What is an academic paper?
A paper (or exam) is something separate from a discussion. Often, especially in online classes, students feel they’ve already written about something in the discussion so what’s the point of reiterating it. That means you’re thinking of a paper as something similar to a note written to the teacher who knows you (sort of), knows what you think, and what you’ve already said.

Stop thinking this way. While you may use your discussions and journals as starting points, a formal paper is an entirely different kind of presentation than an online discussion. Think of your audience as outside the class and beyond the teacher.

If the paper needs more work, I will let you re-write unless it is an outright plagiarism in which case there are no second chances.

Of course, feel free to ask me questions if you have reviewed the information below and the additional sources and not found answers.

Quoting and Citing Sources in Your Text
A paper usually needs to be supported from the text itself. You don’t want the reader to have to return to the work and reread it in order to guess at what you are trying to say. Don’t shy away from quotation. It is the most valuable support you can muster. This is the place--this class-- to learn how to use quotations if you don’t already know.

I think that many students copy/ paste from the Internet into papers and perhaps even Internet discussions in online classes. It’s easy to do. But don’t. Not acknowledging sources is plagiarism. It’s still not acceptable in academic circles. Sometimes students aren’t really sure what it is. Let me give you some examples:

For instance, here’s a sentence about the Overlords word for word from the Internet paper by Hannah Pok:

“Thus they can only extrapolate about the nature of the Overmind, and not be part of collective consciousness." (“Where do we go from here? Extrapolation Vs. Mysticism in Arthur C. Clarke's Fiction.” http://www.hannahpok.com/deepfieldspace/clarke.html)

Suppose you are writing a paper on Childhood’s End and you are discussing the limitations of the Overlords. Here are some different ways to use the above sentence in the paper. The first two are instances of plagiarism and will earn you a failing grade:

A. In Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke, the Overlords cannot understand the Overmind. They can only extrapolate about the nature of the Overmind, and not be part of collective consciousness. They know they have reached an evolutionary dead-end.

Here the website’s exact words have been used with no acknowledgement by the student writer. It doesn’t matter that this is only one sentence!

Here’s another example of plagiarism:

B. ... the Overlords cannot understand the Overmind. They have to extrapolate about the Overmind. They can never be part of its collective consciousness. They know they have reached an evolutionary dead-end.

Here the writer has used--mostly--her own words. But this is not her idea. She’s stolen it from Pok.

Now, here are some legitimate ways to incorporate sources. The first isn’t very good.

A. ...the Overlords cannot understand the Overmind. “They can only extrapolate about the nature of the Overmind, and not be part of collective consciousness.” (Hannah Pok, “Where do we go from here?") They know they have reached an evolutionary dead-end.

This is okay but clumsy: the quote is thrown in without attribution except in parentheses. There is no attempt to discuss the quotation or say why it is important.

Here’s a better way:

B. ... the Overlords cannot understand the Overmind. In an Internet paper, Hannah Pok states: “They can only extrapolate about the nature of the Overmind, and not be part of collective consciousness.” (“Where do we go from here?”) The word “extrapolate” here is very important. Pok implies that the Overlords’ thought processes about the Overmind are similar to the processes of a science fiction writer.

Notice that this version calls direct attention to Pok’s statement and comments on it. Also notice the quotation marks! Without them, even with the reference, the writer would be plagiarizing.

In this case, since the author is mentioned in the text, you do not need to repeat her name in the parentheses and you may use a shortened form of the title. But the entire reference, including URL, must be included, in the Works Cited list at the end of the paper.

Here’s another way to do it, equally acceptable:

C. In Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke, the Overlords cannot understand the Overmind. In a paper published on the Internet, Hannah Pok says that the Overlords must “extrapolate” about who or what the Overmind is. They can never join this mysterious entity and be part of its “collective consciousness.” (“Where do we go from here?”) The word “extrapolate” here is very important. Pok implies that the Overlords’ thought processes about the Overmind are similar to the thought processes of a science fiction writer.

Here the student writer is mostly using her own words to paraphrase what Pok said. She is still obligated to attribute the idea to Pok, and she uses quotation marks around the word “extrapolate” and “collective consciousness” since these are relatively unusual words used by Hannah Pok to make an important point.

Names and Titles
Titles of full length books are italicized: Childhood’s End.. The Modern Language Association (MLA) still wants titles underlined but this is confusing in an online course where underlining means a live link. So just use italics.

Titles of short stories are enclosed in quotation marks: “Casablanca.”

The first time you mention an author, use his or her full name: Arthur C. Clarke; thereafter the last name. Not the first name. Not Arthur! He’s not your friend or online teacher!!

Documenting Sources in Your Text:
In the MLA style manual (the one used by many disciplines in the humanities), footnotes have been abolished in favor of short parenthetical citations. The main principle is one of economy and common sense. Avoid needless repetition. Every citation in the paper should be repeated more completely in the Works Consulted list at the end of the paper.

Quoting
A. Do not quote in such a way as to confuse your reader. Here’s a confusing quotation:

Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke, is a novel about human limitation. In an Internet paper, Hannah Pok states: “They can only extrapolate about the nature of the Overmind, and not be part of collective consciousness.” (“Where do we go from here? Extrapolation Vs. Mysticism in Arthur C. Clarke's Fiction.”)

What’s wrong here is that the quotation is out of context. “They” in the paper refers to the Overlords, not to human beings. This is a mistake.

Don’t do this: otherwise you’re like the movie publicity writer who takes a quotation by a reviewer and leaves out  words. The reviewer wrote: “This movie is definitely not the best movie I’ve ever seen. In fact, it’s one of the worst.” The publicity writer quotes him: “the best movie I’ve ever seen!” The meaning of the original has been falsified.

B. The quotation also has to make sense in your sentence:

The Overlords “not be part of collective consciousness.”

This is not grammatically correct. You may use part of a quotation, but insert the necessary words so that it will make sense: The Overlords can “not be part of collective consciousness.”

Additional Help
Below are some websites dealing in more detail with these issues. I expect you to consult these sources if you are unsure of how to refer to or document sources. (Of course, if your problem is not addressed, please get in touch with me.):

Hannah Pok’s paper (also cited above) is another good resource.

Documenting Internet Sources

Some More Examples of Plagiarism.

Here’s a very full account of how to handle every possible type of electronic source: Online Writing Lab, Purdue University