Most literary critics follow the citation guidelines of either the MLA Handbook or the Chicago Manual of Style. In our class we will use the MLA Handbook, 9th edition (2021), available online and at the library, and clearly explained by the excellent Purdue OWL site.
There are different methods outlined in this handbook, but you will want to use parenthetical notation, which allows you to cite your sources in parentheses in the body of your paper and to link these notations to a "Works Cited" list at the end of your paper.
The MLA Style Center provides several sample papers in MLA style, which you can use as models!
Usually, your parenthetical notation will look like this: "(Author #)." For example:
William calls the creature a "Hideous monster!" (Shelley 109).
[Your reader can then go to your Works Cited list, look under "S" for "Shelley," see the edition of Frankenstein you are using, pull it off the shelf, flip to p. 109, and find the quotation. See the Quotations section in the present site for further examples.]
Please note: if the source is clear from the context, you can omit the author and just include the page number.
For your Works Cited list, here is the general format for most citations:
Author [last name, first name]. Title of Source [italicized if "standalone" or in quotation marks if contained in a book]. Title of Container [if applicable; the container is usually the book containing the source, so there is no container for a "standalone book"], other contributors [translators or editors; see below], version [edition], number [vol. and/or no.], publisher, publication date, location [page number range; not needed for "standalone" sources].
In most instances, you'll be citing "standalone books," parts of books, journal articles, or websites.
Standalone Book
Author [last name, first name]. Title of Book. Translated by ________ [if there's a translator; formatted "first name last name"], edited by ________ [if there's an editor; formatted "first name last name"], # ed. [if it's not a first edition; for example, "2nd ed."], vol. # [if it's part of a multivolume work; for example, "vol. 2"], publisher, date.
[For publishers, MLA abbreviates "University" to "U" and "Press" to "P" -- for example, "Cambridge University Press" becomes "Cambridge UP."]
Part of a Book (same as above, except you include the "container title" after the title of the source and then the page range at the end)
Author [last name, first name]. "Title of Source." Title of Container [the container is the book containing the source], translated by ________ [if there's a translator; formatted "first name last name"], edited by ________ [if there's an editor; formatted "first name last name"], # ed. [if it's not a first edition; for example, "2nd ed."], vol. # [if it's part of a multivolume work; for example, "vol. 2"], publisher, date, pages [for example, "p. 128" or "pp. 212-46"].
Journal Article
Author [last name, first name]. "Title of Article." Title of Journal, volume [for example, "vol. 42"], issue number [for example, "no. 4"], year, pages [for example, "p. 128" or "pp. 212-46"].
Website
Author [if any; last name, first name]. Name of Site. Date of creation [if listed], URL. Date of access [optional but helpful; for example, "Accessed 8 Oct. 2021"].
[The MLA wants dates formatted as immediately above.]
Again, this site is extremely helpful, especially its pages on In-Text Citations, Formatting Quotations (see as well the Quotations section in the present site for advice on punctuation and further examples), and the Works Cited Page. (It too provides a sample paper in proper MLA style.)
Every paper must have a Works Cited list at the end.