Best Practices  for In-text Parenthetical References

          All the previous samples assume the quote is word for word, e.g. “Blah, blah, blah, blah” (Smith 9).  There are options when creating a smooth writing style in research that may alter what must go into the parentheses.  Here are the best approaches:

 

Author named in signal phrase:

            Smith indicated “blah, blah, blah, blah” (9).

 

Indirect source:

            Nunji noted that “Blah, blah, blah, blah” (qtd. in Smith 33).

 

Two or more sources in the same citation:

            Two writers defined peace as “blah, blah” (Smith 29; Blake 54).

 

Citing a source without page numbers using a signal phrase:

            On her website, Walker reiterated “blah, blah, blah, blah.”

 

Using two authors with the same last name:

            “Blah, blah, blah,” (F. Smith 9).  However, “Blah, blah, blah,” (D. Smith 95).

 

Citing literary works:

 MLA recommends you add pt. (part), ch. (chapter), and/or sec. (section) information to the citation to help guide readers with different editions to the quoted material.  Here’s a sample:

 

            The author insisted that “Blah, blah, blah” (Flaubert 218: pt. 2, ch. 12).

 

Blocked quotes:

 When a word for word quote exceeds 3-4 lines of word-processed text, MLA suggests to block the quote, add a lead-in phrase followed by a colon, and omit the quotation marks.  It is usually recommended to use the author’s last name in the signal phrases preceding the blocked quote.  This way, the author’s name is not needed again in the parenthetical reference.  Here is a sample:

 

When John Barlow’s fiancée died of a heart attack, he was overcome with grief and despair. Since he had been living in New York with his future wife, his family and friends back home had never met her. Perry turned to the Internet because he needed to talk. Barlow wrote about the responses he received and his musings about death’s stigma:

They told me of their own tragedies and what they had done to survive them.  As humans have done since words were first uttered, we shared the second most common human experience, death, with an openheartedness that would have caused grave uneasiness in physical America, where the whole topic is so cloaked in denial as to be considered obscene. (56)

MLA Documentation Guidelines
English Department

Page maintained by : Marla DeSoto
Last edited: 4/4/2006