Author named in a signal phrase

In-text citation

Frederick Lane reports that employers do not necessarily have to use software to monitor how their employees use the Web: employers can “use a hidden video camera pointed at an employee’s monitor” and even position a camera “so that a number of monitors [can] be viewed at the same time” (147).

Explain

  • Ordinarily, introduce the material being cited with a signal phrase that includes the author’s name. In addition to preparing readers for the source, the signal phrase allows you to keep the parenthetical citation brief.

  • In this example, the signal phrase—Frederick Lane reports —names the author; the parenthetical citation gives the page number of the book in which the quoted words may be found.

Note on question marks and exclamation points

When a quotation ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, leave the question mark or exclamation point inside the quotation mark and add a period after the parentheses.

Rosie Thomas asks, “Is nothing in life ever straight and clear, the way children see it?” (77).

Works cited entry

Lane, Frederick S., III. The Naked Employee: How Technology Is Compromising Workplace Privacy. New York: Amer. Management Assn., 2003. Print.

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Directory to MLA in-text citation models

Exercise: MLA documentation: in-text citations 1

Exercise: MLA documentation: in-text citations 2

Exercise: MLA documentation: in-text citations 3