ml aintext sept2012

How to cite your sources.

MLA Style Guide


Today we are going to focus on how to cite a source within an essay.

You need to let the reader know where the information came from in a paper, because often the information your are using is not your own.

If you do not do this it is called plagiarism and the penalty can be extreme.


There are 2 times that you are to cite a source:

1) If you take something and use it word for word in your paper, you must place it in quotation marks “ and “ then you must place a reference with it. In MLA you need to put a ( after the quote, then fill in some valuable information about where the quotation came from, then end with a ).


2) If you take information from a source and put it into your owns words – this still does not mean it is your idea. Although you are not directly quoting you must still acknowledge that this is not your work. Again in MLA you need to put a ( after the quote, then fill in some valuable information about where the idea came from, then end with a ).


Each type of source you use requires you to use a little different information in the brackets.

With a book with authors or editors the name of the first author or editor of your source will be put in brackets. In a direct quote you would also include the page the information came from – BUT not with a paraphrase. WHY NOT?


Here is an example of how to cite a source in MLA from a book with an author or editor:During World War II the German army simply would not give up. “The Germans were collapsing but the fighting went on for months as the Allies fought their way into Germany” (Reynoldson 41).

How to cite your sources. When you take that some information and

use it in your own words it is still someone else’s idea so you need to note that:During World War II the German army simply would not give up. They continued to retreat, destroying everything as they went. The Allies just kept pushing them back to Germany (Reynoldson).

How to cite your sources. If there is no author or editor in a

book/manual or magazine, you use the first few words of the article.“Safe Kids Canada is a national injury prevention program of The Hospital for Sick Children, working to translate research into best practices,…”

(Today’s Parent Turns… 113).

How to cite your sources. Sometimes you may use the authors

name in the quote, then the page number only is needed:As Reynoldson points out “The Germans were collapsing but the fighting went on for months as the Allies fought their way into Germany” (41).

In this case, if you mention the author then paraphrased, no reference is needed.

How to cite your sources. If you are quoting directly from a

website or database on the web – use the author as you would with a print source. Depending on the source you may or may not have a page number. If you do, provide it and if you don’t have one, then leave it out.

See the examples on the next slide.


“Canadians were physically and psychologically unprepared for war in 1939 - inadequate military preparations were matched by a psychological reticence” (Hillman).

In the case of on-line material you are only to provide the first few words of whatever will appear first in the Works Cited Sheet you are creating. You no longer include the URL in any of the actual information – UNLESS your teacher says to.


“The role of the First Canadian Army changed as well. After the first few months of intense preparation for an expected imminent invasion which fortunately did not come, the troops were forced to settle down to a long period of waiting” (The First Canadian Army…).

Again, everything will be a little different based on what material you have available to you.


No matter what you do – quoting and paraphrasing TOO much is always better than not doing it enough.

Also note that your Works Cited sheet and/or Works Consulted Sheet need to have every sources you have used in your paper clearly displayed in alphabetical order.


Here is what a Works Cited Sheet would look like under today’s new MLA rules.

Add, Paul. Life on Mars. Toronto: U of Toronto P., 2008. Print

Donut, John, and Theresa Price. The Astronomers Guide to the Universe. Ed. Chrissy McComb.

Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2009. Print.

Langmead, Brad. “Pluto”. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 16th Ed. 2009. Print.

Szarak, J.P. “Love in the Stars”. Space. 14.3 (2006):16-19. Web. 22 Sept 2010.

Zimic, Mike. “The Man on the Moon” Movie. YouTube. 22 Sept. 2010.

ml aintext sept2012

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