MLA: How to Cite

Note that this page has five tabs. Be sure to click on each tab before clicking the Next button so you don't miss critical information.

How to Create an In-Text Citation in MLA Style

As noted on the previous page, in-text citations in MLA style include the author(s) of the source we are citing and the page number(s). There are different ways to create an in-text citation, so it will be useful for us to refer to guides such as this one from the Online Writing Lab (OWL): MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics Links to an external site..

One critical step to follow is to make sure that our in-text citations match the author name(s), or title when no author is listed, of the corresponding bibliographic citation that will go in the Works Cited list. Therefore, it's easiest to create the bibliographic citation first, so we know what name or title we should use in the in-text citation.

Sample bibliographic citation for the Works Cited list:

Wordsworth, William. The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1932.

Once we have the bibliographic citation, we can create our in-text citation. We can either incorporate the author's last name into the sentence itself, or place the author's name in the parentheses with the page number(s). You can see examples of each of these options below. Note that these examples have the in-text citations bolded to show us what they look like as part of a sentence, but in our own papers, we would not bold our in-text citations.

In-text citation example for a quotation:

• Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (263).
• Romantic poetry is characterized by the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 263).

In-text citation example for a paraphrase or summary:

• Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).
• The poet extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (Wordsworth 263).

Did you notice? Even if we incorporate the author's name into the sentence, we put the page number at the end of the sentence, and then the final punctuation mark (usually a period) is placed outside the parentheses.

Sample in-text citations from:

"Citing Your Sources: The Basics Canvas Module" by Seattle Central College Library (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Now click the Integrating MLA In-Text Citations into Our Writing tab.

 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Integrating MLA In-Text Citations into Our Writing

When we cite sources, we want to make them fit into our writing as smoothly as possible. When integrating sources into our papers, it's important to use signal phrases that help us:

1. Establish the authority of the people we're citing
2. Introduce summaries and paraphrases
3. Put direct quotes in context
4. Integrate statistics and other facts.

Below are some examples of signal phrases and in-text citations that we might use. Note that these examples have the in-text citations bolded to show us what they look like as part of a sentence, but in our own papers, we would not bold our in-text citations.

When introducing an author and including a direct quote:

In his book An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore warns, "global warming, along with the cutting and burning of forests and other critical habitats, is causing the loss of living species at a level comparable to the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. That event was believed to have been caused by a giant asteroid. This time it is not an asteroid colliding with the Earth and wreaking havoc: it is us" (10).

When including a direct quote (without introduction of the author):

Scientific research on the impact of global warming abounds and climate variability has recently received much-needed attention, providing opportunities to "probe causes of the climate variability simulated by coupled climate models that can reproduce reliable long-term climate variations" (Liu et al. 1064).

When summarizing or paraphrasing the work of the author: 

There are four types of greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases (US Environmental Protection Agency).

Example

Below is an example of what the corresponding bibliographic citations would look like in the Works Cited page at the end of the paper or project:

Works Cited

Gore, Albert. An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do about It.  Rodale Press, 2006.

Liu, Jian et al. “What Drives the Global Summer Monsoon over the Past Millennium?” Climate Dynamics, vol. 39, no. 5, 2012, pp. 1063–1072. EBSCOhost. doi:10.1007/s00382-012-1360-x.

US Environmental Protection Agency. “Overview of Greenhouse Gases.” Greenhouse Gas Emissions. 9 Sept. 2013, https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases.

More Than One Author?

Refer to the OWL section on MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics Links to an external site.for how to create in-text citations when a source has multiple authors.

Now click the How to Create a Works Cited Page in MLA Style tab.

How to Create a Works Cited Page in MLA Style

As noted before, the Works Cited page goes at the end of our research paper, project, or presentation, and it includes a detailed list of sources we used in our paper. Each item in the Works Cited page is called a bibliographic citation. We may include books, electronic books, articles, websites, charts, images, etc. in our Works Cited page.

This page provides links to sources that will help us create a Works Cited page in MLA style, but we will likely need to look up specific examples as we create our own Works Cited page. There are several specific resources that can help with this:

• Library Guide on MLA Format
• Printable MLA Format Handout
• Works Cited: A Quick Guide Links to an external site. from The MLA Style Center
• Using MLA Format Links to an external site. from The MLA Style Center
• MLA Works Cited Page: Basic Format Links to an external site. from the OWL website (also see the other Works Cited guides listed in the left menu of this page) Links to an external site.

Important things to remember about Works Cited pages:

• Bibliographic citations in MLA style always start with an author's (or creator's) last name, unless there is no author and then they start with the title of the work we're citing. (See sample papers below).
• Each bibliographic citation is indented (called a hanging indent).
  
  • See instructions for adding a hanging indent in Google docs Links to an external site..
  • See instructions for adding a hanging indent and double spacing in MS Word. Links to an external site.
• Works Cited pages are alphabetized from A-Z. (See sample papers below).
  
• Works Cited pages are double-spaced.
  • See instructions for how to double-space in Microsoft Word Links to an external site..
  • See instructions for how to double-space in Google docs Links to an external site..
  • See instructions for adding a hanging indent and double spacing in MS Word Links to an external site.. Links to an external site.
• It's useful to look at samples of MLA papers to see what the formatting looks like.
  • MLA Sample Works Cited Page Links to an external site. on OWL website
  • MLA Sample Paper Links to an external site. on OWL website
  • Sample Papers in MLA Style Links to an external site. from the MLA website

Now click the Video Review of Citations and Works Cited Page tab.

Video Review of Citations and Works Cited Page

Watch this short video (3 minutes and 26 seconds) for a review of in-text citations in MLA style.

Gellis, Eliza. "MLA Style: In-Text Citations (8th Ed., 2016)." YouTube, uploaded by OWLPurdue, 25 Jan. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eygi6ScdNNc&t=2s Links to an external site..

This second video is longer (11 minutes and 50 seconds), but it show us how to create a Works Cited page in MLA style, so it's worth our time to watch.

Sherman. Derek. "MLA Style: List of Works Cited (8th Ed., 2016)." YouTube, uploaded by OWLPurdue, 5 Apr. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq5Itf5Tg-U Links to an external site..

Now click the How to Cite Journal Articles in MLA Style - Video tab.

How to Cite Journal Articles in MLA Style - Video

This short video (3 minutes and 31 seconds) from the Helena College Library shows a good explanation of how to create bibliographic citations for articles so we can include them in our Works Cited page.

"Cite a Journal Article in MLA (8) Style" Links to an external site. by Helena College Library Links to an external site. is licensed under CC BY 4.0 Links to an external site.

Now click the Next button.