Question

Which correctly demonstrates MLA formatting?
One way of going about research is “by browsing the academic search engine at your school library.” (Scott 56)
One way of going about research is “by browsing the academic search engine at your school library” (Scott 56).
One way of going about research is “by browsing the academic search engine at your school library (Scott 56).”
One way of going about research is “by browsing the academic search engine at your school library. (Scott 56)”

Answer 1

The second sentence is correct:

One way of going about research is “by browsing the academic search engine at your school library” (Scott 56).

In MLA (author–page) style the parenthetical citation comes after the closing quotation marks and before the final punctuation.