MLA and proper citations

Statement on academic honesty and the Extended Essay from the IB

Academic honesty

Research practices when working on an extended essay must reflect the principles of academic honesty. The essay must provide the reader with the precise sources of quotations, ideas and points of view through accurate citations, which may be in-text or footnotes, and full references listed in the bibliography, which, regardless of the system used, must ensure the minimum requirements.

Producing accurate references and a bibliography is a skill that students should be seeking to refine as part of the extended essay writing process. Documenting the research in this way is vital: it allows readers to evaluate the evidence for themselves, and it shows the student’s understanding of the importance of the sources used.

Failure to comply with this requirement will be viewed as academic misconduct and will, therefore, be treated as a potential breach of IB regulations.

For further information, see Academic honesty in the IB educational context and Effective citing and referencing.

source: The Extended Essay Guide. www.ibo.org. February 2016. Accessed March 2016

MLA - WHAT IS IT AND WHY DO I NEED TO USE IT?

The EE is a research paper. As such, it is expected that you will be consulting the research and findings of academics in your field of study. You may also find yourself conducting interviews, surveys, questionnaires and using other research methodologies that involve the thoughts and ideas of others.

In order to uphold the academic honesty of your EE, you must cite all work, thoughts, ideas and research that is not your own. If you do not, your EE will be flagged for plagiarism which could result in your EE receiving a failing mark and consequently, you will not receive your final IB Diploma.

Most often, students who have been flagged for plagiarism on their EEs and IAs did not do so on purpose. Instead, they simply forgot to cite a source or didn't know how to cite their sources properly. This is why it is important that we understand how to cite properly and consistently.

MLA referencing

IB Citing and Referencing guide

How to cite a picture or image in MLA

Adding in-text citations for images

OWL Purdue MLA site

MLA (Modern Language Association) is a standard citation style that we use at CCS. MLA uses in-text citations instead of footnotes and has a specific style used for bibliographies.

The links in the left will give you a detailed overview of MLA citations and how to include them in your work.

USEFUL CITATION WEBSITES AND GUIDES

There are many useful sites on the internet that can help make the MLA citation process easy and pain free. Many of these cites will generate properly formatted bibliographies and in-text citations for you.

It is important that you check these citations carefully for errors in formatting and to ensure that it is the correct source that is being cited before you include them in your EE.

You can also use the citation tool in Google Docs to help add in-text citations and a bibliography.