Parenthetical Citations (In-Text)
In MLA style, referring to the works of others in your text is done by using what is known as parenthetical citation. This method involves placing relevant source information in parentheses after a quote or a paraphrase. The citation consists of author-page style and shall end with a full stop right after the parentheses.
Basic Format
MLA style follows the author-page method of parenthetical citations.
(Last name p.#)
Therefore, the author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase. Still, the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence.
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (263).
Romantic poetry is characterized by the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 263).