According to MLA style, a research paper must include parenthetical references. Put simply, these are notations that you include in your research paper to give proper credit to the sources from which you have drawn your ideas and information.

“Parenthetical” simply means “in parenthesis.”  These are parenthesis (              ).  “References” is another word for your “sources.”   These are the books, magazine articles, web sites, etc. from which you get the information that you choose to include in your research paper.   Most parenthetical references look something like this:

As you can see above, most parenthetical references usually include the author's last name and a page number. If there is no author for a particular source, you simply note the title instead.  For web sources, it is also acceptable to use the URL, or web address. If the source does not have numerous pages, a page number is not necessary. 

Remember the goal is that the reader should be able to locate and verify your source for any given fact, utilizing the parenthetical reference in conjunction with the Works Cited page. Provide only as much detail as is necessary for the reader to be able to locate your source, but be as brief as possible so as not to distract the reader. 

Parenthetical references should appear in each paragraph of a research paper, except possibly the introduction and the conclusion.  Parenthetical references give credit to the sources that you use which keeps you from committing a serious offense known as plagiarism.