• MLA Style: Parenthetical References
   
  
 

MLA Style: Parenthetical References

In addition to producing a list of works cited for your paper you must provide details about the information you derived from each of your sources and where in the source you located this information.  The best way to do this is to insert a brief parenthetical acknowledgement whenever you use another person’s ideas or words.

EXAMPLE:

Medieval Europe was a place both of "raids, pillages, slavery, and extortion" and of "traveling merchants, monetary exchange, towns if not cities, and active markets in grain" (Townsend 10).

The parenthetical reference indicates that the quotation came from page ten of the work by Townsend.  The complete bibliographical information for this work will appear in your List of Works Cited (see below).

Townsend, Robert M. The Medieval Village Economy. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993.

ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES:

(The entry from the List of Works Cited is followed by the parenthetical documentation example).

A Single author

Wilson, Frank R. The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human
        Culture. New York: Pantheon, 1998.

(Wilson 77)

Two authors

Eggins, Suzanne, and Diane Slade. Analyzing Casual Conversation. London:
        Cassell, 1997.

(Eggins and Slade 49-50)

Three or more authors

Three authors

Marquart, James W., Sheldon Ekland Olson, and Jonathan R. Sorensen. The Rope,
        The Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990. Austin:
        U of Texas P, 1994.

(Marquart, Olson, and Sorensen 101-103)

More than three authors (may be listed as in above example, or may name only first and add et al. (and others)

Gilman, Sander, et al. Hysteria beyond Freud. Berkeley: U of California P, 1993

(Gilman et al. 445)

Two or more works by the same author

Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice,
        1963.

---.    The Double Vision: Language and Meaning in Religion. Toronto: U of Toronto P,
       1991.

(Frye, Anatomy 237)

(Frye, Double Vision 85)

A Corporate author

Use the author's name followed by a page reference (you may shorten terms that are commonly abbreviated).

American Medical Association. The American Medical Association Encyclopedia.
        New York: Random, 1989.

(American Medical Assn. 37)

However, it is better to include a long name in the text so the reading is not interrupted by a long parenthetical reference.

National Research Council. China and Global Change: Opportunities for Collaboration.
        Washington: Natl. Acad., 1992.

According to a study sponsored by the National Research Council, the population of China around 1990 was increasing by more than fifteen million annually (15).

An Anonymous work listed by title

Use the full title (if brief) or a shortened version of the title.

"Decade of the spy." Newsweek 7 Mar. 1994: 26-27.

("Decade").

A single volume in a multi-volume work

When you cite both a volume number and a page reference for a multi-volume work, separate them by a colon and a space.

Wellek, Rene. A History of Modern Criticism, 1750-1950. 8 vols. New Haven: Yale UP,
        1955-92.

(Wellek 2: 1-10)

If you need to cite a print source or non-print source (film, television program, performance) that has no pagination, it is best to include the name of the person listed at the beginning of your “list of works cited” entry in the text of your paper.  See examples below.

EXAMPLES:

Rigg, Diana, perf. Medea. By Euripides. Trans. Alistair Elliot. Dir. Jonathan Kent.
        Longacre Theatre, New York. 7 Apr. 1994.

Diana Rigg gave a memorable performance.

Atwood, Margaret. "Silencing the Scream." Boundaries of the Imagination Forum.
        MLA Convention. Royal York Hotel, Toronto. 29 Dec. 1993.

Margaret Atwood's remarks drew an enthusiastic response.