These categories do not require a citation:
Everything else requires a citation. Every time you
a source, include an in-text citation.
It is better to have too many citations than too few. If a citation is necessary and not present, it is plagiarism. If in doubt, CITE!
Facts that your readers already know or that are widely known and not in question. These includes many (but not all) historical, geographical, and scientific facts. Cite:
(MLA 4.13)
Allusions refer to well known quotations or passages from cultural works and do not require a citation. For instance:
(MLA 4.15)
If you casually mention a movie (artwork, graphic novel, song, etc), but do not quote it, paraphrase from it, analyze it, compare it to another work, or otherwise use it as a source for your paper, then it is a passing mention and does not require citation.
Example:
Some of the other films in the Marvel's phase one were Iron Man, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers.
(MLA 4.14)
An epigraph is a quotation placed at the start of a work, which sets the scene for the work. Give the author's name and the title of the source on a line beneath the quotation. It does not appear on the works-cited-list page. For example:
April is the cruelest month.
-- T.S. Eliot, "The Waste Land"
(MLA 4.16)
If several sentences in succession are borrowed from the same source, it is permissible to consolidate the citations IF it is clear where the borrowing begins. (MLA 6.45)