Along with your “works cited,” or what was formerly called a “bibliography,” parenthetical
documentation is a way to tell your readers not only what works you used in writing the paper but also, according to the 7th edition of the MLA Handbook, “what you derived from each source and where in the work you found the material. The most practical way to supply this information is to insert a brief parenthetical acknowledgment (called a “parenthetical reference”) in your paper wherever you incorporate another’s words, facts, or ideas. Usually the author’s last name and a page reference are enough to identify the source and the specific l