MLA Citation within the Essay
1. Author not named in your text:
One researcher concludes that “women impose a distinctive construction
on moral problems, seeing moral dilemmas in terms of conflicting
responsibilities” (Gilligan 105).
Fairy tales reflect the emotions and fears of children (Bettelheim 23).
Internet Citation
(for more info on Internet citation, visit the MLA website at www.mla.org)
A work with numbered paragraphs or screens instead of pages (i.e. many of your web sources):
Since electronic sources such as websites and e-books don’t have pages for you to cite, you’ll
often cite the paragraph number, distinguished from pages numbers by the abbreviation “par.”
Twins reared apart report similar feelings (Palfrey, pars. 6—7).
If you have no paragraphs or page numbers in the website, you can cite the work in your
analysis, rather than in a parenthetical reference. By consulting the Works Cited list, the reader
will be able to determine that the source is electronic and my therefore not have page numbers.
In her article “Limited Horizons,” Lynne Cheney claims that schools do
best when students read literature not for practical information but
for its insights into the human condition.
A work without a listed author:
Anonymous works are alphabetized by title in the list of works cited. In the text, they are
referred to by full or shortened title. The next citation refers to an unsigned article titled “The
Right to Die.” (A page number is omitted because the article is only one page.)
One article notes that a death-row inmate may demand his own execution
to achieve a fleeting notoriety (“Right”).
In spite of political unrest, Soviet television remained fairly
conservative, ignoring all challenges to the system (“Soviet” 3).
Warning: In this case, the source is an anonymous source, writing in a one-page article. How
reliable to you think the reader will consider this information?
HINT: Cite an electronic source as you would any other source: usually by author’s name or, if
there is no author, by title.
Business forecasts for the fourth quarter tend to be optimistic (White 4).
