The basic elements of MLA in-text citations are the author's last name and page number.
EXAMPLE:
Adams is said to have had "the hands of a man accustomed to pruning his own trees, cutting his own hay,
and splitting his own firewood" (McCullough 18).
NOTE:
-Last names only; never include authors' first names in in-text citations
-No punctuation inside the parentheses
-No special notation (like p. or pg.) before the page number
-The period at the end of the sentence goes after the parentheses (the in-text citation is part of the sentence)
EXAMPLE:
Others note that doctors have not adequately explained the effects climate change
will have on human health (Lemery and Aurebach 4-5).
NOTE:
-Spell out the word "and" in between authors' names (don't use & or +)
EXAMPLE:
One survey of British literature beaks the contents into thematic groupings (Anderson et al. 54-67).
NOTE:
-No period after et, but there is a period after al in "et al."
EXAMPLE:
At least one researcher has broken new ground on the subject (Baron).
NOTE:
-Don't make up page numbers, just leave them out completely
-Author's last name only is sufficient in these cases
Below is an example of a source without an author:
If a source doesn't have an author, the in-text citation will start with the source's title. If the title of the source is more than one word, shorten it to just the first one or two words. In this case, the title "Librarians and Library Media Specialists" will be shortened to just "Librarians" in the in-text citation.
EXAMPLE:
Academic librarians "help students research topics related to their coursework and teach students how to access information" ("Librarians").
NOTE:
-Keep track of quotation marks; make sure a parenthesis is separating the quotation marks used in your quote and those used in your shortened source title
Sources in parentheses: Put the author(s) and page number of the quote together in parentheses at the end of the quote​.
EXAMPLE:
Texting is very common in almost every environment, including the college classroom. Two researchers report finding that “the vast majority of participants (97.5%) reported at least occasional use of a cell phone to text while in class” (Olmsted and Terry 188).
Sources with a signal phrase: Write the author(s) in the text of the sentence and put the page number in parentheses at the end of the quote.
EXAMPLE:
Texting is very common in almost every environment, including the college classroom. In a 2014 study of undergraduates, Olmsted and Terry found that nearly all of the students surveyed had used their cell phones to text at some point during class (188).
Direct quotes are exact words and phrases from a source copied and pasted into your assignment. Quotation marks must be used to show that the quote is direct.
EXAMPLE:
Texting is very common in almost every environment, including the college classroom. Two researchers report finding that “the vast majority of participants (97.5%) reported at least occasional use of a cell phone to text while in class” (Olmsted and Terry 188).
Indirect quotes are your own words that summarize or paraphrase an idea from a source. Even though you’re using your own words, you must cite the source to give credit to the original idea.
EXAMPLE:
Texting is very common in almost every environment, including the college classroom. In a 2014 study of undergraduates, researchers found that nearly all of the students surveyed had used their cell phones to text at some point during class (Olmsted and Terry 188).