CITING SOURCES

MLA STYLE

Why Cite Sources?

To avoid plagiarism To credit the source with the original idea

or information To lend credibility and authority to a thesis To back up ideas with credible illustrations,

known facts, and accepted statistics

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a crime – it is the the theft of someone’s else’s words, ideas, or research.

If you commit plagiarism, you can fail a course, be expelled from college, lose your job.

The easiest route to plagiarism today is cutting and pasting from the internet.

Avoid Plagiarism

Introduce any material you have borrowed from another source with a signal phrase that mentions the author (or if there is no author, the title ) of the source.

Put in quotation marks, any phrase or sentence(s) you have borrowed from the source.

If the quotation is longer than 3 lines, indent the quoted words.

ANY PHRASES OR SENTENCES QUOTED EXACTLY AND NOT IN QUOTATION MARKS OR INDENTED ARE PLAGIARIZED.

THERE IS

-0-TOLERANCE

FOR PLAGIARISM IN THIS COURSE

You will Fail

Help is Here

If you are confused about what plagiarism is or how to cite sources, please make an appointment with me to clarify any issues you might have. 

If this is a last minute issue, email me, and I will try to respond promptly. 

Internal Documentation

Citing Sources in the Text of an Essay

What Needs To Be Cited?

Quotations Paraphrased ideas Summarized information Facts Statistics Studies When in doubt, acknowledge the source of the

information

Ways To Cite Sources Include:

QuotationParaphraseSummary

Parenthetical Citation

The parenthetical citation must match the first word of the Works Cited citation -- usually the author’s last name -- and must include the page number of the quote, if taken from a paginated text: (Bragg 123).

Bragg, Rick. “Country Club Meets the Enemy: Country Music and Pigs.” 1999. Rpt. Somebody Told Me: The Newspaper Stories of Rick Bragg. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2000. 123-25. Print.

Quotation

In a quotation, the exact words of the source are quoted in quotation marks. Use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes

Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase: Rick Bragg quotes pig farmer, Paul Thompson:

In his article about the new Florida meeting the old Florida, Rick Bragg quotes pig farmer, Paul Thompson, “‘Now who,’” Mr. Thompson said, ‘would choose to build a golf course next to a pig farm? Didn’t they read the sign? It says pig farm, not rose garden’” (Bragg 123).

Quotation

Long quotes, quotes over 3 lines, should be indented and do not include quotation marks:

According to Rick Bragg: Lawyers for the club have said that Mr. Thompson and the neighbor who also raises music-accented pork, Tom Rossano, want the club to buy their properties at an inflated price, to gain peace and quiet. (Bragg 124)

Lines from a Poem

When quoting lines from a poem, it is important to indicate the lineation of the poem.

Lines quoted in text, indicate line breaks with slashes: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, /And sorry I could not travel both ….” (Frost 1-2)

The parenthetical citation includes the poet’s name and line numbers.

Lines from a poem

Indent quotes over two lines:

The voice in Robert Frost’s “The Road Not

Taken” faces a dilemma:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, 

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth; (1-5)

Paraphrase In a paraphrase the writer restates what the

author has said in his/her own words. A paraphrase is also introduced with a signal phrase, and the source of the information must be cited:

Bragg tells us that the country club has sued Mr. Thompson, not because of the smell, but because of the distraction caused by the country music (Bragg 123).

Summary

In a summary, the writer states in an abbreviated form the idea that the original author has expressed. A summary is also introduced with a signal phrase, and source information must be cited:

Rick Bragg describes a scene in Pt. St. Lucie where an old established pig farm wafts its manure-laden fragrance mixed with country music over to its next-door-neighbor, the manicured Florida Club golf course (Bragg 123).

Remember...

All information borrowed from another source must be acknowledged with a parenthetical citation

Introduce borrowed information with a signal phrase: According to Alice Ames, ... John Smith says…. Samuel Jones tells us… In a study by Dr. Elizabeth Owens, ...

Bibliographies and

Works Cited Lists

What’s the Difference?

A Bibliography lists all the sources consulted in research for a specific essay.A Preliminary Bibliography or Working

Bibliography lists all the sources the writer thinks s/he will be using in the essay

A Works Cited lists all the works actually cited in the text of the essay.

Both a Bibliography and Works Cited list are formatted in the same way.

Overall Format The title -- Bibliography or Works Cited -- is centered

at the top of the page. It is not underlined, italicized or quoted. It should be the same font size as the rest of the citations.

The citation list is double-spaced throughout. The citation list is alphabetized. If there is no author, the citation begins with the title

of the work – quoted if an article or poem, italicized if a book.

The first line of each citation is at the margin; subsequent lines should be indented about ten spaces.

