MLA 9th Style Guide: In-Text Citation Examples

In-Text Citation Basic Format

How will it look in my paper?

Format

(Author’s Last Name page number)

Example

Mexican culture has an important influence on Mexican families (Díaz-Loving 153).


If you write the author’s name in the sentence, you do not need to repeat it in the parentheses at the end.

Example

Díaz-Loving states that culture influences how families function (153).


If there is no page number listed, omit it.

Example

One out of three textbooks are purchased as brand new (Johnson).

Example

Johnson found that one out of three textbooks are purchased as brand new.

Common Exceptions

If there are 2 or 3 authors, include all names.

Example

(Mehta and Pandy 63) or (Walters, Bam and Tumubweinee 8)


If there are more than 3 authors/contributors, just include the first listed author’s last name followed by et al.

Example

(Min et al. 41)


If there is no author, use the first piece of information you have from the long citation, which is often the title of the item (title of article, video, etc.). Titles should be one or two words, excluding the first word if A, An, The

Example

(“Neurodiversity” 12)


If an online sources does not have page numbers, omit it.

Example

(“Neurodiversity”)