GUIDE OF MLA IN-TEXT CITATION OR HOW TO CITE CORRECTLY

In-text citations come in different types. One of these is the MLA style.

MLA stands for Modern Language Association. It is a citation style used for writing documents and citing references within the humanities and liberal arts.

This post guides you on how to do MLA in-text citation properly. Read on to know further. To save time and get a quality MLA in-text citation, you can use one of the writing services. With a choice of such a service, customer reviews, such as Paperhelp review, will help you, get acquainted and use high-quality help.

MLA IN-TEXT CITATION

MLA is a citation style that features the source’s page number and author’s name inside a parenthesis. If you cite a reference written by two authors, you need to name both for MMLA in-text citation. On the other hand, for sources with three or more authors, MLA in-text citation recommends citing only the first author with “et al..”

Aside from that, if the source you want to cite covers multiple pages, including the full page range is recommended. On the other hand, using commas to divide individual page numbers is recommended if you need to cite a source with non-consecutive pages.

WHERE TO PLACE AN MLA IN-TEXT CITATION?

You can include the MLA in-text citation after the relevant phrase or quotation you include in your research. In addition, the citation must come before the punctuation mark, like a period. However, if you use block quotations, the citation must be placed after the punctuation mark.

Another thing to remember is that when your sentence includes the author’s name, you only need to include the page number inside parenthesis. On the other hand, if you include more than three authors’ names outside the parenthesis, you can replace the word “et al.” with “and colleagues” or “and others.”

MLA IN-TEXT CITATION EXAMPLES

* Moore and others claimed that APA is the most used citation style in the United States (74).

* APA citation style is less prevalent in the United Kingdom (Smith 16); however, the most patronized one in the United States (Moore et al. 74).

* Morrison and Smith stated that MLA is one of the most sought-after citation styles (17-19).

MLA IN-TEXT CITATION WITHOUT AUTHORS

The Works of Cited entry must match the first element of the MLA in-text citation, mainly if you are citing a source without the author’s name. The first element might be either the source title or the organization’s name in this case.

But there is a requirement you should follow. For example, you only need to use the first phrase or word in a citation if the organization’s name or source title is composed of more than four words. In addition, you must follow the alphabetized word source in the Works Cited in citing the shorted organization name or source title.

For instance, if the source’s title is the Amnesty International Report 2017/2018: The State of the world’s Human Rights,  you can write it in MLA in-text citation as  Amnesty International Report 187.

INDIRECT MLA IN-TEXT CITATION

You may encounter secondary sources you want to cite or quote as you do your thesis or any important document. If possible, it is recommended to search for the original website or reference and cite it directly.

On the other hand, if there is no way to find the original source, ensure to include the name of the original author and the author who wrote the secondary source. To include the source where you found the quote, you can use “qtd” – the abbreviation for “quoted in.”

INDIRECT MLA IN-TEXT CITATION EXAMPLE: Marx says that land and labor-power are the two leading wealth creators (qtd. in Luxemburg, ch. 26).

When doing indirect MLA in-text citation, it is worth noting that you can only include the source where you directly accessed the quote in the Works Cited list.

FINAL THOUGHTS

MLA in-text citation is a citation style where you must include every time you include a phrase, word, or quote in your sentence from another source, such as an article, website, movie, or even a book. Writing an MLA in-text citation is easy and does not require a complex process.

It is also worth noting that MLA citation style uses title case. In other words, it is essential to use capital letters in writing principal words, such as conjunctions, adverbs, adjectives, verbs, pronouns, and nouns. This must be followed when writing your paper’s subheadings and source titles.

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