MLA Citation Guide

When a paper quotes, summarizes, or paraphrases an outside source, it should cite this source. In MLA style, use parenthetical (in-text) citations to refer to the works of others. These in-text citations direct your reader to the full citation in the Works Cited page at the end of the paper.

A typical in-text citation is composed of...

• The element that comes first in the entry in the works-cited list (usually the author's name). 
• The location of the cited material in the work (usually a page number). Location depends on the source medium (e.g. Print, Web, DVD). 

In-text citations can be formatted in two ways: parenthetical and citations in prose.

• For citations in prose, the author name is incorporated into the actual text of the paper. The location of the cited material is placed in parentheses at the end of the sentence. 

Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as "symbol-using animals" (3).

• In parenthetical citations, the author last name(s) and the location of the cited material appear in parentheses at the end of the sentence. 

Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).

• For parenthetical citations of a corporate author or work with an unknown author, shorten the corporate author name or title of the unknown work to a noun phrase. A citation of a study by the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society would look like...

According to one study of climate change, the "speed of warming is more than ten times that at the end of an ice age" (National Academy 9).

For parts of sources that are not pages, include a comma after the author, label the type of part you are citing then provide the part number or range. When a source has no page numbers or part numbers, no number should be given in a parenthetical citation. Do not count unnumbered paragraphs or other parts.