Citing Your Sources

You must document all words, ideas, and evidence of other people that you use in your paper, even if you are summarizing or paraphrasing rather than quoting. In-text citations generally are put in parentheses and include two major pieces of information: the name of the author and the page number. If the source’s author is not named, then use the title (or an abbreviated title if the full title is long). Whether you use the author’s name or the title, the in-text citation must be identical to the first word(s) of the appropriate citation on the Works Cited page. Normally place parentheses at the end of the sentence before the period. If only a portion of your sentence refers to your source, then place the parentheses immediately after the information you have cited; this happens most often with embedded quotations. You have three major methods of citing sources in your report:

I. Cite the author’s last name and the page number(s) in parentheses. If the work has no author, then cite the title and page number.

Rulers have often found their advisors useful “only when they are agreeable” (Arthur and King 134).

II. Use the author’s name (or title) in your writing and place only the page number(s) in the parentheses. When used wisely, this method can sometimes make your writing flow better. It is also commonly used when only one work is discussed in a paper. The last name of the author is sufficient.

According to Robert Training, life’s difficulties are often solved by focusing on personal priorities (542).

III. Cite the author’s last name in your sentence and omit page numbers. This method can be used only when referring to an entire source, a very large section of a source, or (most commonly) a source that has no page numbers (such as a film, interview, or the internet).

Ralph Nader claims that “only by the focused attention of informed consumers will companies consider ecological consequences” when making business decisions.

For additional examples, see MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers section 5.4.