This guide is a quick introduction to the Modern Language Association 9th edition citation style. Be sure to consult the MLA Handbook or the online MLA Style Center for detailed standards and procedures.
For more guidelines and examples, check out the MLA Style Center In-Text Citations Overview.
Basic Format:
(Last Name Page #)
Or, introduce direct quotes with the author and title within the sentence or paragraph, then include the page number(s) at the end of the quote in parentheses.
I'm citing...
You only need the author's last name and the page number.
(Burke 3)
If there is no author...
Use a shortened title of the work
("Impact of Global Warming")
Connect both authors' last names with and, and include the page number.
(Best and Marcus 9)
Use the first author's last name and et al., and include the page number.
(Franck et al. 327)
Block Quotations:
For more than four lines of quoted text, place the quotation in a free-standing block of text, indended 1/2" from the left margin. The in-text citation goes immediately after the closing punctuation mark in the quoted material.
Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration: They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78)
Different examples of in-text citations using the same source
As Hulme et al. state, students who are more curious "actively seek opportunities for new information and experiences" (56).
Students who are more curious are constantly looking for a variety of experiences related to their academic pursuits (Hulme et al. 56).
Students in the study who were more curious "actively seek opportunities for new information and experiences" (Hulme et al. 56). It's easy to see what behaviors drive one to be curious, but a more interesting question is how to make people more curious. If curiosity is a strong driver of educational interest, how can we inspire this in students?
As you can see, you can create in-text citations in many different ways -- what is important is that you clearly show which words/ideas are YOURS and which words/ideas come from your SOURCES.
Basic Format:
Author Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. Title of Longer Work or "Title of Shorter Work." Publisher, Year. URL or DOI.
I'm citing a...
Gosine, Kevin, and Emmanuel Tabi. "Disrupting Neoliberalism and Bridging the Multiple Worlds of Marginalized Youth via Hip-Hop Pedagogy: Contemplating Possibilities." Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, vol. 38, no. 5, 2016, pp. 445-467. Research Gate, doi: 10.1080/10714413.2016.1221712.
Cochrane, Emily, and Noah Weiland. "Hillary Clinton, the N.F.L., Roy Moore and Other Asides from the President." The New York Times, 16 Nov. 2018, https://nyti.ms/2zf1TPB.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. 1st ed., J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1960.
eBook
Hughes, Langston. Letters from Langston: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Red Scare and Beyond, edited by Evelyn Louise Crawford and Mary Louise Patterson. University of California Press, 2016. Ebook Central, https://caccl-contra.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CACCL_CONTRA/10chp9j/alma991001620828605344.
Green, David. "Supporting the Academic Success of Hispanic Students." College Libraries and Student Culture: What We Now Know, edited by Andrew D. Asher and Lynda M. Duke, ALA Editions, 2011. EBSCOhost Academic eBook Collection, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/contracosta-ebooks/detail.action?docID=772268.
Puka, Bill. "Golden Rule." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy., https://iep.utm.edu/goldrule. Accessed 14 Feb. 2024.
Check out more examples of citing online sources from the MLA Style Center.
... or you can always Ask a Librarian at CCC using the links below!
This guide was created by Tessa Withorn at CSUDH Library and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License. It has been adapted and added to by librarian Katherine Becvar for Contra Costa College.