MLA EXAMPLES
Citing Sources within Your Paper using parenthetical citations
When you quote, paraphrase, summarize, or refer to the work of another in your paper, you should give credit to that source by either using a parenthetical citation or a footnote. According to the Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines you cite sources within parentheses ( ) at the end of the sentence in which the material appears. In-text parenthetical citations correspond to the full bibliographic entries found in the “Works Cited” list at the end of your paper.
(Note: For the first two types of works there are examples for citations with signal phrases and without signal phrases. When the name of the author(s) appears in a phrase in the sentence that is cited this is called a signal phrase.)
Work by one author
a. Author named in a signal phrase.
Carol Lewis states that a mid-seventies outbreak of Salmonella affected “a quarter million infants and small children” (33).
b. Author’s name doesn’t appear in a signal phrase
The FDA Consumer notes that a mid-seventies outbreak of Salmonella affected “a quarter million infants and small children” (Lewis 33).
Work by two or three authors (join the names with AND)
a. Signal phrase
Chen and Franklin contend that “human infections are rising sharply with the animals’ [reptiles’] increasing popularity” (24).
b. No signal phrase
A recent article in Health magazine declares that “human infections are rising sharply with the animals’ [reptiles’] increasing popularity” (Chen and Franklin 24).
Work by four or more authors
(Note: Include only the first author’s name followed by the Latin phrase et al. which means and others.)
“Approximately 93,000 cases per year of Salmonella infections,” Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report confirms, “are attributable to pet reptile or amphibian contact” (Levy et al. 1009).
Work by an unknown author
(Note: Many encyclopedias, newspapers, dictionaries and magazines do not include the name of the author. Use the title of the article, not the title of the source for the in-text citation.)
A recent article in National Geographic World points out, “Pet retiles aren’t affected by the bacteria, so they don’t show signs that they are carrying it” (“Warning” 5).
Work by a corporate author (organization, association, etc.)
(Note: The name of the corporate author or a shortened version of the name appears in the signal phrase or the parenthetical citation.)
The federal government has funded research concerning consumer protection and consumer transactions with online pharmacies (Food and Drug Administration 125).
Two or more works by the same author.
(Note: When you use two or more works by the same author include the title (or the first few words of the title) and the author’s name in the signal phrase or the parenthetical citation. If you use the author’s name in a signal phrase use the title for the parenthetical citation.)
Both the grandmother (O’Connor, “Good Man” 77) and Shiftlett (O’Connor, “Life” 99) are manipulative and deceitful.
In his investigation of social identity, The Uses of Disorder, Sennett defines adulthood as a stage where people "learn to tolerate painful ambiguity and uncertainty" (108).
In a surprising move, he combines the idea of power with that of virtue: "the idea of strength is complex in ordinary life because of what might be called the element of its integrity" (Sennett, Authority 19).
Works by authors with the same last name
(Note: Include the first name of the author along with the last name in the signal phrase.)
Malcolm Smith notes that some Indian snakes have developed special ridges in the skin to release pheromones while courting (73).
Hobart Smith proposes that the ridges in snakes’ skins provide greater friction when climbing and moving (111).
The ridges in snakes’ skins may house special glands that release pheromones (Malcolm Smith 73) or provide greater friction when climbing and moving (Hobart Smith 111).
Work found in an anthology or edited collection
(Note: For an essay, short story, or other document included in an anthology or edited collection, use the name of the author of the work, not the editor of the anthology or collection, but use the page numbers from the anthology or collection.)
Lawrence Rosenfield analyzes the way in which New York’s Central Park held a socializing function for nineteenth-century residents similar to that of traditional republican civic oratory (222).
The way in which New York’s Central Park held a social function for nineteenth century residents is similar to that of traditional republican civic oratory (Rosenfield 222).
Bible passage
(Note: When using any edition of the Bible use the complete title for the edition of the Bible with the book, chapter and verse. Use periods to separate the various numbers.)
Ezekiel saw "what seemed to be four living creatures," each with faces of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle (New Jerusalem Bible, Ezek. 1.5-10).
Literary works
(Note: Cite verse plays and poems by division (act, scene, canto, book, part) and line using Arabic numbers for the divisions. Use periods to separate the various numbers, as in the example above for the Bible.)
Hamlet comments, “How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, / Seem to me all the uses of this work” (Hamlet 1.2.133-134).
Secondary source of a quotation (someone quoted within the text of another author).
If you cite an indirect source – someone’s remarks published in a second source – use the abbreviation qtd. (for “quoted in”) before the source of your reference.
As Erickson reminds us, the early psychoanalysts focused on a single objective: "introspective honesty in the service of self enlightenment" (qtd. in Weiland 42).
Electronic Source
(Note: If the source is from an electronic source such as a website, online journal, article from a database, etc. treat it as you would a print source. Personal or corporate author and page number should be given if they exist on the website.)
