Paraphrasing in MLA style means restating someone else’s idea in your own words while providing an author-page citation. You still need to credit the source, even though you aren’t using a direct quote. The rules are straightforward once you understand the citation format and what counts as a genuine paraphrase versus a too-close rewrite.
What MLA Expects From a Paraphrase
MLA format uses the author-page method for in-text citations. Whether you’re quoting or paraphrasing, the author’s last name and the page number from which the idea is taken must appear somewhere in the sentence. A complete entry for the source also needs to appear on your Works Cited page.
You have two options for placing this information. You can put both the author and page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence, just before the period. Or you can mention the author’s name in the sentence itself and put only the page number in parentheses. Here’s the difference in practice:
- Author in parentheses: Early Romantic poets believed emotional experience was the foundation of great art (Wordsworth 263).
- Author in the sentence: Wordsworth argued that emotional experience was the foundation of great art (263).
Notice that in neither version do you put the page number directly in the sentence text. The page number always goes inside the parentheses. Also notice there’s no comma between the author’s name and the page number, and no “p.” before the number. These small formatting details are easy to get wrong, so it’s worth memorizing the pattern.
Using Signal Phrases
A signal phrase is a short introduction that names the author and uses a verb to describe what they’re doing in the source. MLA style favors the present tense for these verbs. Common options include:
- Doe argues that…
- Doe suggests that…
- Doe indicates…
- As Doe implies…
- The work of Doe shows that…
You can also use verbs that express disagreement with another source, such as “Doe refutes the claim that…” or “Doe disputes the idea that…” The verb you choose should reflect what the author is actually doing. If they’re making a tentative suggestion, “suggests” fits better than “declares.”
Signal phrases matter because they change what goes in the parentheses. When you name the author in a signal phrase, you only need the page number at the end. When you don’t use a signal phrase, both the author and the page number go in parentheses together. Either approach is correct, but mixing signal phrases into your writing makes paragraphs read more naturally than stacking parenthetical citations at the end of every sentence.
When There’s No Page Number or No Author
Many sources you’ll paraphrase, especially websites and online articles, don’t have page numbers. The MLA Style Center is clear on this: when a source has no page numbers or any other kind of part number, don’t put a number in the parenthetical citation. If you’ve already named the author in a signal phrase and the source has no page numbers, you don’t include a parenthetical citation at all. The signal phrase alone is enough.
For example: Johnson argues that social media has reshaped how teenagers form friendships. That sentence is fully cited in MLA if the source has no page numbers, because the author’s name is already in the text and a matching entry exists on the Works Cited page.
If no author is listed for the source, use the title instead. After you’ve mentioned the full title once, you can shorten it in later references. A short title in parentheses takes the place of the author’s name.
How to Actually Rewrite the Idea
Getting the citation format right is only half the job. The other half is making sure your paraphrase is genuinely in your own words. MLA draws a sharp line between paraphrasing and something called “patchwriting,” which is copying the original language but swapping out a few words or plugging in synonyms. Patchwriting is not paraphrasing. It’s editing someone else’s sentence rather than representing their idea in your own language, and most instructors treat it as a form of plagiarism.
Patchwriting usually happens when you’re looking at the original text while writing. A better process is to read the passage, close the source or look away, and then write what the author’s point was from memory. If you can explain the idea without glancing back, you’ve understood it well enough to paraphrase it. Then check the original to make sure you captured the meaning accurately and didn’t accidentally borrow distinctive phrases.
Here’s a concrete example. Say the original source reads: “The collapse of local newspapers has created vast information deserts in rural communities.” A patchwritten version might say: “The decline of local newspapers has produced large information deserts in rural areas.” That sentence follows the same structure and swaps near-synonyms (“collapse” to “decline,” “vast” to “large,” “communities” to “areas”). A real paraphrase restructures the idea: “Rural residents increasingly lack access to local news coverage because so many community papers have shut down.” The meaning is preserved, but the sentence structure and word choices are entirely your own.
Putting It All Together
A well-integrated MLA paraphrase combines three elements: a genuine restatement of the idea, a signal phrase or parenthetical citation that identifies the author, and a page number when the source has one. Here’s what a finished paragraph might look like in a research paper:
Garcia argues that standardized testing incentivizes schools to narrow their curricula to only the subjects being measured (47). Rather than exploring art, music, or project-based science, students spend months drilling reading and math skills that map to test questions. This pattern is especially pronounced in underfunded districts, where test scores directly affect the school’s budget (Garcia 48).
In that example, the first sentence uses a signal phrase (“Garcia argues”) with just the page number in parentheses. The second sentence adds the writer’s own analysis, with no citation needed because it’s the writer’s own point. The third sentence returns to Garcia’s research and puts both the author and page in parentheses because no signal phrase was used. Varying your approach like this keeps the writing from feeling mechanical while staying within MLA rules.
Quick Checklist
- Restate in your own words: Change both the sentence structure and the vocabulary, not just individual words.
- Include author and page: Put them in parentheses together, or name the author in a signal phrase and put only the page number in parentheses.
- No page number available: Leave the parentheses out entirely if the author is already named in the sentence.
- No author available: Use the source’s title in place of the author name.
- Add a Works Cited entry: Every source you paraphrase needs a full entry on your Works Cited page.
- Check for patchwriting: Compare your paraphrase to the original. If the sentence structure mirrors the source, rewrite it.