MLA easy, your friend, and the law

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1 MLA easy, your friend, and the law Why you might ask is this important, especially today as we live in an age of constantly shared info, sound bytes, pics, etc. And everything seems to be community property Citations function to let your reader know where you got your information. Not just to prove that fact, but it also functions to: o provide them a way to look up more information from the sources you used if they want to o give credit to people who have spent their careers in research and writing the info that you choose to use o alert the reader to what are other s ideas, and what are yours, and honestly this is what I want to stress to you. We your teachers, want to see what you think, you are smart and have great ideas, and you don t need to rely on others to make your point. o And it must be said this is what academia and the business world expect. People who have used other s ideas without giving them proper credit have committed plagiarism, which can lead to: academic dishonesty here at school, failing a class or being kicked out of college, being fired from your jobs, taken to court, to name some. Thus we are trying to teach you a life skill that you will use forever. MLA is one type of a citation system, it is the most commonly used, which is why we choose to teach this one. But there are many types you may be exposed to in college and your career (like Chicago Manual of Style which uses footnotes not in-text citations) But they all have a system with rules, that list the same info, just in a different way. You may say, these rules are all so silly, and a waste of time, why do they have to be so stupid. But really they are like following a recipe, or endings in a language, if you take the time to learn them, it becomes easy and second nature. I will be referencing the Purdue On-line Writing Lab (OWL) for MLA questions, they have just about all the answers for your MLA concerns, I have it as a bookmark on my computer, my phone, use it!!! As a History/English group, it is the source to which we all go. This guide leans history, meaning there are some differences in English papers, especially with paraphrasing norms, which you should be discussing with your English teachers, just so you are aware. And most importantly, you are here to learn, not to live in fear, ask us for help, we are here to help you through the process, don t guess - again proactively get help before the assignment is due.

2 Bibliography What is this: Bibliography Greek for Book study a list of books Works Cited a list of the books you have cited Works Consulted a list of all the books you consulted or looked at in your research personally I liked to use this b/c it let me showcase to my professors all the time I spent in preparing my paper. You list all the ones you cited as well as those you read but did not cite The basics of how you set it up (per the Purdue OWL): Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper. Label the page (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page. Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries. Use same font and size. Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations five spaces so that you create a hanging indent. (often students find that when they hit tab for the second line it all moves over, this is super easy to fix, ask me if you need help) You need to enter the sources ALPHABETICALLY using what comes first, i.e it could be the author s last name, web name, title, etc. Numbers go before A Many students ask me if they can use easy bib, in a word don t, it s wrong 95% of the time, and often in the transfer into your paper the format gets off. Honestly, if you practice this it becomes easy. Forms you will commonly use per the OWL. Also on the OWL is how to cite images (works or art or just a picture from a page), an article from the online version of a printed journal (i.e. NY Times), and more so check it out Book by one author: Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date. Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. Penguin, Book by two authors: Gillespie, Paula and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Allyn, (Note the second author is first last name) Book by many authors: Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Utah State UP, or Wysocki, Anne Frances, Johndan Johnson-Eilola, Cynthia L. Selfe, and Geoffrey Sirc. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Utah State UP, A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection (usually has both author and Editor) Last name, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection, edited by Editor's Name(s), Publisher, Year, Page range of entry. Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers." A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to One, edited by Ben Rafoth, Heinemann, 2000, pp

3 Magazine (one that you physically have in hand, if you got it with an academic search engine see below) Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pages. Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: Journal (one that you physically have in hand, if you got it with an academic search engine see below) Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, pages. Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp Entire Web Site It is a good idea to list your date of access because web postings are often updated, and information available on one date may no longer be available later. When using the URL, be sure to include the complete address for the site except for the Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number, Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available), URL, DOI or permalink. Date of access (if applicable). The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 23 Apr Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory. Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003, Accessed 10 May A Page on a Web Site For an individual page on a Web site, list the author or alias if known, followed by the information covered above for entire Web sites. If the publisher is the same as the website name, only list it once. "Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview." WebMD, 25 Sept. 2014, Lundman, Susan. "How to Make Vegetarian Chili." ehow, Accessed 6 July Academic search engine like JSTOR & EBSCO & Questia Cite articles from online databases (e.g. LexisNexis, ProQuest, JSTOR, ScienceDirect) and other subscription services as containers. Thus, provide the title of the database italicized before the DOI or URL. If a DOI is not provided, use the URL instead. Provide the date of access if you wish Alonso, Alvaro, and Julio A. Camargo. "Toxicity of Nitrite to Three Species of Freshwater Invertebrates." Environmental Toxicology,vol. 21, no. 1, 3 Feb. 2006, pp Wiley Online Library, doi: /tox Langhamer, Claire. Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England. Historical Journal, vol. 50, no. 1, 2007, pp ProQuest, doi: /s x Accessed 27 May Unstead, R.J. See Inside a Roman Town. Grisewood & Dempsey Limited, Questia. Accessed 6 May 2015.

