Q. How do I do an in-text citation for a Youtube video?

MLA does not have a specific recommendation for YouTube videos, so the standard is to use the format for online film or video. Here are the basics:

Author’s Name or Poster’s Username. “Title of Video.” Online video clip. Name of Website. Name of Website’s Publisher, date of posting. Web. date retrieved.

It is very common for any web resources not to have all of the info MLA would like. If any piece is unavailable, make your best effort to find it. Sometimes you have to look at other portions of the website to find the required info, and sometimes it is truly unavailable. In that case, skip it and move on to the next piece required.

You could also try using a citation generator like Zoterobib, input the URL of the video and let it generate the citation for you.

1. Start of by pasting in the URL of the video.
2. Review the info retrieved to make sure it is correct.
3. Review the info that Zoterobib says is missing and try to find it, filling each piece in the form.
4. When done grab your citation.
5. Note that you will need to add Online video clip after the title.

Here is an example (without the double spaced, hanging indent Times new Roman 12" formatting)

Shimabukuro, Jake. "Ukulele Weeps by Jake Shimabukuro." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 22 Apr. 2006. Web. 9 Sept. 2010.