MLA In-Text Citations
Updated July 2026
MLA cites in the text with author and page: (Rasch and Born 685). No comma, no year, no "p." — that compact form is MLA's signature. Every in-text citation points to a full entry on the Works Cited page.
The two basic forms
Parenthetical: Sleep strengthens new memories (Rasch and Born 685). Narrative: Rasch and Born argue that sleep strengthens new memories (685). Once the authors are named in your sentence, only the page number remains in parentheses. Note MLA uses the word "and," never an ampersand.
Authors: one, two, many
- One author: (Dweck 23)
- Two authors: (Rasch and Born 685)
- Three or more: (Harris et al. 360)
- Organization: (National Sleep Foundation 12) — shorten long names after first use.
- Two works by the same author: add a short title — (Dweck, Mindset 23) vs. (Dweck, "Growth" 4).
- Authors with the same surname: add first initials — (B. Rasch 685).
No author, no pages
No author: a shortened version of the title stands in — quotation marks for articles and pages, italics for books: ("Sleep and Memory"). Match whatever the Works Cited entry starts with. No page numbers (most websites): cite the author alone — (Alvarez). Use built-in numbering when it genuinely exists: (Alvarez, par. 7), (Hamlet 3.1.56) for act.scene.line, or a timestamp for video: (Kurzgesagt 02:30).
Quotes and block quotes
Short quotes run inside your sentence with the citation after the closing quotation mark, before the period: …"memory consolidation depends on sleep" (Rasch and Born 685). Quotes longer than four lines become block quotes: indented ½ inch, no quotation marks, and — the exception — the citation goes after the final period.
Several sources at once
Semicolons separate them: (Born 12; Harris et al. 360). For a source quoted inside another source, use "qtd. in": (qtd. in Rasch and Born 690) — and put the source you actually read on the Works Cited page.
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Go Premium — $5/monthFrequently asked questions
- Does the period go before or after the citation?
- After: …(Rasch and Born 685). The block quote is the one exception, where the citation follows the final period.
- Do I repeat the citation for every sentence?
- No — cite at the end of the borrowed passage. Re-cite when you switch sources and come back, or when ambiguity could arise.
- How do I cite a whole work with no specific page?
- Author name only, ideally woven into the sentence: "Dweck's research on mindset shows…" with the full entry on the Works Cited page.
- What's the difference from APA in-text citations?
- APA is author–date (Rasch & Born, 2013); MLA is author–page (Rasch and Born 685). APA emphasizes when research was published, MLA where the passage lives.