4 Example: Works Cited Ackerman, Kenneth D. Young J. Edgar. Carroll & Grad Publishers, Candaele, Kerry. The History of Women s Baseball. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Mar Accessed 9 Feb Critchley, David. The Origin of Organized Crime in America: the New York City Mafia, Routledge, Gerhart, Sayre T. Personal interview. 15 March Horydczak, Theodor. Miscellaneous subjects. Masonic symbol inscribed on wall Library of Congress. Accessed 29 March Jolicoeur, Pamela M., and Louis L. Knowels. "Fraternal Associations and Civil Religion: Scottish Rite Freemasonry." Religious Research Association, Inc, vol. 20, no. 1, 1978, pp JSTOR, doi: / Accessed 16 Aug Lord, Lewis. The Birth of America. US News and World Report 29 January 2007: Lord, Lewis. Not Just Another Smith. US News and World Report 29 January 2007: 62. Small, Parker A., and Natalie S. Small. Naples in the Time of Cholera, The New England Journal of Medicine 10 Oct Accessed 2 Mar Sullivan, William C. and Bill Brown. The Bureau. W.W. Norton& Company, Timeline: Remembering the Scopes Monkey Trial. NPR : National Public Radio. 20 April Accessed 29 Oct Trans-Alaska Pipeline: Regulators Have Not Ensured That Government Requirements Are Being Met. US Government Accountability Office. 19 July Accessed 24 Oct U.S. & World Population Clocks. United States Census Bureau. Accessed 29 Dec

5 Quotation and In-text Citations So what s a quotation: A quote is when you take the exact words from a source It is off set from the sentence with quotation marks like so: A woman who wanted pin money was seen as a menace to society, a selfish and short-sighted creature who ought to be ashamed of herself (Collins 363). The goal of using quotes is not use them to write the paper for you, but to add to what you have written. You use a quote when you cannot paraphrase it, b/c it is sooo amazing that you need to use the exact words. Usually the best quotes are short and sweet, and to the point. However, you may find a longer one that is even more amazing that you need it all. So if your quote goes longer than four lines you indent the quote like so (and yes you keep it double spaced, I think it s a waste of paper, but those are the MLA rules): She wrote her mother about the satisfaction she had from being a pilot. I loved it best perhaps it taught me utter self-sufficiency, the ability to remove oneself beyond the keep of anyone at all and in doing so it taught me what was of value and what was not. It taught me a way of life in the spiritual sense. It taught me to cherish dignity and integrity and to understand the importance of love and laughter. For I have loved many people and many places and many things and best of all I have loved life, and especially American life and if I can say one thing in truth, it is that to my friends and convictions I have brought all the loyalty and integrity of which I am capable.. With love, Cornelia. (Grunwald 550) Women like Fort are living proof that the opportunities in the work force truly impacted a woman s emotions and mentality during the war. Why in-text citations: In-text citations function to let the reader know from which source in the Works Cited the quote is from. It should be a quick obvious link. So lets talk about them The average in-text citation for a quote from a print source should take this form. Note there is NO comma between the words and the last set of quotation marks and NO comma between the last name and pg#, and the period goes after the ( ) (last name pg#). A woman who wanted pin money was seen as a menace to society, a selfish and short-sighted creature who ought to be ashamed of herself (Collins 363). Two authors or more: A woman who wanted pin money was seen as a menace to society, a selfish and short-sighted creature who ought to be ashamed of herself (Collins and James 363). A woman who wanted pin money was seen as a menace to society, a selfish and short-sighted creature who ought to be ashamed of herself (Collins et al. 363).

