ENC 1101 (Nokaly): MLA In Text Citations

In text citations are the brief citations made in the body of your text that point the reader to your full citations on your list of works cited.

In general use

• the author's last name
• the page number

For example: (Rodriguez 42)

If an electronic source does not have page numbers, use

• the author's last name

For example: (Williams)

If the source has no author, use

• a shortened version of the title

For example: ("Using In-Text" 6)

If a source has two or three authors, use

• the last name of each person.

For example (Johnson, King, and Seguin 42).

If a source has more than three authors, use

• the last name of the first person and et al.

For example (Johnson et al. 53).

The only times you do not use in text citations are for

• your own thoughts
• common knowledge

Be careful about both. It's easy to think that something is your own thought, but you actually read it somewhere. And not all facts are considered common knowledge. When in doubt, CITE!

This means that when you write a research paper, you will have a lot of in-text citations.