If you wanted to quote from page 42 of a book by jon krakauer about an ill-fated attempt to climb mount everest (titled into thin air) for a research paper, which would be the correct way to cite this source using mla documentation?

There are a few options for this.

If you are going to use Krakauer's name to introduce the quote, then the only the page number needs to be in parentheses after the quote.

As Krakauer describes in Into Thin Air, "quote quote quote quote" (42).

If you don't use the author's name as part of your introduction to the quote, then the quote should be followed the author's last name and page number in parentheses.

Many have tried "quote quote quote" (Krakauer 42).

The Works Cited entry for MLA would also need to be completed for the research paper. However, there isn't enough information in the prompt to write a correct works cited entry beyond the following.

Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air.