OmniDocMLA In-Text Citation Format: Rules and Examples
Learn how to do an in-text citation in MLA format, including multiple authors, online articles without page numbers, and correct punctuation, with examples.
If you are writing a research paper, you have probably reached a sentence that depends on a source and wondered how to point the reader to it. Learning how to do an in-text citation in MLA format is mostly a matter of knowing which details go inside the parentheses and where the punctuation belongs. The rules are short, but multiple authors, online articles, and sources with no page numbers cause most of the confusion.
This guide covers the parenthetical citations that appear in the body of your paper. It explains what to include for one author, several authors, or no author, and what to do when a web article has no page numbers. It also gives examples you can copy and checks you can run before you submit. The Works Cited page has its own layout rules, so this guide touches it only where the two must match.
How do you do an in-text citation in MLA format? The short answer
Put the author's last name and the page number in parentheses before the sentence's final period, with no comma between them. For example, a point from page 45 of a source by Smith looks like this: (Smith 45).
| Your situation | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One author, page numbers available | Write the last name and page: (Lee 112) | The name leads readers to the Works Cited entry, and the page points to the exact spot |
| Two authors | Join both last names with "and": (Lee and Park 112) | Readers can find the entry under either name |
| Three or more authors | Use the first last name and "et al.": (Lee et al. 112) | The short form keeps the sentence readable and still matches the entry |
| Online article with paragraph numbers | Use "par." with the number: (Lee, par. 6) | Web articles often have no page numbers, so paragraph numbers serve as the location |
| Article with no author | Use a shortened title in quotation marks: ("Shorter Title" 112) | The title is the first word of the Works Cited entry when no author is listed |
Before you start
- Look at your Works Cited entries first. The first word of each entry is the author's last name, or the title if there is no author. Your in-text citations must start with that same word, or readers cannot connect the two.
- Note the page where each idea appears. For a quotation, use the page where the exact words appear. For a paraphrase, use the page where the idea is discussed. The page number is the one location detail that goes in the parentheses.
- Check whether your PDF has selectable text. Try selecting a line of text. If you can highlight it, the file has a text layer you can search for quoted words. If you cannot, the file is probably scanned, and you will need to find the page by reading it. The PDF editor in the OmniDoc desktop client can apply OCR to scanned PDFs, which adds a searchable text layer.
- Decide whether the author is named in your sentence. If your sentence says "Smith argues," the parenthesis needs only the page. Repeating the name inside the parenthesis is not necessary.
- Pick the tool for your draft. A citation is plain text, so it works the same in any word processor. If you draft in the UniDoc web editor at app.unidoc.top, its Word-compatible editing keeps your in-text citations as ordinary text.
Writing an MLA in-text citation, step by step
- Find the first word of the Works Cited entry. Write down the author's last name, or the title if no author is given. This is the word your citation will use.
- Locate the page number. Use the page where the quoted words or the paraphrased idea appear in the source, not the page where the source starts.
- Decide whether to name the author in the sentence. If you write "Smith argues," the parenthesis holds only the page: (45).
- Write the citation inside the parentheses. Put the name first, then a space, then the page. Use no comma: (Smith 45). For a span of pages, use a hyphen: (Smith 45-46).
- Handle two or three or more authors. For two authors, write (Smith and Jones 45). For three or more, write (Smith et al. 45). The Works Cited entry lists everyone, so the in-text version needs only the first name.
- Handle sources without page numbers. Use a paragraph or section number with "par." or "sec." after a comma: (Smith, par. 4). If the source has no numbers at all, cite the author alone: (Smith).
- Place the punctuation correctly. For a paraphrase, put the citation before the period. For a quotation, close the quotation marks, add the citation, then the period: "quoted words" (Smith 45). For a block quotation longer than four lines, leave off the quotation marks and put the citation after the final period.
- Distinguish works by the same author. Add a shortened title after the name. Use quotation marks for an article or web page and italics for a book: (Smith, "Shorter Title" 45) or (Smith, Shorter Title 45).
Check the result
Once your paper is drafted, read through every citation and compare it with your Works Cited list.
| Check | How to see it | If it's wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Each name or short title matches a Works Cited entry | Compare the first word of each in-text citation with the entries | Change the in-text word to match the entry, or correct the entry |
| No comma between the name and page | Read each parenthesis aloud | Delete the comma, so (Smith, 45) becomes (Smith 45) |
| Period sits after the parenthesis | Look at the last character of each cited sentence | Move the period outside the closing parenthesis |
| Page numbers match the source | Reopen the source and find the quoted words | Correct the number; if the words are on several pages, cite the first one |
| "et al." appears only for three or more authors | Count the authors in the Works Cited entry | Write both names for two authors |
If you used OCR to create a text layer, check each quoted passage against the page image. OCR can misread characters, so the words in your text may differ slightly from the printed page.
❓ FAQ
1. Do I include the URL in the in-text citation?
No. The in-text citation uses the author or title and a page or paragraph number. The URL, if your instructor requires it, belongs in the Works Cited entry.
2. How do I cite a source I found quoted in another source?
Use "qtd. in" to show that you read the words in a secondary source. For example, (Lee 112, qtd. in Park 40) tells readers that Lee's words appear on page 40 of Park's work. Cite the secondary source in your Works Cited list.
3. What do I do when the author is an organization?
Use the organization's name as it appears in the Works Cited entry, such as (City Transit Authority 8). The name replaces the last name of a person and follows the same punctuation rules.
📝 Summary
Learning how to do an in-text citation in MLA format comes down to matching the first word of your Works Cited entry and adding a page number, or a paragraph number when the page is missing. Check each citation against your list before you submit, and keep the punctuation in its standard place.
