| Template | (Author page number). |
| Source with one author, with numbered pages | (Smith 26) |
| Source with two authors, with numbered pages | (Smith and Doe 26). |
| Source with more than two authors, with numbered pages | (Smith et al. 26). |
| Source with numbered paragraphs, chapters, or lines | (Smith, par. 2), or (Smith, ch. 2) or (Smith, line 14). |
| In text citation for a source without numbered pages or paragraphs | (Smith). |
| Quotation spanning two or more pages | (Smith 14-15). |
| Source with no listed author, with page numbers | (Citations, 55). |
| Poetry, three lines or fewer, with line numbers | (Wayman, lines 15-17) |
In-text citations identify the sources you have quoted, paraphrased or summarized in your paper, and correspond to a source or sources in your Works Cited list.
See MLA Handbook: "If your source uses explicit paragraph numbers rather than page numbers, give the relevant number or numbers, preceded by the label par. or pars. Do not, however, apply numbers not indicated by your source. Change the label appropriately if another kind of part is numbered in the source instead of pages..." (244)
If you need to include the title of a source in a parenthetical citation, see MLA Handbook sections 6.9 and 6.10, "Citing a work listed by title) and "Shortening titles of works" (237)
Indirect Sources - See MLA Handbook section 6.77
In some instances, you may want to reference an idea or quotation that has been cited in a resource you have located. The quotation or idea in this scenario does not originate with the authors of the source you found, but instead represents those authors providing attribution to research sources they have used in their work. This scenario is known as "indirect citation" and is not recommended by MLA. Instead, MLA advises finding and referencing the original source.
If you are unable to locate the original source of a quotation or idea and the only available source is an indirect source, put the abbreviation qtd. in ("quoted in") before the indirect source. The source you read is the one that goes in the Works Cited; in the example below, Smith is included in the Works Cited list, not Jones.
Example: Jones says "...." (qtd. in Smith 24) or (Jones qtd. in Smith 24)
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