MLA Citation Guide

In-Text Citation

In-text citations are placed within the body of your essay to document each use of information from a research source.

In MLA format, in-text citations usually provide the author's last name and the page number(s) the cited information came from:

  • The peasant class "lived in tiny cottages with one or two rooms, earthen floors, a small window and basic items of furniture"  (Weir 13)

When a source has no named author, provide the first word or words of the source's title:

  • Hurricane Andrew "had wind gusts of 114 mph in Key Largo, and mainland gusts reached 177 mph" ("Hurricane History" 12) . 

When a source has no page numbers, like many articles on websites, for example, no page number is required in the citation.

In-Text Citation Format Examples

One Author

(Stevens 58)

Two Authors

(Laclau and Mouffe 109)

Three or More Authors

(Smith et al. 241-242)
The phrase "et al." stands for "and others" in Latin. It is a traditional way of denoting multiple authors. Note that "al." has a period because "et al." is an abbreviation for the longer phrase "et alia."

Unknown Author

If the author is unknown, use the first, second, or third words of the title. Omit articles like "A" or "The." Use enough words to make clear to your reader what work you are referring to. Follow the format of the title. For example, if the title has quotation marks, use quotation marks in the in-text citation. Likewise for a title in italics.
 
("Tom O'Bedlam" lines 7-8)
(Beowulf 58)
 

Multiple Sources

To cite more than one source in a paraphrase, use a semi-colon to separate the citations included in parentheses.
(Vargas 46; Butler 98)