Citing Sources (APA, MLA, ...): MLA In-text Citations

MLA In-text citations

In-text citations should be as brief and as clear as possible. Their purpose is to unobtrusively guide readers to the corresponding entry in your list of works cited.

Generally, a parenthetical citation includes the author's last name and the page number(s) of the information used. However, the names of persons should be given in full when they first appear in your paper; subsequent mentions of the person should use the person’s surname only. When the first appearance of a name occurs in a parenthetical citation in the body text of your essay, the first subsequent mention of the name in prose should use the full name.

Direct Quotations

Place the author's name either in parentheses or within the sentence. For example:

OR

 Place long direct quotations in a left-indented block.  For example:

Summary or Paraphrase

Indicate the source by the author and the page number(s) in the parentheses. For example:

Works with more than one author

For works with two authors, include the last name of both authors and connect with "and".

    For example: (Clyde and Thomas 369)

For works with three or more authors, use the first author's last name followed by et al.

    For example: (Wong et al. 145)

Archival documents

For archival documents, use the author’s name in parenthesis without page numbers.

MLA Useful Links