There are two basic parts to any in-text citation: the author's name and the page numbers.

To find the information, just look at a source's publication information. Depending on the source, the information can be found in different places. If you have a print source, you can find information about the author on copyright and title pages. In web sources, the location will vary. In Galileo, you can locate the information needed from the source's record.

In MLA, you can use two types of citations: citations in prose and parenthetical citations. Citations in prose include the author's name in the sentence and include page numbers directly after a direct quote. Parenthetical citations are placed at the end of a sentence.

Short Quotes:

Citation in Prose: Ravalli writes "the earliest sea otter conservation efforts would be shaped foremost by Russian policies" (23).

Parenthetical Citation: Russian policies played an important role in early efforts of sea otter conservation (Ravalli 23).

Note: For more information, see MLA's In-text Citation Overview or Chapter 6 in the MLA Publication Manual.

Block Quotes:

Set up a block quote when a quotation covers more than four lines in your paper. You can use either the narrative or parenthetical citation style.

Block Quote with Citation in Prose:

Ravalli writes:

One of the first to write about American sea otter hunting in the second half of the nineteenth century was Charles Scammon, who in 1874 wrote The Marine Mammals of the Northwestern Coast of North America. A sea captain who came to California in 1850 and worked in the whaling industry, Scammon enlisted in the United States Revenue Marine Service (today’s Coast Guard) during the Civil War and assisted with government studies of Russian America and Siberia prior to the Alaska Purchase. (81-82)

Block Quote with Parenthetical Citation:

Charles Scammon was one of the first people to write about sea otter hunting during the second half of the nineteenth century:

A sea captain who came to California in 1850 and worked in the whaling industry, Scammon enlisted in the United States Revenue Marine Service (today’s Coast Guard) during the Civil War and assisted with government studies of Russian America and Siberia prior to the Alaska Purchase. (Ravalli 81-82)

Note: Parenthetical citations are placed after punctuation in block quotes.