How to cite within the body of your essay or assignment Citations – MLA style How to cite within the body of your essay or assignment

What is a citation? A citation is an in-text note that tells your reader you are using information from a source. Citations are important because if you don’t show where you got your information from, you could be accused of plagiarism. Citations show your reader where you got your quotation from.

How to make a citation For MLA (Modern Language Association) citations, you need the author’s last name, and the page number or website you got the information from. The Palace of Versailles was finished in 1682 (Smith 22). In this example, you got the fact from Smith’s book, on page 22. Your full reference will be on your references page, so you don’t need to include any more information.

If you mention the author in your sentence… If you mention the author of the book in your sentence, you only have to cite the page number: Smith writes that although building ceased on the Palace of Versailles in 1682, it was never officially completed (22).

Books with two or three authors For books with two or three authors, list the authors’ names in the order they appear on the book. The Palace of Versailles was finished in 1682 (Smith, Brown, and Jones 22).

Books with more than three authors Write the first author’s last name, then use the Latin phrase et al. This means, “and others.” Some insist that Van Gogh cut off his ear in response to unrequited love (Jones, et al. 432-433). Use a period after the “al”. For information that extends beyond one page, use a hyphen between the first page the information comes from and the last page the information comes from. Write the whole number out.

Citing websites To cite a website, use the author’s last name, if available. If the author’s last name is not available, use the title of the website. If pages are numbered (not likely) use those numbers; if pages aren’t numbered, do not include a page number. The Palace of Versailles was completed in 1682 (French Revolution Guide).

Summary & Tips For one to three authors, use the authors’ last names in the order they appear on the book. Don’t use “p.” or “page” or # before the page number. Use parentheses () not brackets []. Use et al. after the first author’s last name if there are more than three authors listed. For websites, use the author’s name; if no name is listed, use the title of the website.