Blending Reference

Material into Your Paper

We actually get to use

some of our research?
MLA Style-Modern Language
Association
 Plagiarism is theft.
• Use Turnitin.com
• Each direct quote (sentence or phrase),
paraphrase, and summary must give credit to
its author.
 MLA uses an in-text citation method.
• Seems like limitless variations
• On-line sources
• MLA handbook
 In-text Components
 All of this is generated from the Works Cited
Citation (NoodleTools)
• Only include the sources cited in the paper.
• If you read it, but didn’t put a quote, paraphrase or summary
from it in your paper, don’t put it on your works cited page.
 2 Pieces
• Author attribution
• Who said it? (person, group, website, publisher)
• Work cited from
• Where can I see the original quote? (page number)
 LEO: Literacy Education Online
3 Variations for In-text citations
of Known Author(s) and page(s)
 Begin quote with author’s name (attribution), end quote with page
number.
• Smith states “the chicken came before the egg.” (21)
 Begin quote with author’s name (attribution) and page number.
• Smith (21) states “the chicken came before the egg.”
 End quote with author’s name and page number.
• “The chicken came before the egg” (Smith 21).
• Paraphrase should give a signal that the upcoming thought is a
paraphrase
• One source believes that the chicken arrived on the scene well before the
egg (Smith 21).
Signal Phrases are vital—see Diane Hacker for more examples of
signal phrases (essentially, the author attribution part).
Unknown Author(s)
 Citations are in the same positions.

 Attributions are then made to editor, name of

article, report, website, or publisher in that
order.
• (Tomlinson 14)
• (“Citation is Hard” 33)
• (School Choice 23)
• (Turnitin.com)
• (McGraw-Hill 54)
Non-Internet Sources with No
Page Number
Sources such as lectures, movies, and songs
have no page numbers.

 Still need to cite, but introduce the media type

so that the reader knows there will be no page
number.
• Tomlinson’s lecture on plagiarism states, “If you’ve
done something you don’t want your teacher to know
about, you’ve probably plagiarized.”

• You will not have a page number in the

parentheses.
Citing Internet Sources
 Same rules as previous apply.
 Exceptions/Additions
• Include credibility claims
• The UCLA Center for Communication Policy, which
conducted an intensive study of television violence,
concluded that
• Omit page/paragraph numbers (unless included in
pdf electronic article—Adobe Acrobat)
• Monitors and printers differ
• Count paragraphs?
• Readers can use “find” function
Special Problems
 Frequent page references to same work
• Use one citation at end of paragraph
• Be very specific with signal phrases or else the
reader will assume the entire paragraph is
cited (not your own words)
 Using texts and anthologies
• Cite anthology in Works Cited
• Author in paragraph, anthology page number
Punctuating the Citation
 Do it correctly and consistently.
 The in-text citation goes between the last
quotation mark and the end mark of the
sentence.
 Nothing but a space separates the
attribution and the page number.
• “The benefits of cloning far exceed any harm
that might occur” (Smith 34).
Omitting certain items in a
quotation
 Sometimes, you make the choice to omit words, phrases
and clauses from a quote.
• DO NOT CHANGE MEANING!
 Use an ellipsis (use it sparingly)
• Three points with a space on either side
• “Such episodes are intended to demonstrate that Vere … has the
intelligence and insight to perceive the deeper issue” (118).

• End of a sentence is followed with a period. (4)

• R.W.B. Lewis (62) declares that “if Hester has sinned, she has done so
as an affirmation of lie, and her sin is the source of life….”

• MLA demands that if you have inserted an ellipsis into a quote,

you bracket it to distinguish it from author’s words.
• “Such episodes are intended to demonstrate that Vere […] has the
intelligence and insight to perceive the deeper issue” (118).
 Using Parenthesis and Brackets
 Parenthesis are used to insert your
comments or explanations.
• Boughman (46) urges car makers to “direct the
force of automotive airbags upward against the
windshield” (emphasis added).
ing!
It
th h, I y
• Note the placement of the page
ite a ll
or , ye tica ing d
parenthetical is at start so as not to be
v
m
a s a
y f say mm cop e h !
y a confused with your comment.
is cally gra I’m ourc boo
i s i
o
’s
Th bas w it t, bu the boo
c
t s
a-
-  [sic] indicates that although you know
kn orre way an
inc t the na-
a
n that something in the quote is
jus it. N
grammatically incorrect, you quoted it
verbatim.
• Roberts (22) comments that “politicians suffer a
conflict with honoure” [sic].
Using Brackets
 Brackets insert your comment directly into the quote.
Clarifies the

•
pronoun “it”
Use to clarify–
• Tomlinson indicates that “we must not read it [The Vampire
Lestat] to enlighten us” (21).
• “His presidency [JFK’s] was often referred to as Camelot”
(Tomlinson 21). Would be
grammatically
incorrect if you didn’t
• Use to establish grammar— insert “was”.

• “His presidency [was] often referred to as Camelot”

(Tomlinson 21).
• Use to note the addition of underlining—
• same as parenthesis (see previous slide for example)
• Always bracket [sic] because it’s your comment.
Dealing with a Quote’s
Internal Punctuation
 The key is to clearly distinguish the quote from
extraneous material.
 Follow the rules of grammar
• A quote with in a quote uses apostrophes.
• Tomlinson (23) states, “I have found that ‘reflection,
application, and creation’ are intertwined.”
 If what you quote or paraphrase in your paper
is itself a quotation in the source, add the
phrase “qtd. In” to the parenthetical.
• “I have proven that the chicken came before the egg” (qtd.
in Smith 21).
Treatment of Long Quotations
pp. 191-92 WRP
 When dealing with quotes of four lines or more,
the same citation rules apply.
 Style issues:
• Indent quote 1 inch or 10 spaces (2 tabs)
• Do not use quotation marks
• Do not indent if quoting one paragraph.
• Indent second paragraph three spaces
• Double space
• Parenthetical is placed after final end mark.
• This is the only time where it is done this way; don’t
ask me why—MLA wants it that way