Whether you refer to an essay from a nonfiction author in your literary paper or a work from a political figure in your history essay, you need to include citations that lead your readers to the source material. In Modern Language Association (MLA) format, these citations include the author, essay title and information about the print or online source where you found the essay, such as the editor, publisher name and publication date. MLA style also dictates the use of in-text citations to point the reader to the appropriate works cited entry.
Anthology or Collection Bibliography Citations
It is most likely that you will cite a single essay from a collection or anthology. These kinds of books often have editors, whose names you will need to add to your citation. If you refer to the entire book, which is rare, begin the citation with the editor’s names:
Strayed, Cheryl, and Robert Atwan, eds. The Best American Essays 2013. San Diego: Mariner, 2013. Print.
In the above citation, there are two editors; the first is listed last name - first name, and the second is listed first name - last name. Most often, you need to cite a single essay found in a collection. This changes the citation format slightly because you refer to the author and essay title before the collection, as in the example:
Monson, Ander. “The Exhibit Will Be So Marked.” The Best American Essays 2013. Ed. Cheryl Strayed and Robert Atwan. San Diego: Mariner, 2013. 245-253. Print.
All bibliographic entries in MLA need to use a hanging indent, in which the second and subsequent lines of text for each entry are indented.
Citing Books in MLA
You might need to refer to an entire collection of essays by one author; in this case, you would cite the collection as a book by an author, as follows:
Sedaris, David. Me Talk Pretty One Day. New York: Back Bay, 2001. Print.
If the book is translated, include the translator in the citation, much like you would for an editor:
de Montaigne, Michel. The Complete Essays. 1572. Trans. M. A. Screech. New York: Penguin Classics, 1993. Print.
This citation includes two dates, because the original essays were published in 1572, while the reprinted edition referred to was published in 1993. If your book source has two or three authors, follow the format of last name - first name for the first author, and use first name - last name format for the subsequent authors. If there are more than three authors, list the first author as last name - first name, followed by “et al.” for “and others.”
Essays Found Online
You might find essays online, which are likely published on a website or as part of an online journal or magazine. To cite the Web page, first list the author and essay title, followed by the name of the website and the date you accessed the site, as in the example:
Gould, Emily. “How Much My Novel Cost Me.” Medium, 2014. Web. 15 Feb. 2015.
If the essay came from a Web magazine, also include the magazine’s name and publishing information in your citation:
Comiskey, Nancy. “Dear Kate: Living With Grief.” Indianapolis Monthly. Indianapolis Monthly Publications, 2014. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.
MLA format does not require you to write the URL at the end of the citation, but you could include it after the access date.
In-Text Citations
Parenthetical and in-text citations direct your reader to the bibliographic entry in your works cited page. In MLA format, you use the author’s last name followed by the page numbers in parentheses after a sentence or group of sentences referring to the essay.
For example, “(Sedaris 25-32)” -- without the quote marks -- would finish your sentence, and you place the sentence's period after the parenthetical citation. If you mention the author within a sentence, only put the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence. Web sources do not require page numbers in the parenthetical citations; use just the author’s last name instead.
Need help with a citation? Try our citation generator.
Published on July 9, 2019 by Shona McCombes. Revised on May 19, 2022. An MLA in-text citation provides the author’s last name and a page number in parentheses. If a
source has two authors, name both. If a source has more than two authors, name only the first author, followed by “et al.” If the part you’re citing spans multiple pages, include the full page range. If you want to cite multiple non-consecutive pages at the same time, separate the page numbers with commas. Each in-text citation must correspond to a full reference in the list of Works Cited. You can create and save your citations with the free Scribbr Citation Generator. Place the parenthetical citation directly
after the relevant quote or paraphrase, and before the period or other punctuation mark (except with block quotes, where the citation comes after the period). If you have already named the author in the sentence, add only the page number in parentheses. When mentioning a source with three or more authors outside of parentheses, use “and others” or “and colleagues” in place of “et al.” If a sentence is supported by more than one source, you can combine the citations in a single set of parentheses. Separate the two sources with a
semicolon. Livestock farming is one of the biggest global contributors to climate change (Garcia 64; Davies 14).Number of authorsExample 1 author (Moore 37)
2 authors (Moore and Patel 48–50)
3+ authors (Moore et al. 59, 34)
Where to include an MLA in-text citation
Combining citations
Consecutive citations of the same source
If you cite the same source repeatedly within a paragraph, you can include the full citation the first time you cite it, then just the page number for subsequent citations.
