Table for Basic MLA In-Text Citations
For PrintSituation / Citation Style
If you refer to the author’s name in the text / As Gerber asserts, “. . . nothing drives a freshman to the ledge faster than a good hour’s lecture on the MLA” (75).
Note: no author only page number
If you do not refer to the author’s name in the text (signal phrase). / “Nothing drives a freshman to the ledge faster than a good hour’s lecture on the MLA” (Gerber 75).
Note: author and page number
Author unknown / “Nothing drives a freshman to the ledge faster than a good hour’s lecture on the MLA” (FreshmanNuts 75).
Or if your article name is 3 words or less, use the full name and quotation marks
“Nothing drives a freshman to the ledge faster than a good hour’s lecture on the MLA” (“Those Wacky Freshman”75).
Note: Either use the complete title in a signal phrase or use a short form (3 words or less) of the title in parentheses. Titles of books are in italics; titles of FULL articles are put in quotation marks.
If author is unknown but
you use a signal phrase. / How to Drive Freshman Nuts relates the quickest and most effective means of inducing insanity in under classmen when it states, “Nothing drives a freshman to the ledge faster than a good hour’s lecture on the MLA” (75).
Note: no author, page number only
Two or more authors. / “Nothing drives a freshman to the ledge faster than a good hour’s lecture on the MLA” (Cvejic and Gerber 75).
Note: both authors as listed on source and page number. List in the order the authors are listed in the original source.
If you have more than three authors, simply list the first author followed by et al. (Cvejic et al. 75)
Two or more titles by the same author / Gerber notes how easily an underclassman will resort to destruction simply by “ … a good hour’s lecture on the MLA” (Freshman Nuts 75). She also follows up this claim of instability in the hilarious I am Insane and So Can You, noting, “It’s a short walk from the joys of childhood to the anguish of the teenage years. And I’m willing to lead them on that stroll just a little sooner” (83). In previous writing however, Gerber has been less decisive. “Mental patients in the classroom, while a great source of amusement and mockery, often divert attention from important activities like television and pizza parties. Take care when how you induce psychosis” (Insane Membrane 9).
Note: mention the title of the work in the signal phrase or include a short version of the title in the parentheses. Feel free to mix it up.
For more than one source in the parentheses. / The mind-numbing effects of teaching MLA documentation to freshmen have been
well documented. (Cvejic 42; Gerber 114; Wheeler 73).
Note: Use this format to show that several authorities agree on this point. Note that this citation is NOT a direct quote within quotation marks. Also note that the punctuation within the parentheses, not commas but semicolons.
If you add a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the words to indicate that they are not part of the original text. / Rachael Gerber, in an essay on teenage emotional instability, states: “some individuals [who make it out of class sane] make a point of never repeating ninth grade, just to avoid the beast at the head of the class” (Freshman Nuts 78).
Note: Consider what’s within the brackets as paraphrasing. Again, use this form to include the part of the quote relevant to your point.
If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipsis marks, which are three periods (...) preceded and followed by a space. / In an essay on ninth grade emotional disorders, Rachael Gerber notes that “some individuals can muddle through in a relatively lucid manner ... and in a short time they’re just as unbalanced as the rest of the group" (Freshman Nuts 78).
Note: Consider what’s within the brackets as paraphrasing. Again, use this form to include the part of the quote relevant to your point.
Rules for long quotations
- Are for quotations longer than four full typed lines.
- the closing punctuation mark before a long quote is a colon (:).
- omit quotation marks
- start the quotation on a new line
-indented 10 spaces from the left margin
-maintain double-spacing.
- the parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. / RachaelGerber identifies the lowly freshman as the ultimate and easiest victim for madness:
You can nearly set your clock by the time it takes to make a freshman crazy once instruction
in the MLA format begins. The ticker is set in motion by even the passing mention of items
such as the heinous exacting page formatting, the beastly standard heading, the recalcitrant
header. But true mental illness really takes root when, at long last, the word “Works Cited”
rumbles through a crowd of fearful, beleaguered 14-year olds. Now that’s when the fun truly
begins. ( Freshman Nuts 614)
Note: Use this form sparingly as long quotes can become tedious and long winded. Againnote that the end is before the citation.
