MLA In-Text citations

Information you need -Author -Title -Page numbers

Internal Citations with known author 1.Identify the author (s) 2. Find the page number (s) 3.Type the direct quote 4.Put the citation in parentheses (author page number); If two or more authors must put last names of all authors. 5.Put punctuation after parentheses

Internal Citations with author known Parenthetical Citation: (author page number). If you name the author in the introduction then parenthetical citation (page number). Example: Matt Sundeen notes that “drivers with cell phones place an estimated 98,000 emergency calls each day and that the phones ‘often reduce emergency response times and actually save lives’” (1). “Most states do not keep adequate records on the number of times cell phones are a factor in accidents; as of December 2000, only ten states were trying to keep such records” (Sundeen 2).

Internal Citations without an Author 1.Identify the title 2.Find the page number(s) 3.Type the direct quote 4.Put the citation in parentheses (title page number) 5.Put punctuation after parentheses

Internal Citations Author Unknown -Parenthetical citations: (“title” page number). -If you mention title in introduction (page number). -Example: “As of 2001, at least three hundred towns and municipalities had considered legislation regulating use of cell phones while driving” ("Lawmakers" 2). - In the article “Lawmakers” it states that, “as of 2001, at least three hundred towns and municipalities had considered legislation regulating use of cell phones while driving” (2).

Paraphrasing Definition: To put the author’s words into your own words. Summarize what an author is saying. These ideas are not your own, but rather an expert or someone else’s.

Paraphrasing Steps for paraphrasing: 1.Find the quotes and parts of the source that you want to use. 2.Put the quote into your own words 3.Identify the page number 4.Type out the paraphrase 5.Put the author and page number in parentheses and the punctuation after the parentheses ().

Paraphrasing Example - People who drive while talking on cell phones place an estimated 98,000 emergency calls everyday, and phones actually reduce times and can save lives (Sundeen 1). – parenthetical citation

Adding words 1.Determine what words need to be added 2.Decide where the words should be added 3.Put the added words in brackets 4.Complete the citation

Adding Words Example Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, states: “some individuals [who retell urban legends] make a point of learning every rumor or tale’” (78).

Omitting words 1.Useful for long quotes 2.Determine what phrases need to be omitted 3.Put ellipses where you took out the words 4.Then finish the quote and cite

Omitting Words Example In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor or tale... and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs" (78).

Long quotations 1. If your quotation is longer than four typed lines of text, each line should be indented one inch (10 spaces) and single-spaced. 2. If you are quoting two or more paragraphs, indent the first line of each paragraph an extra quarter inch (three spaces). 3. You do not use quotation marks, because the indentation tells your reader that you are using quoted material. 4. After the long quotation, the essay should go back to being double spaced.

Long Quotations Example: Author Frank McCourt endured many hardships In his young life that he attributes to his uniquely Irish experience. People brag and whimper about the woes of their early years, but nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the shiftless loquacious alcoholic father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompouspriests; bullying schoolmasters; the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight hundred long years (McCourt 11).