Within the text, keep your citation as brief as possible, using only the author's last name and the page number enclosed in parentheses. If you wish to use the correct MLA style for a citation within the body of the work (often called an internal citation) this is the only way to do it. For example, your citation would look like this: (Author Page).
Your reference including the parentheses should always be contained within the sentence in which it appears. Do not put an internal citation into a work where it appears after the sentence's period. This citation would be incorrect: .(Smith 43)
This would be the correct form: (Smith 43).
In an MLA citation, your internal citations are merely references to your final Works Cited page. This page has a proper format as well. The most important thing to remember about the Works Cited page is that it should be arranged in alphabetical order by author. Doing this will help you keep your citations in the proper order and will ensure your compliance with MLA standards.
A correctly formatted MLA citation for a work by Stevens and Smith would be:
Smith, Roger and Stevens, Will; NAME OF BOOK, Publisher, Year, Pages.
Your final Works Cited should not use an ampersand in place of the word "and" for multiple authors. For example: Smith & Stevens would be incorrect for this citation.