Basic Rules for In-Text Citations:
Examples*:
1. Author's name in text
According to Naomi Baron, reading is "just half of literacy. The other half is writing" (194). One might even suggest that reading is never complete without writing.
2. Author's name in parentheses
Reading is just "half of literacy. The other half is writing" (Baron 194). One might even suggest that reading is never complete without writing.
Work Cited
Baron, Naomi S. "Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media." PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193-200.
Note that the locations of author name and page help clarify which of the language and ideas belong to that particular author and source. The author's idea from that page is understood to end at the parenthetical page number.
When you include a citation, you must also include a full bibliographic entry in your Works Cited list.
*Examples excerpted from: Modern Language Association. MLA Handbook. 9th ed. New York: Modern Language Assoc. of America, 2021.
Paraphrasing or summarizing an author's ideas in your own words is fine as long as you acknowledge the author. Paraphrasing is a near 1:1 rephrasing, so you need a page number. Summarizing condenses either a full work or a large part of it into a brief version, so no page number is necessary.
Examples*:
1. Paraphrase (following a quote):
According to Gao Xingjian, "Literature is essence divorced from utility" (7). Gao adds, however, than the market for publishing works is constricted by politics (13).
Work Cited
Gao Xingjian. Aesthetics and Creation. Cambria Press, 2012.
2. Summary (with in-text citation):
Naomi Baron broke new ground on the subject.
3. Summary (with parenthetical citation):
At least one researcher has broken new ground on the subject (Baron).
Work Cited
Baron, Naomi S. "Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media." PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193-200.
Note that all of these examples would require a full bibliographic entry of the author's work on your works cited page.
*Examples excerpted from: Modern Language Association. MLA Handbook. 9th ed. New York: Modern Language Assoc. of America, 2021.
Sometimes you may need to use information cited in another source. For example, a text by Boswell that you found quotes something written by Johnson. There are two possible ways of handling it. You can:
Examples*
Quoted in ("qtd. in"):
Samuel Johnson admitted that Edmund Burke was an "extraordinary man" (qtd. in Boswell 289).
Work Cited
Boswell, James. Boswell's Life of Johnson. Edited by Augustine Birrell, vol. 3, Times Book Club, 1912. HathiTrust Digital Library, hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b3123590.
Noted in Text:
In a speech urging listeners to reject physical destruction and to seek mutual undertanding, Robert F. Kennedy quoted Aeschylus: "In our sleep, pain which cannot foreget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."
Work Cited
Kennedy, Robert F. "Statement on Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Indianapolis, Indiana, April 4, 1968." John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, www.jfklibrary.org.
Note that in works cited for both examples, you would only need to list the work(s) you actually read: in other words, Boswell or Kennedy, not Johnson or Aeschylus.
*Examples excerpted from: Modern Language Association. MLA Handbook. 9th ed. New York: Modern Language Assoc. of America, 2021.
Examples:
Clear Author (NY Times online article):
"Small changes in your eating habits can lower your risk for many of the diseases associated with aging" (Parker-Pope), so it's never too early to evaluate your diet.*
Work Cited
Parker-Pope, Tara. "How to Age Well." The New York Times, 2 Nov. 2017, www.nytimes.com/guides/well/how-to-age-well.*
Unclear Author
The female bhakti poets "faced overwhelming challenges through their rejection of societal norms and values" ("Bhakti Poets").*
Work Cited
"Bhakti Poets: Introduction." Women in World History, Center for History and New Media, chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/modules/lesson1/lesson1.php?s=0. Accessed 20 Sept. 2020.*
*Examples excerpted from: Modern Language Association. MLA Handbook. 9th ed. New York: Modern Language Assoc. of America, 2021.