MLA 2: In-Text Citations, Signal Phrases, and Direct Quotations
| MLA 1: Formatting Your Paper in MLA Style | |
| You are here > | MLA 2: In-Text Citations, Signal Phrases, and Direct Quotations |
| MLA 3: Paraphrasing Source Material | |
| MLA 4: Citations and Works Cited Page |
Background. When you write papers in college, you’ll often include information you learned through research to show your audience that you’re an informed and trustworthy writer. This information might be facts, statistics, or ideas. Using information that you learned from outside sources (source information) is a big responsibility that you take on when you enter the community of scholars, and because you are at NOVA, you are a member of that community. Part of that responsibility requires you to tell your audience which information is source information and where it comes from.
Direct Quotations are phrases or sentences that you include in your paper that match a source exactly. You must enclose direct quotations in quotation marks. The quotation marks indicate that those words belong to someone else. You are responsible for telling your audience where you found those words. To do so, you have two choices (1) include an in-text citation or (2) include a signal phrase. Both methods are explained below.
In-Text Citations. An in-text citation is information placed in parentheses in the body of your research paper that tells your audience where you found the source information that you included in your paper. If a sentence in your paper includes a fact, idea, or statistic that you learned from a source, the in-text citation at the end of the sentence would tell your audience where you found that fact, idea, or statistic. Usually, in-text citations include the last name of the author of the source and the page number where the information is located.
Examples
| Available Information about Source |
Hypothetical (Made-Up) Example | In-Text Citation |
| If your source has an author and a page number, follow the example to the right > |
Your paper includes information from page 77 of the book “College and the American Dream” by Alison Lahey, | The in-text citation would be (Lahey 77). Notice that it includes
There is no punctuation or “p” between the author’s last name, Lahey, and the page number. |
| If your source has an author but no page number, follow the example to the right > |
Your paper includes information from an online article written by Alison Lahey and there is no page number. |
The in-text citation would be only the author’s last name: (Lahey) because there is no page number. |
| If your source has no author and no page number, follow the example to the right > |
Your paper includes information from an online article called “American Cities Test Free College Program,” but that source has no author or page number. | The in-text citation would be the first few words of the title of the article in quotation marks: (“American Cities”). |
In-Text Citations and Direct Quotations in Sentences. What do a direct quotation and an in-text citation look like in a sentence?
| Here is a sentence from the article “Why I Use Trigger Warnings:”
The practice originated in Internet communities, primarily for the benefit of people with post-traumatic stress disorder. Here is a sample sentence that uses the highlighted words from the article with an in-text citation included: Trigger warnings have gotten a lot of publicity lately, but the idea behind them is as old as the Internet. The warnings were intended “primarily for the benefit of people with post-traumatic stress disorder” (Manne). Please notice:
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| Here is another sentence from the article “Why I Use Trigger Warnings:”
These warnings are not unlike the advisory notices given before films and TV shows; those who want to ignore them can do so without a second thought. Here is another sample sentence that uses the exact words from the article with an in-text citation included: It’s possible that people have seen trigger warnings without realizing it because they’ve been in use for quite a while. “These warnings are not unlike the advisory notices given before films and TV shows; those who want to ignore them can do so without a second thought” (Manne). Please notice:
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Signal Phrases and Direct Quotations in Sentences. A signal phrase is a phrase within a sentence that tells your reader where you found your source information. A signal phrase can replace an in-text citation because it provides the same information as an in-text citation and it meets MLA requirements.
Signal Phrases and Direct Quotations in Sentences. What do a direct quotation and a signal phrase look like in a sentence?
| Here is a sentence from the article “Why I Use Trigger Warnings:”
The practice originated in Internet communities, primarily for the benefit of people with post-traumatic stress disorder. Here is a sample sentence that includes the highlighted words and uses a signal phrase instead of an in-text citation: Trigger warnings have gotten a lot of publicity lately, but the idea behind them is as old as the Internet. As Kate Manne explains, the warnings were intended “primarily for the benefit of people with post-traumatic stress disorder.” Please notice:
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| Here is another sentence from the article “Why I Use Trigger Warnings:”
These warnings are not unlike the advisory notices given before films and TV shows; those who want to ignore them can do so without a second thought.” Here is another sample sentence that uses the exact words from the article and a signal phrase instead of an in-text citation: It’s possible that people have seen trigger warnings without realizing it because they’ve been in use for quite a while. According to Kate Manne, “These warnings are not unlike the advisory notices given before films and TV shows; those who want to ignore them can do so without a second thought.” Please notice:
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Additional Resource
Quotations from The Writing Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
