Use the table below to learn how to format various
types of MLA parenthetical citations. Please note that although the MLA
Handbook recommends underlining book titles, italics are used in
these examples because of internet browser limitations.
| Type
of citation |
Example |
| Author's name in text |
Magny develops this argument (67-69). |
| Author's name in reference |
This argument has been developed
elsewhere (Magny 67-69). |
| Quotation
found in indirect or "secondhand" source |
The philosopher Alain states that "admiration
is not pleasure but a kind of attention. . ." (qtd. in Magny
66). |
| Material found in indirect
source |
Alain's words seem to dissociate admiration
from pleasure (in Magny 66). |
| Two authors' names in reference |
The most notorious foreign lobby in
Washington is the "Sugar Mafia" (Howe and Trott 134). |
| Reference to volume and page
in multivolume work |
As a painter Andrea was "faultless"
(Freedberg 1: 98). |
| Reference to whole volume |
In his second volume, Freedberg gives
an account of Andrea's whole painting career. |
| Two works by same author on
list of works cited |
Frye connects Burgess' A Clockwork
Orange to romance tradition (Secular Scripture 110). |
| Two locations in same source |
Dabundo deals with this problem (22,
31). |
| Two sources cited |
This controversy has been addressed
more than once (Dabundo 27; Magny 69). |
| Personal interview; name given
in text |
Parsons talked about the need for physical
education teachers to understand the relationship between physical
activity and fitness. |
| Corporate author |
Many different types of organizations in the United
States are involved in mediation and dispute resolution (Natl. Inst.
for Dispute Resolution). |
| Electronic source that uses paragraph numbers |
The semiconductor workplace is highly toxic (Ross,
par. 35). |
| Electronic source that uses
chapter and section numbers |
"Once we start using a tool extensively,
it also starts using us" (Rawlins, ch. 1, sec. 1). |
