Every Works Cited entry has a partner in the text: a short in-text citation that points the reader to it. MLA uses the author’s last name and the page number.
| Case | In-text citation |
|---|---|
| One author | (Marsh 42) |
| Author named in your sentence | Marsh argues that small gardens can feed a family (42). |
| Two authors | (Okafor and Chen 117) |
| Three or more authors | (Kim et al. 327) |
| No page numbers (a web page) | (Liu) |
| No author | a short title: (“Neighborhood Library”) |
Key idea
An MLA in-text citation gives the author’s last name and the page, with no comma and no “p.”: (Marsh 42). It usually goes at the end of the sentence, before the period. The name must match the first word of a Works Cited entry.
Why it works
The in-text citation is short so it doesn’t interrupt the reading, and exact so the reader can find both the entry and the page. Starting with the same word as the Works Cited entry makes the match instant.
Worked example: Place it
Add the citation (Delgado, page 205) to: Students who slept nine hours remembered more.
- Author’s last name and page, no comma: (Delgado 205).
- Put it before the final period.
Answer: Students who slept nine hours remembered more (Delgado 205).
Worked example: With a signal phrase
Rewrite with the author named in the sentence.
- The name is in the sentence, so the parentheses hold only the page.
Answer: Delgado found that students who slept nine hours remembered more (205).
Common mistake
Adding a comma or “p.” inside the parentheses, as in (Delgado, p. 205). Those belong to other styles (APA uses both). Check MLA by its pattern: name, space, number: (Delgado 205).
For a quotation that ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, keep that mark inside the quotation and add a period after the citation. The sources in these examples are invented for practice: the authors, titles and publishers are made up.