Is each use of someone else’s material noted in your paper?
Did you reference your sources for graphs, statistics and other borrowed data?
Are quotations from another persons’ work exact? Did you use quotation marks?
If you paraphrased or summarized someone else’s material, did you use your own words and sentence structure?
Does your Works Cited list include all the sources you referred to in your paper?
Provide an in-text citation when quoting, paraphrasing or summarizing someone else’s work. In-text citations should direct the reader to the entry in the Works Cited list.
For more information and examples, visit In-Text Citations: An Overview (MLA Style Center)
See also: How do I cite generative AI in MLA style? (MLA Style Center)
CORE ELEMENTS FOR IN-TEXT CITATIONS
EXAMPLES
Author not named in text
Macbeth is socially inept because of Lady Macbeth’s controlling nature (Magnusson 25).
Author named in text
According to Magnusson, Macbeth is socially inept because of Lady Macbeth’s controlling nature (25).
Two or three authors
Connect both authors' surnames with and and include the page number.
Macbeth is socially inept because of Lady Macbeth’s controlling nature (Magnusson and Willard 25).
Four or more authors
If a source has more than three authors, use the first author’s surname followed by et al. and include the page number.
Lady Macbeth is both a strong and weak character in Shakespeare's play (Smith et al. 326).
Smith et al. argue that Lady Macbeth is both a strong and weak character in Shakespeare's play (326).
TIPS
Titles
Use italics if referring to an entire book and use quotation marks if the text is part of a larger work (i.e. if it is an article, poem, short story, etc.). For example ...
In book reviews of Pride and Prejudice, it is often stated that the Bennett family ...
When analyzing the poem, "Kubla Khan," P. Smith notes...
Anonymous Works / No Author
Anonymous works with no stated author are referred to by full or shortened title.
One article notes that young offenders generally benefit more from personal counseling and vocational training (“Alberta” 36).
NOTE: This citation refers to an unsigned article titled “Alberta Surplus Funds Education"
Page Numbers
When an information source contains no page numbers, just include the author’s surname in the text or in parentheses.
One website describes the side effects associated with this drug (King).
Media
In-text citations for media (e.g. movies or podcasts) can be referenced by including the range of hours, minutes, or seconds discussed in the text.
(00:1:20-00:01:135).