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MLA Citation Rules and Parenthetical Documentation

Citation Examples

Format

All titles of works that contributed ideas and information to the paper should be listed. Indent five spaces or one-half inch after the first line of each entry.
Underline or italicize titles of books, magazines, newspapers, journals, and titles of subscription databases. Enclose titles of articles, essays, poems, and short stories that are part of a source in quotations marks.
When citing Internet resources put the date you accessed the source right before the URL of the source, which is enclosed in angle brackets <>.
Abbreviate the names of all months in dates except May, June and July
Be sure to alphabetize your "Works Cited" page by the last name of the author of the citation or the first word of the title of the citation if the author’s name is not given.
Pay careful attention to the punctuation of the examples and type exactly what each example indicates.

Plagiarism

In order to avoid plagiarism, you must document the sources of facts, ideas, quotes and paraphrases. Plagiarism is the academic equivalent of theft.

LPC Library's Guide, Plagiarism Help, is a good source of information on avoiding plagiarism. Another good student guide from Indiana University's Writing Tutorial Services can be found at Plagiarism: What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It and an LPC guide can be found in Las Positas College Academic Honesty Statement.

Use quotation marks to indicate a direct quotation
Use parenthetical documentation to indicate the source of facts or ideas
Provide a works cited page to indicate fully the sources of the facts or ideas

Parenthetical Documentation

MLA recommends parenthetical documentation instead of footnoting. Parenthetical documentation is a brief reference in the paper directly after the sentence or paragraph in which you quote from the book or use its ideas. (Author 27) referring to page 27 of a book listed in the Works Cited takes the place of a footnote. (Author 27) guides the reader of the paper to the full entry for that author in the Works Cited. If the Works Cited lists a work by title, use a shortened form of the title and page number. Examples follow.
When the author is mentioned in the sentence only put the page number in the parentheses. Place the period after the parentheses, not within the quotation marks. For example: Carter Hardy believes that the "increased intake of sugar cereals among teachers has significantly raised classroom narcolepsy" (106).
When the author is not mentioned by name, put both the author's last name and the page number in the parentheses. Do not put a comma in between them. For example: "Increased intake of sugar cereals among teachers has significantly raised classroom narcolepsy" (Hardy 106).
When there is no author, use the first word (or first few words) of the title of the book or article (article title words in quotations). Many people lament the loss of quality television time to the imposition of family interaction ("America" 33).
When there are multiple authors: Two authors: "If you think about it, the human species produces more tin foil than plastic wrap" (Clinton and Bush 90). Three authors: (Clinton, Bush, and Reagan 99). More than three authors: (Clinton et al. 104.)
When using a quote that was already a quote in your sources: Lou Reed told us to "Take a walk on the wild side" (qtd. In Roller). In this situation, the quote by Lou Reed was found by the student as a quote in a book by Roller.
If your information is from a full-text article from a database or the Internet, there may be no page number. If so, use (Author n.pag.) to show that no pagination was available.

Use the following links to access the LPC Library short guides to citing specific types of resources in the MLA style.

Citation Examples

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