MLA FORMAT

Plagiarism

Quoting, Paraphrasing & Summarizing

Citing & Acknowledging Sources

Professor Y. Bailey-Kirby

College of Southern Nevada

WHAT IS PLAGIARISM?

Plagiarism (from a Latin word for “kidnapper”) is to take the words

of another and present them as one’s own.

The student turns in a composition written in whole or in part by

another.

The student presents a composition, without indicating quotation

marks, and without attributing the words thus presented to

his/her source, the exact words of another writer in such a way

as to suggest that those words are the student’s own.

The student presents a composition, in paraphrase and/or

summary, without indicating paraphrase or summary, and

without attributing the thoughts thus presented to his/her source,

the thoughts or ideas of another in such a way as to suggest that

those thoughts or ideas are the student’s own.

DELIBERATE VS. ACCIDENTAL PLAGIARISM

DELIBERATE:

Copying a phrase, a sentence, or a longer passage from a source and passing it off as your own.

Summarizing or paraphrasing someone else’s ideas without acknowledging your debt.

Buying a term paper and handing it in as your own.

ACCIDENTAL:

Forgetting to place quotation marks around another writer’s words.

Omitting a source citation for another’s ideas because you are unaware of the need to acknowledge the idea.

HOW DO YOU AVOID PLAGIARISM?

In order to avoid plagiarism, students must document (cite

sources) appropriately and correctly.

If something (language, facts, opinions, ideas, etc.) is

discovered through research, it must be documented with a

parenthetical citation and a “Works Cited”.

When you cite material from another source, you need to

acknowledge the source, usually by citing the author and page

in your text and including a list of works cited or references at

the end of your paper.

You may summarize, paraphrase, and/or quote in your paper, but

you must always credit your source!

The only types of information that do not require

acknowledgement are common knowledge (J.F. Kennedy was

assassinated in Dallas), familiar sayings (“Haste makes waste”),

and well-known quotations (“To be or not to be, That is the

question”).

CHECKLIST FOR AVOIDING PLAGIARISM

What type of source are you using: your own independent material,

common knowledge, or someone else’s independent material? You

must acknowledge someone else’s material!!!

If you are quoting someone else’s material, is the quotation exact?

Have you inserted quotation marks around quotations run into the

text? Have you shown omissions with ellipsis and additions with

brackets?

If you are paraphrasing or summarizing someone else’s material,

have you used your own words and sentence structures? Does

your paraphrase or summary employ quotation marks when you

resort to the author’s exact language? Have you represented the

author’s meaning without distortion?

Is each use of someone else’s material acknowledged in your text?

Are all your source citations complete and accurate?

Does your list of “Works Cited” include all the sources you have

drawn from in writing your paper?

WHAT IS SUMMARY?

Summaries convey the gist of the source, using enough information to record the main points for emphasis and it is approximately ¼ the original length of a passage.

Summarize:

To present main points of a lengthy passage (article or book).

To condense peripheral points necessary to a discussion.

WHAT IS A PARAPHRASE?

A paraphrase is often about the same length as the original passage because all the details of the passage are included, and it is useful for recording details of the passage when the order of the details is important but the source’s wording is not particularly striking.

Paraphrase:

To clarify a short passage

To emphasize main points

WHAT’S A QUOTE?

A quote records the exact language used by someone in speech or in writing.

Quote:

When the wording of the source is particularly memorable or vivid or expresses a point so well that you cannot improve it without destroying the meaning.

When the words of reliable and respected authorities would lend support to your opinion.

When you wish to highlight the author’s opinions.

When you wish to cite an author whose opinions challenge or vary greatly from those of other experts, or

When you are going to discuss the source’s choice of words.

TESTS FOR DIRECT QUOTATIONS

The author’s original satisfies one of these requirements:

The language is unusually vivid, bold, or inventive.

The quotation cannot be paraphrased without distortion or loss of meaning.

The words themselves are at issue in your interpretation.

The quotation represents and emphasizes the view of an important expert.

The quotation is a graph, diagram, or table.

The quotation is as short as possible:

It includes only material relevant to your point.

It is edited to eliminate unneeded examples and other material.

INTRODUCE QUOTES, SUMMARIES, &

PARAPHRASES WITH STRONG VERBS

When attributing sources in single phrases, try to vary the standard “states,” “writes,” “says,” and so on.