Sample Citations:

MLA FORMAT

A Book

Bragg, Rick. Somebody Told Me: The Newspaper Stories of Rick Bragg. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2000. Print.

author title of book

subtitle of book city of publication

publisher year of publication medium

Chapter in a Book

Bragg, Rick. “Country Club Meets the Enemy:

Country Music and Pigs.” 1999. Rpt. Somebody

Told Me: The Newspaper Stories of Rick Bragg.

Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2000. 123-25. Print.

author title of chapter

original publication date reprint

city publisher year of publication medium

inclusive chapter pages

title of book subtitle of book

Article in a Journal

Maxwell, Bill. “Angry Young Man.” Forum:

The Magazine of the Florida Humanities Council.

XXII.2 (Summer 1999): 8-17. Print.

author title of article name of journal

volume number date inclusive pages of article

medium

Article in a Journal found in an Online Database

author title of article

name of journalEder, Richard, "The Greatest Woman Poet Since

Sappho." Los Angeles Times Book Review

18 Mar. 1990. 3+. Galenet: Literature

Resource Center. Web.10 Jan. 2009.

date pages publisher database

medium date accessed

Article found on an Internet Site

author title of webpage date posted

name of websiteLu Yanguang. "Madame Li." 1997. 

Asia Pac: 100 Celebrated Chinese Women.

Trans. Kate Foster. Web. 10 Feb. 2000 < http://www.span.com.au/100women/18.html > .

translator medium date accessed

URL: web address

Article in an Online Encyclopedia

“Clarice Lispector.” Wikipedia: The Free

Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

22 Dec. 2010. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.

General encyclopedias like Wikipedia are NOT considered scholarly sources for academic writing.

title of article name of encyclopedia

publisher

date last revised media date accessed

Work in an Anthology

Whitman, Walt. “O Captain! My Captain!” 1865.

Poems*Poets* Poetry: An Introduction and

author title of work original publication date

publisher year of publication medium

page of work

title of book subtitle of book

Anthology. 2nd ed. Ed. Helen Vendler. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1995. 331. Print.

edition editor city

Poems from Online Sources

McKay, Claude. “Spring in New Hampshire.”

Columbia Granger's World of Poetry Online.

2008. Columbia University Press. Web. 22 May

2008.

Rich, Adrienne. “Diving Into the Wreck.” 1973.

Poet’s.Org. 2008. American Academy of Poets.

Web. 22 May 2008.

Theatrical Program Notes

Rucker, Mark. “Director’s Notes: Murderers

by Jeffrey Hatcher.” Asolo Repertory

Theatre. Sarasota, FL. 2008-2009 Season

Program. 50. Print.

author title of article play

playwright theatre

location date

page medium

Recorded Films or Movies

Beloved. Dir. Jonathan Demme. Perf. Oprah

Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandi Newton, distributor release date medium

Kimberly Elise. Touchstone. 1991. DVD.

title of film director performers

Bibliography

Bragg, Rick. “Country Club Meets the Enemy: Country Music and

Pigs.” 1999. Rpt. Somebody Told Me: The Newspaper Stories

of Rick Bragg. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2000. 123-25. Print.

______. Somebody Told Me: The Newspaper Stories of Rick Bragg.

Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2000. Print.

Eder, Richard, "The Greatest Woman Poet Since Sappho." Los Angeles

Times Book Review 18 Mar. 1990. 3+. Galenet: Literature

Resource Center. Web. 10 Jan. 2004.

Larkin, Joan. "Frontiers of Language: Three Poets." 1974. Exc. in

"Audre Lord.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 18.

Ed. Sharon R. Gunton. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. 307-08. Print.

Lu Yanguang. "Madame Li." 1997.  Asia Pac: 100 Celebrated

Chinese Women. Trans. Kate Foster. Web. 10 Feb. 2000 < http://www.span.com.au/100women/18.html > .

Maxwell, Bill. “Angry Young Man.” Forum: The Magazine of the

Florida Humanities Council. XXII.2 (Summer 1999): 8-17. Print.

Whitman, Walt. “Osceola.” 1892. Florida in Poetry: A History of the

Imagination. Eds. Jane Anderson Jones and Maurice O’Sullivan.

Sarasota: Pineapple Press, 1995. 30-31. Print.

REMEMBER… The title -- Bibliography or Works Cited -- is centered

at the top of the page. It is not underlined, italicized or quoted. It should be the same font size as the rest of the citations.

The citation list is double-spaced throughout. The citation list is alphabetized. If there is no author, the citation begins with the title of

the work – quoted if an article or poem, italicized if a book.

The first line of each citation is at the margin; subsequent lines should be indented about ten spaces.

For Further Information

MLA Online: http://www.mla.org/ MLA 2009 Formatting and Style Guide from the Purdue Online

Writing Lab (OWL): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

Jane Anderson Jones’ Tools for Writing and Research:http://www.scf.edu/Faculty/Jonesj/Tools/tools.html

State College of Florida’s Writing and Citing Help: http://www.scf.edu/pages/767.asp (see especially “Citing Unusual Sources”)