requires a citation in the text of an essay for every quotation, paraphrase, summary, or other material requiring documentation (see 14b). In-text citations document material from other sources with both signal phrases and parenthetical references. Parenthetical references should include the information your readers need to locate the full reference in the list of works cited at the end of the text (32d). An in-text citation in MLA style aims to give the reader two kinds of information: (1) it indicates which source on the works-cited page the writer is referring to, and (2) it explains where in the source the material quoted, paraphrased, or summarized can be found, if the source has page numbers or other numbered sections.
The basic MLA in-text citation includes the author’s last name either in a signal phrase introducing the source material (13b) or in parentheses at the end of the sentence. For sources with stable page numbers, it also includes the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence.
SAMPLE CITATION USING A SIGNAL PHRASE
In his discussion of Monty Python routines, Crystal notes that the group relished “breaking the normal rules” of language (107).
SAMPLE PARENTHETICAL CITATION
A noted linguist explains that Monty Python humor often relied on “bizarre linguistic interactions” (Crystal 108).
(For digital sources without print page numbers, see model 3.)
Note in the following examples where punctuation is placed in relation to the parentheses.
1. Author named in a signal phrase The MLA recommends using the author’s name in a signal phrase to introduce the material and citing the page number(s), if any, in parentheses.
Lee claims that his comic-book creation, Thor, was “the first regularly published superhero to speak in a consistently archaic manner” (199).
2. Author named in a parenthetical referenceWhen you do not mention the author in a signal phrase, include the author’s last name before the page number(s), if any, in parentheses. Use no punctuation between the author’s name and the page number(s).
The word Bollywood is sometimes considered an insult because it implies that Indian movies are merely “a derivative of the American film industry” (Chopra 9).
3. Digital or nonprint source Give enough information in a signal phrase or in parentheses for readers to locate the source in your list of works cited. Many works found online or in electronic databases lack stable page numbers; you can omit the page number in such cases. However, if you are citing a work with stable pagination, such as an article in PDF format, include the page number in parentheses.
DIGITAL SOURCE WITHOUT STABLE PAGE NUMBERS
As a Slate analysis has noted, “Prominent sports psychologists get praised for their successes and don’t get grief for their failures” (Engber).
DIGITAL SOURCE WITH STABLE PAGE NUMBERS
According to Whitmarsh, the British military had experimented with using balloons for observation as far back as 1879 (328).
If the source includes numbered sections, paragraphs, or screens, include the abbreviation (sec.), paragraph (par.), or screen (scr.) and the number in parentheses.
Sherman notes that the “immediate, interactive, and on-the-spot” nature of Internet information can make nondigital media seem outdated (sec. 32).
4. Two authors Use both the authors’ last names in a signal phrase or in parentheses.
Gilbert and Gubar point out that in the Grimm version of “Snow White,” the king “never actually appears in this story at all” (37).
5. Three or more authors Use the first author’s name and et al. (“and others”).
Similarly, as Belenky et al. assert, examining the lives of women expands our understanding of human development (7).
6. Organization as author Give the group's full name in a signal phrase or a shortened form of the name in parentheses.
Any study of social welfare involves a close analysis of “the impacts, the benefits, and the costs” of its policies (Social iii).
7. Unknown author Use the full title, if it is brief, in your text—or a shortened version of the title in parentheses.
One analysis defines hype as “an artificially engendered atmosphere of hysteria” (Today’s Marketplace 51).
8. Author of two or more works cited in the same project If your list of works cited has more than one work by the same author, include a shortened version of the title of the work you are citing in a signal phrase or in parentheses to prevent reader confusion.
Gardner shows readers their own silliness in his description of a “pointless, ridiculous monster, crouched in the shadows, stinking of dead men, murdered children, and martyred cows” (Grendel 2).
9. Two or more authors with the same last name Include the author’s first and last names in a signal phrase or first initial and last name in a parenthetical reference.
Children will learn to write if they are allowed to choose their own subjects, James Britton asserts, citing the Schools Council study of the 1960s (37-42).