Other, stronger verbs you might consider: Asserts, Argues, Maintains, Insists, Contends, Asks, Wonders, Believes, etc. For example: Dr. John Smith argues, “Four out of five

people who smoke cigarettes lose ten years off their life” (8).

Some verbs to introduce summaries, paraphrases, and quotations, when an author is neutral: Notes, Comments, Describes, Explains, Illustrates, Says, Observes, Points out, Records, Relates, Reports, Sees, Thinks, and Writes.

MORE EXAMPLES OF STRONG VERBS

Verbs to introduce summaries, paraphrases, and quotations,

when an author infers or suggests: Analyzes, Asks,

Assesses, Concludes, Considers, Finds, Predicts, Proposes,

Reveals, Shows, Speculates, Suggests, and Supposes.

Verbs to introduce summaries, paraphrases, and quotations,

when an author is uneasy or disparaging: Belittles,

Bemoans, Complains, Condemns, Deplores, Deprecates,

Derides, Laments, and Warns.

Verbs to introduce summaries, paraphrases, and quotations,

when an author argues: Maintains, Alleges, Claims,

Contends, Defends, Disagrees, Holds, and Insists.

Verbs to introduce summaries, paraphrases, and quotations,

when an author agrees: Admits, Agrees, Concedes,

Concurs, and Grants.

PARENTHETICAL CITATION FOR A PARAPHRASE,

SUMMARY, AND SHORT QUOTES

You will need to note source information for every

quotation, summary, and paraphrase. In the MLA style,

at the end of your sentence and/or quotation marks if a

direct quote, you will place the author’s last name and

page number within a parenthetical citation and the

punctuation will follow the final parenthesis.

“Only one article mentions this discrepancy” (Wolfe 6).

However, if the author is acknowledged beforehand, you

will only need to place the page number within the

parenthetical citation.

Wolfe writes, “Only one article mentions this

discrepancy” (6).

PARENTHETICAL CITATION FOR A LONG QUOTE

However, if you quote a lengthy passage, your BLOCK quotations must be indented and punctuation is placed before the parenthetical citation.

Double space between lines just as you do in your text. Do not enclose the passage within quotation marks. Use a colon to introduce a block quotation, unless the context calls for another punctuation mark or none at all.

Put in block form prose quotations exceeding four typed lines (less than four is okay) and poetry quotations of four or more lines.

Indent the quotation an inch (ten character spaces) from the left margin.

When quoting single paragraph or part of one in the MLA style, do not indent the first line of the quotation more than the rest.

EXAMPLE OF BLOCK QUOTE

Janet Todd explains Behn’s reverence for the Stuart monarchy:

She was a passionate supporter for both Charles II and

James II as not simply rulers but as sacred majesties, god-

kings on earth, whose private failings in no way distracted

from their high office [. . .]. For her, royalty was not

patriarchal anachronism as it would be for liberated women

writers a hundred years on, but a mystical state. (73)

While it is true that Behn expressed “passionate support” in a

poem written in praise of James II (Todd 73), her novels suggest

that her attitude toward the Stuarts was much more complicated.

OTHER RULES TO THE PARENTHETICAL CITATION

If there are no page numbers to cite, provide the paragraph number of the source or line number if it is referring to a line from a poem.

If the source has two author’s, name both of them, or if there are several author’s (more than three), you may name all of them or simply put the last name of the first author listed, with “et al” after their name to indicate “and the rest.”

If the source is anonymous, you will place the title of the source within the parenthesis.

If you are referring to two or more of the author’s works in the passage, you will need to put the author’s last name, followed by a comma, the title of the work to differentiate the specific reference from the other work, and then the page number within the parenthetical reference.

THE WORKS CITED

Your parenthetical documentation consists of references that become meaningful when the reader consults a list entitled, Works Cited, given at the end of your essay.

If the last page of your essay’s text is 10, then the list begins on page 11.

Your last name and the page number will appear in the upper right hand corner, half an inch from the top of the sheet.

Next, type “Works Cited,” centered, one inch from the top, then double-space and type the first entry.

CONVENTIONS FOR WORKS CITED

Arrange the list alphabetically by author, with the author’s last name first.

List an anonymous work alphabetically under the first word of the title, or under the second word if the first word is A, An, or The, or a foreign equivalent.

If your list includes two or more works by one author, the work whose title comes earlier in the alphabet precedes the work whose title comes later in the alphabet.

Begin each entry flush with the left margin, but if an entry runs to more than one line, indent five spaces for each succeeding line of the entry.

Double-space each entry, and double-space between entries.

