Question

Which in-text citation is formatted correctly in MLA style?

Homer writes that Odysseus and his men “were left to groan and wait for morning.” (Homer, 218)
Homer writes “that Odysseus and his men were left to groan and wait for morning” (Homer: 218).
Homer writes that Odysseus and his men “were left to groan and wait for morning” (218).
Homer writes “that Odysseus and his men were left to groan and wait for morning” (218)

Answer 1

The correct answer choice would be the third one: "Homer writes that Odysseus and his men 'were left to groan and wait for morning' (218)." In MLA, the period needs to be outside of the parentheses, not inside the parentheses or the quotation. So that leaves us between choices 2 and 3. Well, it isn't the second one because the way they cited it (Homer: 218) isn't correct, they should have written it as (Homer, 218). Therefore, the third one seems to be the most correct. Hope this helped some :)