MLA uses parenthetical in-text citations. This means that after you use outside information, at the end of the sentence, your citation should be put in parenthesis. This is commonly followed by quoting exact words of another writer (placed in quotation marks). They are also needed even if you paraphrase or summarized another author’s words. Every in-text citation you use must have a source in the Works Cited list at the end of your paper. Citations should be included for all sources, including images and tables.
In-text citations allow you to let the reader know the name of the person you are citing and where you are citing it from. This can typically be done by including the author’s last name and page number of the quote in parentheses after the information you are citing.
The tabbed box below provides guidelines and examples for specific in-text citations.
Author’s name in a citation following a direct quote:
“Branding and privatization turn out to work in tandem” (Barber 200).
Author’s name in the text following a direct quote:
Buber states, “Those who experience do not participate in the world” (56).
Author’s name in a citation following paraphrasing:
Advertising campaigns frequently use sexuality to sell products (Berger 144).
Author’s name in the text following paraphrasing:
Campbell suggests the shaman’s role in tribes have been as the keeper of the people’s traditions (250).
No author’s name
When a work doesn’t have an author, use the work’s title or a shortened version of the title when citing it. Place the title in italics if it is a longer work (book, movie, website, etc.) and place the title in quotation marks if it is a shorter work (article, chapter, etc.).
Example: They claim to “see startling sights when other men sleep” (Shepherd’s 25).
Electronic resource with no page number
When an online resource doesn’t have a page numbers use the first word that appears in the work cited information for the item you are citing (usually this will be the author's last name).
Example: "Having the President throw out the first pitch to open a new baseball season is a tradition dating to 1910" (Library of Congress).
In-text citations require, at minimum, the author(s)'s last name and page number. You may need to adjust to the following situations:
If you want to cite a source that is cited in a resource you are using, try to find the original source. If you cannot find it, put the abbreviation qtd in (quoted in) before the source you cite in your in-text citation.
If you have more than one resource by the same author, include a shortened title from the particular work you are citing to differentiate it from other works. Use italics for books and quotation marks for articles.