Embedded Files
MyBib Citation Generator - use this program to generate in-text citations and to create your Works Cited page
Why we cite
Derived from the Latin word for kidnapper, to plagiarise means ‘to commit literary theft’. When you pass off someones work as your own, you are stealing from the author and misleading your reader. You have used someone else’s ideas without telling your reader where you took it from.
Not only is plagiarism wrong, but there are other very important reasons why you should give credit to the original author. Citing your sources shows you have done your research and you know what you are talking about, and it helps whoever is reading your work to follow your references and find out more information.
The best way avoid issues of plagiarism is to learn how to use a citation style and apply it to all of your work. KIS encourages the use of the MLA citation style as it is simple, concise, and suitable for most subjects.
Citation basics
All the work you submit at school should be authentic, based on your own ideas, with the ideas of others fully acknowledged. The work of others may include written text, videos, graphs, images or data. When writing an essay, paper or report you must clearly distinguish between your own words and the words of others. Show what you’ve borrowed via an in-text citation, and where you have borrowed it from via an entry in your Works Cited page. Citation should be done in a standard style, such as MLA, and should be done in a consistent manner.
In-text Citation (MLA)
The author’s last name and the page number from which the quotation or summary was taken must appear in the text of your essay or report, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author’s name may appear in the sentence itself, or in parentheses following the quotation, but the page number should appear only in the parentheses. For example:
Giles stated pop music was marked by a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (263).
Pop music is characterised by the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Giles 263).
Giles extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).
The examples above tell readers that the information can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Giles. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Giles, they would find the following information:
Giles, Keith. Sensitive Love Rock. Bangkok: DTT Press, 1969.
Works Cited (MLA)
The Works Cited page (also known as the Bibliography if using other citation styles) gives credit to your sources and allows the reader to locate your sources. The list of Works Cited appears at the end of your essay on a new page, and is arranged in alphabetical order using the author’s surname, or the title of the work if there is no author. Each citation in your essay must be listed in your Works Cited page.
For those of you writing your extended essay, references in you Works Cited page must satisfy the following minimum IB requirements:
Name of author
Date of publication
Title
Page numbers
Date of access (electronic resources)*
URL
*The requirement of the IB for date stamping overrides the requirements of MLA, so you will need to manually add date of access information.
For more detail on citation please visit the Purdue Online Writing Lab .
Citation Tools and Resources
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers – available to borrow from the Secondary Library
EasyBib – available as an add-on in Google Doc
DON’T FORGET – If you have any questions or need help with your research and citation, visit Mr Ben C. in the library or send an email to ben.cl@edu.kis.ac.th !
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