Directory to MLA in-text citation models

General guidelines for signal phrases and page numbers

  1. Author named in a signal phrase, 584
  2. Author named in parentheses, 585
  3. Author unknown, 586
  4. Page number unknown, 586
  5. One-page source, 587

    Variations on the general guidelines

  6. Two or three authors, 587
  7. Four or more authors, 588
  8. Organization as author, 588
  9. Authors with the same last name, 588
  10. Two or more works by the same author, 589
  11. Two or more works in one citation, 589
  12. Repeated citations from the same source, 590
  13. Encyclopedia or dictionary entry, 590
  14. Multivolume work, 590
  15. Entire work, 591
  16. Selection in an anthology, 591
  17. Government document, 591
  18. Historical document, 592
  19. Legal source, 592
  20. Visual such as a table, a chart, or another graphic, 592
  21. Personal communication and social media, 593
  22. Web source, 593
  23. Indirect source (source quoted in another source), 593

    Literary works and sacred texts

  24. Literary work without parts or line numbers, 594
  25. Verse play or poem, 594
  26. Novel with numbered divisions, 595
  27. Sacred text, 595