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MLA Citation Style 9th edition: In-text Citations

In-text Citations

"An in-text citation begins with the shortest piece of information that directs your reader to the entry in the works-cited list. Thus, it begins with whatever comes first in the entry: the author's name or the title (or description) of the work" (MLA Handbook 227). MLA in-text citations also typically includes some location information such as a page number. line number, time stamp, or paragraph number. 

Provide the author's last name and the page number in parenthesis immediately following a quotation or a paraphrase from a source. The format is as follows:

  • (Author Last Name page number(s) 

In-text Citations, More Examples

BASIC IN-TEXT CITATION RULES

In MLA Style, referring to the works of others in your text is done using parenthetical citations. This method involves providing relevant source information in parentheses whenever a sentence uses a quotation or paraphrase. Usually, the simplest way to do this is to put all of the source information in parentheses at the end of the sentence (i.e., just before the period). 

General Guidelines

  • The source information required in a parenthetical citation depends (1) upon the source medium (e.g. print, web, DVD) and (2) upon the source’s entry on the Works Cited page.
  • Any source information that you provide in-text must correspond to the source information on the Works Cited page. More specifically, whatever signal word or phrase you provide to your readers in the text must be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of the corresponding entry on the Works Cited page. 1

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Examples of In-text Citations

1 Author

(Baldwin 132)  

In 'Sonny's Blues", Baldwin describes ...(132).

2 Authors

(Butler and Hark 206-07)

Butler and Hark present the basic tenets of … (206-07). 

3 or More Authors

(Hines et al. 11). 

Hines et al. explore the relationship between … (11). 

Indigenous Elders & Knowledge Keepers

(Cardinal 112). 

The nature of the place was...(Cardinal).

Corporate Author

(Modern Language Association of America 18). 

* Note the full name of the corporate author

 No Author - use shortened title

(“Courage” 126) 

* When there is no author, use a shortened title. Article and webpage titles are in quotation marks, books and websites are in italics 

AI (CoPilot, ChatGPT, etc.) – use shortened prompt 

(“Women rights”) 

* MLA states that AI tools do not have authors. Instead, use a shortened version of the prompt you used for your search) and put it in quotation marks and sentence case. 

No Page Number

“What is it about us human beings that we can’t let go of lost things?” asks the author (Silko, par. 2). 

 *When no page number is provided, use a paragraph or section number. If none is available, omit. 

Indirect Source 

In analyzing “what holds marriage together,” Jan Trost proposes that most of the standard bonds have declined (qtd. in Beaujot 110). 

An indirect source is when you quote a source that is cited or quoted in another source. Use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you consulted.  

Poem

In sonnet 73, Shakespeare compares the branches of trees in late autumn to “[b]are ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang” (line 4). 

* Provide the line numbers. If these are not provided, note the page number. 

Play

Hamlet seems resolute at first when he asserts, “Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift / As meditation…. / May sweep to my revenge” (1.5.35-37). 

* Cite the act, scene, and lines, separating the numbers with periods. The example above refers to act 1, scene 5, lines 35-37 of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. 

 

1.  Purdue Writing Lab. “MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics .” Purdue Writing Lab, Purdue University, 2024, owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_text_citations_the_basics.html.

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