The MLA Format
Avoiding Plagiarism and Documenting Sources
This lesson takes approximately 1 hour to complete. If you need a score summary, you must respond to all 8 Self Check questions in one sitting. Your progress will not be saved if you exit the lesson. Each section of this lesson covers a different concept.
The MLA format is a writing style established by the Modern Language Association that governs:
It is used for research papers in many classes at Richland College, including English, but it is not the only research paper format. Examples of other paper formats include APA (American Psychological Association), Chicago, and Turabian.
You can learn more about the MLA Format in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, available at your library reference desk.
The MLA Format is important because it provides a consistent format for writing papers. It also guides us in documenting and citing our sources. You must cite your sources in order to...
If you have not done so already, complete Acadia University's online plagiarism tutorial below. When given the chance to select a player, choose Maiko for situations similar to the ones you will encounter at Richland College.
"You Quote It, You Note it."
Sort each given statement into the Plagiarism or Not Plagiarism pile.
Always follow your instructor's directions!
Click here to see an example of a paper correctly formatted in the MLA Format
Your first page should look like the picture below. Click on the image for a larger view.
Test your knowledge by answering the question below.
The Works Cited page lists all the sources you used (or cited) in your paper.
Berg, Orley. Treasures in the Sand: What Archaeology Tells Us About the
Bible. New York: Pacific, 1993. Print.
Your Work Cited page should look like the picture below. Click on the image for a larger view.
When you use somebody else's words, you are quoting them. Short quotes must be inside quotation marks. For example:
Victor Hugo once said, "He who opens a school door, closes a prison."
Quoted in "Victor."*
A quotation longer than 4 lines must be put into a block quote.
For example:
W. E. B. DuBois emphasized education as a fundamental civil right :
Of all the civil rights for which the world has struggled and fought for 5,000 years, the right to learn is undoubtedly the most fundamental... The freedom to learn... has been bought by bitter sacrifice. And whatever we may think of the curtailment of other civil rights, we should fight to the last ditch to keep open the right to learn, the right to have examined in our schools not only what we believe, but what we do not believe; not only what our leaders say, but what the leaders of other groups and nations, and the leaders of other centuries have said. We must insist upon this to give our children the fairness of a start which will equip them with such an array of facts and such an attitude toward truth that they can have a real chance to judge what the world is and what its greater minds have thought it might be (230-231).
For a review of correct punctuation, visit Robert Harris' "Punctuation Reminders" at www.virtualsalt.com/punctu8.htm.
*See "Works Cited" for all citations used in this exercise.
Click on the DragNDrop Activity below to match the MLA guideline with the item it refers to.
Whenever you use somebody else's ideas in your research paper you must cite your sources by:
You must cite your sources when...
Quoting any words that are not your own.
Quoting means to repeat another source word for word, using quotation marks "".
Summarizing facts and ideas from a source.
Summarizing means to take the key ideas from another source and shorten them, using your own words. For more about summarizing, visit How to Summarize.
Paraphrasing a source.
Paraphrasing means to put somebody else's ideas into your own words. For more about how to paraphrase a source visit Paraphrase: Write it in Your Words.
When using factual information that is not common knowledge.
Common knowledge is information that appears in more than 5 sources.
Examples of information that is "common knowledge":
General Custer lost the battle at Little Big Horn.
Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States, was born in 1804 and died in 1869.
If in doubt, cite your source!
At the end of your paper, you must provide a Works Cited page that lists all the sources you cited in your paper. Do not include sources that you did not cite in your paper. The MLA format requires that you provide information about the source so that somebody could find it. You must provide this information in a specific format based on the type and medium of the source.
If you need a reminder of the general MLA format, refer to "Essentials of the MLA Format."
McKibben, Bill. The End of Nature. New York: Anchor, 1989. Print. - - -.
- - -. "Happiness Is...." The Ecologist Feb. 2007: 32-39. Print.
Do not list sources that you did not use in your paper.
No matter the type or medium of the source, all citations in MLA format share the same basic elements:
An electronic book available from a library database:
Reiman, Alan, and Roy Edelfelt. Careers in Education. 4th ed. Chicago: VGM Career, 2004. VGM Professional
Careers Ser. NetLibrary. Web. 31 Oct. 2009.
If a source doesn't provide one of these fields, skip it and continue to the next field.
Article from a Typical Reference Book
Dinwiddie, Gniesha Y. "Education, USA." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A.
Darity. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. Print.
A Typical Book
Friedman, Thomas. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. New York: Farrar, 2005. Print
A Typical eBook
Reiman, Alan, and Roy Edelfelt. Careers in Education. 4th ed. Chicago: VGM Career, 2004. VGM Professional
Careers Ser. NetLibrary. Web. 31 Oct. 2009.
More Examples
See the Citation Guide for more examples.
Put citation fields in the correct order.
Periodicals include newspapers, magazines, and journals. Click this link to learn the difference between popular magazines and scholarly journals.
Typical Newspaper Article
DeShong, Rae. "Troops Sending Their Thanks for Girl Scout Cookie Donations." Dallas Morning News 15 Apr.
2005, Garland ed.: 2R. Print.
Journal Article with 2 Authors
Tebbs, Jeffery and Sarah Turner. "College Education for Low-Income Students." Change 37.4 (2005):
34-43. Print
Magazine Article from a Database
Madison, Gray. "Jobs Decline for Black Men Without a College Education." Crisis Sept.-Oct. 2006: 9.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Mar. 2007
More Examples
See the Citation Guide for more examples.