6 One author with two sources: Include the title in the in text in marks and comma after the last name: A woman who wanted pin money was seen as a menace to society, a selfish and short-sighted creature who ought to be ashamed of herself (Collins, Women in WWII 363). Other ways to set up the sentence: According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though others disagree. According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (184). Is it possible that dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184)? Long quotes: by indenting the quote you have alerted the reader that it is a quote thus MLA says you don t need the marks, and note the (author #) goes after the period. See the form below: She told her mother about the satisfaction she had from being a pilot. I loved it best perhaps it taught me utter self-sufficiency, the ability to remove oneself beyond the keep of anyone at all and in doing so it taught me what was of value and what was not. It taught me a way of life in the spiritual sense. It taught me to cherish dignity and integrity and to understand the importance of love and laughter. For I have loved many people and many places and many things and best of all I have loved life, and especially American life and if I can say one thing in truth, it is that to my friends and convictions I have brought all the loyalty and integrity of which I am capable.. With love, Cornelia. (Grunwald 550) Women like Fort are living proof that the opportunities in the work force truly impacted a woman s emotions and mentality during the war. Quotations & In-text from non-print sources or no-author sources: So some web sources will not have a page numbers, if you do have an pg # then you don t include it for example this is in-text for the below source: (Small and Small). Small, Parker A., and Natalie S. Small. Naples in the Time of Cholera, The New England Journal of Medicine 10 Oct. 1996: n.p. Web. 2 Mar Some web sources might not have an author. In this case you put the 1 st few words in the entry title. Again the goal is for the reader to be able to take a quick look down the list of sources in the works cited and find it fast ( U.S. & World Population Clocks. ) U.S. & World Population Clocks. United States Census Bureau. Accessed 29 Dec

7 Below is an example of all the sources from the example Works Cited with their proper in-text forms: Ackerman, Kenneth D. Young J. Edgar. Carroll & Grad Publishers, (Ackerman #). Candaele, Kerry. The History of Women s Baseball. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Mar Accessed 9 Feb (Candale). Critchley, David. The Origin of Organized Crime in America: the New York City Mafia, Routledge, (Critchley #) Gerhart, Sayre T. Personal interview. 15 March (Gerhart). Horydczak, Theodor. Miscellaneous subjects. Masonic symbol inscribed on wall Library of Congress. Accessed 29 March (Horydczak). Jolicoeur, Pamela M., and Louis L. Knowels. "Fraternal Associations and Civil Religion: Scottish Rite Freemasonry." Religious Research Association, Inc, vol. 20, no. 1, 1978, pp JSTOR, doi: / Accessed 16 Aug (Jolicoeur and Knowles #). Lord, Lewis. The Birth of America. US News and World Report 29 January 2007: (Lord, The Birth #). Lord, Lewis. Not Just Another Smith. US News and World Report 29 January 2007: (Lord, Not Just #). Small, Parker A., and Natalie S. Small. Naples in the Time of Cholera, The New England Journal of Medicine 10 Oct Accessed 2 Mar (Small and Small). Sullivan, William C. and Bill Brown. The Bureau. W.W. Norton& Company, (Sullivan and Brown). Timeline: Remembering the Scopes Monkey Trial. NPR : National Public Radio. 20 April Accessed 29 Oct ( Timeline ). Trans-Alaska Pipeline: Regulators Have Not Ensured That Government Requirements Are Being Met. US Government Accountability Office. 19 July Accessed 24 Oct ( Trans-Alaska ). U.S. & World Population Clocks. United States Census Bureau. Accessed 29 Dec ( U.S. & World ).

8 Paraphrasing This is where students get tripped up the most. But really it can come down to one idea anytime you take information, and idea, a thought, from someone or somewhere else you need to cite it, it is not yours. The common answer for what to cite and what not to is you don t have to cite common knowledge. Now this is tricky, b/c each discipline has its own common knowledge. As a history teacher I consider it commonly known that Thomas Jefferson was the third president. But a science teacher might not. So I ll say again, when in doubt cite, and ask us, it s better to over-cite than under cite Another common mistake is to think you can paraphrase a whole paragraph and then throw a citation on at the end of the paragraph and that is ok, well no it s not. The citations need to come at the end of each distinct fact, even if that means you have a citation after every sentence. Again remember the goal is to get more of your ideas, not theirs Let s see what is right and what is not. Here is a direct quote from the source below Prior to the American Civil War there had been considerable speculation, particularly in Europe, as to the possible use and importance of railroads in military maneuvers. In numerous cases troops and supplies had been transported; but with one exception no attempt had been made to use the railroads as an integral part of a military campaign. This one exception was the Italian campaign of 1859 and even in this instance the railroads had not been used very extensively. Consequently, at the opening of the Civil War the United States was confronted with an unsolved problem of the greatest magnitude and importance and one upon which the outcome of the war was largely dependant. Before the Civil War the idea of the use of railroads in the United States for war purposes had been conceived solely in relation to possible aid in coast defense and even this function was not considered important. In 1839 Major General Gaines, in command of the western division of the army of the United States, had suggested the government-aided construction of several trunk lines as an adjunct to coast defense and went into considerable detail as to estimates for route, cost and so forth. Reigel, R.E. Federal Operation of Southern Railroads during the Civil War. The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 9.2 (1922): JSTOR. Web. 19 July Example 1: So if you copied the above paragraph word for word (or just changing a few words, as you can see in example 2,) without putting it in quotes - this would be the most egregious action, b/c you are directly taking someone else s words and passing it off as your own. This is PLAGIARISM. As mentioned before, the main reason you should not want to do this is we care about you; we value you as a thinking person with great ideas of your own; we want to hear your voice, not someone else s. The second reason is that it would have very bad consequences. Here at school it would be treated as academic dishonesty. In college you could fail the class or even be expelled. In your future job place you could loose a promotion, be censured, or fired. But also if you quoted this whole thing, properly, we d still change it b/c way too long Example 2: Before to the American Civil War there had been a lot of questions, particularly in Europe, about the possible use and significance of railroads in military exercises. In lots of cases troops and materials had been moved; but with one exception no endeavor had been made to use the railroads as an important part of

