Citations & MLA 9

Citations

Definitions:

An extended essay must reflect intellectual honesty in research practices and provide the reader with the exact sources of quotations, ideas and points of view through accurate bibliographies and referencing. Producing accurate citations, referencing and a bibliography is a skill that students should be seeking to perfect. 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 plagiarism and will, therefore, be treated as a case of malpractice.

What is a bibliography?

A bibliography is an alphabetical list of every source used to research and write the essay. Sources that are not cited in the body of the essay, but were  important in informing the approach taken, should be cited in the introduction or in an acknowledgment. The bibliography should list only those sources cited.

What is a reference?

A reference is a way of indicating to the reader, in an orderly form, where information has been obtained. A reference provides all the information needed to find the source material.  References must be cited because they acknowledge the sources used, and enable the reader to consult the work and verify the data that has been presented.

References must be given whenever someone else’s work is quoted or summarized. References can come from many different sources, including books, magazines, journals, newspapers, emails, internet sites and interviews.

What is a citation?

A citation is a shorthand method of making a reference in the body of an essay, which is then linked to the full reference at the end of the essay. A citation provides the reader with accurate references so that he or she can locate the source easily. 

Appendices, footnotes and endnotes

Appendices, footnotes and endnotes are not an essential section of the extended essay and examiners are not required to read them, so care should be taken to include all information of direct relevance to the analysis and argument in the main body of the essay. 

Why Citations are Important:

1.Inform a reader that material in your work, such as a quote, image, or idea, came from another source.

2.Acknowledge the work of others and provide pathways to their work.

3.Provide context to your argument in a larger scholarly discussion.

4.Establish your credibility as a serious scholar by providing evidence that you have thoroughly considered the topic.

5.Failure to cite, or citing improperly, is considered plagiarism.

When to Cite:

You need to cite your sources whenever you:

You do NOT need to cite:

Commonly Used Terms:

Access Date: The date you first look at a source. The access date is added to the end of citations for all websites except library databases.

Citation: Details about one cited source.

Citing: The process of acknowledging the sources of your information and ideas.

In-Text Citation: A brief note at the point where information is used from a source to indicate where the information came from. An in-text citation should always match more detailed information that is available in the Works Cited List.

Parenthetical Citation:  Source information included inside parentheses  (   )

Works Cited List: Contains details on ALL the sources cited in a text or essay, and supports your research and/or premise.

Citation-Creating Tools for Free 

Please keep in mind that no citation formatting tool is perfect. It is highly recommended that you verify the accuracy of any citations produced by these tools by referring to the citation style's official manual.

Many of these citation tools also allow you to import and/or export citations between them and other citation tools. 

BibMe: A free online citation creator that will store more than one citation at a time. You may search their database for your resource and if it's there, a citation will be created automatically. Covers APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian.

Citation Machine: Another free online citation creator. Covers APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian.

EasyBib: Free Automatic Bibliography and Citation Maker. Generate citations in MLA, APA & Chicago formats for your bibliography.

KnightCite: Citation Service (From Calvin College)Enter information into the citation maker and choose your citation style. Copy the resulting citation to your work. See FAQs for more info.

Zotero: is a program that helps users collect, manage, and cite research sources. It's easy to use, can be used as a web or desktop version (and can sync between the two), and offers many features. Zotero allows you to attach PDFs, notes and images to your citations, organize them into collections for different projects, and create bibliographie


Check this tutorial : 


MLA 9

In this section  you will find guidance and resources for constructing your citations as well as tools that can help you manage your citations and create your bibliographies.

 MLA  at KC

There are several citation styles out there. KC  uses MLA 9; however, speak with your supervisor or librarian if you'd like to choose a different one. Whichever you choose, BE CONSISTENT with citations and works cited page.  MLA style was created by the Modern Language Association of America. It is a set of rules for publications, including research papers.

There are two parts to MLA: In-text citations and the Works Cited list.

In MLA, you must "cite" sources that you have paraphrased, quoted or otherwise used to write your research paper. Cite your sources in two places:


Core Elements of an MLA 

MLA provides 9 core elements to complete any works cited entry. It is your job to try to fill in these core elements with the information you have about a source. If any element is missing or not applicable, you can skip that element. 

1. Author.  (who wrote the resource) 

2. Title of Source. (the name of the resource; it is often prominently displayed so it's easy to see/find) 

3. Title of Container, (the name of the resource; it is often prominently displayed so it's easy to see/find) 

4. Other Contributors, (editors, translators, illustrators, etc.) 

5. Version,  (updated version, editions, etc.) 

6. Number, (the resource may be part of a series or sequence and require a volume and/or issue number) 

7. Publisher,  (the group responsible for producing the resource) 

8. Publication date, (the date the resource was published; look for a date that is most relevant to the resource being used) 

9. Location. (refers to a page number or range for print materials or a url for electronic sources) 

Sometimes, elements 3-9 will repeat again, if say, your journal was inside a database. 

When all put together example

Goldman, Anne. "Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante." The Georgia Review, vol.64, no. 1, 2010, pp.69- 

           88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188

This page will  help you with the more fundamental tasks including: 

Footnotes:

Footnotes (sometimes just called ‘notes’) are what they sound like—a note (or a reference to a source of information) which appears at the foot (bottom) of a page. In other words they let your reader know where certain material came from, or where they can look for other sources on the subject.  

Footnotes are superscript numbers (1) placed within the body of text. 

All footnotes should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in your paper. Footnotes can be placed on the bottom of the page in which they appear,  

In-text citation:

In MLA style, referring to the works of others in your text is done by using what is known as parenthetical citation. This method involves placing relevant source information in parentheses after a quote or a paraphrase. 

MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:

*Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). 

*Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).

*Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).

Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information: 

Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. London: Oxford UP, 1967. Print. 

Formatting your Work Cited Page:

The Works Cited page is the list of sources used in the essay or any assignment. 

Always start your works cited on a new page.

Page title - The words Works Cited should appear centered one inch from the top of the page. 

Line Spacing - Double space between each line. 

Order of entries - Arrange entries in alphabetical order by the first term in each entry (the first author's last name or the title of the work when there is no author). 

Alignment - The first line of each entry should align with the left margin. All subsequent lines should be indented 5 spaces or set a hanging indent at 1/2 inch.


What is a hanging indent?

Hanging indents are used in the works cited or bibliography. They allow the reader to easily see the breaks between separate citations and quickly scan a works cited or bibliography for author names. A hanging indent is required to format your works cited or bibliography properly. See the image below for an example of what a hanging indent looks like. 


Hanging indents in Microsoft Word: Use the following steps to format a hanging indent in Microsoft Word. These steps work in both the full desktop version and the Office 365 online version of Word. 
  • Highlight the citation(s) you want to indent. If you have multiple citation entries, make sure there is a single line of space between each one. 
  • Right click and select "Paragraph." 
  • Under "Indentation - Special" select "Hanging." 
  • Click "OK." 
You may refer to the video tutorials too. 

MLA 8 Quick Guide:

Download this MLA handout as a PDF, which shows easy formats and examples for nearly every citation 

For more detailed information on styles for citations and referencing please refer to:

Effective Citing and Referencing
Explains why citations are needed, what needs to be cited, when citations are necessary, and how to cite, and also provides a list of citation definitions, a documentation checklist, and a chart showing the elements to be included in a reference. This is a very helpful document that clears up many questions students often have. Toward the end there is checklist...