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Daniel Kies Department of English College of DuPage |
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| Composition 2 English 1102 |
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In-Text Citation in the MLA Format
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The Modern Language Association has developed an extensive system allowing writers to give credit to sources of information. The two most important aspects of the system are the in text citations and the works cited page.
In text citation. Give enough information, most typically the author's last name and the page number, to identify the specific location of borrowed material. The parenthetical material should complement, not repeat, information given in your text. The period for the sentence comes after the parenthetical reference, except after a block quote. See the examples below.
Embedded below is Purdue University's Online Writing Lab web page on how to use in-text citations in the MLA style. Hacker presents here the most common examples of how to use the MLA in-text citation format.
Web or internet citations. Sources on the web or internet are cited in the same manner at other publications.
Block quotations. If you use a quotation of more than four lines, introduce it with a colon and set it apart from your sentence in a block. Indent the entire extended quotation one inch from the margin and double- space it. Do not place quotation marks around the block quotation. Place the parenthetical citation (author and page number) after the period (or other mark of punctuation) that closes the block quotation.
References to literary works. To keep parenthetical references brief, use abbreviations for common reference words (e.g., "bk." for "book"), publishers' names, and famous literary and religious works - see Chapter 6 of the MLA Handbook for lists of abbreviations. For references to classic prose works, give the page number of the edition, add a semi- colon, and then give other identifying information such as chapter or book number. In referring to classic plays or poems, cite divisions (canto, book, act, etc.). Use "line" or "lines" instead of "l." or "ll." for first references to line numbers; afterwards, use numbers alone. Arabic numbers are recommended.
For further information, consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 4th ed. (1995), available in the library or the Writing Center.
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