For Internet
Websites present a special challenge. It is often difficult to determine the type of website you have and what you are to cite. The most important point to remember is that your reader must be able to quicklylook up your in-text citation on the Works Cited page.
Rule of thumb: what you use to cite a website depends on what is available to
you and follows the following priority:
- Author (Last name(s) and likely no page number)
- Article – (If the article name is three words or less, use quotation marks
- Shorten the name to three words, no quotation marks)
- Website (full name in italics)
Situation / Citation Style
If you have the author’s name / Nothing drives a freshman to the ledge faster than a good hour’s lecture on the MLA” (Gerber).
Note:ALWAYS use the author's last name if given. This is your first priority.
You do not have an author but you do have an article name on a website / Exposure to the MLA format can cause vomiting, lack of bladder control, memory loss, and in some extreme cases, an obsession with the Jonas Brothers (MLA Side Effects).
Note: No author was listed, so go to the next most specific area, the article. In this case, the article was called “The Dangerous Side Effects of the MLA Format” and was found on the CNN website. The article name was too long to use so it is shorted to just two to three identifiable words. DO NOT USE THE WEBSITE WHEN THE ARTICLE NAME IS AVAILABLE.
Simple, single topic websites with no author and no article name / Though following a specified guideline can be frustrating, and at times seemingly impossible, the form does ensure consistency and accountability (Learning to Love the MLA)
Note: This citation references an entire website devoted to the benefits of the MLA. It does not include a range of articles on different aspects. It is simple and to the point.
Authors with the same last name. / Estimates of the number of freshman driven mad by the prolonged exposure to the MLA format vary because little evidence is being collected (R. Gerber).
Note: include the author's first initial in the parentheses.
Two or more titles by the same author / On December 6, 2000, reporter Rachael Gerber wrote that studentRory Negrete had become addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol after completing an hour-long session dedicated to in-text citations. After finishing his research paper, Negretehit the bottle, took to the road and was charged with "two counts of vehicular manslaughter . . . in the deaths of John and Carole Hall" (Pain). The next day Gerber reported the judge's ruling;Negrete "was convicted of negligent driving and fined $500, the maximum penalty allowed" (Man).
Note: must include authors name in a signal phrase and a portion of the article or website name (depending on what is available – refer to priority list)
More than one article with the same name. / “To determine if eye color could be generally altered, Mengele had dye injected into the eyes
of several twin subjects. This always resulted in painful infections and sometimes even death”
(Mengele 1).
Note: This research paper cited several articles simply entitled “Mengele,” none of which included an author. You will need to adjust your Works Cited to match then numbers in your in-text citation.
If the web page has a long title / As critic Bertrand Evans points out: "Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy of unawareness"
(Twayne’s New Critical).
Note: The title of this website is actually Twayne's New Critical Introductions to Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet. It is way too long so simply use the first three words of the title and do not underline it because it is not the proper name.
Other Situations
Situation / Citation Styles
A personal interview is quoted or paraphrased.
/ In an interview with Stephanie Arkin, I found that she and her friends “feel that teenagers today aren‟t motivated to do anything. They just hang around.” (no parenthetical citation required)
or
Most older people seem to “feel that teenagers today aren‟t motivated to do anything. They just hang around” (Arkin).
A poem is quoted
/ In Robert Frost‟s poem “The Death of the Hired Man,” one character describes home as “the place where, when you have to go there / They have to let you in” (lines 118-19).
A play with act, scene, and line numbers is quoted.
/ Shakespeare‟s famous metaphor on the meaning of life appears in the last act of Macbeth:
Out, out, brief candle!
Life‟s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (5.5.23-28)
Quoting an indirect source (a quoted quote)
/ The critic Susan Aikens has argued on behalf of what she calls "canonical multiplicity" (qtd. in Mayers 677).
The “Works Cited” list will include an entry for Mayers but not for Aikens.