They say exactly where that material is located in the source. They give information enabling a reader to find the source in the list of references that appears at the end of your paper. Examples A typical example of an intext reference consists of the author's last name and a page number. Note that the parenthetical references appear before terminal punctuation marks. If the author's name or the title of the work is stated in the text, do not include it in the parenthetical reference.
Quotations run in with the text.
Parenthetical references appear after the quotation but before the terminal punctuation. Question marks or other punctuation which are not part of the quotation go after the parenthetical reference. However, if the question mark or other punctuation is part of the quote, it remains inside the quotation marks. For detailed instructions and additional information about the MLA Style, consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 3rd ed. Prentice Hall, 1990.