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Why cite sources?
Why cite sources?
When you use a quote in your paper, or when you state specific facts or summarize someone else's ideas, you need to give credit to whomever you got the information from. If you don't give them credit, you are passing off someone else's ideas as your own (plagiarism).
There are two steps to citing a source
There are two steps to citing a source
1. Citing within your paper
1. Citing within your paper
When you cite within the text of your paper, it is called an in-text citation or a parenthetical citation. There are a few different ways to do this in MLA format, depending on the situation. Let's start with the basics:
When you cite within the text of your paper, it is called an in-text citation or a parenthetical citation. There are a few different ways to do this in MLA format, depending on the situation. Let's start with the basics:
When using a quote:
When using a quote:
If your source is a book, you put the author's last name in parentheses after the closing quotation marks, but before the punctuation.
For example:
"Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig brought Harry another note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: It's hatching" (Rowling 234).
Or, if you mention the author's name within the sentence, you can just put the page number as the citation, like this:
Rowling writes in chapter fourteen, "Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig brought Harry another note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: It's hatching" (234).
When summarizing information:
When summarizing information:
In chapter fourteen of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Hagrid sends Harry a note to tell him the dragon egg is hatching (234).
Notice that the period always comes after the parentheses, not before.
2. Your works cited page
2. Your works cited page
Even though you've cited your source in the text, you haven't yet listed all of the information about the source. That's what your works cited page is for. Think of it as a treasure hunt for your reader. The citation leads them to the works cited page, and the works cited page leads them to the treasure—the source!
Even though you've cited your source in the text, you haven't yet listed all of the information about the source. That's what your works cited page is for. Think of it as a treasure hunt for your reader. The citation leads them to the works cited page, and the works cited page leads them to the treasure—the source!
This is how you would list the source for the above in-text citation on your works cited page:
This is how you would list the source for the above in-text citation on your works cited page:
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. London: Bloomsbury Children's, 1997. Print.
The format to use with books is:
Author's last name, author's first name. Title of book. City of publication: Publisher, year. Medium.
*Medium is the singular of the word media. Print is the medium for books, just as web is the medium for something you find online.
Remember, your sources on your works cited page should be listed in alphabetical order by their first word. This is usually the author's last name, but not always because some works have no known author.
Remember, your sources on your works cited page should be listed in alphabetical order by their first word. This is usually the author's last name, but not always because some works have no known author.
How to cite different types of sources
How to cite different types of sources
in-text (parenthetical) citations.pdfReport abuse