Find the name of the author and the page number or numbers of the quote. MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This offers two choices depending on your sentence structure; include the author's name and page number in parentheses after your quote or paraphrase, or include the author's name within the sentence structure and include the page number in parentheses after the quote. Page numbers should only ever be given in parentheses.
Write the identifying information that supports your quote in the "Works Cited" page of your paper. In other formats this is known as the bibliography or reference page. The MLA format is: Last name, First name. Book name (italicized or underlined). Publisher location: publisher name, year. Format. An example would be: Shakespeare, William. Othello. London: Penguin, 1968. Print.
List the last names of each author if there are three or less within the text or parentheses. Separate the first two names with a comma and connect to the third with the word "and"; do not use abbreviated symbols. Remember in addition to include the page number within the parentheses, for example: (Jones, Hardy, and Smith 78).
Elect from one of the two options for denoting when there are four or more authors: either write the phrase "et al." after the last name of the first author, or include the last name of each author, for example: (Thatcher et al. 35) or: (Thatcher, Marks, Cooper and Paul 35).
Find any identifying information if using online sources. Write the clearest identifying information within parentheses; this would be the last name of the author if it is a personal or professional website, or the title if it is a scholarly project or article in an online periodical. It is not always possible or therefore necessary to include page numbers or paragraph numbers, as most online sources do not have these.
Compile the online source's necessary details for the "Works Cited" page. The aim is to provide your reader with sufficient enough information to replicate your search if necessary. The information should be presented in this order: Last name, First name of author and any other authors. "Title of work." Name of site. Date of posting/revision. Organization. Date of access. As of January, 2011, the rules for citing a website using MLA style no longer require that the URL be included in the citation; however, if your instructor wants the URL included in the Works Cited list, include the address in brackets at the end of the citation: <URL>.