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MLA Style: In-Text Citations

This guide provides information on how to cite using MLA, 9th edition.

General Information

In-text citations are the citations that you include within your paper. MLA uses the author-page method for in-text citations. Your in-text citations must match what you have on your reference list! There are many rules for writing in-text citations and this page will only cover the basics, for complete information please see the MLA Manual, specifically chapter 6.

Writing In-text Citations

MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:

  • At least one researcher has broken new ground on the subject (Baron).
  • According to Naomi Baron, reading is "just half of literacy. The other half is writing" (194). 
  • Reading is "just half of literacy. The other half is writing" (Baron 194).

Both citations in the examples above, (194) and (Baron 194), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 194 of a work by an author named Baron. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Baron, they would find the following information:

Baron, Naomi S. "Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media." PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193-200.

Below is how you would write in-text citations based on how many authors there are for a work.

Number of Authors Parenthetical In-Text Citation Narrative In-Text Citation
One author (Simon 123) Simon (123)
Two authors (Simon and Lowe 123) Simon and Lowe (123)
Three or more authors (Simon et al. 123) Simon et al. (123)

If there is no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author's name. 

For example:

To the Lighthouse would be shortened to Lighthouse and used in replacement of an author's name.

If the title cannot be easily shortened, the title should be cut after the first clause, phrase, or punctuation.

For example:

We see so many global warming hotspots in North America likely because this region has "more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study environmental change . . ." ("Impact of Global Warming").

The Works Cited entry should appear as follows:

"The Impact of Global Warming in North America." Global Warming: Early Signs. 1999. www.climatehotmap.org/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2009.