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Understanding a Discipline’s Philosophy Creating Credibility with Your Readers

MLA Documentation. Understanding a Discipline’s Philosophy Creating Credibility with Your Readers Living a Plagiarism-Free Life. UNO Writing Center Latest update 2009. Language of Documentation. History of Documentation Philosophy of MLA. Why do we cite sources?.

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Understanding a Discipline’s Philosophy Creating Credibility with Your Readers

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  1. MLA Documentation • Understanding a Discipline’s Philosophy • Creating Credibility with Your Readers • Living a Plagiarism-Free Life UNO Writing Center Latest update 2009

  2. Languageof Documentation • Historyof Documentation • Philosophy of MLA

  3. Why do we cite sources? • To allow readers to locate and retrieve sources used in an essay • To properly acknowledge another author’s ideas and work • To build your own credibility as a serious, knowledgeable writer • To avoid plagiarism

  4. MLA Style: Two Parts • In-text citation (also called “parenthetical documentation”) • Works Cited page

  5. Part I: In-Text CitationsWhat needs to be cited? • Direct Quotes • Paraphrases • Another source’s research, theories or ideas • Another source’s argument or opinions • Facts that are not commonly known • Another source’s visuals, e.g., tables, graphs, images, statistics

  6. What does NOT need to be cited? • Proverbs or sayings • A stitch in time saves nine. • Well-known quotations • “To be or not to be. That is the question.” • Common knowledge • Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. • Your own field research, observations or surveys • My survey revealed that 15% of the Shakespeare class believes Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare’s plays.

  7. How to Use In-text Citations Include the author’s last name and the page number(s) where you found the quoted, paraphrased, or summarized information. Heiresses know “there’s a big difference between being fun and provocative and being totally over the top and gross”(Hilton 8). Paris Hiltonargues an heiress knows “there’s a big difference between being fun and provocative and being totally over the top and gross”(8).

  8. Using Attributive Tags (Signal Phrases) According toHiltonin her autobiography, “I’m a fantasy to a lot of people . . . . They want to think I’m ‘Paris Barbie’”(8). In her autobiography, Confessions of an Heiress, Paris Hilton reminds us that “an heiress knows how to tread that fine line – in stilettos” (8).

  9. How to Cite a Paraphrase • Paraphrase specific source material by putting the idea into your own words and sentence structure. • Cite all paraphrases. Original: “there’s a big difference between being fun and provocative and being totally over the top and gross”(Hilton 8). Paraphrase: Hilton acknowledges the contrast between suggestive behavior and coarse, vulgar behavior (8).

  10. In-text Rarities • Two Authors with the Same Last Name Use the first initial of their first name in the parenthetical: (C. Hilton 45 ) and (P. Hilton 8) • No Author Use the first word or words from the title of the source. Punctuate appropriately: “Paris: The Barest” (“Paris” 12)

  11. More In-text Rarities • Same Author, Multiple Works The author’s last name must be accompanied by the first words in the source’s title: (Hilton, “Confessions” 8) (Hilton, “Diary” 25) • Web Sources When possible, use (Author page #): (Dionne A21). • If the source has no author listed, use (“Article Title”page #): (“Paris” 17) • If the article has no page numbers, use paragraph numbers provided in the article: (“Paris” par. 17)

  12. Part 2: Works Cited • The Works Cited page contains a complete list of the sources you used in your paper. • Each Works Cited entry provides the bibliographic information necessary for a reader to locate that source.

  13. Works Cited Entries • Most entries should contain the following information: Author’s name (last name, first name) Title of work* Publication information Medium of publication marker** *MLA 2009 Update: All titles that previously could be underlined (book, journal, newspaper, magazine titles) are now italicized. **Every entry includes the publication medium, e.g. Print, Web, DVD.

  14. Works Cited: Some Examples • Book Author(s). Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Date. Publication Medium. Mair, George. Paris Hilton: The Naked Truth. New York: Penguin, 2004. Print. Collins, Ronald K.L., and David M. Skover. The Death of Discourse. New York: Westview, 1996. Print. Note: Only the first author’s name is reversed.

  15. Works Cited: More Examples • Journal Article Author. “Title of Article: Subtitle.” Periodical Title Volume.Issue (Year): Inclusive Page Number(s). Publication Medium. Howarth, William J. “Some Principles of Autobiography.” New Literary History 5.2 (1974): 363-81. Print. MLA 2009 Update: MLA no longer differentiates between journals with continuous and non-continuous pagination. Include the issue number whenever available, and separate volume and issue with a period: 5.2

  16. Works Cited: Even More Examples • Periodical in an Online Database Author. “Title of Document.” Print Publication Information. Title of Database. Publication Medium. Date of access. Dionne, Jr., E.J. “The Paris Hilton Tax Cut.” The Washington Post 12 Apr. 2005: n. pag. LexisNexis. Web. 10 Sept. 2009. MLA Update:URLs are no longer required. However, you may provide a URL if the citation information does not easily lead readers to the source.

  17. General Format --MLA Style • No title page • Page 1 Heading: name, professor’s name, course, date • Double spacing: the ENTIRE paper is double spaced (no single spaces or more-than-double spacing anywhere) • Easily readable font and size: Times New Roman 12 pt. • 1” margins top, bottom, and sides • Left justification • Header: your last name + one space + page number • Centered title

  18. Page 1 Sample Nonimus 1 Ima Nonimus Professor Bartleby English 1164-011 9 April 2009 Writing for College: Trials and Errors We are not alone. While that statement is usually linked to the search for extraterrestrial life, it also may apply to those of us struggling

  19. Format for the Works Cited • Start the Works Cited list on a new page. • Place the title Works Cited on line 1. • Include header and page number. • Alphabetize your list of entries. • Double space the entire page—no single spaces anywhere.

  20. Sample Works Cited Page Nonimus 12 Works Cited Schwartz, Mimi. “Response to Writing: A College-Wide Perspective.” College English 46.1 (1984): 55-62. JSTOR. Web. 31 March 2009. Walvoord, Barbara E., and Lucille Parkinson McCarthy. Thinking and Writing in College: A Naturalistic Study of Students in Four Disciplines. Urbana, IL:NCTE, 1990. Web. 4 April 2009.

  21. For more information… • MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th edition). • UNO Writing Center www.unomaha.edu/writingcenter/ • Modern Language Association www.mla.org • Purdue On-Line Writing Lab owl.english.purdue.edu • St. Martin’s Handbook

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