- MLA Examples - Print
- MLA Examples - Online and Electronic
- MLA Examples - Images, Video, and Audio
Basics of In-text Citations
- When mentioning the author in the text of your sentence, provide the page number(s) of the reference at the end of the sentence in parentheses. Example: Tannen has argued this point (178-85). or It may be true, as Robertson maintains, that "in appreciation of medieval art the attitude of the observer. " (136).
- When not mentioning the author in the text of your sentence, provide the author and the page number(s) at the end of the sentence in parentheses. Example: This point has already been argued (Tannen 178-85). or It may be true that "in the appreciation of medieval art the attitude of the observer. " (Robertson 136).
- If the author's name is unknown or not provided, then use the first word or words of the title. Follow the same formatting that was used in the works cited list, such as quotation marks. Example: There is nothing to be done. ("Talking Cats" 18).
- When you quote from electronic sources that do not provide page numbers (like Web pages), cite the author name only. Example: "The tree was never the same" (Stark).
Multiple Authors
If you cite a work written by three or fewer authors, include all of the authors' last names either in the text or in the parenthetical citation.
(Author, author, and author page number)
Examples: Smith, Thomas, and Kinkade. (133).
The trees. growing forever (Smith, Thomas, and Kinkade 133).
If you cite a work with more than three authors, you may list all of the authors' last names or list the first author's last name followed by et. al.
Multiple Works
Same Author:
If you cite more than one work by the same author, add a shortened title for the source you are referencing within the parentheses.
(Author, Shortened Title page number)
Example: Shakespeare's King Lear has been called a "comedy of the grotesque" (Frye, Anatomy 237).
If the author is listed in the text, only (Shortened Title page number) is needed.
Example: For Northrop Frye, one's death is not a unique experience, for "every moment we have lived through we have also died out of into another order" (Double Vision 85).
If you cite multiple works by different authors in one parenthetical reference , cite each work as you normally would and use semicolons to separate the citations.
Example: (Fukuyama 42; McRae 101-33)
Repeated Use of Sources
If you're using information from a single source more than once in succession (i.e., no other sources referred to in between), you can use a simplified in-text citation.
Example:
Cell biology is an area of science that focuses on the structure and function of cells (Smith 15). It revolves around the idea that the cell is a "fundamental unit of life" (17). Many important scientists have contributed to the evolution of cell biology. Mattias Jakob Schleiden and Theodor Schwann, for example, were scientists who formulated cell theory in 1838 (20).
**If using this simplified in-text citation creates ambiguity regarding the source being referred to, use the full in-text citation format.**
Works Quoted in Another Source
Sometimes an author of a book, article, or website will mention another author’s work by using a quotation or paraphrased idea from that source. The basic rule is that in both your Works Cited list and in-text citation you will still cite the author of the work you are reading. To note the original source for the quote you can include the words “qtd. in” to your in-text citation. You may also choose to note the original author by stating the their name within your text. For example, "Brown notes that Smith. "
Examples of in-text citations:
According to a study by Smith (qtd. in Kirkey) 42% of doctors would refuse to perform legal euthanasia.
Smith (qtd. in Kirkey) states that “even if euthanasia was legal, 42% of doctors would be against this method of assisted dying” (A.10).
Kirkey quoted a study by Smith stating that 42% of doctors would refuse to perform legal euthanasia.
Example of Works Cited list citation:
Kirkey, Susan. "Euthanasia." The Montreal Gazette, 9 Feb. 2013, p. A.10. Canadian Newsstand Major Dailies.