BASIC FORMAT FOR A BOOK

All the information for producing a list of sources in your “Works Cited” can be found on the title page of each book or on the page after the title page.

First, identify the author’s full name: the last name first, followed by a comma, and then the first name and any middle name or initial. Omit any title or degree attached to the author’s name on the source, such as Dr. or Ph.D. End the name with a period.

Second, list the full title of the book, including any subtitle. Italicize the complete title, capitalize all important words, separate the main title and the subtitle with a colon and one space, and end the title with a period and two spaces.

Third, record the publication information: A) The city of publication, followed by a colon and one space. B) The name of the publisher, followed by a comma. Shorten most publishers’ names—in many cases to a single word. For instance, use “Knopf” for Alfred A. Knopf and “Little” for Little, Brown. For University presses, use the abbreviation “UP,” as in the example for Gilligan. C) The date of publication, ending with a period.

Finally, identify the medium of publication as Print.

EXAMPLE OF A BOOK IN A “WORKS CITED”

Gilligan, Carol. In a Different Voice:

Psychological Theory and Women’s

Development. Cambridge: Harvard

UP, 1982. Print.

BASIC FORMAT FOR PERIODICALS: JOURNALS,

MAGAZINES, AND NEWSPAPERS

First, identify the author’s full name: last name first, followed by a

comma, and then the first name and any middle name or initial. Omit

any title or degree attached to the author’s name on the source,such

as Dr. or Ph.D. End the name with a period and two spaces.

Second, list the full title of the article, including any subtitle. Place

the title in quotation marks, capitalize all important words in the title,

and end the title with a period (inside the final quotation marks) and

two spaces.

Third, record the publication information: A)The italicized title of the

periodical (minus A, An, or The at the beginning.) B)The volume or

issue number (in Arabic numerals). C)The date of publication,

followed by a colon and a space. D) The inclusive page numbers of

the article (without the abbreviations “pp.”) For the second number

in the inclusive page numbers over 100, provide only as many digits

as needed for clarity (usually two): 100-01, 1026-36, 1190-206, 398-

401.

Finally, identify the medium of print as Print.

EXAMPLE OF A PERIODICAL IN A “WORKS CITED”

Lever, Janet. “Sex Differences in the Game

Children Play.” Social Problems 23

(1976): 478-87. Print.

(*Note: Anonymous sources start with title.*)

“Dangers of Texting and Driving.” Car and

Driver 10 (2010): 34-35. Print.

BASIC FORMAT FOR CITATIONS OF ELECTRONIC

SOURCES/ONLINE DATABASES

Author and/or editor names (if available)

Article name in quotation marks (if applicable)

Title of the Website, project, or book in italics. (Remember that some Print publications have Web publications with slightly different names. They may, for example, include the additional information or otherwise modified information, like domain names [e.g. .com or .net].)

Any version numbers available, including revisions, posting dates, volumes, or issue numbers.

Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date.

Take note of any page numbers (if available).

Medium of publication.

Date you accessed the material.

URL (if required, or for your own personal reference).

Not every Web page will provide all of the following information;

however, collect as much of these common features as possible both

for your citations and for your research notes:

USE OF THE URLS IN MLA CITATIONS

Note MLA no longer requires the use of URLs in MLA citations.

Because Web addresses are not static (i.e., they change often) and

because documents sometimes appear in multiple places on the Web

(e.g., on multiple databases), MLA explains that most readers can find

electronic sources via title or author searches in Internet Search

Engines.

Some instructors or editors still wish to require the use of URLs, so

MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of

access. Break URLs only after slashes.

Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. S. H. Butcher. The Internet Classics Archive.

Web Atomic and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 13

Sept. 2007. Web. 4 Nov. 2008. ‹http://classics.mit.edu/›.

COMMON ABBREVIATIONS USED WITH

ELECTRONIC SOURCES

If publishing information is unavailable for entries that require

publication information such as publisher (or sponsor) names and

publishing dates, MLA requires the use of special abbreviations to

indicate that this information is not available. Use n.p. to indicate

that neither a publisher nor a sponsor name has been provided. Use

n.d. when the Web page does not provide a publication date.

When an entry requires that you provide a page but no pages are

provided in the source (as in the case of an online-only scholarly

journal or a work that appears in an online-only anthology), use the

abbreviation n. pag.

Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current

Conditions and Future Directions.” Social Work and Society:

The International Online-Only Journal 6.2 (2008): n. pag. Web.

20 May 2009.