Abraham Lincoln's birthplace was designated as a National Historical Site in 1959 (National Park Service).
Works Cited Page
Print Resources
Book by Single Author
Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957.
Another Work by the Same Author
---. The Secular Scripture. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1976.
Book by Two or Three Authors
(Note: the first author’s name is inverted [Last name, First name], the remaining authors names are written in direct order [First name Last name], and each name is connected by “and”.
Howe, Russell Warren, and Sarah Hays Trott. The Power Peddlers. Garden City: Doubleday, 1977.
Four or more Authors or Editors
(Note: Use only the first author’s name inverted and add “et al.” representing the other authors’ names.)
Edens, Walter, et al., eds. Teaching Shakespeare. Princeton: Princeton University Press,1977.
Multivolume Work
Freedberg, S. J. Andrea del Sarto. 2 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,1963.
Book: Corporate Author
National Institute for Dispute Resolution. Dispute Resolution Resource Directory. Washington: National Institute for Dispute Resolution, 1984.
Edition of an author’s work with an editor
Malory, Sir Thomas. King Arthur and his Knights. Ed. Eugene Vinaver. London: Oxford University Press, 1956.
Anthology
Harari, Josue, ed. Textual Strategies. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1979.
Article or Chapter in Anthology
Magny, Claude-Edmonde. "Faulkner or Theological Inversion." Faulkner: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Robert Penn Warren. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1966. 66-78.
Second or Later Edition
Altick, Richard, and John J. Fenstermaker. The Art of Literary Research. 4th ed. New York: Norton, 1993.
Journal Article
Dabundo, Laura. "'The Voice of the Mute': Wordsworth and the Ideology of Romantic Silences." Christianity and Literature 43:1 (1995): 21-35.
Magazine Article
Alpern, David M. "Has Moscow Violated SALT?" Newsweek 22 Oct. 1984: 32.
Newspaper Article
Crossette,Barbara. "India Lodges First Charges in Arms Scandal." New York Times 23 Jan. 1990, natl. ed.: A4.
Electronic Resources
Online scholarly article
Ross, Andrew. "Hacking Away at the Counterculture." Postmodern Culture 1.1 (1990): 43 pars. 3 May 2003 <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/postmodern_culture/v001.1ross.html>.
Online book
Rawlins, Gregory J. Moths to the Flame. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996. MIT Press. 30 Aug 2000 <http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-books/moths/>
Online scholarly project
Suffragists Oral History Project. 1998. Library, University of California, Berkeley. 20 Jan. 2003 <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/BANC/ROHO/ohonline/suffragists.html>.
Internet site
Electronic Beowulf. Ed. Kevin Kiernan. 2003. 5 Sept. 2003 <http://www.uky.edu/~kiernan/eBeowulf/guide.htm>.
(Note: If the site lists an editor [and some do], insert, e.g., "Ed. John P. Doe." before the first date.)
Article in online magazine
Fallows, James. "The Age of Murdoch." Atlantic Online Sept. 2003. 10 Oct. 2003 <http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/09/fallows.htm>.
Article in online newspaper
Goldfarb, Zachary A. "Child Health Dilemma." Washington Times 31 Aug. 2003. 4 Sept. 2003 <http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030831-121939-8655r.htm>.
(Note: Some URLs are so long that they are time-consuming to reproduce accurately. In these cases you may provide the URL of the site's search page instead--here, for example, <http://www.washtimes.com>.)
Article in online encyclopedia
"Drake, Sir Francis." Columbia Encyclopedia. 2002. Columbia Encyclopedia. 6 July 2003<http://www.bartleby.com/65/Drake-Si.html>.
Document from online database
"Macromedia, Inc." Hoover's Online. 2002. Hoover's, Inc. 4 Sept 2003 <http://www.hoovers.com/free/co/factsheet.xhtml?COID=16658>.
Home page for a course
Todar, Kenneth. Host-Parasite Interactions. Course home page. Spring 2003. Dept. of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin. 7 Apr. 2003 <http://bact.wisc.edu/Bact330/Bact330Homepage>.
E-mail communication
Tetslaff, Melissa. E-mail to the author. 17 Sept. 2002.
Newspaper article from online database
Young, Judith S.L. "Fadeout; Only a Few Grand Old Movie Theaters Remain to Remind Us of Their Golden Age." Newsday 3 Aug. 2003, Queens ed.: G06. Lexis-Nexis. 5 July 2003 <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/>
Sources for the Examples in this Handout
Citing Sources.
2005. Duke University Libraries. 28 January 2005
<http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/cite/web_pages.htm>.
Connelly, Mark. The Sundance Writer: a Rhetoric, Reader, Handbook. Boston: Thomson Heinle, 2004.
Prewitt, Ivy.
Tensen, Bonnie L. Research Strategies for a Digital Age. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2004.
VanderMey, Randall et al. The College Writer: a Guide to Thinking, Writing, and Researching. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2004.