Using MLA Citation Style:The Only Way to Write a Credible

Paper AND Avoid Plagiarism

What is “MLA?”

• Stands for the “Modern Language Association”• Make up rules about citation– Citation style is called “MLA Format”– Is standard for high school humanities classes– If you can use MLA, you can use any citation style

Why do we have to learn this?

• If you don’t cite your sources, you are plagiarizing.

• Plagiarism = the uncredited use (both intentional and unintentional) of somebody else's words or ideas.

• High school vs. college vs. “real world” consequences?

What are some examples of plagiarism?

• buying, stealing, or borrowing a paper (including, of course, copying an entire paper or article from the Web)

• hiring someone to write your paper for you • copying large sections of text from a source

without quotation marks or proper citation.

The bigger problem…

• “accidental plagiarism”

• Using words of a source too closely when paraphrasing (where quotation marks should have been used)

• Building on someone's ideas without citing their work.

Key to Avoiding Plagiarism?

• Document any words, ideas, or other productions that originate somewhere outside of you using proper citation.

• Basically– anytime you summarize, paraphrase or quote information from a source you found.

When do we insert a citation?

• Words or ideas presented in a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, Web page, computer program, letter, advertisement, or any other medium

• Information you gain through interviewing or conversing with another person, face to face, over the phone, or in writing

• When you copy the exact words or a unique phrase• When you reprint any diagrams, illustrations, charts,

pictures, or other visual materials• When you reuse or repost any electronically-available

media, including images, audio, video, or other media

So when is it NOT necessary to cite a source?

• Writing your own lived experiences, your own observations and insights, your own thoughts, and your own conclusions about a subject

• When you are writing up your own results obtained through lab or field experiments

• When you use your own artwork, digital photographs, video, audio, etc.

• When you are using "common knowledge," things like folklore, common sense observations, myths, dates, and urban legends

• When you are using generally-accepted facts, e.g., pollution is bad for the environment

What do I need to do for my paper then?

1. Create a Works Cited page.2. Insert parenthetical citations throughout

your paper when necessary.

How to Make a Works Cited Page

• Same thing as a bibliography• Delete the annotations from your AB – you

have all your citations! • Always begin your Works Cited page on a

separate page at the end of your research paper.

Sample Works Cited PageHarris 4

Works Cited

"Blueprint Lays Out Clear Path for Climate Action." Environmental Defense Fund. Environmental Defense Fund, 8 May 2007.

Web. 24 May 2009.

Clinton, Bill. Interview by Andrew C. Revkin. “Clinton on Climate Change.” New York Times. New York Times, May 2007. Web.

25 May 2009.

Dean, Cornelia. "Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet." New York Times. New York Times, 22 May 2007. Web. 25 May

2009.

Ebert, Roger. "An Inconvenient Truth." Rev. of An Inconvenient Truth, dir. Davis Guggenheim. Rogerebert.com. Sun-Times News

Group, 2 June 2006. Web. 24 May 2009.

GlobalWarming.org. Cooler Heads Coalition, 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.

Gowdy, John. "Avoiding Self-organized Extinction: Toward a Co-evolutionary Economics of Sustainability." International

Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 14.1 (2007): 27-36. Print.

How do I create in-text citations?

• MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation called “parenthetical documentation.”

• (author's last name, page number) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken

For example…

• Romantic poetry is usually characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).

• Some poets extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (Wordsworth 263).

Exceptions?

• There is no author, only an editor– Use the editor’s name instead

• If you don’t know the author– Use the publishing organization instead

• It is from the internet, rather than a print source– The title of the webpage you are using to replace

the page number

For example…

• Romantic poetry is usually characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (American Historians Association 263).

• Some poets extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (Smith, “Poetry and Emotion”).

Presentation Review1. What is the purpose of citing sources?2. What is the definition of plagiarism?3. Give an example of “obvious” plagiarism.4. Give an example of “accidental” plagiarism.5. When do you need to cite a source?6. 2 things you learned about formatting a Works Cited page.7. Ms. Harris is citing information from page 21 from History is

Awesome by R. Ayala. What would her citation look like?8. Ms. Harris is citing information from a website called

“Democracy– Wow!”. It is published by PBS. What would her citation look like?