Parenthetical+Documentation

In MLA documentation style, sources are acknowledged by **inserting brief parenthetical citations in the text** which refer directly to the Works Cited Page appearing at the end of the paper. The parenthetical citation that concludes the following sentence is typical of MLA style.
 * PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION**

Ancient writers attributed the invention of the monochord to Pythagoras, who lived in the 6th. Century BC. (Marcuse 197). Note that the parenthetical **precedes** punctuation.

The citation (Marcuse 197) tells readers that the information in the sentence was taken from page 197 of a work by an author named Marcuse. The book would appear in the Works Cited as follows:

Marcuse, Sibyl__. A Survey of Musical Instruments__. New York: Harper, 2000.

A citation contains only enough information to enable readers to find the source in the Works Cited. > > > Example: (__Population__ 176) would be the parenthetical used when referring to the following title in the Works Cited: > __Population of the Ancient World__. New York: Little Publishers, 1998. (Book has no author) > > All information included here is from: > **Gibaldi, Joseph. __MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers__. 5th ed.** > **New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1999.** > For more precise detail on specific or unusual entries, please refer to the above book.
 * If the author’s name is mentioned in the text, only the page number appears in the citation: **(197).**
 * If more that one work by the author is in the Works Cited, a shortened version of the title is given: (Marcuse, __Survey__ 197).
 * If an entry in the Works Cited has no author and is listed by title, the title (if brief), or a shortened version is used for the parenthetical.
 * As the entry appears in the Works Cited must be how it is used in the parenthetical. When abbreviating the title, begin with the word by which it is alphabetized in the Works Cited.