research distinctions & mla citation refresher the no nonsense, straight forward, sometimes you...
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Research Distinctions & MLA Citation RefresherTHE NO NONSENSE, STRAIGHT FORWARD, SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO FIGURE STUFF OUT YOURSELF REVIEW
Popular Sources
USA Today, New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Newsweek, Time, Website Articles, etc.General AudienceLess strict restrictions on voiceOften utilize national pollsBroad overviews with limited (or
little) in-depth analysis
Scholarly Sources
Field specific “magazines” that are published usually quarterly. Each issue features a number of essays.CCCC, JAC, College English, Rhetoric
Review, Kairos (in my field)
“Experts” in the field of study review and approve the article before it can be published
In depth exploration, analysis, and argumentation
Scholarly Sources
Found through library databases (or physical copies usually deep in library basements)
Not automatically reliable; however, you can rest assured the sources have been given a stamp of approval by someone knowledgeable.
Not automatically factual; usually offering an interpretation of data or an argument that is still ultimately subjective (and open to critique)
What This is Not
I will not be covering the exact Works Cited page format for every type of entry you may do.
In other words, go look them up and follow the examples: it’s what we all do.
Good Resources
Purdue OWL
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
Cornell University Library
http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/mla
Purchases an official MLA handbook from any of the campus bookstores.
On Citation Generators
Many resources exist to generate citations for you if you just plug in the information
Word has this built in
Websites like Son of Citation Machine
I am not opposed to you using them. But they can be wrong or add info into the citation not needed
It’s worth knowing the formats to essentially check if the generator result is correct
Publication Info
Author
Title of book or article
Title of Journal or magazine that article is in
Publishing City
Name of Publisher
Volume and Issue # (for journals)
Year of publication
Page numbers of article
Info Not Needed
Database you got the article from (i.e. Academic Search Premiere)
Access date when the source is from the library database
Access date only need for a website citation
P. – as in (p. 35) for page 35
Often put before page numbers. Don’t.
The total number of pages
Databases often give you this like: 33pp
“Volume” or “Issue”
The words themselves not needed. Just require the number.
What is Citation?
Citation is a highly standardized and formatted way of showing where your research came from.
In theory, it allows readers of your paper to go find those sources and learn more for themselves.
It also protects you from charges of plagiarism, which sadly, are rampant at your level of University education.
Kinds
There are many different kinds of citation
MLA
APA
Chicago
And more
They vary slightly in formatting requirements
They are discipline significant
APA
The sciences tend to use APA.
There is method to the madness
An APA in-text citation has to include the year of the reference (MLA does not)
Timeliness and currency of info in science is often more important than it is in the Humanities
Basic Components
In-text citations
This is parenthetical information included in the text of your actual essay that lead the reader to the full reference on the Works Cited page.
Works Cited Page
This is the final page of the essay (a separate page) that lists the full publication information of the resource used and quoted in the paper.
Titles
Books, films, plays, and other large form pieces are placed in italics. From Inquiry to Academic Writing
Hamlet
Dateline NBC
“Articles, short poems, individual television episodes, etc. are placed in quotation marks.” “White Privilege: The Invisible Knapsack”
“The Road Not Taken”
Capitalize Every Word Except Articles and Minor Prepositions (unless they are the first word)
Sample works cited
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/12/
Alphabetical by author
Alphabetical by title when author is unavailable
Indentation of entries that go long
“Works Cited” centered at top of page
Book
Leroux, Marcel. Global Warming: Myth Or Reality?: The Erring Ways of Climatology. New
York: Springer, 2005. Print.
Last name of author first
Italicized book title
Publication city: Publisher Name
Print at end (this is new as of 2009)
Journal article
Nordhaus, William D. "After Kyoto: Alternative Mechanisms to Control
Global Warming." American Economic Review 96.2 (2006): 31-34. Print.
Last name, first name of author
Quotations around article title
Italicized title of journal it’s in
Volume 92, issue 2 (just numbers with a period)
Page numbers inside journal
Website
Shulte, Bret. "Putting a Price on Pollution." Usnews.com. 6 May 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.
Author, if known
Title of Individual Page
Title of Master Site (in italics)
Date of Posting/Last Update (day, month, year) Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
URL no longer needed as of 2009
Date of Access
Web Versus Print
This is confusing for many students.