MLA is the second most popular citation style (Smith and Morrison 17–19). It is more popular than Chicago style, but less popular than APA (21).
You can do this as long as it remains clear what source you’re citing. If you cite something else in between or start a new paragraph, reintroduce the full citation again to avoid ambiguity.
For sources with no named author, the in-text citation must match the first element of the Works Cited entry. This may be the name of an organization, or the title of the source.
If the source title or organization name is longer than four words, shorten it to the first word or phrase in the in-text citation, excluding any articles (a, an, and the). The shortened title or organization name should begin with the word the source is alphabetized by in the Works Cited.
Follow the general MLA rules for formatting titles: If the source is a self-contained work (e.g. a whole website or an entire book), put the title in italics; if the source is contained within a larger whole (e.g. a page on a website or a chapter of a book), put the title in quotation marks.
Shortening titles in MLA in-text citations| Amnesty International Report 2017/2018: The State of the World’s Human Rights | (Amnesty International Report 187) |
| “Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions” | (“Sources”) |
| “A Quick Guide to Proofreading” | (“Quick Guide”) |
| National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Academy | (National Academy 24) |
Citing sources with no page numbers
If a source does not have page numbers but is divided into numbered parts (e.g. chapters, sections, scenes, Bible books and verses, Articles of the Constitution, or timestamps), use these numbers to locate the relevant passage.
If the source does not use any numbering system, include only the author’s name in the in-text citation. Don’t include paragraph numbers unless they are explicitly numbered in the source.
Citing sources with no page numbers in MLA| Add a comma after the author and give a paragraph, section, or chapter number with a relevant abbreviation. | (Luxemburg, ch. 26) |
| Include the act, scene, and line numbers, separated by periods, instead of a page number. | (Shakespeare 1.2.95) |
| Include the time range as displayed in the media player. | (Wynn 10:23–45) |
| Include only the author’s name (or, if there is no author, the shortened title). | (Rajaram) |
Note that if there are no numbered divisions and you have already named the author in your sentence, then no parenthetical citation is necessary.
Citing different sources with the same author name
If your Works Cited page includes more than one entry under the same last name, you need to distinguish between these sources in your in-text citations.
Multiple sources by the same author
If you cite more than one work by the same author, add a shortened title to signal which source you are referring to.
Citing multiple sources by the same author(Butler, Gender Trouble 27)(Butler, “Performative Acts” 522)
In this example, the first source is a whole book, so the title appears in italics; the second is an article published in a journal, so the title appears in quotation marks.
Different authors with the same last name
To distinguish between different authors with the same last name, use the authors’ initials (or, if the initials are the same, full first names) in your in-text citations:
Citing different authors with the same last name(A. Butler 19)(J. Butler 27)
Citing sources indirectly
Sometimes you might want to cite something that you found quoted in a secondary source. If possible, always seek out the original source and cite it directly.
If you can’t access the original source, make sure to name both the original author and the author of the source that you accessed. Use the abbreviation “qtd. in” (short for “quoted in”) to indicate where you found the quotation.
In these cases, only the source you accessed directly is included in the Works Cited list.
Frequently asked questions about MLA in-text citations
How do I cite information from a footnote in MLA style?
Some source types, such as books and journal articles, may contain footnotes (or endnotes) with additional information. The following rules apply when citing information from a note in an MLA in-text citation:
- To cite information from a single numbered note, write “n” after the page number, and then write the note number, e.g. (Smith 105n2)
- To cite information from multiple numbered notes, write “nn” and include a range, e.g. (Smith 77nn1–2)
- To cite information from an unnumbered note, write “un” after the page number, with a space in between, e.g. (Jones 250 un)
How do I cite a source with no author or page numbers in MLA?
If a source has no author, start the MLA Works Cited entry with the source title. Use a shortened version of the title in your MLA in-text citation.
If a source has no page numbers, you can use an alternative locator (e.g. a chapter number, or a timestamp for a video or audio source) to identify the relevant passage in your in-text citation. If the source has no numbered divisions, cite only the author’s name (or the title).
If you already named the author or title in your sentence, and there is no locator available, you don’t need a parenthetical citation:
- Rajaram argues that representations of migration are shaped by “cultural, political, and ideological interests.”
- The homepage of The Correspondent describes it as “a movement for radically different news.”
Sources in this article
We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.
This Scribbr article
McCombes, S. (May 19, 2022). MLA In-text Citations | A Complete Guide (9th Edition). Scribbr. Retrieved October 21, 2022, from //www.scribbr.com/mla/in-text-citations/
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