10. Indirect source (author quoting someone else) Use the abbreviation qtd. in to indicate that you are quoting from someone else’s report of a source.
As Arthur Miller says, “When somebody is destroyed everybody finally contributes to it, but in Willy’s case, the end product would be virtually the same” (qtd. in Martin and Meyer 375).
11. Multivolume work In a parenthetical reference, note the volume number first and then the page number(s), with a colon and one space between them.
Modernist writers prized experimentation and gradually even sought to blur the line between poetry and prose, according to Forster (3: 150).
If you name only one volume of the work in your list of works cited, include only the page number in the parentheses.
12. Work in an anthology or collection For an essay, short story, or other piece of prose reprinted in an anthology, use the name of the author of the work, not the editor of the anthology, but use the page number(s) from the anthology.
Narratives of captivity play a major role in early writing by women in the United States, as demonstrated by Silko (219).
13. Government source Because entries for sources authored by government agencies will appear on your list of works cited under the name of the country (see model 79), your in-text citation for such a source should include the name of the country as well as the name of the agency responsible for the source.
To reduce the agricultural runoff into the Chesapeake Bay, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has argued that “[h]igh nutrient loading crops, such as corn and soybean, should be replaced with alternatives in environmentally sensitive areas” (26).
14. Entire work Include the reference in the text, without any page numbers.
In Into the Wild, Krakauer both criticizes and admires the solitary impulses of its young hero, which end up killing him.
15. Two or more sources in one citation Separate the information with semicolons.
Economists recommend that employment be redefined to include unpaid domestic labor (Clark 148; Nevins 39).
16. Personal communication or social media source Provide information that will allow readers to locate the source in your list of works cited, such as a name (if you know it) or username.
George Hahn posted a self-portrait with a Citibike on Instagram with the caption, “Citibike is fabulous. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”
17. Literary work Because literary works are often available in many different editions, cite the page number(s) from the edition you used followed by a semicolon; then give other identifying information that will lead readers to the passage in any edition. Indicate the act and / or scene in a play (37; sc. 1). For a novel, indicate the part or chapter (175; ch. 4).
In utter despair, Dostoyevsky’s character Mitya wonders aloud about the “terrible tragedies realism inflicts on people” (376; bk. 8, ch. 2).
For a poem, cite the part (if there is one) and line(s), separated by a period.
Whitman speculates, “All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses, / And to die is different from what anyone supposed, and luckier” (6.129-30).
If you are citing only line numbers, use the word line(s) in the first reference (lines 21–22) and the line numbers alone in subsequent references.
The duke criticizes his late wife for having a “heart . . . too soon made glad” (line 22).
For a verse play, give only the act, scene, and line numbers, separated by periods.
The witches greet Banquo as “Lesser than Macbeth, and greater” (1.3.65).
18. Sacred text To cite a sacred text such as the Qur’an or the Bible, give the title of the edition you used, and the book, chapter, and verse (or their equivalent), separated by a period. In your text, spell out the names of books. In parenthetical references, use abbreviations for books with names of five or more letters (Gen. for Genesis).
He ignored the admonition “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (New Oxford Annotated Bible, Prov. 16.18).
19. Encyclopedia or dictionary entry An entry for a reference work that does not list an author’s name—for example, an encyclopedia or dictionary—will appear on the works-cited list under the entry’s title. Enclose the title in quotation marks and place it in parentheses. Omit the page number if the reference work arranges entries alphabetically.
The term prion was coined by Stanley B. Prusiner from the words proteinaceous and infectious and a suffix meaning particle (“Prion”).
20. Visual When you include an image in your text, number it and include a parenthetical reference that precedes the image in your text (see fig. 2). Number figures (photos, drawings, cartoons, maps, graphs, and charts) and tables separately. Each visual should include a caption with the figure or table number and information about the source (see Quick Help).
This trend is illustrated in a chart distributed by the College Board as part of its 2011 analysis of aggregate SAT data (see fig. 1).
Soon after the preceding sentence, readers find the following figure and caption (see 32e):
An image that you create might appear with a caption like this:
Fig. 4. Young woman reading a magazine. Personal photograph by author.