MLA Citation Style: In-text Citations in the Modern Language Association Style Guide
Are you planning a research career in literature, language studies, art history, etc.? Get familiar with the requirements of the Modern Language Association (MLA) style guide, because it’s one of the most popular style guides in these fields. You'll especially need a good working knowledge of MLA citation style.
Just like a literature research paper looks very different from one in biology or engineering, MLA style is very different from popular style guides in the sciences, like AMA, or even from APA. That’s why we have put together some of the most common questions Insights readers have about MLA style.
Do I Use Page Numbers in MLA Citation Style?
Yes, page numbers are a must in in-text citations as per MLA style. In fields like literature, you’re often referencing lengthy books and without a page number, your reader will simply not know what part of Anna Karenina you’re referring to! That’s why MLA follows the author-page number style of citations, like this:
(Austen 178)
Or like this
Austen (178) makes it clear that Elizabeth Bennet has her own sense of humor.
How Can I Cite Multiple Works by the Same Author in MLA Style?
When you’re referring to different books, poems, etc., by one author, you use the title in your in-text citation, along with the page number. If the work you’re citing is short (like a poem), you’ve to enclose the title in quotation marks. If it’s a full book, the title has to be italicized.
An example to help you out:
Wordsnotworth’s idealization of marital life is obvious in Chestnuts (75) and to a lesser degree in Ringmere Street (98).
If the title is longer, you can use a shortened version of the title. So you would say
Northanger Abbey (45)
But
Baskervilles (78)
How Can I Cite a Work That Doesn’t Have Page Numbers in MLA Style?
Obviously, poems and songs are unlikely to have page numbers, and many plays don’t either. And if you’re citing an online-only source, you won’t find page numbers too. In such cases, you’ve to use line numbers, scene numbers, or paragraph numbers. Abbreviate “paragraph” and “scene” as “par.” and “sc.” respectively.
This sense of pathos is renewed toward the end of the poem (Shelfey, lines 26-32).
Zhang argues that such imagery can be misleading (par. 16).
But a word of caution: you might access a work online (like through Project Gutenberg or a similar website) when that work has previously been published in print. In these cases, your citation should contain page numbers as per the print version. You shouldn’t use paragraph numbers or page numbers as per your browser’s print preview function.
How Can I Cite a Work With No Author in MLA Style?
If there’s no identified author, your in-text citation would consist of the title (either abbreviated or in full, depending on its length) and the page number. Your citation would look like
It can be argued that arachnophobia is not a recent phenomenon, as evinced by 19th century English nursery rhymes (“Little Miss Muffet” line 6).
In “Little Miss Muffet” (line 6), there is a clear mention of fear of spiders.
Can I Use “Et Al.” in MLA Citation Style?
MLA style requires that you list the last names of the authors if the work has one or two authors. If there are 3 or more authors, use the last name of the first author and then “et al.” if in parentheses or “and colleagues” if in the main text.
Greyson and colleagues (72) have exhaustively examined the influence of Pantheism on Wordsworth’s later works.
The influence of Pali literature on Buddhist architecture has been well documented (Anantaraman et al. 65).
How Do I Cite a Movie or Web Series in MLA Style?
MLA keeps up with the times! If you’re citing an audiovisual source like a movie, a video hosted on YouTube or a Netflix series, you use timestamps in the in-text citation!
Example: (Titanic 01:20:45-01:34:10)
Is It Okay to Use Online Sources When Following MLA Citation Style?
Why not? MLA style allows you to refer to a variety of online sources, from online-only journal articles to listservs and tweets (now called just “posts” on X). Follow the guidelines we’ve described above. In an in-text citation, you can use an abbreviated version of the website name, such as “bbc.com” and skip the “www.” or “https://”.
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