9 a military operation. This one exclusion was the Italian campaign of 1859 and even in this moment the railroads were not used very broadly. As a result, at the beginning of the Civil War the United States was confronted with an big unsolved issue and one upon which the result of the war was very dependent. Before the Civil War the suggestion of the use of railroads in the United States for war intents had been conceived only in relation to aid in coast security and even this job was not considered important. In 1839 Major General Gaines, who led the western division of the army of the United States, had advised the government-aided construction of a few lines as an extra to coast defense and went into a lot of detail as to estimates for route, price, etc. So in this paragraph you will notice some words have been changed to synonyms, and some words were deleted. Now you may think that is ok, and it has been properly paraphrased and put in your own words, but alas it is not. It still is the same ideas of the original author, and this is PLAGIARISM, and just as bad as example #1 Also you will note there is no in text citation. So this too could lead to the academic dishonesty results mentioned above Example 3: Before the American Civil War, the relatively new invention of the railroad was not seen as an important aspect of planning a war. Yes, it was used for transportation of men and equipment, but was not a part of the plan of attack. Interestingly though, it would become a major force in the impending war. At the start of the Civil War, railroads were only thought to be helpful in defending the coast, but really not many leaders thought the railroad would be essential. One of the first to suggest a focus on the Railroad was Major General Gaines in 1839, twenty years before the war. He discussed many aspects of what it would take to defend the coast using the railroad, such as possible paths and how much it would cost (Reigel 126). So yeah! Here we have a properly paraphrased paragraph. Note how it retains the ideas of the original, but it has been put in their own words. BUT why is it still wrong? Well there is a citation at the end of the last sentence, but it doesn t really tell the reader that much. Is it only the last sentence that is from that source? The last two? Or the whole paragraph. As mentioned before, you need a citation after every fact, not just at the end of the paragraph Example 4: According to Reigel, before the American Civil War, the relatively new invention of the railroad was not seen as an important aspect of planning a war. Yes, it was used for transportation of men and equipment, but was not a part of the plan of attack (126). Interestingly though, it would become a major force in the impending war. At the start of the Civil War, railroads were only thought to be helpful in defending the coast, but really not many leaders thought the railroad would be essential (Reigel 126). One of the first to suggest a focus on the Railroad was Major General Gaines in 1839, twenty years before the war. He discussed many aspects of what it would take to defend the coast using the railroad, such as possible paths and how much it would cost (Reigel 126). And here you go this is correct you see and introduction of the author in the 1 st sentence, and then after each fact set. Huzzah!

10 Here are examples from a history junior thesis paper, you ll see single author example, and multiple author examples. While working at home, women learned small household skills to save more money. These skills included knowing how to mend clothing, fix electric motors, and sew curtains (Kendall 70). If a woman did work outside her home, the jobs were simple and low-paying. Some included nurse, secretary, salesgirl, bookkeeper, and maid (Kendall 68). Others included being a teacher or a clerical worker (Kendall 71) Housewives would turn on the TV and find themselves watching soap operas; these had dramatic plotlines where the women characters were always in the kitchen or somehow constantly invested in their homes (Collins 351). These homemakers were also always married and dependent on men. This was commonly seen in movies when a woman character that was being depicted as strong was always single. Heroines never had men in their lives (May 19). Eleanor Roosevelt was probably the only figure to encourage the average married American woman to not always stay at home. She told women to take care of their families, and then to bring their household skills out into the world and make it a better place (Evans 207) It wasn t until 1929 when the Great Depression struck, that American citizens of both genders suffered financially (Kendall 70). Because the men were suffering, a woman suffered even more because she heavily relied on a man. A woman couldn t fulfill her role if her husband couldn t bring home money (Evans 199). This brought social depression; men felt ashamed and suicide rates increased (Evans 199) and marriage rates dropped (Collins 353), therefore making single women suffer much harder because society did not function in a way to accommodate a single woman (Collins 355). Even during this financial crisis, the attitude of Americans was that a woman didn t need a job because she would rely on a man. Again practice makes perfect, bring us drafts, ask us questions!!