What are in-text citations?

 

In-text citations, also known as parenthetical references, help support your bibliography by showing exactly where you obtained specific information.

In-text citations are used after the following ideas:

 

How do I write in-text citations?

In MLA style, in-text citations include the author's last name and the page number.

The basics:

  1. If you use the author's name in the sentence . . . put only the page number – WITHOUT the p. abbreviation - in parentheses. Example:

    2. Sue Asbee states that "Some commentators see Eliot as a social critic; it is, however, a mistake to interpret his work as a platform for reform." (51)

  2. If you do not use the author's name in the sentence . . . put the author's last name and the page number in parentheses and DO NOT use a page (p.) abbreviation. Example:
    The exact size of the fall has also been a matter of debate, wavering between 70 million to 90 million tones of rock, or "half a mountainside" (Looker 80).
  1. If there is no author named, put the title of the document in place of the author’s name. Put article titles in quotation marks and underline titles of books.

    2. As of 2001, at least three hundred towns and municipalities had considered legislation regulating the use of cell phones while driving ("Lawmakers" 23).

  2. When quoting or paraphrasing from a website, you will not include a page number. Instead, just use the first significant word in your bibliography entry. That will be either the site author’s last name, the first main word in the title, or the first main word of the organization that created the site.

Asian elephants are gregarious by nature ("Asian").