Database Specific Examples
Click on one of the links below for examples of article citations from specific databases.
Label the fields in the magazine citation below.
Many times you will have to consult a Web page other than the one you are viewing to identify author, date, and/or page publisher. Examine the home page or page just before the one you are viewing. You will usually not be able to find all of the information listed above.
Typical Web Page
Karper, Erin. "Creating a Thesis Statement." The OWL at Purdue. Purdue University, 28 Sept. 2006. Web.
31 Mar. 2007.
Web Page with No Author
"Alzheimer's Disease." MedlinePlus. U.S National Library of Medicine, 2007. Web. 2 Apr. 2007
No Author and No Date Given
"Cars, Trucks, & Air Pollution." Clean Vehicles. Union of Concerned Scientists, n.d. Web. 3 Aug. 2009.
Web Site Would be Difficult to Find Without URL
Eaves, Morris, Robert Essick, and Joseph Viscomi, eds. The William Blake Archive. Lib. Of Cong., 28 Sep. 2007.
Web. 20 Nov. 2008. <http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/>.
More Examples
See the Citation Guide for more examples.
Only invert the name of the first author.
Examples:
Lester, James D., and James D. Lester, Jr. Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide. 10th ed.
New York: Longman-Addison, 2002. Print.
Benton, Jeremy B.,Andrew N. Christopher, and Mark I. Walter. "Death Anxiety as a Function of
Aging Anxiety." Death Studies 31.4 (2007): 337-50. Print.
List only the first author. Add "et al.," Latin for "and others."
Example:
Wechsler, Henry, et al. "Trends in College Binge Drinking during a Period of Increased Prevention
Efforts." Journal of American College Health 50.5 (Mar. 2002): 203-18. Print.
Reprint sources gather information from other sources and reprint the information as a collection. For example, a book in the Opposing Viewpoints Series may contain information that was originally published as a newspaper article, web page, and a speech transcript. When you cite reprints, you must provide information about the original source and the reprint source. The format depends on if the reprint changed the original title or not.
If the reprint article title has not been changed from the original source, begin with the original and end with the reprint.
If the reprint article title has been changed from the original source, begin with the reprint and end with the original.
Reprint Title Has Been Changed from Original
Impararto, Nicholas. "The Information Revolution Will Become More Competitive."The Information
Revolution. Ed. Laura K. Egendorf. Opposing Viewpoints Ser. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2004.
177-80. Rpt. of "Innoation Leadership Undone." N.p., 9 Mar. 1999.
<http://www.intelligententerprise.com>. Print.
Reprint Title Has Not Been Changed from Original
Berger, Gaston. "Existentialism and Literature in Action." The University of Buffalo Studies 18.4 (1948):
157-86. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Laurie DiMauro. Vol. 42. Detroit: Gale.
220-206. Print.
Go to owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/09/ for examples of even more types of sources.
Match the special situation with its requirment.
In-text documentation is sometimes called parenthetical documentation because it requires the use of parentheses ( ). For every fact or idea you borrowed from another source, you must provide the author's last name and the page of the source. There are two ways you can do this:
If the source you borrowed information from does not list the author's name, use the first significant word of the title. Use quotation marks and italics as apporopriate. For a review of when to italicize or use quotation marks for a title see www.docstyles.com/mlacrib.htm#Sec32.
For Example: The difference in earnings between the average American with just a high school diploma and the average American with a college degree has increased in the past twenty years, with most college graduates earning at least 23 percent more than those with just a high school diploma ("Rising" 35).
If the source does not have numbered pages, you are not required to provide a page number.
Example: Since 1998, our earth has experienced the five hottest years in recorded time, with the hottest year being 2005 (Choo).
However, you may provide the number of the paragraph, if possible.
Example: The evidence clearly proves that the benefits of a college education to an individual and society prevail over the cost of earning a college degree (Porter par. 11).
If the pages are continues, use a dash between the first and last page used.
Example: Maurice Holmes of Xerox Corp feels the only way the U.S. will gain a competitive edge is by utilizing information technology to "learn faster than the rest of the world" (qtd. in Imparato 179-80).
In some cases, you might need to provide additional information within your parenthetical documentation.
Author Has Two or More Works in the "Works Cited"
Place shortened titles within the citation whenever an author has two or more works listed in the "works cited."
Example: Some see climate change as an "opportunity for us to live happier, more fulfilling lives" (McKibben "Happiness" 33).
More than one author of a work.
For 2 or 3 authors, cite all names.
Example: "Since the late 1800's, the global average temperature has increased about 0.7 to 1.4º F" (Mastrandrea and Schneider 232).
For more than three authors, use the abbreviation "et al.", which means "and others."
Example: (Wechsler, et al. 209).
Use a double reference when one source quotes another.
Within the sentence, state the name of the original source. At the end of the sentence, begin the parenthetical documentation with the phrase "qtd. in." Then list your source.
Example: Maurice Holmes of Xerox Corp feels the only way the U.S. will gain a competitive edge is by utilizing information technology to "learn faster than the rest of the world" (qtd. inImparato 179-80).
Works cited for this lesson are below.
You have completed the online MLA lesson.