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FS 102 - Introduction to the College Experience - Virtual: MLA Citations

MLA Citations Web Sites

Helpful Handouts

MLA Videos (Purdue University)

MLA Handbook (8th Edition)

MLA In-Text Citation

MLA In-text citation flowchart - refer to outline after image 

Outline Summary - MLA In-Text Citations Flowchart
  1. Q: Are you paraphrasing or quoting from a source?
    1. If No, You do not need to provide a citation in parentheses.
    2. If Yes, Q: Does your source have page numbers?
      1. If No, You will not include any numbers in your in-text citation. Move to Q: “Are you able to Identify an author?”
      2. If Yes, Include the page number of the information you used in your in-text citation. Move to Q: “Are you able to Identify an author?”
  2. Q: Are you able to identify an author? 
    1. If No, Use a shortened version of the title, in quotations marks
    2. If Yes, Q: Are the authors identified by first and last names
      1. If No, Use the group, organization or department name
      2. If Yes, Q: “How many authors are there?”
        1. One: Use the last name only
        2. Two: Use both last names with the word and in between
        3. Three or more: Use the first author’s last name followed by et al.
  3. Q: Did you put any author names or page numbers in the sentence where you used the information?
    1. If Yes, You do not need to duplicate what you already wrote within parentheses.
    2. If No, Place the information in parentheses at the end of the sentence before the period.
Examples of two authors with page information: 
Smith and Jones noted 5% increase in the use of infographics in the last two years (45).
There was a 5% increase in the use of infographics in the last two years (Smith and Jones 45).