How to Cite Evidence and Quotations

In-Text Citation

In the MLA style, when you cite the work of someone else in your writing, you reference the work in a parenthetical citation. The name of the author and the page number are included in the text within parentheses at the end of the sentence. If you are writing a paper that only references one work, you may use just the page number. Or if the author is already referenced in the text, you would also only use the page number. Below are some examples from Purdue OWL:

• 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).

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

In the first two examples, exact words from Wordsworth are used so they are put in quotation marks. The third example references the work without a direct quote so it still needs to be cited. The first and third examples already mention Wordsworth in the sentence, so his name is not needed in the citation.

Notice that in all three examples, the period is after the citation, not at the end of the sentence. An exception to this rule is when your quote ends with a question mark or exclamation mark: the punctuation goes inside the quote and the period goes after the parentheses:

• The reader senses that Miss Temple is concerned for Helen when she asks, "Have you coughed much to-day?" (72).

When the author is unknown, or if you have multiple works by the same author, a shortened version of the title is used. Use quotation marks or italics for the title of the work, just as you do elsewhere.

• Austen heroines often display faults in their character such as Elizabeth Bennett's rudeness to xxxx (Pride and Prejudice xx) or  Emma Woodhouse's self-absorption (Emma xx).

When a work has two authors, use both last names: (Laurel and Hardy 36).

If there are three or more authors, use the first last name followed by "et al." (Note the period after al because it is an abbreviation for alia, a Latin word.): (Binta et al. 45)