AP Language & Composition

Mrs. Katie Auman
Fort Collins High School

Here are some guidelines for using the MLA parenthetical reference form within your paper.

1. If you use a source by one author, place the author’s name and page number right after the quoted, paraphrased, or summarized material. Note that the parentheses go before the end punctuation, and there is no punctuation between the author’s name and the page number.

EXAMPLE: Although pop art often resembles the comic strip, it owes a debt to such painters as Magritte, Matise, and de Kooning (Rose 184).

2. If you use a source by one author and give credit to that author by name in your paper, you need only give the page number in the parentheses.

EXAMPLE: According to art critic Barbara Rose, pop art owes a large debt to such painters as Magritte, Matise, and de Kooning (184).

3. BLOCK QUOTES: If you are directly quoting material of more than four types lines (5+), indent the material one inch (ten spaces; double tab) from the left margin, double space, and do not use quotation marks. Do not change the right margin. Note that in this case, the parentheses appear after the punctuation that ends the quoted material.

EXAMPLE: THIS WOULD BE DOUBLE SPACED ON YOUR ESSAY

... Literary critics suggest that Stephen Crane's story really is the story of human pride in its basest sense:

In addition to causing tragedy for others, Crane’s characters who are motivated by a desire to appear heroic to their peers may also cause themselves serious trouble. For example, Collins, another Civil War private, almost causes his own death because of his vain desire to act bravely in front of his fellow soldiers. (Hall 16)

Collins, motivated by his own interests rather than being selfless in his actions, completely contrasts the definition of hero. ...

4. If you are citing more than one work by the same author, include a short title in the parentheses.

EXAMPLE: Within 50 years, the Inca and Aztec civilizations were defeated and overthrown by outside invaders (Thomas, Lost Cultures 198).

5. If you are citing a work by two or three authors, use all last names and the page number.

EXAMPLE: Prisons today are overcrowded to the point of emergency; conditions could not be worse, and the state budget for prison reforms is at an all-time low (Smith and Jones 72).

Human infants grow quickly, with most babies doubling their birth weight in the first six months of life and tripling their weight by their first birthday (Pantell, Fries, and Vickery 52).

6. For more than three authors, use all the last names or use the last name of the first author plus et al. (Latin for “and others”) and the page number. There is no comma after the author’s name.

EXAMPLE: Casualties of World War II during 1940-45 amounted to more than twenty-five million soldiers and civilians (Blue et al. 779)

7. If you cite a work that has no named author, use the work’s title and the page number.

EXAMPLE: Each year 350,000 Americans will die of a heart attack before reaching a hospital (“First Aid for Heart Attacks” 88).

8. If the work you are citing appears in a series, include the volume and page number with the author’s name.

EXAMPLE: The most common view camera format is 4” by 5”, although many sizes are available on today’s market (Pursell 1:29).

9. If the material you are citing comes from an electronic source that has no page numbers, use the author’s last name in the text, if possible. If the author’s name is unavailable, use a short reference to the work’s title.

EXAMPLE: According to CSU professor Robert Thompson, the Chinese in Indonesia account for only 4% of the population but control 70% of the economy

NOTE: Some instructors may ask you to include the paragraph number, the screen number, or the page number of the reference within the electronic source’s total number of pages, especially if the document is lengthy. The example that follows shows how a reader could quickly find the information in the sixth paragraph instead of searching through the entire document.

EXAMPLE: The Chinese in Indonesia account for only 4% of the population but control 70% of the economy. (Thompson par. 6)

10. If the material you are citing contains a passage quoted from another source, indicate the use of the quotation in the parentheses.

EXAMPLE: According to George Orwell, “Good writing is like a window-pane” (qtd. in Murray 142).

11. If you are using an interview, simply substitute the date of the interview for the page number.

EXAMPLE: According to George Orwell, “Good writing is like a window-pane” (10/29/03).

12. Television or radio broadcast? Use the name of the episode, if one; if not, the name of the program. Add a date if there are two different broadcasts from the same show.

EXAMPLE: According to George Orwell, “Good writing is like a window-pane” (Morning Edition).

Source: Wyrick Jean. Steps to Writing Well.