What two pieces of information are necessary each time you cite a source in the text of your paper?
The question is not up-to-date. It's appropriate only when you're citing from printed materials: author's last name and the page number where the quotation appears. But if you are quoting from anything non-print (website, CD, artwork, etc.), then the question doesn't work.
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Here's the lesson I give for people learning how to cite in MLA format:
You need to have each source of information cited in TWO places:
1. the Works Cited page that is placed after the last page of your paper, and
2. in parentheses in the text of your paper, immediately after the quotation or paraphrase.
For example, this would go on the Works Cited page (with proper indentation for the second and following lines):
Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. Chicago, 1903. Project Bartleby. Ed. Steven van Leeuwen. Dec. 1995. Columbia U. 2 Dec. 2003
<www.cc.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/dubois/>.
... and this would go immediately after the quotation or whatever:
(Du Bois)
The information in parentheses in the text needs to be as brief as possible. That's why there's a Works Cited page – for all the details of the listing.
This is a good place for information on citing in MLA format:
(Broken Link Removed)
Hold your cursor over the words CITING SOURCES in the left column and then click on whatever type of source you need help with. Many examples will show up. You will get two examples for each type of reference – one for the Works Cited page and one for the parenthetical (in-text) citation.
You can also see what a Works Cited page looks like – click on Sample Works Cited in the left column.
One item, for sure, is the author's last name. What do you think the other is?
the title of the source?
No. You'd include the title only if there's no author named.
im confused then..
1) what type of source it is, such as a book, web article, newspaper, etc. 2)the source’s entry on the Works Cited page.
would that make sense for an answer?
No. The answer is probably this:
~ author's last name
~ page number
But it's an out-of-date question since you can use many other types of sources.