MLA System: Parenthetical Author-Page References (humanities) from

http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/document.html

You may also find an explanation of how to cite resources other than novels at  http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/mlastyle.pdf

When citing a book directly within the text of your essay you simply include the author's last name and the page where the quote is found in the book inside brackets.  It should look like this:

"Nobody, of the hundreds of people that had visited the Fair, knew that a grey spider had played the most important part of all.  No one was with her when she died" (White 171).

The quote would of course be introduced somehow to explain the context of the quote and to show how it helps to prove your thesis to be true.  In the case of the quote above one could perhaps write about something along the lines of:

Although Charlotte saved Wilbur the pig that summer she was ultimately forgotten in her final moments as everyone was off at the fair.  "Nobody, of the hundreds of people that had visited the Fair, knew that a grey spider had played the most important part of all.  No one was with her when she died" (White 171).  Charlotte was the one who helped change the course of one pig's destiny and yet no one was aware of the influence that she had over the events at the fair that day.

Now, after you complete your essay and use whichever quotes you need to make your points you need to then include a Works Cited list.  This is similar to a Bibliography where you list, in alphabetical order by the authors' last names, all of the books that you referenced in your essay.  All of the pertinent information can be found on the inside page of your books.  If we were to reference Charlotte's Web it would like this on the Works Cited page:

  Works Cited

White, E.B.  Charlotte's Web.  New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc., 1952.

Notice how the title of the novel is always written in italics, even in the middle of your essay.  To remember the order of details that you need to include when citing a novel just remember this:

Last name, first name.  Title.  City of publisher, State/Province: Name of Publisher, Year.

Please make careful note ot the punctuation.  You must punctuate your citation properly as well.

NOTE: In listing a Web page as a source, include the date you read the page as well as the URL. That information lets your reader judge whether he or she is seeing the same version of the web page you looked at.