MLA Guidelines for Borrowing Sources

1. MLA Guidelines for Borrowing Sources

2. In order to avoid plagiarism you need to signal clearly when you use someone else’s words or ideas. • Quotation • Paraphrase • Summary

3. Ch 19 Using Sources • Another writer’s words appear in quotation marks in order to offset them from your own. Unless you are citing a source your reader assumes every word is originally yours. • Article titles are presented in quotation marks, the title of magazines, newspapers, books and films are italicized or underlined. Pick one and stick with it. • Use a quote only when paraphrasing the author won’t compare in elegance or rhetorical emphasis.

4. Use quotes sparingly and carefully • Short quotations (4 lines or less) appear in double quotations (“like this”) with the author and page number attributed. Use tags to blend the borrowed material with your own. • Last month’s Vogue reminds us that Coco Chanel famously observed “fashion fades, only style remains” early in her career, and the call to cultivate a personal look still motivates women with the financial means (127).

5. Avoid letting quotes hang by themselves or ending a paragraph with a quote. Strive to blend it into your own prose. Don’t assume that your reader knows why you’ve included a quote and explain its significance. Avoid using a colon to introduce a quote. Pauline Kael’s unqualified praise for Brando’s performance in Last Tango in Paris fails to take into account that he’s cruel and a rapist. “His full art is realized; his performance is intuitive, rapt, princely.”

6. If you add a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the words to indicate that they are not part of the original text. Brackets distinguish your words. • Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, explains: "some individuals [who retell urban legends] make a point of learning every rumor or tale" (78).

7. If you omit material from the middle of a quotation, signal this to your reader by using brackets around the ellipsis. In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor [. . .] and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs" (78).

8. Longer quotes should be conscientiously avoided in short assignments such as this. Quotes longer than 4 lines are set off from the rest of the essay by indenting every line ten spaces or one inch. Quotation marks are omitted. • Your essay showcases your own prose style. Don’t let your borrowed sources take over and swallow up the space. When you include bulky quotes you announce that you have nothing to say.

9. Paraphrase • You cannot discuss other arguments without learning how to paraphrase. • Identify the source before you discuss it. • Use tags to describe what the author does with the argument (advises, argues, affirms, defends, explains, declares, interprets, emphasizes, observes, reveals, suggests) • Restate the author’s points in your own words and sentence structure without changing or adding to what the author expressed.

10. Summary • Identify the source. • A summary cites a broad overview of a larger work in a condensed manner. • Present the author’s ideas in your own words and sentence structure. • A paraphrase and summary demonstrate that you understand and have control over your borrowed material.

11. Works Cited in Alphabetical order • Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper. • Label the page Works Cited (do not underline the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page. • Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries. • List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as 225-50. • If you're citing an article or a publication that was originally issued in print form but that you retrieved from an online database, you should provide the URL address.

12. Evaluation Arguments • Are based on the application of designated criteria. Criteria selection forces us to examine our judgments and confront “why.” • X is (or is not) a superior Y because it meets (or does not meet) criteria A, B, C, etc. • Remember the value of controversy in your arguments. Your paper will be uninteresting if you choose a topic with which everyone will clearly agree. For example, we all know Paris Hilton is an inferior actor.

13. Quantitative & Qualitative • Quantitative evaluations construct criterion that can be measured in a clearly demonstrative manner. These arguments claim that one thing is taller, faster or more powerful than something else. • Qualitative evaluations choose criterion based on aesthetics, values or ethics. These arguments claim that one thing is more beautiful, beneficial, noble or ethical.

14. Criteria for veggie burger Ch. 9 • Why are all veggie burgers so unappetizing? • What do we need to make a tasty veggie burger? • Criteria: they need to act like hamburgers rather than taste like one, they need to have texture to chew, they need a nice blend of complementary ingredients, and they need to hold their shape from grill to the bun.

15. Criteria for the right pet • They need to match the compatibility in your schedule in terms of time allotted to their care, the space you live in, and by the pet’s temperament. • A single man who works 50 hours a week would not find that an Australian Cattle Dog was a good pet. He should have a cat instead.

16. Criteria for film evaluation (genre dependent) • Character Development • Dialogue • Script/Writing • Pacing • Plot • Point of View • Verisimilitude/Realism • Cast Performance • Cinematography • Use of Motif (repeated imagery or symbolism) • Director’s Techniques (include: editing, scene splicing, camera angle, cross-cutting, flashbacks)

17. Watch the film before you evaluate it and take notes. Observe such features as pertinent dialogue, acting, plot development, director’s techniques, and cinematography. Do not rely on your memory. You should view the film more than once. • Offer at least one example from the film to illustrate how it fulfills each of the two or three criteria you have selected.

18. Review vs. Evaluation • Film reviews rely on conveying specifics of the plot. Avoid offering a plot summary. Reviews are often full of clichés and empty language and phrases such as “tearjerker,” “it pulls at your heartstrings,” “action-packed,” “roller-coaster,” “had me on the edge of my seat,” “I jumped out of my seat.” You are not aspiring to become Rex Reed or Roger Ebert.

19. To offer a balanced evaluation you should include a qualifier after you have made your argument. Choose one of the criteria that the film does not do well to limit your evaluation from becoming too absolute and to acknowledge an opposing view. Keanu Reeves’ performance as Don John marred the otherwise superior adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing.

20. Alissa Quart in Mother Jones • She isolates a distinct genre and evaluates if this type of fertility films are feminist or conservative in their thematic intent. • In order to evaluate the films she creates the following criteria: audience, character development , and verisimilitude of the plot.

21. Claim: Citizen Kane is the finest film made by an American director . . . Reason: because it revolutionizes the way we see the world. Warrant: great films change viewers in fundamental ways. Evidence: shot after shot, it presents the life of its protagonist through cinematic images the viewer cannot forget.

22. Phrasing your claim in such strong terms leaves it open to rejection. Isn’t Touch of Evil really Orson Welles’ best film, for example? • Avoid extreme adjectives such as best, greatest, unmatched, perfect, most accomplished, worst, most offensive, etc. • Avoid using profanity.

23. If you offer vague or nonspecific criteria your evaluation will fail to persuade an audience because it shows that you haven’t generated enough consideration for why they are important. Anticipate the audience’s objections in the drafting process. • Consult pages 270-273 in EA for tips in drafting and revising your essay.

24. Your evaluation should focus on the merits of objects and ideas, not people. There’s enough snark online to fill every swimming pool in Canada. • The student sample “Why I Hate Britney” blames women when it is patriarchy that truly merits her derision and scorn.