Though you might get an article via the web through the library database, it’s still a print source.
The journal exists in print.
Only use the word “Web” in the citation if the resource is ONLY a web site.
Common Variations
More than one source by same author.
Insert - - -. For author name of subsequent entries.
Leroux, Marcel. Economic Theory and Global Warming. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003. Print.
- - -. Global Warming: Myth Or Reality?: The Erring Ways of Climatology. New York: Springer, 2005. Print.
Alphabetize by Article or Book Title
Common variations
No author
Start with title
"Blueprint Lays Out Clear Path for Climate Action." Environmental Defense
Fund. Environmental Defense Fund. 8 May 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.
A whole lot of authors
If three names then list them all Note: second and third names are first name first
If more than three, list first name and insert et al Latin for “and others”
Smith, Jim, Bob Jones, and Carrie Elwood. “This is Our Article.” Generic
Journal 45.4 (2012): 45-67. Print.
Smith, Jim, et al. “Jim Wrote This With 10 Other People.” Generic Journal 45.4 (2012): 45-67. Print.
In-text citations
Come inside the text of the essay immediately following:
Paraphrases
Quotes
They lead the reader to the correct entry on the Works Cited page.
Quotes
According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though others disagree.
According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (184).
Punctuation comes out of quoted material and is moved after the parenthetical.
Author’s name needed only if not signaled in the actual sentence.
Sentence must read grammatically correct as if the quotation wasn’t there.
Attribution
There is some debate, but quote attribution sounds better (to me) before the quote.
“It sounds better to attribute a quote before the actual quote” (45), according to Pepper.
According to Pepper, “It sounds better to attribute a quote before the actual quote” (45).
Quotes Without Author
The author concludes, "Of all the things that happened there, that's all I remember" (“Blueprint”).
"Blueprint Lays Out Clear Path for Climate Action." Environmental Defense Fund. 8 May 2007.
Web. 24 May 2009.
Use an abbreviated form of the article title.
Website In-text Citations
Websites have on true pages, so you never need a page number.
Old forms of MLA (and maybe APA still) would require you to cite the paragraph number of the quote on a webpage. This is dumb.
Because nobody counts paragraphs. They do a control-F search for the phrase and the browser takes them straight to it.
Therefore
An in-text citation for a website quote may not be needed at all if the author is mentioned in the sentence.
Smith says, “MLA citation is hard.”
Since there’s no parenthetical citation, I can assume this is a website.
Remember, if you don’t make the author clear in the sentence context, then their name should be in the citation but with no page number.
Continued Reference
Unless you switch sources, MLA allows the reader to assume that the parenthetical is the same source as the one before it. Hence, no need for the author’s name each time.
The author states, “something interesting” (Smith 34). Now I say something else. And continue. I’m about to quote Smith again. “I am quoting Smith” (67). Smith’s name doesn’t have to go into the parenthetical because I’m allowed to assume the citation is from the same place as before.
Quoting Someone Your Article’s Author Quotes
Original Source Written by Johnson on page 124 of his Article
In reference to toasters, Robert Smith suggests, “They are very useful” (45).
You Quoting Smith out of Johnson
Johnson quotes Robert Smith when he mentions toasters “are very useful” (qtd in Johnson 124).
Make it clear who quoted originally: Johnson
Make it clear who is being quoted: Smith
Use the page number from your article (124) not the (45) from the Smith article you never saw
Block quotes
Use a block quote when the quoted material exceeds four lines of text in your essay.Indent the quote away from left
margin and left justify all the linesRemove quotation marksNo end punctuation needed but
citation is
Block Quotes
Omitted words
In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor or tale . . . and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs" (78).
Show you removed words from the original quote with a . . .
Adding words
Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, states: "some individuals [who retell urban legends] make a point of learning every rumor or tale" (78).
Place added words in brackets to show that they are yours
Done to provide context
Paraphrase
These are your own words, but the material or information came from a resource
Special piece of knowledge
Statistic
Barker reports that 84% of students plagiarized at least one paper in high school (56).
Format is essential to the same as for a quote, just without the quotation marks
Period still comes after parenthetical