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MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.
An MLA in-text citation provides the author’s last name and a page number in parentheses. If a source has two authors, name both. If a source has more than two authors, name only the first author, followed by “ et al. ”
MLA In-Text Citations. An in-text citation is a reference to a source that is found within the text of a paper (Handbook 227). This tells a reader that an idea, quote, or paraphrase originated from a source. MLA in-text citations usually include the last name of the author and the location of cited information.
In-text citations in MLA mark text or an idea that comes from another source. See this guide for in-text citation templates, examples, and explanations.
When creating in-text citations, it’s also important to know how to format page numbers in MLA. Here’s an MLA example: Lark knows how to handle life on the river: “I try to count the seconds before I hear the thunder, so I know how far the storm is, but I’m too rattled” (Wingate 12).
In-text citations in MLA style follow the general format of author's last name followed by a page number enclosed in parentheses. Here is an example: "Here's a direct quote" (Smith 8). If the author's name is not given, use the first word (or words) of the title.
MLA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the page number from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken, for example: (Smith 163). If the source does not use page numbers, do not include a number in the parenthetical citation: (Smith).
An MLA website citation includes author, page title, website name, date and URL. The in-text citation is just the author's last name.
Please use the example at the bottom of this page to cite the Purdue OWL in MLA. See also our MLA vidcast series on the Purdue OWL YouTube Channel. Creating a Works Cited list using the ninth edition. MLA is a style of documentation that may be applied to many different types of writing.
In-text citations are brief, unobtrusive references that direct readers to the works-cited-list entries for the sources you consulted and, where relevant, to the location in the source being cited.