MLA STYLE

Citing Sources:Parenthetical References

Avoiding plagiarism

When you make research your own, your writing should sound like you. However, you don’t want to mislead people into thinking that all these ideas are your own. If you do, you may be guilty of plagiarism – the act of presenting someone else’s research as your own.

Word-for-word plagiarism

In word-for-word plagiarism a researcher repeats the exact words of a source without giving the necessary credit to the original source.

Paraphrase plagiarism

Paraphrase plagiarism occurs when a researcher says basically the same thing as an original source with just a few words changed.

Spot plagiarism

In spot plagiarism, a researcher uses only a source’s key words or phrases as his or her own words without giving credit.

How do you know what to cite?

Document facts Numbers, statistics, dollar amounts,

percentages, etc. should always be documented.

Also document facts that are not commonly known or that support your position or opinion. You should particularly document controversial facts.

 You don’t have to document facts that are

considered common knowledge or facts which are easily verifiable.

 

Would you document these facts?

- There are 365 days in the year- It rained 210 days in Seattle in 2009.- The increased use of antibiotics in the

population has led to proliferation of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

- William Shakespeare was born April 23, 1564.- Carbon dioxide from car emissions was reduced

in 30 major U.S. cities between 1995-2000.- Drive-through fast-food restaurants contribute

to the increase of obesity in America.

Quotations

Document quotations from a person.Example: Justice Marshall said, “ … there shall be a

time when the constitution is challenged on this issue, but it will not happen in this decade” (Brown, 183).

MLA style

The MLA handbook suggests giving credit in the body of the paper rather than in footnotes or endnotes. To give credit for words or ideas borrowed from another source, simply insert the appropriate information (author’s last name and page number) in parentheses at the end of the sentence.

Example: The invention of the ball point pen, and its

subsequent evolution into a common household item, revolutionized how we write (Chapman, 11).

Keep in mind two points

First, indicate as precisely as you can where you found the information. (Use page numbers, volumes numbers, acts, chapters, etc.)

Second, make sure all or your sources are listed in the Work Cited section of your paper.

One author: Citing a complete work

No parenthetical documentation is needed if you identify the author in the your text.

In No Need for Hunger, Robert Spitzer recommends that the U.S. government develop a new foreign policy to help Third World countries overcome with poverty and hunger.

However you must give the author’s last name in a parenthetical reference if it is not mentioned in the text.

No Need for Hunger recommends that the U.S. government develop a new foreign policy to help Third World countries overcome with poverty and hunger (Spitzer).

On author: Citing Part of a Work

List the necessary page numbers if you borrow words or ideas from a particular work.

With author in text: Bullough writes that genetic engineering was dubbed

“eugenics” by a cousin of Darwin’s in 1885 (5).

Without author in text: Genetic engineering was dubbed “eugenics” by a cousin of

Darwin’s in 1885 (Bullough 5).

What if there is no author?

Use the title of the source, in place of the author’s last name, if there is no author listed.

Ex: No scientific evidence is available to

support the claim that cell phones cause brain tumors (Cell Phones Today, 45).

Where did this information come from?!

Sebranek, Patrick, Verne Meyer and Dave Kemper. Writers Inc: A Student Handbook for Writing and Learning. Wilmington, MA: Great Source Education Group, 1996.