MLA uses parenthetical or author-page style for citing within the text of your paper. The in-text citations are brief and will correspond with your alphabetical listing on the Works Cited page. Please see the examples below on how to properly format In-Text citations in MLA Style:
Sources with the author information available:
Use the author's last name and page number in parenthesis:
Tremont Avenue had the highest incidence of drug arrests in the Bronx Borough of NYC in 1984 (LeBlanc 65).
Or you can put the author's name in the sentence and put the page number at the in parenthesis:
LeBlanc states that Tremont Avenue had the highest incidence of drug arrests in the Bronx Borough of NYC in 1984 (65).
Sources without author information available:
In cases where there is no author use the title of the source. Put the title, or a brief version if it is lengthy, in quotes and place it in parentheses with the page number:
Juvenile males were 10% more likely to be arrested in Bronx, NY than in the rest of New York in 1984 ("Random Family" 47).
Sources with multiple authors:
If there are two authors then you can list them in the text or in the parenthetical citation:
According to Smith and Jones, Atlanta, GA is usually 8 degrees warmer than Pittsburgh, Pa in the months of January and February (79).
Or:
The authors surmised that residents of San Francisco, CA are usually at much less greater risk of depression than residents of Pittsburgh, PA based on their data models (Smith and Jones 55).
If there are three or more authors then list the first author's last name and in place of the other names use et al.:
According to Wilson, et all the Pittsburgh Penguins have a 75% better chance of winning the Stanley Cup in 2016 than the Toronto Maple Leafs based on statistical modeling (101).
Or:
The Pittsburgh Penguins have an 85% chance of sweeping the season series against the Toronto Maple Leafs according to current predictive models (Wilson, et al. 219).