"Narrative citations" are those you make when you mention the relevant authors in the body of your own writing (e.g. as part of a sentence), such as:
James Adams refuted the Wagonner theory long before the events in question (248).
The first time you mention the authors in your prose, include both first and last names. For all subsequent references to those authors, use only their last names. (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p.232).
In-Text Citations
In-text citations are brief references and are intended to direct the reader clearly and easily to the works-cited list for the sources you consulted, and where relevant, to the location in the source being cited. They should always appear right after the content you are summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting.
An in-text citation begins with the shortest piece of information that directs your reader to the entry in the works-cited list. Generally, it will begin with either the author's surname, or the title (description) of the work and a page number, time stamp, or other indicator of the place in the work the information can be found. The citation can either appear in your writing or in parentheses.
Keep the references in parentheses as brief as possible. If you mention the author’s name or the title of the source in your text, then you do not include that information in the parenthetical reference.
e.g. This point has been argued before (McMann 16-19).
McMann has argued this point (16-19).
Others, like Blocker and Plumer (52), hold an opposite point of view.
Stress and a poor diet can have a detrimental effect on proper liver functioning (American Medical Association 209).
If the work has three or more authors, give the first author’s last name followed by “et al.” then the page number(s) (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 232).
e.g. Some interesting interpretations of this concept have recently been suggested (Jones et al. 25-37).
If there are citations to material by different authors with the same surname, add the author’s first initial. If these authors have the same initial as well, use the full first name (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 234).
e.g. Neurological pathways are created through habitual actions (J. Stevens 87).
If there are two or more titles by the same author in your Works Cited list, give the author’s last name, the title, followed by the page number(s). Abbreviate the title if it is longer than a few words (when abbreviating the title, begin with the first word) (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 235).
e.g. The fashion was very popular in certain parts of Northern England (Pollack, Dickinson 32-33).
(In the example, ‘Dickinson’ is the shortened title of Pollack’s Dickinson: The Anxiety of Gender).
If there is no author, the title may appear in the text itself or, abbreviated, before the page number in the in-text citation (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 237).
e.g. Classical Mythology of Greece notes that he was cut up and boiled in a cauldron by Titans sent by Hera (78).
or
e.g. He was cut up and boiled in a cauldron by Titans sent by Hera (Classical Mythology 78).
Web documents usually do not have fixed page numbers or any kind of section numbering. If your online source does not have numbering, you have to omit numbers from your parenthetical references. Do not count unnumbered paragraphs (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 248).
e.g. Winkfield compares it to the current political environment of Zimbabwe.
The works cited list would include an entry that begins with Winkfield.
If a source, such as a web document, does provide definite paragraph numbers, give the abbreviation par. or pars. or sections (sec., secs.) or chapters (ch., chs.) along with the paragraph number or numbers (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 244).
e.g. Devereux states that “Finley introduced energy psychology to modern psychiatry in the late twentieth century” (par. 30).
For time-based media, such as audio or video recordings, cite the relevant time or time span if it is displayed. Give the numbers of the hours, minutes, and seconds, separating the numbers with colons, with no space on either side (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 250).
e.g. Buffy’s promise that “there’s not going to be any incidents like at my old school” is obviously not one on which she can follow through (“Buffy” 00:03:16-17).
Paraphrased ideas - "Paraphrasing allows you to maintain your own voice while demonstrating that you understand the source because you can restate its points in your own words and with your own sentence structure." To properly give credit in MLA 9, you need to include an in-text citation directing the reader to a works-cited list entry (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 98).