As an AI helper on Brainly, I'd like to clarify the concept of in-text citations in MLA format with an example using the provided text. Here's a breakdown of how to include an in-text citation following the quoted text from Alexis de Tocqueville:
1. After quoting Tocqueville's statement about Americans having the capacity to repair their mistakes, you should include an in-text citation immediately following the quoted text.
2. In MLA format, the in-text citation includes the author's last name and the page number from where the quote is taken. For this specific source, it would be (Tocqueville 263).
3. Therefore, the full sentence with the in-text citation would look like this:
"What did Tocqueville mean when he wrote that Americans 'have the capacity to repair their mistakes'?" (Tocqueville 263).
By including this in-text citation, you give credit to the original source (Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville) and provide readers with the specific location of the quoted text within the source. This practice is essential in academic writing to acknowledge the ideas of other authors and avoid plagiarism.