A WORK WITH A SINGLE AUTHOR
The MLA author-page system generally requires that in-text citations include the author’s last name and the page number of the passage being cited. There is no punctuation between author and page. The parenthetical citation should follow the quoted, paraphrased, or summarized material as closely as possible without dis- rupting the flow of the sentence.
Dr. James is described as a “not-too-skeletal Ichabod Crane” (Simon 68).
One reviewer compares Dr. James to Ichabod Crane (Simon 68).
Note that the parenthetical citation comes before the final period. With block quo- tations, however, the citation comes after the final period, preceded by a space (see p. 760 for an example). If you mention the author’s name in your text, supply just the page reference in parentheses.
Simon describes Dr. James as a “not-too-skeletal Ichabod Crane” (68).
Simon compares Dr. James to Ichabod Crane (68).