A valid MLA-style parenthesis citation includes the author's last name and the numeral corresponding to a specific page. These must be placed together without any type of punctuation separating them from each other (Smith 163); if the author is included in the text of your writing, you only need to write the page number (163) at the end of the sentence; and lastly, the period at the end of the sentence goes after the closing parentheses.
Examples:
- (Smith 23)
- (Johnson 45–47)
- (Brown) (when no page number is available)
If the author’s name is mentioned in the sentence, only include the page number in parentheses:
Smith argues that the results are significant (23).
For sources without an author, use a shortened title:
(“Climate Change” 12)
These citations should always correspond to full references on the Works Cited page.