When citing sources in the text using MLA style, the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) notes that you must employ the author/page number format. In cases where an author exists for your source, you will cite it in one of the following ways: using the author's name as part of a sentence or enclosing the full citation in parenthesis at the end of a sentence. For example, "Jones contends that 73 percent of athletes doped prior to the event (15). Athletes reported improved recovery time 22 percent of the time (Jones 43)." Here, the page numbers are 15 and 43.
For cases where the author's name is unknown, Purdue's OWL states that you should use a shortened title of the work in lieu of the author's name. Enclose the title in quotation marks if it is a short work, such as an article, and italicize it if it is a longer work, such as an entire website or play.
For example:
At bike races, Jones contends most athletes reported heart rates near their target zone within 15 minutes of the starting gun ("Doping in Pro Sports" 89).
Purdue's OWL supplies the following generic example for citing a book with one author on your "Works Cited" page:
Last name, first name. Title of book. Place of publication: publisher, year of publication. Medium of publication.
You must italicize the title of the book, double-space the citation and indent the second and subsequent lines by five spaces to create a hanging indent (the indent doesn't show in the subsequent examples). The MLA also requires that you identify the "medium of publication," as in the example below in a citation for a book with two authors.
Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring.
Boston: Allyn, 2000. Print.
Citing periodicals in MLA style is similar to citing books on your "Works Cited" page, except you must put the title of the work in quotations, italicize the title of the publication and include the applicable volume, issue and page numbers. For example:
Jones, Terry. "Doping in Pro Sports: An Inside Look." International Journal of
Sport 12.2 (2008): 78-90. Print.
Rodriguez, James. "Calling a Professional Baseball Game." Time 20 Nov. 2009:
105-08. Print.
Sampson, Marc. "Lakers Win Eight in a Row." Los Angeles Times 24 Mar. 2008:
C1. Print.
The MLA no longer requires writers to include entire URLs when citing electronic resources, according to Purdue's OWL. It contends that websites change frequently, and readers can locate the information you borrowed with relative ease by using online search engines. If you wish to cite an entire website on your "Works Cited" page, here's an example:
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and
Purdue U, 2008. Web. 23 April 2008.
If you wish to learn how to cite other types of electronic sources as well as print sources with various numbers and types of authors, refer to the latest edition of either the "MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers" or the "MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing."