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In-text Citations (MLA)

Use in-text citations whenever paraphrasing, summarizing or quoting. An in-text citation (parenthetical) must give your reader enough information:

1. to find the complete reference in your bibliography and

2. to locate the exact page with the quotation.

Because electronic documents have no pagination or other type of reference markers, the MLA Handbook recommends that such parenthetical references be avoided if possible.

from “MLA Style Electronic Formats” by Dr. Mary Ellen Guffey

Sample Type	In-text	Formatting
Basic In-text citation	Most of the birds could already fly well (Gray 186).	Sentence with cited information space parenthesis (Author’s Last Name space specific page number) parenthesis period.
Author’s name in sentence	Mr. Gray states “most of the birds on the island can fly” (186-187).	Sentence with Author’s Name space parenthesis (specific page numbers) parenthesis period.
No author	Thirty people died that year (Dying Today 344).	Sentence with cited information space parenthesis (Key words of Title space specific page number) parenthesis period.
One author, several titles	The group voted to move (Miller, Primary 11).	Sentence with cited information space parenthesis (Author’s last name, comma significant part of title specific page number) parenthesis period.
Electronic publication, known author	William J. Mitchell's City of Bits discusses architecture and urban life in the context of the digital telecommunications revolution.	Sentence with direct reference in the text to the name of the author.
Electronic source, unknown author	More companies today are using data mining to unlock hidden value in their data. The data mining program “Clementine,” described at the SPSS Web site, helps organizations predict market share and detect possible fraud.	Sentence with direct reference in the text to the sponsoring organization or Web site.

Provide the in-text citation for the following two examples:

1. Quote: Mingay states that “when the farming population was at its peak in 1851 there were
1,284,000 male farmworkers and 199,000 females in English agriculture.”

Print source: From page 71 of
Mingay, G.E. Rural Life in Victorian England. Great Britain: Sutton Publishing,
1998.

In-text citation (Begin with the last 2 words of the above quote.):

Paraphrase: The two primary male influences on Queen Victoria were the prime
minister, William Melbourne, and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-
Coburg-Gotha.

Electronic source: From page 1 of
"Victoria." U*X*L Biographies. U*X*L, 1999. Reproduced in
Student Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale
Group. October2001.
http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SRC/

In-text citation (Begin with the last 2 words of the above paraphrase.):

For additional examples, try the following sites:

§ In-text Citations – Kentucky Virtual Library

http://www.kyvl.org/html/tutorial/research/intext.shtml

§ MLA Documentation: Citations In Text – University of Wisconsin-Madison

http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocMLACitation.html

For in-text citations of novels, plays, and poetry, see “In-Text Documentation: MLA Style” – Highland’s Online Research Guide.

http://www.khsd.k12.ca.us/highland/departments/library/online_research_guide.htm